Ryan Todys

Ryan Todys Senior Capstone 2021

How can distortion be used to re-codify an existing space?

When we enter a space, we have an expectation for how that space should look and function. Our brains observe the qualities of the interior and organize them to build a composite understanding of the space as a whole. Once the interior has been fully codified, it is completed.

When the spaces around us have been analyzed and organized to the point where we understand exactly where everything is and what everything is called, a sense of loss emerges. The mystery and exploration of the space is gone. Therefore, the inability to clarify an object or space is a positive and dynamic quality.

Plastique Fantastique’s Blurry Venice is an inflatable installation in which visitors walk on water while the space and objects on the other side of threshold become a blur. The installation distorts the user’s perception and creates an illusion, which turns architectural construction into an imaginary landscape and people into ghostly figurines.

Source: Plastique-Fantastique

Bang by Ryuji Nakamura & Associates is a unique take on a fashion exhibition showcase.

Here, the viewer looks through a wall of ribbons to view the designer clothing on the other side. The layered ribbon acts as a dynamic threshold which alters its ‘opacity’ or visible region based on the viewer’s positioning to the wall.

Source: Ryuji Nakamura & Associates

XL-Muse’s ZhongshugeHangzhou bookshop provides a variety of unique and immersive interiors for reading and shopping. Most of the space features a mirrored ceiling utilized in several different ways, however the best use may be in rooms like this. The filled uniform bookshelves extend to the ceiling, but appear to extend endlessly upwards causing the viewer question the size of the space.

Source: XL-Muse

The Site The site I selected to re-codify was the Mercantile Library, a historic library located on the 11th floor of the Mercantile Building in downtown Cincinnati. The library is unique in that it is an open double-height space with most of its bookshelves and two mezzanines on opposite ends of the space and open study tables in the middle. I determined that the stacks and mezzanines were important features worth retaining, which led me to my challenge and goal for the space: apply distortion through a non-destructive insertion to create a new exploratory experience.

Base Plan

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Circulation

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Public vs. Private

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How to Distort As a part of the research process, I created a film that summarized my concept through abstract storytelling. The film included various experimentations into the effects of distortion, with books being the primary material acted upon. I analyzed these experimental “vignettes” and how they might behave in the library at a larger scale with different materials, and decided to pursue a blurring distortion effect through a translucent fabric material. This sheer fabric could be supported from just the ceiling, but hang to fill the entirety of the space.

A magnifying glass enlarges the text the user views through the lens, but as the lens gets closer to the surface of the book the enlarging effect decreases.

A glass block scrolls across text and images on a page. As the block moves, the wavy glass warps the content below it and the text appears to squeeze and expand.

A sheet of parchment paper is laid over an open book. As the paper is resting on the book, the page content is mostly readable still but as the page moves upwards and away from the book the page becomes a blur, and boxes of text become illegible cloudy shapes.

Fabric Support Assembly Metal 8” x 8” grid, mounted to the ceiling

Straight and curved connector clips

Pre-cut sheer fabric sheets

Starting Small I began designing the Mercantile Library by isolating a small ‘chunk’ of the space to get an understanding for how the sheer fabric would behave. From this study, I gathered three main behaviors.

Starting Small Private areas surrounding tables for individual or small group work, lit from above.

Exploration-focused pathways that expand and compress, with floor lighting to guide the user.

Layered fabric blurring the container and elements within it, ceiling mounted on a grid throughout the space.

Full Scale After understanding how the sheer fabric worked at a smaller scale, I could translate its behavior to the entirety of the space. I started with a series of solids which would become voids within the space. I then applied the mesh grid over top of it, and the subtracted void objects became the final form of the space.

Mezzanine Plan

Main Floor Plan

Mezzanine Plan

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Exploded Axonometric

The Final Design As the user explores farther into the shrouded pathways, far off objects and walls gradually become more visible with moments of discovery (bookshelves) and rest (work tables) fading in and out of view.

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Section Four

Mezzanine Plan

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Section Two

Section One

Main Floor Plan

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Section Ten

Section Nine

Mezzanine Plan

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Section Eight

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Section Seven

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Section Six

The Final Design From a longer section, you can see the topography of the fabric as it expands and contracts to highlight exploratory moments in the pathway.

Main Floor Plan

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Renderings

Elevator Lobby

Entry and Front Desk

Center Looking Toward Tables

Center Looking Toward Stacks

Looking Down From Stacks

Renderings

Inside the Mesh Pathway

Back Tables

Looking Down From Mezzanine

Under Mezzanine

Ryan Todys RyanTodys@gmail.com