Brian Slusher
Selected Work (2 of 4)
LA Public Theatre
This studio explored the typology of theatres including aspects of deep interiority monumentality symbiosis of program and form politics of public space fuzzy fences thickened surfaces formality and informality in space
“The city government’s securitisation, policing, and surveillance of public space effectively creates two worlds. On one side of the wall are the private enclaves within which the dreams of the rich are met; and on the other, is what Nancy Fraser has called the counterpublic: those who are deliberately excluded from and exploited by the dominant social class.“
This studio explored the typology of theatres, particularly how their deep interiority is distinct from their monumental presence from the street. Inherent in the studio brief are the politics around theatres. For example, the Palais Garnier is a symbol total opulence and elitism.
between the formality of the interior with the informality of a public space.
In response, hospitable public space became an important part of the project. The theatre lobby extends into an outdoor covered space, blurring the boundary
LA’s approach to dealing with public space is through securitization, policing and invisibilization of homelessness and poverty to serve an ever shrinking dominant social class. The stewardship for this project’s public space belongs to the community in which the project is situated.
The massing strategy consisted of both programmatic and conceptual considerations. Beginning with the program arranged in a bar (see previous page) allows the program masses to sit uncomfortably close to one another. The theatre massing block is entrenched partially in the ground and surrounded by other program blocks. This allows the a deep interiority to be established.
In contrast, the administrative program blocks were moved away from the theatre mass, creating a twin of the theatre in the void between them. The lobby of the building extends across the open lot to create a fuzzy boundary between the informality of public space and the formality required for theatre performance.
Community Media Center
The tectonics of paper as a primary consideration for form-finding invoked an unconventional palate: craft paper paper carrying ink slumping models crumpled paper s-crate structures thickened surfaces chunk models
It is likely the only act of construction for a designer is in the process of building a model.
-David Eskenazi
The idiosyncratic study of details in physical models can be captured as abstractions in a digital model and subsequently appear as a representation of the in the next physical model. This architectural trope is ubiquitous in the history of building ornamentation, but not so in the
context of iterative modelmaking. The first example shown in a modeled tape in the egg crate model. The second is a digital sketch of the silhouette of the slump model, where the intention was to get very subtle textures of the slump model (shown above). The subtle textures of the crumpled paper was captured in ‘digital sketches’ and were later abstracted as colored lines printed on craft paper. Craft paper serendipitously became
a primary ‘building material’ for the models, since it had greater forgiveness in doubly curved surfaces compared to bristol, a “standard issue” model construction material. Craft paper’s pulp also came into dialogue with the abstracted ‘crumple texture’ printed on the surface. The careful study of tectonics, texture and posture of the paper models became an impetus for the subsequent models.
The dayglo colors hold historic precedence in LA, both as signal for attention on roadside signs and for the spirit of entrepreneurship in creative pursuits and all professions and trades. Here in studio models, dayglo references this history and as anesthetization, asks for the model to be seen, to be recognized by its viewers.
A classic architectural trope of trans-materialization manifests in
the eggcrate model: tape exists as functional structural material, it also claims to be (through its loud color) purely ornamental without any structural function, and abstracted as dayglo paper which represents tape.
The dayglo eggcrate performs a similar dance: it primarily acts as structural support, suspending a previous model in a calcified open posture, which can allows the model the “tumble” and yet
remain in the same spatial state. In addition there are moments in the model where the eggcrate simply performs a decorative role, without any functional.
The tumbling of the eggcrate model demonstrates the structure the eggcrate provides to ‘calcify’ the geometry of an untaped model of stacked boxes.
The interior planes of the eggcrate model were used to create the slump model (page 7). In turn, the above model is an abstracted, thickened version of the slump model (partial geometry).
The chunk model is another iteration of study of the slump model. In this model, the tape as ornament reappears, the layers of paper which act as structure and counter structure against gravity and the texture of the crumpled paper. Graphic printed on the pare introduce different tectonic properties to the loose and free craft paper, as well as initiate different geometrical emphases. The chunk model, which is a single multilayer face
of the slump model, acts as a provocation of, “at what point does paper become a model?”
Its thickening gives it body, yet is unzipped tabs emphasizes the singular sheets of the thickened envelope, as do its other single sheet layers. It has both structure and looseness; both three dimensionality and two dimensionality.
Plans and sections of the Community Media and Print Center reveal the programmatic organization of the building. The first floor (left, bottom) shows open studio and public programming at the left and right cavities of the plan. The center of building is comprised of private offices and other nonpublic spaces. The second floor (left, top) shows a theatre style arrangement of studio spaces that emphasize a hierarchy in
elevation, a natural parallel to the student-teacher hierarchy in teaching environments - all connected by a series of ramps. The section above shows two open cavities to the left and right and a more modestly shaped interior to house offices. The upper floor includes a double canopy roof, suspended above with the eggcrate structure.
The two layer roofs are suspended about the open studios with layers of dayglo eggcrates, which undulate and resemble the airiness of the chunk model. Three varieties of textures are implemented on the model to represent crumpled paper texture. The first layer (left) shows the previously used linebased digital sketch; the middle layer uses a digitally processed scan of a the original crumpled paper of the slump model. The
top layer is a bitmap of the middle layer scan, printed on perforated paper.
