EoYS21_MArch_36

HOMEORHESIS —­A STEADY FLOW

SPENSER A. KRUT M.ARCH + MS.CCCP COLUMBIA GSAPP

HOMEORHESIS

INTRODUCTION

noun.

The preservation of a steady flow. An equilibrium property not centered on a static state, but rather on a direction or pathway of change.

This portfolio invokes an antiquated, not-so-popular biological term to suggest that the projects herein are part of a larger framework. Homeorhesis is the preservation of a trajectory—a direction—not a stable state. My graduate studies thus far, each course that I have completed, played a role in sustaining my growth as a scholar and future practictioner.

At the core of each project is a proposed steady flow as well. They are loosely organized in four types: (1) closed loops, (2) infinite systems, (3) site specific processes, and (4) geographies or histories.

Closed loops and infinite systems are foils: the former are standalone processes that support and sustain themselves, whereas the latter are endless and inexhaustable. Site specific processes include designs inextricably tied to the atmosphere, population, and resources of individual coordinates on Earth. Geographies/Histories set out to uncover the movements and actions of existing territories and environments.

— Next year, I will be back on campus (knock on wood) developing a thesis on some wildly fascinating topic.

I look forward to continuing my trajectory with the support of this school and community.

Thank you to my peers, co-workers, and professors for the provactions, line-weight discussions, Zoom adventures, patience, wisdom, and fun.

SITE SPECIFICS

CLOSED LOOPS 1

GREENPOINT THEATER CDS

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HOLISTIC DAIRY WELLNESS FACTORY

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APPLIED ETHICS INITIATIVE

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SUN-DECK PARK

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ARCTIC RESEARCH STATION

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TIMBER LIVING LAB

GEOGRAPHIES / HISTORIES

INFINITE SYSTEMS JUMBO BRONX HOUSING

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UNDER A PINK MAYAN ROOF

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PLUG-AND-PLAY LIBRARY

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SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE PICTURESQUE

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SIDEWALK INTERVENTION

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MANHATTANVILLE, A STUDY

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TRANSITIONAL GEOMETRIES

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TRACKING COVID-19 POLICIES

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TIMBER LIVING LAB Advanced IV — Lindsey Wikstrom collaboration with Charlotte Ziye Yu Newburgh, New York — The Timber Living Lab selectively harvests trees from forest owners in Newburgh and uses the crop to produce hardwood CLT for the purpose of refurbishing idle properties.

Panel primary cuts and off-cuts serve different emerging commercial and not-for-profit markets specifically to help the community rebuild the urban core. Based on an understanding of the systems and technology invented to not only maximize yields, but also promote healthier forests, the scale and harvesting practices of the Lab responds to the potential of current woodlands in and around Newburgh. Although niche, balloon harvesting in particular has a literal light touch on the environment and soil, and is suited towards the selective, flexible harvesting practices of the Lab. This proposal for the flow of timber touches upon multiple stakeholders. Balloon harvesting moves across the landscape through the powerline corridor and its adjacent forests, incentivizing property owners to partner with the Lab in exchange for New York State tax credits. After the raw material is processed at the coastal factory, the CLT products are transported to the City to rebuild idle properties catalogued and managed by the Newburgh Land Bank. A selective harvesting of a 100 acre forest procures 206,000 board feet of lumber which equates to approximately one three-story retrofit.

> The log ramp at the Timber Living Lab leverages gravity to process felled logs.

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The Timber Living Lab engenders a new culture of timber in Newburgh. It encapsulates the production of engineered wood in addition to the education of the community and surrounding populations regarding how to create and design with hardwood. While the Lab goes about its normal operations of balloon harvesting, log processing, CLT manufacturing, and renovating dilapidated structures, the population actively and passively engages in the cycle, participating in and learning from the Lab’s operations.

The facility introduces a new gravity-based manufacturing process that uses less energy and requires less handling of the raw material.

Logs arrive at the landing, cascade down the hillside through a series of processes that transform them into dimensional lumber; run through drying, storage, and then cascade down the hill again in their transformation into CLT panels. In addition to the cascading machine processes, an underfloor plenum drops the bark and woodchips into processing equipment that creates fuel for the oven kiln. Dramatic views across learning spaces and machine floor enable the general public to understand this manufacturing process; a traversable roof connects trails on the valley’s hillsides.

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ADVANCED IV — TIMBER LIVING LAB

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ADVANCED IV — TIMBER LIVING LAB

Logs for processing are collected from properties adjacent to the powerline.

The Lab sits at the end of the powerline clearing in an industrial zone.

> Nestled in a valley in Newburgh, the Lab and its traversable roof can be spotted from the river.

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ADVANCED IV — TIMBER LIVING LAB

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ADVANCED IV — TIMBER LIVING LAB

CLT panel geometry.

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Roof structure and material tests .

ADVANCED IV — TIMBER LIVING LAB

HOLISTIC DAIRY WELLNESS FACTORY Advanced VI — Mark Wasiuta with Jarret Ley Tipton, California — Did you know that the USA produces more than twice the weight of cow’s milk than any other country on Earth? We produce approximately 218,382 million pounds every year— that’s enough to fill the reservoir in Central Park 26 times. This project situates cow’s milk as both a chemical and cultural concentration in the USA in terms of the shear volume of milk being produced and the massive scale of dairy industry capital. Its toxicity leaks beyond the intestines of 36% of the US population that is lactose-intolerant, into our public school systems, grocery store organization, and media consumption.

Agricultural science has afforded farmers super productive cows to the point where contemporary cows produce six times as much milk in their lifetimes as their predecessors.

These developments have increased the ease of making more cows and more milk, with fewer requirements for actual operations.

The Holistic Dairy Wellness Factory produces a secondary economy for milk and milk processing operations in California. For as long as the federal government subsidizes the production of milk by dairy farmers and the processing of milk by dairy plants, there will be excess milk as demand decreases.

This secondary economy introduces a new method for consuming milk and caters towards the inconspicuous consumption of milk in the form of a destination spa. The proto-typical processing line of a dairy plant is extended to support a spa circuit of dairy-infused treatments as well as other cowdependent recreational activities.

> The Holistic Dairy Wellness Factory extends a typical dairy processing line to support a ninestep dairy-infused spa treatment circuit.

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dairy research

site research federal lands natural vegetation grazing land water bodies prime farmland farmland dairy farms

Tulare County, CA The average American consumes cow’s milk collected and produced within 2 days and 300 miles of their home. Tulare County, CA has 302 dairy farms in operation with over 1.2 million cows.

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ADVANCED VI — HOLISTIC DAIRY WELLNESS FACTORY

The site includes parking, delivery zones, lavender and chamomile fields (plants used for infusing the pools), a sour lagoon where excess milk powder is dumped, and an open field for cows to graze and be cuddled by visitors.

factory equipment zone spa treatment spa circulation milk spa visitor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

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Atrium (Level 2, Drinking Hall) Changing rooms (2 levels) Vaporiums (2) Plunge I: Wave Therapy Jet Massage Rooms (standing or tub) Plunge II: “Cattle” Dip Fat Infinity Pools (cream, skim, whole) Plunge III: Fresh Milk Bath Hot Cow Water Relaxation Pool

ADVANCED VI — HOLISTIC DAIRY WELLNESS FACTORY

sour lagoon

Milk Vaporium

Cold Plunge: Wave Therapy

The plant produces evaporated milk.

The milk is heated in the evaporator to dry it out and the steam generated is redirected to the vaporiums.

Homogezized milk doesn’t require vigorous agitation, thus this first plunge features a shallow wave machine for a gentle massage.

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ADVANCED VI — HOLISTIC DAIRY WELLNESS FACTORY

cow cuddling

Homogenizer Jet Massage

Cold Plunge: “cattle dip”

There are two types of private jet massage rooms: (1) troughs of milk and submerged jets for overall relief; (2) a standing shower where specific problem areas can be worked out at more intense and targeted pressures.

This plunge is modelled after a cow bath, also known as a “cattle” dip. Visitors are ushered through the narrow wells in a single file line, submerged up to their shoulders and neck.

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ADVANCED VI — HOLISTIC DAIRY WELLNESS FACTORY

cold plunge: fresh milk bath

Fat (cream, skim, whole) Infinity Pools

Hot Cow Water Relaxation Pool

Cream and skim milk separated by the equipment filters into two pools. These pools spill over into a second infinity pool, the whole milk pool.

The milk remaining on the skin of the spa goers up until this point, gets mixed into this water pool to produce a highly diluted liquid that can be illuminated from below. The few fat globules suspended in the water refract the light giving the pool an even color.

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ADVANCED VI — HOLISTIC DAIRY WELLNESS FACTORY

SUN-DECK PARK Tech V — Philip Palmgren, Matthew Carmody, April Schneider, Anne Shellum collaboration with Mark-Henry Decrausaz, Camille Esquivel + Jared Payne Brooklyn, New York — An initial foray into districtwide systems and site research led our team to three premises: 1. Industry exists and can be re-invigorated; 2. Multiple physical barriers create a division between industry and residential/community programming and prevent access to the waterfront; 3. The insertion of a “research campus” would suppress the manufacturing and distribution potential of the site—glossing over existing residents and building stock affected by such a large-scale development.

Instead, we propose an approach organized into three big moves: 1. New construction—a campus-scale architectural project to house strategically relocated businesses from the neighborhood based on negative impacts to the environment and sustainability of the district as well as compatibility in a closed-loop system; 2. Inhabitable deck—an enclosure and renovation of the railroad and rail station to increase use and transversability attached to a longer platform, literally and figuratively, connecting the primary residential and retail enclaves of Sunset Park to the industrial waterfront; 3. Adaptive reuse—a “neighborhood infill” approach supplanting existing and created vacancies of neighborhood industry and businesses.

Sun-Deck Park creates a framework and precise geometry for waste, water, and energy systems to work synergistically.

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sun-deck park healthcare + services (3) community organizations (4) schools / vocational training (2) cultural institutions (5)

OUTPUT water

heat

people/material

produce

vibration

water

material

chilled air

GREEN HOUSE EMPIRE CITY LABORATORIES

SERVERFARM PURPLE KALE KITCHENWORKS

FIVEBOROUGHS BOROUGHS FIVE BREWINGCO. CO. BREWING

SMITH STREET BREAD COMPANY

WATER TREATMENT

US CHOCOLATE CORPORATION

GUM STUDIOS BROOKLYN

RECYCLE CENTER 50THSTEET STEET 50TH TRANSFERSTATION STATION TRANSFER

GLOBAL WOOD DISTRIBUTORS

AMERICAN MADE FURNITURE

ANTONOV STONE WORK

SNOWDROP FLOWERS

TOP QUALITY TRADING USA INC

SWEATBOX BROOKLYN

SAHADI FINE FOODS

LOGISTICS + RESILIENCY

water system

electricity

people/material

heat biomaterial

mobility system 27

energy system TECH V — SUN-DECK PARK

waste synergy

brewery

PURPLE KALE KITCHENWORKS

US CHOCOLATE CORPORATION

PURPLE KALE KITCHENWORKS

SMITH STREET BREAD COMPANY

ANAEROBIC DIGESTOR

GAS PLANT

FIVE BOROUGHS BREWING CO.

50TH STEET TRANSFER STATION

biodigester

gas plant

energy synergy greenhouse

GREEN HOUSE

GREEN HOUSE

SERVERFARM

AMERICAN MADE FURNITURE

ANTONOV STONE WORK

SNOWDROP FLOWERS

SMITH STREET BREAD COMPANY

HEAT PUMP

HEAT PUMP

GUM STUDIOS BROOKLYN

HEAT PUMP US CHOCOLATE CORPORATION

TOP QUALITY TRADING USA INC

heat exchanger

condensor loop

water synergy kitchen

GREEN HOUSE

TOP QUALITY TRADING USA INC

EMPIRE CITY LABORATORIES

PURPLE KALE KITCHENWORKS

water treatment

SAHADI FINE FOODS

WATER TREATMENT FIVE BOROUGHS BREWING CO.

park space

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TECH V — SUN-DECK PARK

JUMBO BRONX HOUSING Core III — Daisy Ames

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collaboration with Ashley Esparza Bronx, New York — The DOHMH correlates poor housing conditions with higher rates of negative health outcomes—outdated or ineffective shelter perpetuates illness. Community District BX 1 (Mott Haven and Melrose neighborhoods) in the South Bronx ranks 2nd in the city for the most outstanding building maintenance defects as well as 11th overall for highest air pollution levels.

The combination of these circumstances— poor housing conditions and high levels of air pollution—produce an unsafe living environment that has resulted in CD1 having the greatest number of asthma and respiratoryrelated illness hospitalization rates among children—three times the citywide rate.

This housing project prioritizes air quality because every individual deserves to live with the presence and circulation of clean, pollutantfree air; free from the worry of invisible (and sometimes visible) health risks in their homes.

To achieve improved air ventilation, natural heating and cooling, and purification, the design proposes an all-electric system including radiant floors, energy-efficient appliances, and photovoltaics throughout the site in addition to narrow floor plates maximizing air flow through each unit. Further, the two building typologies, walk-up and pencil tower, are arranged on the site to promote wind circulation year-round.

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CORE III — JUMBO BRONX HOUSING

The inclusion of space for air ventilation and decontamination infrastructure in every unit is made possible by a second design decision: rejecting traditional and new trends of communal or shared amenities among inhabitants of large residential projects. Redistributing the square footage typically attributed to shared lobbies, laundry rooms, hallways, storage, lounges, gyms, pools, recreation spaces, and even commercial operations to each unit greatly increases the apartment layout flexibility and ability to personalize each unit for more inhabitants, more diverse programming, or more private amenities typically associated with luxury apartments (ie. laundry in-unit, a backyard, or a space for a personal library or home office).

This approach addresses the lack of affordable 3-bedroom apartments in New York City. Within units, inhabitants share the same desired amenities provided in typical communal spaces, but with a significantly fewer number of people.

Having amenities in-unit not only increases the chances of them being used frequently, but also adds value to each apartment and a greater invested interest per resident in their own home.

> Third floor plan includes “garages”: flexible community spaces exclusively for the residents of the corresponding complex.

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CORE III — JUMBO BRONX HOUSING

bedroom living/dining bathroom kitchen closet/laundry storage “flex”

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Walk-up and Pencil Tower Apartments in two typologies prioritize personal resident space over shared spaces and amenities.

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CORE III — JUMBO BRONX HOUSING

PLUG-AND-PLAY LIBRARY

public facilities

stairs

thresholds

vegetation

computers

reference

study seating

shelves

display

Core II — Jose Araguez

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> Taxonomy of interchangeable program modules for the five-story library.

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recreation

vehicle storage

lab space

social seating

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With the module defined, and near limitless array of possible program insertions, its form can extend beyond the site. Perhaps Sara Delano Roosevelt Park needs more storage or flexible signage posts; the track field requires extra bleachers; or the playground has peak periods when more children vie for swing sets and monkey bars—the column can be deployed.

The proposal generates a field of columns on the site.

The design of the module is not a solid geometric form, rather the materialization of positive and negative space. A frame is cut out from a board and rotated 90 degrees to generate a symmetrical, occupiable condition. On each floor, the size of the module increases generating a variation in the pattern of spaces across the building. The taxonomy illustrates furniture and fixtures being reconfigured and expanded upon to match the different widths of the growing module—ostensibly each row can be read as a micro-library, stacked on top of each other.

Manhattan, New York — The design of this library explores the potential of structure to operate as enclosure as opposed to winding around and fitting within it. What does it mean for a typical structural element (ie. a column) to evolve into every type of partition: walls, windows, foldable dividers, shelves?

storage

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CORE II — HYBRID LIBRARY

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CORE II — HYBRID LIBRARY

The exterior columns connect the building to the site in elevation, reaching the tree canopy height and embracing their dendriform appearance.

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CORE II — HYBRID LIBRARY

SIDEWALK INTERVENTION Core I — Christoph Kumpusch Manhattan, New York — This project analyzes five blocks of Broadway through the lenses of touch and sight. It seeks to acknowledge and maximize the potential of the influence the variety of materials, cracks, and shifts in elevation of the sidewalk has on a person walking on the street.

Sidewalk Intervention is twofold: first, it exposes this system for discovering underutilized space via reading the materiality of the sidewalk and storefronts; second, it insists upon reconsidering the presentation and use of these spaces for the public, providing more than barriers, obstructions, or products. Within storefronts appear zones of public space, private space, and the grey area between: that interstitial public-encouraged private space designed facing the street. The models establish a larger square frame around these areas, and are cut and folded to inform the relationship between them.

The new designs focus on enlarging public space by pushing in and out the vertical threshold as well as connecting more interior spaces.

> Cut and folded paper models experiment with the relationship between sidewalk and facade.

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CORE I — SIDEWALK INTERVENTION

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CORE I — SIDEWALK INTERVENTION

VARIATIONS ON A CUBE Transitional Geometries — Josh Jordan

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Zoom, Fall 2020 — This “tile” seeks to provide the most surface, screen, and structure variation (when aggregated) with the least amount of technical complexity possible in its design and fabrication.

Beginning with a platonic cube, opposite corners are lobbed off. The cube is still recognizable and thus stackable with many matching faces.

Divergent angles cut from the opposite corners produce slightly different patterns when many tile copies come together.

The fabrication process was completed entirely by hand. The mold included a base cube mold and sets of silicone inserts for the tile variations. In order to cast a tile with opposite corners missing, the corresponding inserts were nailed into the base cube mold prior to pouring the casting material.

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TRANSITIONAL GEOMETRIES — VARIATIONS ON A CUBE

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TRANSITIONAL GEOMETRIES — VARIATIONS ON A CUBE

GREENPOINT THEATER Tech III & IV — Joe Hand, Amy Harrington, Katherine Chan, Gabrielle Brainard collaboration with Mark-Henry Decrausaz + Alice Fang Brooklyn, New York — This performance venue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn prioritizes maximum program efficiency within an innovative all-electric building featuring timber construction. The internal organization and structure follows a series of 20’ - 0” piers across the shorter length of the rectangular site. The primary program includes three flexible performance spaces: a theater that opens to an outdoor amphitheater on the ground floor and a 10,500 sf basilica with a wrapped open mezzanine and 110’ - 0” column-free span.

This project seeks to develop a working understanding of the assembly of pieces (beams, floors, columns) and transitions between materials.

The simplified material pallet of concrete, copper, glass, and wood (GLULAM beams and CLT) are exposed and transition from old to new and from heavy to light as one ascends in the building. Working within the framework of a mass timber structure, the scheme becomes an infill project of cast concrete shear walls and concrete elements demarking grading of the building. A variety of dimensions of GLULAM members address the structural requirements of different rooms within the project.

Within the eastern piers of the site, a non-conditioned atrium and winter garden space brings the adjacent park indoors. This glazed band with entrances on both ends provides a protected, seasonal civic space that negotiates the building’s 6’ - 0” elevation from the ground plane due to flood risk. On the western facade, a berm doubles as a seating area and resilience strategy for this riverfront lot.

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TECH III & IV — GREENPOINT THEATER

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TECH III & IV — GREENPOINT THEATER

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TECH III & IV — GREENPOINT THEATER

APPLIED ETHICS INITIATIVE Advanced V — Laurie Hawkinson with Alex Mann

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New York City, New York — Tasked with programming and designing the newly announced Climate School at Columbia University, this project proposes we do not fund another school. Rather, the proposal focuses on the existing students, faculty, staff, administration, and properties owned. The Applied Ethics Initiative is an alternative curriculum and a space where equity and ethical responsibility are constructed, experienced, and taught in a new building at the Manhattanville campus—a building that, by its design, can change one’s outlook and eventually their behavior for better collective futures.

Given the option of locating this initiative anywhere in the city, selecting Columbia’s Manhattanville campus allows for a simultaneous critique of the existing master plan—what would it look like if equity, programming, and climate were not an afterthought of property acquisition and zoning amendments?

After removing the truncated 130th street to expand open space, improve pedestrian safety, and flatten the overall height of the massing, the building rises from its integration with the decided “bathtub of shared services” following an internal program-driven parti producing an envelope optimized for maximizing daylight on adjacent street-level spaces and inside.

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ADVANCED V — APPLIED ETHICS INITIATIVE

June + December

maximum buildout

Applied Ethics Initiative

11AM

1PM

3PM

5PM

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ADVANCED V — APPLIED ETHICS INITIATIVE

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ADVANCED V — APPLIED ETHICS INITIATIVE

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ADVANCED V — APPLIED ETHICS INITIATIVE

ARCTIC RESEARCH STATION Advanced V — Laurie Hawkinson with Alex Mann Etah, Greenland — To study climate change, scientists often look to the Arctic. Extracting long core samples from deep beneath the ice sheet reveals chemical constitutions of years past. This field station serves as a seasonal lab for researchers gathering core samples for Columbia’s Lahmont-Doherty repository.

The lab is uniquely suited for the harsh climate of northern Greenland. With a heavy poured-concrete base, the lightweight pre-fabricated aluminum frame sits elevated from the ground and accumulating snow. The structure doubles as a vertical-axis wind turbine, generating sustainable energy to power the station while researchers work inside.

> Bright yellow epoxy makes the station stand out in the landscape.

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translucent nanoaerogel panels with solar cells embedded

exterior door on rails

hollow aluminum fins with high-build amine cured epoxy

interior wall aerogel insulation aluminum frame poured concrete pedestal

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ADVANCED V — ARCTIC RESEARCH STATION

The station doubles as a vertical-axis wind turbine, generating sustainable energy for remote working conditions.

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ADVANCED V — ARCTIC RESEARCH STATION

photo credit: Spenser A. Krut, 2019

UNDER A PINK MAYAN ROOF A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE HOME, OASIS, AND NON-PROFIT CALLED SUNNYLANDS Questions in Architectural History II — Felicity D. Scott with Samuel Stewart-Halevy

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Rancho Mirage, CA — To consider seriously the adage, a home is a reflection of the inhabitant, is to accept that the architecture and objects that constitute a residence were designed and selected with intention. The analogy begins and ends with the occupants’ conscious involvement in the construction and arrangement of the physical space. When deciding to build upon a plot of raw land, the entire project, from the tip of the roof to the treatment of the property’s perimeter, enters the record.

Walter Annenberg was a tremendously successful American businessman. In 1942, he inherited the media empire of his father, Moses Annenberg, who had been indicted for tax evasion and passed away while serving his sentence. Walter and his second wife, Leonore (“Lee,” Walter her third husband), were notable philanthropists and public servants, funding numerous educational departments and facilities across public schools and university campuses nationwide and serving as Ambassador to the United Kingdom/Court of Saint James’s and Chief of Protocol respectively. The couple’s primary residence, Inwood, was in Philadelphia where their media company was based, but they owned multiple properties including a winter retreat in California.

The Annenberg retreat, also known as Sunnylands and the “Camp David of the West,” occupies 232 acres in Rancho Mirage, a neighborhood adjacent to Palm Springs and Palm Desert in the Coachella Valley. Towards the center of the grounds, protected by a pale pink wall and grove of eucalyptus, olive, oleander, and tamarisk trees, sits the nearly 30,000 square foot mid-century modern home. After the completion of the construction of the home, private golf course, and extensive gardens in 1966, the retreat operated as a high-class meeting place for moguls, politicians, and celebrities.

President Eisenhower and his wife were among the first guests, to be followed by six other U.S. Presidents and numerous foreign dignitaries during the Annenbergs’ lifetimes. Walter and Lee were prolific hosts: documentation of their famous New Year’s Eve parties, golf outings, and upscale cookouts and dinners remain on display at Sunnylands in a designated part of the home, the “Room of Memories.”

The estate, typically occupied from early December through mid-April, far surpasses most definitions of a single-family home. From the

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Figure 1: Aerial of property from 1966 (year completed).

extensive Impressionist and Post-impressionist art collection display to the 22 bedrooms and 11 well-stocked man-made lakes on the property, the estate’s lavish design suggests that it was always intended for a greater purpose than a second home for Walter and Lee Annenberg’s family. This analysis proposes that the Annenberg’s winter retreat, its varied distinct programming inclusive, appropriates the qualities of the home, the scales and experiences specific to a domestic space, to generate a new and unorthodox space. From this juxtaposition rises the potential of an intimate depiction of the primary inhabitants according to Gaston Bachelard’s topoanalytical approach of “reading” inner spaces and an exemplification of Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia concerning exterior space. With very few autobiographical accounts from Walter and Lee on Sunnylands, the former investigation will derive their influence and impressions from anecdotes and images provided by the designers, distinguished guests, and biographers for the purpose of establishing that the estate was foremost a home. The latter will more precisely use the principles outlined by Foucault in his 1967 lecture “On Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias” as a framework for revealing Sunnylands as a space that suspended,

neutralized, and inverted typical relationships found in the space of a home.

providing an intimate look into the inhabitants’ psyches.

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—

Before the claim of otherness can be made, the norm or standard from which the object is deviating must be established. In his chapter “House and Universe” in The Poetics of Space, Bachelard writes “A house that has been experienced is not an inert box. Inhabited space transcends geometrical space.” The next layer of definition is the specific images (products of the imagination, visual/spatial counterpart of thoughts, memories, dreams) recalled about a house—their vantage points, colors, light conditions, and sequencing. This interpretation of space produces two consequences: (1) at an individual level, a being offers insight into their consciousness via a “reading” of these recalled images, and (2) a determination that all beings live in space “saturated with qualities” as opposed to “homogeneous and empty space.” He focuses on the typology of the house because it is inextricable from intimacy, from human consciousness—it is simultaneously a “tool for analysis of the human soul” and a “topography of our intimate being.” Topoanalysis then suggests this potential of the house serving as a proxy for being because both are defined by space (not time).

In 1963, Walter made his first purchase of 197 acres and the rights to a local water supply company in Rancho Mirage. He wanted a private golf course, impatient with the play at the local clubs, and Lee was eager to have a permanent residence nearer where she grew up in California. The estate would be an escape from cold winter months and obligations to socialize and publicize their lives, but also serve as a blank slate for the couple to realize their dream world together.

Memory of a childhood home features heavily in Bachelard’s topoanalytical approach. But when the person (or persons) under analysis have the means to realize the home of their wildest imaginations—no property line or significant code requirements withstanding, a near perfect climate to accommodate, and a virtually bottomless wallet—perhaps an investigation of the resultant physical space can be comparably fruitful. The following idiosyncratic application’s aim is to establish the project of Sunnylands was a home because it contains the potential of

Figure 2: Walter and Lee on the job site.

William “Billy” Haines, an interior decorator the Annenbergs were friendly with, helped them put a team of architects and landscape designers together to get started. According to Haines and his partner, Ted Graber, it was determined from the initial site meeting in 1963 with Walter that what he desired was an oasis. “That’s exactly what I want and I don’t want to see one grain of sand except in the sand traps,” Walter replied.

QUESTIONS IN ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY II — UNDER A PINK MAYAN ROOF

At another site meeting in 1964, Walter and Lee set out sticks and rope to resituate the stakedout footprint of the house themselves. Their suggestion for preferred views and what they regarded as a better relationship with the site appeared in the next iteration of revised plans.

The architects, A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons, completed the final master plan of the site with input from golf course designer, Dick Wilson, and horticulturist, Rolla Wilhite.

A 9-hole golf course winded about the central mound of the property, designed to be played as a loop with 18 tee boxes. Twelve man-made lakes, given a more naturalistic appearance with jagged edges laid with rough stones, provided water hazards, fishing holes, and some relief

from the dry air. Conspicuously void of palm trees, Walter convinced Wilhite to sell him a rare Beaucarnea tree, over 150 years old, to be replanted by the swimming pool, visible from every room on the western side of the house.

Lee’s input homed in on the building itself: “bring in the light and the view and the gardens.”

A California native, Lee welcomed the long steel trellis on the terrace for shade; the glass exterior walls creating visual connections with their landscape and the mountains beyond; and an overhanging roof for protection from direct sunlight. One particular design decision of Jones’ she insisted on changing was the perforated, exposed steel columns supporting the roof. The holes were plugged with round pegs and the columns painted celadon, what would become the dominant color of the interior spaces.

The Annenbergs agreed upon a Mayan theme, particularly a pyramidal shape for the statement roof. On two sides at the front of the house, dark Mexican lava stone walls intersect with the suspended egg-crate-coffered ceiling. The expansiveness and symmetry of the roof can be gleaned from the approach to the building, a gentle slope of tiles painted a pale pink to match the color of the sunset on the nearby mountain range. A corner of the ceiling extends past the edge of the motor drive, covering a visitor the moment she steps out of her vehicle, and spans visibly over 100 feet across the atrium.

Figure 3: Landscaping construction drawings.

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The massive, 5,022 sqft room is the hub of the entire facility—a flexible space that displays the art collection valued at $1 billion, features an arrangement of custom furnishings completed

by Haines and Graber, and transforms into a dining hall and dance floor when the Annenbergs are entertaining. Situated below the cupola, the highest point of the ceiling meant to vent hot, dry air out, a bronze statue by Auguste Rodin, Eve, rests on a pedestal surrounded by a small water feature and perimeter of flowers.

She is presented in a protective position, one arm wrapped around her torso, the other bent in front of her crouched head, shielded from the sunlight falling from above and turned away from a visitor entering the space. The Annenbergs and Haines worked in close written correspondence regarding the arrangement of the art collection.

In some instances, Haines depicted samples of the artworks in his renderings of the furniture.

“I enjoy making the proper presentation,” Walter said in an interview with art magazine, Connoisseur, “Sometimes presentation can be almost everything.”

Figure 4: Rendering provided by Williams Haines Inc. depicting a painting from Walter’s collection.

— In 1969, President Nixon appointed Walter to the most prestigious Ambassador position in his administration, the Court of St. James.

The Annenbergs had spent only three winters at Sunnylands before moving to the British Embassy, Winfield House. Under the previous occupants’ supervision (and minimal salary), the residence had severely deteriorated. Of the many new obligations entreated to him as Ambassador, Walter was “desirous of refurbishing the Embassy residence” and “anxious to do that as a contribution” to the

U. S. government. Lee, Haines, and Graber put together the list of tasks that needed to be addressed and the “refurbishment” was completed within the Annenberg’s first year of residence. Apart from modernizing the plumbing and electrical work and a restructuring of the roof and grand stair in the foyer, most of the changes were cosmetic interior upgrades.

Elements of the group’s recent collaboration appear, reinforcing the extent to which the Annenbergs played a role in the design of their winter estate. Like their own home, all of the fabrics, trims, draperies, and upholstery were custom designed and woven in California and shipped to site; each room of the house taking on a particular hue like the color-coded guest rooms at Sunnylands. More pale green, arguably Lee’s favorite color, appeared on the walls in the dining room and a specially selected 18th-century Chinese wallpaper applied in the Garden Room. Haines and Graber also acquired numerous antiques to adorn the increased number of furnishings brought in to fill the large number of rooms.

Changes to Sunnylands post-London appear influenced by their roles as U.S. diplomats and time at Winfield House. In a letter from 1974 to Gerald Ford, Walter expressed this formal shift in his view of the estate: The ancient Chinese philosophers believed that reverence of the landscape was the highest ideal in life and hence most Chinese paintings majored in some aspect of the landscape. Further, the landscape represented a sanctuary of protection and peaceful comfort.

Sunnylands has come to represent just this in my life and as a consequence I try to guard the privacy and the beauty of it with respect and consideration.

First, they hired a House Manager who would direct a portion of the staff and assist Lee

QUESTIONS IN ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY II — UNDER A PINK MAYAN ROOF

1995 included the construction of an 8-foot high pink concrete wall around the perimeter of the property to replace a line of dying oleanders and increase privacy from the growing neighborhood.

— Figure 5: Atrium and living space of main house that showcases the painting collection; Auguste Rodin’s Eve centered Source: Sunnylands: Art and Architecture of the Annenberg Estate in Rancho Mirage, California, University of Pennsylvania Press (2010).

with maintaining a standard of hospitality for all guests. This included weekends planned months in advance; invited guests would receive typed itineraries and summaries of other guests’ accomplishments upon their arrival as well as the daily newspaper from their hometown. Three greenhouses were erected by the maintenance area for the cultivation of orchids and bromeliads, constant fixtures throughout the house year-round. Walter decided his art collection would remain at the estate (it previously travelled by private jet to the Metropolitan Museum during the months the Annenbergs were not at Sunnylands). Skylights in the main atrium were covered and planters removed to protect the pieces; an additional partition wall and lighting system were added for the permanent display. For entertaining, Lee wanted a larger, more conventional (less modern and open) dining area set up where the support staff could enter and exit discreetly. Harry Saunders, a former associate of A. Quincy Jones, was selected to transform the former Billiards Room into this new dining space and upgrade the kitchen and service areas.

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Three years later, Saunders was again asked to renovate the house, this time an addition of three bedrooms to the guest pavilion and an expansion of a room in the East wing. In the original design, Walter intended this room, situated across the hall from the master suite, to be his mother’s bedroom. She passed away before the home was completed and it had been decorated as a guest room ever since.

Saunders pushed the walls out to enclose an exterior courtyard, put a large skylight in the windowless space, and lined the perimeter with cabinets and bookshelves. A pseudolibrary, the room was dubbed the “Room of Memories” and served as a repository for all the photographs and memorabilia of Walter and Lee and Sunnylands’ momentous meetings, popular events, and famous guests. Notably a portrait of Walter painted by Andrew Wyeth hangs above a row of family picture frames and opposite a portrait of George Washington. Outside of the home, Saunders was also working on a Chineseinspired pavilion for picnics on the golf course and a replica marble bench that Walter had seen on a trip to the Greek islands and asked for. One of the final changes Walter oversaw in

To restate the list of adjustments in another way: the dream world of Sunnylands physically transformed from an oasis to a sanctuary via these incremental renovations and additions because of the change in Walter and Lee’s sensibilities after returning from England. The less fantastical transition from home to institution simultaneously occurred. The art collection grew; the security increased; the invitations became more exclusive. Original domestic touches—the fireplace, bedrooms, movie night, family photographs—remained, but the use of the space and expected behaviors shifted regardless.

This subversion of the home and neutralization of its primary functions at a geographically locatable site fulfills what Michel Foucault calls a heterotopia. Whereas Bachelard’s theory focuses on revealing individuals’ inner space (through a topological investigation of a home), Foucault is interested in the similarly non-homogeneous external space. The apoliticism and ahistoricism of an investigation of inner space cedes authority to external space and the proposition that space “has a history of its own” that must be contended with in order to understand how it is defined, arranged, occupied. Foucault declares this exterior space as heterogeneous—the “space in which we live” is “a set of relationships that define positions which cannot be equated or in any way superimposed.” It is not motionless, imagined, or reducible to qualities, nor is it, according to the examples given in the lecture, typically applied to the space of the home.

When considering exterior space, arrangements can be described by determining themes of

the relationships they are composed of (i.e. transit or spaces occupied only temporarily).

“A house, the bedroom, and the bed,” fall under the theme of rest and the arrangements hence.

But other spaces also comprise arrangements warranting a particular type of investigation, heterotopology—this is the crux of Foucault’s theory. The arrangement of these other spaces, heterotopias and utopias, are “endowed with the curious property of being in relation with all the others” and require investigation to uncover their value with regard to civilization.

Utopia is negligible in Foucault’s exploration of space because it is fundamentally unreal, unlocatable. Heterotopias can be occupied and are actually defined by the behavior of individuals. Of his two main types, crisis and deviance, Foucault proposes that the former is almost a vestige of primitive society, when individuals would enter privileged, sacred, or forbidden sites during episodes of crisis. As the definition of crisis evolves over time, a more forgiving heterotopia of deviance is replacing this type. Now, any behavior believed to “deviate” from the “current average or standard” suggests a heterotopic place. Furthermore, Foucault makes the conjecture that “in a society like our own, [...] pleasure is the rule” and therefore any condition that hinders an individual’s ability to pursue it is considered a crisis and deviation.

The argument can also be made that it is precisely the overindulgence in pleasurable activities that typifies behavior deviating from the standard when staying at the estate. Sunnylands operates as if on an unwavering quest for the satisfaction and comfort of its occupants.

To be clear though, Foucault’s first principle of heterotopia is limited to the statement: “heterotopias assume a wide variety of forms, to the extent that a single, absolutely universal form may not exist” and the desire to classify these other spaces as either on account of crisis or deviance is not necessary.

QUESTIONS IN ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY II — UNDER A PINK MAYAN ROOF

— To illustrate the variety of forms of heterotopia put forth by Foucault, Sunnylands stands as a curious example. There are instances in its history, from its conception as a house to its current status as a non-profit and historic site, that appeal to all principles—all proposed types—of heterotopia outlined by Foucault. This is by no means an exhaustive account of every venue Sunnylands has functioned as or service Sunnylands has performed, but will seek to show the breadth of its occupation and how it neutralized and inverted the notions of home as a heterogeneous space.

In 1974, Nixon retreated to Sunnylands after a humiliating resignation from the presidency. He had visited on numerous occasions prior, he and his wife were good friends of Walter and Lee, but this time he was fleeing to a privileged zone to escape the media frenzy and climax of public attention experienced during the Watergate Scandal. The press, the weight of public opinion, was in some meaningful way thwarted by the privacy of the property. His self-imposed isolation, in a real location, also served to remove the unwanted behavior from the society at large.

Once the hyper-fixation on him and the brunt of public outcry dissipated, Nixon exited. This particular “crisis with respect to the society or the environment in which he lives,” one of reputation and public appearance, has arguably increased in the latter half of the 20th century and subsequent media environments. In this instance, the world had the means (highly visible public scrutiny) to ostracize an individual whose behavior was determined incongruous with the existing society and Sunnylands provided the space for him to be placed. The estate’s ability to change functions, a single-family residence/ presidential retreat instead serving as a refuge and confinement for a deviant individual, performs Foucault’s second principle.

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The principles following the first two, the indeterminate form of heterotopia, elucidate further the counter-arrangements of real other spaces. A third element states the space of a heterotopia “has the power of juxtaposing in a single real place different spaces and locations that are incompatible with each other.” This begins with Sunnylands appropriation of Mayan/ Mexican influences in the architecture, Chinese antiques in the art collection display, and its artificially infinite green lawn with lakes in the middle of the desert. Each element suggests a different function (temple, museum, golf course), yet none accurately reflects the events that take place on the property (sleeping, weddings and trade agreements, arid climate). The main atrium alone acts as a living room, bandstand and dance floor, art gallery, and even an event space for the State Dinner hosted by the president. The presence of the art collection also lends itself to Foucault’s fourth principle: a space subverting traditional time, whether by disregarding it or, in this case, accumulating it in the form of an archive. At Sunnylands, the art collection dates back hundreds of years, the architecture is profoundly mid-century modern, and the “Room of Memories” preserves the major accomplishments of the creators through signed books, letters, and photographs.

Moreover, every guest who stepped foot on the property is immortalized in the guestbooks of the estate’s archives. This practice is a hold-over from a time of meticulous hosting and serious security concerns, but also an attempt by the occupants to quantitatively represent the impact a place can afford. A typical stay for a guest was a dinner or a weekend, emphasizing the transitory nature of the estate understood as a retreat.

The fifth principle applies effortlessly to a private residence: “one does not get into a heterotopian location by one’s own will. Either one is forced

[...] or one must submit to rites of purification.

One can only enter by special permission and after one has completed a certain number of gestures.” For the 40+ years it operated as the Annenbergs’ private residence, a guest had to be on the list to enter. The shallow pool of those who made the cut were most often politicians—the only group Walter deemed more powerful than the wealthiest of men, even the newspaper owners. A visitor to Sunnylands today must sign up weeks in advance for a tour to enter the grounds. Despite the gesture of giving the estate “to the nation,” Sunnylands remains closed off and isolated, the house preserved and peered at by the majority as if a static object.

Prior to this crystallization, Sunnylands shined as the kind of other space Foucault describes as heterotopia of compensation. The sixth and final principle is the closest counterpart to utopia as it situates heterotopia between illusion and perfection. At this juncture, relationships to spaces beyond the heterotopia of compensation become “more illusory” or in some capacity appease individuals burdened by the inequality or inhospitable characteristics of real spaces. When society reads these spaces, they find criticisms of or alternative resolutions for existing conditions which can inform and cultivate the continued progress of civilization according to Foucault’s theory. So if Sunnylands (from 1974 – 2002) maintained the appearance of a perfect place (“effectively realized utopia”), highly regulated and structured, a “reading” offers some critique of spaces beyond that would be valuable for society. While the full extent to which the property has inspired the utopian imagination may be indeterminable, the set of relationships that define it are always in flux, Sunnylands has certainly encouraged a select few to dream. An incredible example—in a letter to Walter dated

Figure 6: President George H. W. Bush fishing in the man-made lake.

Source (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 6): Sunnylands: America’s Midcentury Masterpiece, The Vendome Press (2016).

March 1990, the then sitting President George H. W. Bush penned, Well, here I am in the Oval Office. I should be thinking about the budget resolution, how to help Nicaragua’s democracy, or the anti-drug fight, but no. I’m thinking about our time with you—from that opening dinner for Kaifu all the way til that lucky 4-iron to the pin on 18. Some classic great time!

QUESTIONS IN ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY II — UNDER A PINK MAYAN ROOF

SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE PICTURESQUE Geographic Information Systems — Leah Meisterlin with Carsten Rodin Brooklyn, New York — The picturesque is arguably the most visually-oriented aesthetic category, purporting the strongest connection between the human eye and emotions. It is also a reversal of economic efficiency, an outright rejection of order and inductive legibility from the perspective of a “user” or one who circulates in the space. A picturesque landscape prioritizes activities like wandering, contemplation, and appreciating nature or natural forms.

Simply put, the late 18th century conceptualization of the picturesque attempts a balance of beautiful and sublime qualities to generate a compelling and safe (from physical danger; one may get lost or surprised) outdoor environment inspired by and contingent upon the natural environment. Its very premise is ironic—can nature be designed by humans?

Furthermore, how do we perceive these attempts?

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The results of the study provide a framework for evaluating the spatial characteristics of the picturesque, quantifying qualities of the picturesque style along a chosen path, and a replicable system for assigning values of certain picturesque qualities to points.

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Variety Data Collection Process manual cataloguing sky vegetation path objects

This analysis defines the picturesque in four terms that can be collected as data: variety, mutability, irregularity, and contingency. Variety is concerned with elements in a scene; mutability considers the fourth dimension; irregularity begins to connect the dots; and contingency offers the alternatives, the roads untravelled.

These four criteria build upon one another—variety and mutability are scored based on counts and planimetric analysis; the diversity indices generated at each node provide the data for calculating irregularity and contingency.

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Mutability Data Collection Process planimetric analysis GIS — SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE PICTURESQUE

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GIS — SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE PICTURESQUE

New York City, New York — This methodology foregrounds mapping Columbia University’s potential influence in Upper Manhattan across three critical years of its new Manhattanville campus.

After President Bollinger officially announced the University’s plans for a new campus in 2003, the properties occupying the footprint of the campus that refused to sell were acquired through eminent domain by 2009; and in 2018, the first building opened to the public. The planned expansion includes 17 acres situated north of the main Morningside campus. In order to capture change in and around these properties as well as around other Columbia campuses, the study area for this project encompases all of upper Manhattan above 96th Street.

This analysis compares two thematized sets of data (four variables) processed with different methods: (1) Demographics and (2) Quality of Life. The variables were chosen loosely based on Columbia’s promises in its Community Benefits Agreement to various community groups.

building footprint data for 2000, 2009, 2018

2

American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimate by block group for 2009, 2018 Census data by block group for 2000 Race Median Household Income Rent Burden Educational Attainment

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combine fields for FIPS code geoID and table join data

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calculate proportional split of data by unit density

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block group

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Run Shannon Diversity Index for demographic data per year

more diverse

residential unit

less diverse

H = -Σ Pi * LN (Pi ) H equals the diversity of species in a particular community, higher values are more diverse.

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Calculate percent change per variable between 2000-2009 and 2009-2018

Run Anselin Local Moran’s I cluster and outlier test on the percent change per variable

high cluster

low cluster

finds clusters of high values and low values also finds outliers in which a high value is surrounded by low values and vice versa

ANALYSIS

While the maps in this study can provide a level of accountability by revealing spatial patterns of change that undercut Columbia’s claim of a “mutually beneficial relationship,” further research could be done to contextualize the patterns observed and attribute them to any singular actor.

DATA COLLECTION

collaboration with Mariana Hinojosa + Jean Kim

1

GEOPROCESSING

Advanced Spatial Analysis — Leah Meisterlin

DATA PRE-PROCESSING

MANHATTANVILLE, A STUDY

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Draw one-mile service area from the centroid of Columbia’s three uptown campuses (Morningside, Manhattanville, Medical)

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Select relevant clusters within service area boundary for closer evaluation

% change =

high outlier

(year 2) - (year 1) (year 1)

low outlier

To achieve a finer resolution of data, all variables (originally aggregated at the census block group level) are proportionally split using residential unit density. Percent change is calculated for each variable between 2000-2009 and 2009-2018.

96th Street -100

0

100

percent change

Demographics

N

Quality of Life Median Household Income earning less than 2nd quintile in study area 20k (2003); 30k (2009); 40k (2018)

Rent Burden households paying >30% of income for rent

Educational Attainment Bachelor’s Degree or more (population over 25 years old)

2009 - 2018 change

2000 - 2009 change

Race Shannon Diversity Index (race with hispanic breakdown)

1/2 MI

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ADVANCED SPATIAL ANALYSIS — MANHATTANVILLE

If the construction of the new campus is indeed creating a more “mutually beneficial relationship” between Columbia and its neighbors, changes in educational attainment, income, and rent burden should be expected. However, in cases where these shifts are visible, there is often also a shift in the racial make-up of the area, potentially indicating displacement rather than changing conditions for existing residents.

In almost all study areas except “Morningside,” white and asian populations increased while the black, hispanic, and native populations decreased. These demographic shifts are accompanied by increased median household incomes and increased rent burden, potentially indicating that rents rose to match the incomes of new residents, while further burdening lower-income residents. These patterns are familiar and continue Columbia’s long history of exclusion and encroachment on its surrounding communities.

Rent Burden

N

high cluster

low cluster

high outlier

low outlier

Diversity

For example in “West Harlem,” directly above the Manhattanville campus, between 20002009, there is an increase in rent burdened units followed by a decrease between 2009-2018.

There is a clear spatial relationship between the decrease in rent burden and an increase in white population, as well as the increase in adults with a Bachelor’s Degree or higher.

1/4 MI

Rent Burden

Median Household Income

Diversity 105

2000-2009

2009-2018 ADVANCED SPATIAL ANALYSIS — MANHATTANVILLE

TRACKING COVID-19 POLICIES Center for Spatial Research — Laura Kurgan, Dare Brawley, Jia Zhang collaboration with Adeline Chum Zoom, Summer 2020 — Tracking COVID-19 Policies is a research tool pairing social distancing policies with case outcomes per state. It has two main components: a new dataset and data visualizations provided on an interactive website. The data was gathered from hundreds of state policies and other forms of published guidance to generate nine preventative measures categories: emergency declarations, school closures, gathering restrictions, mask policies, stayat-home orders, non-essential business closures, restaurant restrictions, and bar restrictions.

Each state has a unique “fingerprint,” which is composed of three sections along the same timeline: the top being the state’s cumulative cases per capita count as the bar graph and overall US cases per capita count as a dashed line; the middle section is the social distancing policies put in place, and the bottom is the cumulative death count starting from January 1st to July 31st.

This project presents the numerous approaches to certain preventative policies related to COVID-19 enacted across the nation inviting closer scrutiny of our combined efforts to flatten the curve.

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sample of dataset created for the visualizations.

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CENTER FOR SPATIAL RESEARCH — COVID-19 POLICIES