Claire Trout | SCI-Arc Portfolio 2021-2022

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2021-2022

Southern California Institute of Architecture

M.Arch II Portfolio

TROUT

CLAIRE

Claire Trout

Copyright © 2022 Claire Trout All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quatations in a book review.

email: claire_trout@icloud.com mobile: (208) 598-0131

SCI-Arc

CLAIRE

TROUT

M.Arch II Portfolio

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2020-2021

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Claire Trout

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Statement

Claire Trout is a developing architect currently advancing her graduate studies as a Masters of Architecture II student at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

Prior to joining SCI-Arc, she played a crucial role in the developing of a Boise-based construction firm, where she worked as an Estimator and Project Manager in the design department of the firm. Interested in furthering her education, she attended the University of Idaho where she received her Bachelors of Science in Architecture.

Outside the field of architecture, she has forayed into watercolor and collage art.

With a little over ten years in the academia and the professional field, she sees her time at SCI-Arc as the ideal opportunity to develop her career both as a passionate individual that believes in the discipline of architecture while having the opportunity to have an influence in the built environment. She sees herself practicing architecture at a professional level, while always keeping a foot towards academia.

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Content

2GBX 8

Anthophila

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Congruence

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Self Assembly: Studio Brief

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2GAX

Synergistic Learning

2GBX DESIGN STUDIO

VISUAL STUDIES II

HISTORY & THEORY II

2GAX DESIGN STUDIO

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Masked

VISUAL STUDIES I

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Terraforming

VISUAL STUDIES I

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Overlaid

VISUAL STUDIES I

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Louis Vuitton Fondation

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Abstraction of Anderson’s Models

ADVANCED MATERIALS & TECTONICS

HISTORY & THEORY I

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Anthophila

Course: DS1201 2GBX Studio: Generative Morphologies Instructor: Elena Manferdini Semester: Spring 2022

Location: Los Angeles, California

Software: Unreal Engine 4, Rhino, Blender Partner: Piyush Panchal

The studio took on the project of a bio-tech building in El Segundo, Los Angeles County.

As the life science industry thrives during the current public health crisis, Los Angeles aims to be a bio-tech hub, third only to Boston and San Diego. This studio considered the interests of multiple stakeholders that make up this unique and evolving building type. The design focused on an organization that gathers groups of interdisciplinary constituents to perform research around particular technologies, policies, and ideas.

As a result, Anthophila focused on the food industry’s need for genetic modification of 9

foods through a symbiotic relationship with and bees, or the apiary community. These new forms of food modifications have led to the need for a central hub in which food is grown and adapted to meet the needs of the nearby community. Greenhouses, labs, and gardens are actively utilized in this new and adaptive form with meeting spaces for all stakeholders to come together in the creation of highly nutritious foods. While the hub is only the beginning of the bioengineering changes within the food industry, the next goal is to ensure this hub is a common landmark across the glove, actively engaging with the local fora and fauna.

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Left: AI Interpolations Right: AI Interpolation, zoomed

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EARLY DESIGN DEVELOPMENT The project developed using beehives and AI interpolation exercises using bees, cupcakes, sneakers, and sea creatures to inspire and create a complex, detailed form.

Left-Top: South Elevation Left-Bottom: North Elevation Right: Perspective with Site Context

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PLANS 14

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ANTHOPHILA

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Offices .......................

Dry Lab .......................

Ventilation ..................

Hydroponics ..................

Wet Lab .......................

32,100 sqft 11,000 sqft 2,000 sqft 3,400 sqft 15,300 sqft

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SECTIONAL ELEVATION

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ANTHOPHILA

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Offices .......................

Wet Lab .......................

Hydroponics ..................

Dry Lab .......................

Assembly .......................

Parking .......................

14,800 sqft 15,300 sqft 3,400 sqft 11,400 sqft 28,300 sqft 15,100 sqft

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Left: Detail Exterior Right: Exploded Axonometric

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Left: Centrally-located tree within the lab space Right: Analysis of bees in artificial habitat

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Above: Anthophila Lab

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Above: Lab from above

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Above: Parliament natural flooring with sweets

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PARLIAMENT The parliament is a space for all stakeholders humans, robotics, bees, trees, flowering plants - to be equally represented.

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Left-Bottom: Parliament Interior Perspective Right: Parliament natural floring, showcasing sweets

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Congruence

Course: DS1200 Visual Studies II Instructor: Damjan Jovanovic Semester: Spring 2022

Location: Los Angeles, California

Software: Unreal Engine 4, Blender, AfterEffects Partner: James Chidiac

The focus of this project was the exploration and application of new representational technologies and novel ways of drawing and modeling. In recent years, the discipline has seen a gradual shift from standard, static models into animated, and even simulated models. This project explored simulations as a format and adopted to the usage of interactive models.

The project used Blender and Unreal Engine to produce a cinematic work that focused on the idea of atmosphere. In Blender, a variety of tools and add-ons (By-Gen, Random Flow, 37

Boxcutter, HardOps, KitOps and Cablerator) were utilized to produce a series of hard surface models in different scales. These models were meant to become part of the repertoire of aesthetic objects, which was then populated in the world created in Unreal Engine.

Simulations are entering culture as a new format of storytelling and artistic expression.

They present us with an ever-shifting, uncontrollable and potentially infinitely long aesthetic format, where probability and randomness produce a formless, percolating and intractable pictorial space.

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Left: Perspectiving showing various scales of AI Right: Large-scale AI set in forest

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Above: Main forest perspective

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Left: Evening forest scene with AI Robots Right: Evening forest scene with AI Hub

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Above: View of central meadow

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SELF-ASSEMBLY STUDIO BRIEF

Course: HT2201 History & Theory Instructor: Marcelyn Gow Semester: Spring 2022

Subject: 3D/4D Modeling, Abstraction, Assembly

This is an introductory studio to examine the role of self- assemblage through 3D printing.

We will be looking at the capabilities of a 3D printed objects and how self-assemblage can be programmed into the material before it is even printed. This will be achieved through the lens of Matteo Pasquinelli’s concept of Algorithmic Rituals. In composing our 3D printed objects, we will be following a set of processes, one after the other in order to achieve our desired results. The projects themselves will take on a “logical riddle that is the key of the ritual”(Pasquinelli,1), each step building on the previous either 47

through consistent shape and area but varying configurations, or through a complex set of geometric means in which assembly can only be achieved through one configuration.

We will also be looking the concept of 4D printing, a concept that 2 is defined as designing a 3D printed model which can self-assemble or physically transform. This will be achieved through a series of phases and exercises. The methodology will focus on the concept of algorithms and how to apply these techniques to a 3D project, therefore transforming it to a 4D, self-assembled project.

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COURSE ABSTRACT

times, the algorithm was the name of a procedure to help mathematical operations. In modern times, the procedure becomes fully mechanized and automated by machines and then digital computers”(Paquinelli,6). Although Pasquinelli suggests algorithms in the modern era would rely on computers and digital automation, this studio seeks to move beyond this concept and 3 into the idea that automation and algorithmic assembly can be designed using digital tools, but created using simple, physics-based assembly methods.

Looking back on historical rituals and rules for calculation, we find the following to be a baseline definition of algorithm that can be applied to this studio: 1. an abstract diagram from repeating time, space, labor and operations in a sequence.

2. the division of the process into finite steps that can be performed, replicated, and controlled.

3. a solution to a particular problem that goes beyond the constraints of the current situation; “an algorithm is a trick” (Pasquinelli, 6).

4. an economic process, it employs the least amount of resources possible in terms of space, time, energy, and adaptation to the situation.

This studio course will extend the discussion of Pasquinelli’s concept of the algorithm and advance his arguments through experimentation and discovery. Although it is a studio which relies heavily on materiality, the main focus of this studio is the process. Pasquinelli’s algorithm “can be recognized in procedures and codified rituals to achieve a specific goal and transmit rules... In Medieval

Self-Assembly Lab: Experiments in Programming Matter, Tibbits, pg. 122

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Above: Self-Assembly Lab: Experiments in Programming Matter, Tibbits, pg. 98 Previous: Self-Assembly Lab: Experiments in Programming Matter, Tibbits, pg. 1 49

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BACKGROUND

“Detail is everywhere, ubiquitously distributed and continuously variegated in collaboration with formal and spacial effects.” (Lynn, 31). Greg Lynn describes that volumetric minimalism with subtle details can imply intricacy and complexity without the need for broad compositional movements (Lynn, 32). When considering this studio and the ultimate goal of self-assemblage, subtle details are key to achieving an effective project.

Although Lynn suggests detail is everywhere, this studio seeks to identify the benefits of such details and how we, as the human agent in this assemblage, affect the end result. The choice of multiplexity and intricacy in the final project will determine if the design is successful. Because of this, indentifying where your role as the designer ends and the AI-assisted self-assemblage begins is key to understanding self-assemblage.

“Just as much as the machines of the industrial age grew out of experimentation, know-how, and the labor of skilled workers, engineers, and craftsmen, the statistical models of AI grow out of the data produced by collective intelligence. What is the relation between artificial intelligence and human intelligence?” (Pasquinelli, 11).

“Which human task will AI come to record with its sensors, imitate with its statistical models, and replace with automation” (Pasquinelli, 8). 3D printing is the future and has the potential to move the architectural industry forward in a more efficient way than ever before.

The next step in this sequence is self-assemblage, or the process in which a material is created and preprogramed to assemble without human interaction. This is typically achieved through the use of basic physics.

Soon our buildings and machines will be self-assembling, replicating, and repairing themselves. When we think of the future of AI, it is easy to assume a mental image of a human-programmed, robotic form, tasked with doing the mundane or otherwise dangerous which humans either wouldn’t or couldn’t do. However, with the introduction of programmable materials, the future of AI will, rather, be about human- inspired self-assemblages.

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Self-Assembly Lab: Experiments in Programming Matter, Tibbits, pg. 23

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This studio is organized around three main phases and build on each other. The work from previous phases will be updated and revised as the semester progresses. Shorter introductory exercises will focus on establishing familiarity with the tools, terminology, and work flows. The longer phases in phase two and three will tackle particular tasks and focus on a theme more in-depth.

Each phase will end with a minisymposium to display projects and discuss next steps.

PHASE 1: Introduction to 3D Printing and Material Processes This first phase will entail the creation of an algorithm through design. We will decode assembly sequences, identifying key methods of assembly in the natural world as well as the built environment. Our first exercise will involve decoding the complexity of a built object into simple sequences that can be replicated, essentially looking at the DNA of how buildings work.

Jane Bennet discusses in her book, Vibrant Matter, what it means “to be a ‘mode,’ then is to form alliances and anter assemblages: it is to mod(e)ify and be modified by others” (22). This concept will be key to developing knowledge of the assemblage and the reasoning behind these excersizes and discoveries. The goal of this studio is to understand the algorithmic assemblage as it applies to materiality through both digital and manual processes.

Through this, we will identify key assemblages and how they are formed, interact with the environment, other assemblages, and agents.

Using these new tools and knowledge, the task will be to 3D model and print a simple assemblage, carefully choosing the materiality, texture, and assemblage methodology.

“Assemblages are ad hoc groupings of diverse elements, of vibrant materials of all sorts” (Bennet, 23). Careful choices must be made in determining these vibrant materials and the method of assemblage. Utilize the case study chosen to inform these decisions.

PHASE 2: A Singular Self-Assemblage Phase Two will consist of the programming of a single, minimal yet intricate design that can be self-assembled and replicated in a particular setting, using simple physics such as elasticity, gravity, or magnetism (Tibbits, 5). The concept of energy for actuation will be introduced into the project as well. Furthering the algorithmic model, this project will create an object that can fold up, or reconfigure itself after it is 3D printed.

The point of this excercise is to identify the differences/ contrasts between “an effect by a human-nonhuman assemblage” (Bennet, 28). When developing the programmable, single assemblage, identify where your contribution ends and self-assemblage begins. This is key to understanding agency’s role in assemblage - both through manual and self-assemblage. It is also imperative to explicitly “distinguish [the difference] between ‘cause’ and ‘origin’” (Bennet, 33).

Consider answering these questions in the development of your design: - Where does this concept originate?

- Which materials would be appropriate to use in this assemblage, and in contrast, which would be inappropriate for this usage?

- Is there more than one way to assemble this object using simple physics: eleasticity, gravity, magnetism, etc.?

- How is it disassembled?

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Self-Assembly Lab: Experiments in Programming Matter, Tibbits, pg. 23

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PHASE 3: Final, Scaled Assemblage Phase Three will build upon the previous Phase Two design, but at a larger scale and with an added layer of intricacy. Error correction will also be introduced as a layer of complexity to ensure that the project has successfully created the desired result (Tibbits, 25).

Ensure the questions from the previous phase have been successfully identified as these will be essential in moving forward with this next phase. When shifting scales, we find materials do not always act the same at a larger scale than a smaller scale and vice versa. A post-it note can be folded in half, rested on its side, and will easily stand on its own. Apply this method to a postersized sheet of paper and the results will not be the same: the poster will slump and fall to the ground. Similarly, when moving to a larger scale, materials will play a vital role in the assemblage.

Intricacy will also play a key role in the final design. “Intricacy evokes a particular kind of cohesion, continuity, holism and even organicity. Intricate structures are continuously connected and intertwined through fine grain local linkages such that a totality or whole is operative” (Lynn, 34). The final design should introduce a layer of intricacy to the project not seen in Phase One or Two. As designers, we must be able to identify and apply a sensibility of intricacy to our projects. It “connotes a new model of connectionism composed of extremely small scale and incredibly diverse elements” (Lynn, 29). It is not enough to simply create an assemblage, we must also ensure there is depth and complexity interwoven and intertwined.

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Above: Autonomous Assembly, Tibbits, pg. 102 Left: Things Fall Together, Tibbits, pg. 93 55

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COURSE OBJECTIVES & TERMINOLOGY SELF ASSEMBLY

COURSE OBJECTIVES

TERMINOLOGY

Through this course, students will be equipped with the capabilities to create introductory self-assembled designs throughout the semester while developing the capabilities necessary to proceed into the option of a more advanced design studio.Broadly, you will be able to:

Intricacy - the characteristic or state of having many interrelated parts or facets; entangled or involved.

- Engage with the course content through terminology, key concepts, and themes coherent with self-assemblage, 4D printing, and programmable materials.

Transformation - to change in form, appearance, nature, or character

Assemblage - a group of things gathered or collected; an assembly; col- lection; aggregate.

Programmable - capable of a plan of action to accomplish a specific end, potentially a plan or schedule of activities, procedures, etc. to be followed.

- Develop an understanding of the role algorithsms play in the modern era, both digially and manually through a series of exercies.

Materiality - A quality of a stubstance of which a thing is made or com- posed, also a vital materiality that runs through and across bodies, both human and nonhuman (Bennet, 20).

- Communicate using a range of digital tools and techniques, not limited to digital computation, DNA computation, material programming, chemical programmability, synthetic biology, caDNAno, nano robotics, and molecular microchips (Tibbits, 155).

Adaptation - the state to make suitable to requirements or conditions; adjust or modify fittingly.

- Articulate an understanding of self-assemblage through the use of algorithms as outlined by Pasquinelli’s description.

Fabrication - the act or process of making an assemblage of parts or sections.

Customization - to modify or build according to individual or personal specifications or preference.

- Position the project within the framework of references, i.e. through bibliographic, theoretical, technical, and through a series of case studies.

Material Computation - the act of processing materials, or method, of using a computer to process data or perform calculations.

- Situate the analytical and formal design of the project relative to its assemblage, materiality, and broader context at multiple scales.

Augmentation - to make larger; enlarge in size, number, strength, or ex- tent; increase.

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Intricacies, Lynn, pg. 31

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REFERENCES Bennett, Jane, “The Agency of Assemblages,” in Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2010), 20-38.

Lynn, Greg, “Architectural Curvilinearity: The Folded, The Pliant, and the Supple,” Architectural Design: Folding in Architecture 63 (1993), 24-31; and Greg Lynn, Intricacy, exh. cat. Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania Jan 18 – April 6, 2003.

Pasquinelli, Matteo, “Three Thousand Years of Algorithmic Rituals: The Emergence of AI from the Computation of Space,” E-Flux 101 (June 2019).

Tibbits, Skylar. Autonomous Assembly: Designing for a New Era of Collective Construction. Architectural Design Special Issue, v.87, no. 4. Wiley 14 Press.

July, 2017.

Tibbits, Skylar. Self-Assembly Lab: Experiments in Programming Matter. Routledge.

2016.

Tibbits, Skylar. Things Fall Together. Princeton Press. June 15, 2021.

Tibbits, Skylar, and Jared Laucks. n.d. “Self-Assembly Lab.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Accessed March 9, 2022. https://selfassemblylab. mit.edu.

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“Intricacy evokes a particular kind of cohesion, continuity, holism and even organicity. Intricate structures are continuously connected and intertwined through fine grain local linkages such that a totality or whole is operative.”

Greg Lynn

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Things Fall Together, Tibbits, pg. 56

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Synergistic Learning

Course: DS1200 2GAX Studio: Computational Design I Instructor: Florencia Pita Semester: Fall 2021

Location: Pomona, California

Software: Maya, ZBrush, Octane, AfterEffects Partner: Marbella Vasquez Farach

This project utilized an existing project by Morphosis: Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, California, and created an elementary school to fit into the existing project. Using the Thonet chairs as initial inspiration, the project began with humble beginnings of creating and modeling a chair that would fit into the elementary school. After developing a variation of this, a theme arose of a crossover between natural elements and plastic and foam. The narrative of a science experiment gone wrong became the central theme and guided the project.

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The next stage was to create a single classroom, demonstrating this theme and narrative, and model it within Maya, rendered within Octane. A cluster of classrooms were developed, and finally the project as a whole.

Special attention to materials and consistency with the theme of natural materials and plastics/foam were taken into consideration.

An open circulation plan was adopted to allow the students the opportunity to climb and experience the classrooms in a non-traditional manner.

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CHAIR & TABLE ITERATIONS Beginning development of the various Thonet chair and table models. Initial designs used metallics and velvet for materials, later developing into natural materials such as mosses, and manmade materials such as plastics, slime, and foam.

Left: Thonet Chair Iterations Right: Final Collection

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Above: Thonet Chair Iterations; design beginnings

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Above: Single, science classroom iteration with chairs in context

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Above: Single, science classroom Early development of this project sought to imagine a single classroom in which a science experiment had gone wrong, changing the forms and materials of the surrounding walls. A theme arose as a mixture between natural elements and foam or plastic matter.

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Left: Science Classroom Right: Art Classroom

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CLASSROOM CLUSTERS The project progressed to adding clusters of classrooms in the existing Morphosis site, adding context to the project and allowing the existing Diamond Ranch High School to inform future design decisions of circulation and form.

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Above: Final Perspective

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Above: Aerial view

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Above: Aerial view with closeup of classrooms and context

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Masked

Course: VS4200 Visual Studies I Instructor: William Virgil Semester: Fall 2021

Location: Los Angeles, California Software: Maya, ZBrush, Octane Partner: Mohammed Rezk

We all wear masks and this project sought to explore the concept of masks through storytelling and celebrating traditional events.

Identifying the story behind the the mask, the character, and the representation of such was a major theme of this visual studies project.

It began with an adaptation of Kara Walker’s definitive work, stretching and warping the solid forms to create 3D formwork from ink drawings.

Through this, a theme arose along the way of a creation of a two-sided mask. One that shows lushness and life, and another that is void of it. The left side of the mask is full of mosses, mushrooms - some that are bioluminescent 85

- and ferns. The right side boasts layers of dried twigs, dried grasses, and a less cohesive makeup overall.

The two sides contrast each other and suggest that it is possible to not only go out into the world with one persona that hides our truth underneath, but a multitude. Are we the same person with our friends as our family, our colleges, or even by ourselves?

Materiality was especially taken into account with intention towards transparency, transluscency, and opacity. Through these design decisions, the role of the mask to reveal or conceal was examined.

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PROCESS Early process work saught to create contrast betwen textures. Using concrete and bubblegum as materials, the project began to take shape and a theme of contrasting ideology began to take place, one contrasting the other. The final product kept this contrast of materiality, but further developed the concept by creating one side of the mask as a lush, green living side and the opposite barren with dead twigs and grasses.

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Above: Left side of mask showing mushrooms and ferns

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Above: Right side of mask showing dried branches and grasses

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Terraforming

Course: VS4200 Visual Studies I Instructor: Kumaran Parthiban Semester: Fall 2021

Location: Los Angeles, California Software: Maya, ZBrush, Octane Partner: Mohammed Rezk

Terraforming is the process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography, or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable by Earth-like lifeforms.

Pieces of the Masked project were taken and scattered throughout a new world, a transformed world. Experimentation with the fundamentals of motion design, simulations, and procedural methods to grown, multiply, and alter elements of the landscape were used.

This project explored a small but essential part of world-building: environment design and actively transgressing its principles to create fantastic immersive landscapes. Rather than creating a sense of grounded realism, it worked in the realm of non-logic, with flexible rules and the unknown.

The end result is a world in-transition from a previously human-developed, yet failed attempt. We see the beginnings of this planet begin to come back through grasses, flowers, and mushrooms.

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A WORLD TRANSFORMED Various pieces of the Masked project were borrowed and through procedural methods, were used to scatter and transform the landscape.

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Above: Overall perspective demonstrating the world in transition

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Overlaid

Course: VS4200 Visual Studies I Instructor: Rachael McCall Semester: Fall 2021

Location: Los Angeles, California

Software: Maya, ZBrush, Octane, AfterEffects Partner: Mohammed Rezk

It seems everything we do is overlaid, filtered, and masked - once, twice or in many ways.

Overlaid elicits thoughts of many layers of fine detailed mesh, multi-layered semi-opaque synthetic materials, murky reflections, and bundles of particles. At the same time, Overlaid and Masked bring up issues of politics, postprocessing and applying filters to images and ideas.

This project utilized techniques in four different digital mediums and focused on staging the objects, overlaying media and enhancing the artificial environment through dynamics and post-production.

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The project worked with layering and dynamics in form, multiple opacities within materials, as well as focus on masking, sequences, and adjacencies in post-production software. The work oscillated between 2D and 3D worlds, the virtual, augmented, and real.

Post-production and overlaying was a process of refinement, and there was always new opportunities in filtering for percolation, overflow, and escape in the project.

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Left: Iteration 1 Right: Iteration 2

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Above: Iteration 3

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Louis Vuitton Fondation Course: AS3200 Advanced Materials and Tectonics Instructor: Dwayne Oyler & Randy Jefferson Semester: Fall 2021

Location: Paris, France Software: Rhino

Partners: Trey Marshall & Kyle Zufra The Louis Vuitton Fondation project in Paris, France was used as a case study to examine the tectonics of the building.

The museum’s structural core consists of a series of solid volumes called “the icebergs” which support floating glass canopies (”a cloud of glass”) covering the entire building.

Structurally, the icebergs are designed as concrete or steel frameworks. The facade is covered with +/- 16,000 ceramic tiles. Every single element has a unique geometry in order to follow the smooth lines and various facets of the facade.

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Over 2000 aluminum wall panels were designed and fabricated in order to obtain a support structure for the ceramic tiles. Each of these panels follows exactly the outside geometry of the facade surface and contains stiffening elements located underneath every joint between the ceramic tiles. The panels are connected to the steel or concrete structure by means of specifically designed spacers.

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Left: Variety of Sails Right: Sail Exploded Axonometric

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SECTION Chunk model showcasing the various connections of the sail to the exterior ceramic panels.

SAIL: GLASS SYSTEM

SECTION CHUNK MODEL: VIEW 2 SAIL CONSTRUCTION

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LOUIS VUITTON FOUNDATION

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Ceramic CERAMICPanel PANEL CERAMIC PANEL

Steel Beam STEEL BEAM

Steel Plate STEEL PLATE STEEL BEAM STEEL PLATE Tripod Connection TRIPOD CONNECTION TRIPOD CONNECTION

Glulam Beam GLULAM BEAM Secondary Y Beams BEAMS SECONDAR GLULAM BEAM SECONDARY BEAMS

DETAIL: TRIPOD CONNECTION AT SAILS CENTRAL SEAM

DETAIL: TRIPOD CONNECTION AT SAILS CENTRAL SEAM GLULAM BEAM

Glulam Beam

STEEL PLATE GLULAM BEAM CONNECTION Steel Plate Connection STEEL PLATE CERAMIC PANEL CONNECTION Ceramic Panel CERAMIC PANEL STEEL PLATE

Steel Plate STEEL BEAM STEEL PLATE

TRIPOD CONNECTION

Steel Beam STEEL BEAM STRUT CONNECTION Tripod TRIPODConnection CONNECTION Strut Connection STRUT CONNECTION

DETAIL: TRIPOD CONNECTION BETWEEN GLULAM AND ICEBERG

DETAIL: TRIPOD CONNECTION BETWEEN GLULAM AND ICEBERG

AS3200 KYLE ZUFRA, CLAIRE TROUT, TREY MARSHALL

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AS3200 KYLE ZUFRA, CLAIRE TROUT, TREY MARSHALL

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Glass Panels and holders Aluminium Mullions Tertiary Mullions Secondary Steel Beams Glulam Beams Strut Clips Corrugated Roofing Ceramic Panels Aluminium Panels Central Strut Tripod Connection Steel Beam Steel Plate

Concreate Slab Drop Ceiling

Structural Columns Curtain Wall

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Abstraction of Anderson’s Models Course: HT2200 History & Theory Instructor: Marcelyn Gow Semester: Fall 2021

Location: Los Angeles, California

Subject: 3D Modeling, Abstraction, Assembly

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ABSTRACTION OF ANDERSON’S MODELS Examining the role of models within film Wes Anderson’s films are recognizable due to their eccentric and distinct visual and narrative styles as well as his reliance on built models rather than digital landscapes. Anderson’s team includes production designer, Adam Stockhausen, and Berlin-based model maker, Simon Weisse both of whom create the distinct worlds. The use of models within many of his movies have become a trademark for the filmmaker, including stopmotion films, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, as well as recent release The French Dispatch. Most of this essay will focus on The Grand Budapest Hotel due to its use of three distinct styles of modeling within a single film as well as its aesthetic representation.

in which the main character, Monsieur Gustave and Zero and chased by antagonist, Jopling, through what appears to be a stretch of the Swiss Alps. The scene takes on a toylike appearance as the characters ascend a trolley system, followed by a cable car to the top of a snow-capped mountain. The models seem to distort and abstract the scale, and this representation creates a whimsical and fantastical feeling to an otherwise tense part of the film.

Author Matt Zoller Seitz states “This is not Europe. This is the idea of Europe.” (Seitz, 34). Much of this is true in Grand Budapest Hotel. The story takes place in a fictionalized Europe, within a a country that isn’t real, and at a time when Hitler and Mussolini would be in power and yet neither are mentioned anywhere in the script (Seitz, 34). This abstraction, both in narrative and aesthetic is, in part, what creates the worlds Anderson is creating on screen. Again, this is not reality, this is creation of fiction via the medium of film to create a new reality through abstraction. We are not seeing a particular place within Europe, but an idealized version: a version that could be looked upon with an air of nostalgia without ever visiting Europe in-person. Through this, we as viewers are encouraged to look at Europe through a particular lens of abstraction that creates a new world, an idealized world. Often this includes pulling from particular icons or commonly recognized symbols that are associated with

When we look at Anderson’s use of models within his films, we see a couple different strategies occur: an abstraction of a place that is not real but is treated as if it could be (i.e. something that could reside within our nostalgia), and an even further abstraction in which the model and scene take on an almost illustrated approach.

Examples of both of these styles can be found within The Grand Budapest Hotel. The hotel itself was inspired by the Hotel Staubbach which overlooked the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland in 1890 to 1910 (Seitz, 27). Images of the hotel reveal a similar landscape to that of the Grand Budapest Hotel, yet the architecture is more reminiscent of an idealized version of the hotel. We also find the scene

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Europe, especially the various eras within the movie.

Examples include trolleys and trains, any of the designs of the Mendl’s patisseries - including the boxes, and the choice of sets and architecture. All create the appearance of a snow-globe version of an idealized, and yet abstract Europe.

boils down a rather complex architectural building. The simplicity of the representation becomes more modellike rather than viewing a real building in Europe.

Young discusses the concept of overmining and undermining in regards to abstraction. We see examples of both of these in the film. The society of the crossed keys is a fictionalized group of maitre d’s who are all presented as being highly successful and interconnected, rather like agents of MI6 rather than hotel managers. Overmining being the process that the object is “too specific to be real; instead it is only internal intuitive ideas that are real.”

(Young, 132). While this provides an easy explanation for many of the predicaments our main characters find themselves in, the reality of such a group falls into Young’s abstraction overmining. Undermining explains “an object by breaking it down into smaller pieces and producing a general system that explains the relation of the smaller parts” (Young, 132). When applied to architectural models, we could see both positions begin to take shape, depending on the situation.

“The object is really there and it has qualities that you will never have access to.” (Young, 130) Young states that an object can have qualities that we don’t necessarily see, yet still communicates a message. A copy or a photograph of a work is never the same as the original, even if it duplicates the aesthetics exactly. Much is the same with a model. Even if the original building is duplicated in a smaller scale, it is merely a representation and never the same as the original. Young also goes on to mention that “Aesthetics cannot be trusted. If left alone, aesthetics is either unethical or conceals knowledge.”

(Young, 130). We find that there is an element of hidden knowledge within the aesthetics of abstraction: the author’s intentions and mindsets. Even asking an author to explain their mindset at the time of creating a great work, we are really listening to an abstraction of the time the object was created rather than an accurate description of the account. This can be seen within the movie as well as the architecture it highlights, in particular the Grand Budapest Hotel. Even though we are shown an idealized version of a European hotel, only certain rooms are shown and even the back-of-house, servant quarters are romanticized. The reality of the time would have been much bleaker and even more normal than we often imagine.

We find that there is often two aspects of abstraction: ethical abstraction and epistemological abstraction. Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, especially in regards to its methods, validity, and scope.

“Ethical abstracts toward a higher transcendence; objects are too simple” and “Epistemology abstracts toward simpler elements; objects are too complex” (Young, 130). We find that when abstraction is broken down to a phenomena or a more palatable version of repeating patterns, abstraction takes on a more epistemological approach. “Aesthetics attempts to hold the concrete reality of an artwork in focus without internalizing it up into pure idea or analyzing it down toward systemic knowledge” (Young, 131). In other words, from an aesthetic approach, there is no abstract art, only concrete art. This question of what is art, specifically regarding ethical abstraction relates directly to models and even the models within Anderson’s films. In other words, is an idealized model of Europe an ethical abstract approach? If we look at it from a simplicity stance, we find the before-mentioned snowglobe approach to the representation of a European hotel

Author Michael Fried discusses the concept of scale within objects in his book, Art and Objecthood.

“The awareness of scale is a function of the comparison made between that constant, one’s body size, and the object. Space between the subject and the object is implied in such a comparison. The larger the object, the more we are forced to keep our distance from it.” (Fried, 153). This can be applied to architectural models as well as Anderson’s theatrical models. We see varying scales of the models viewed: the perception of scale of a large, multi-story hotel on a mountaintop, the knowledge that we are viewing a model and not a real, to-scale hotel, and then we must consider the screen size.

The affect of the object will be interpreted differently if the film is watched in a theater, on a home tv, or on a small phone screen. The scale of the model in this

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“The awareness of scale is a function of the comparison made between that constant, one’s body size, and the object. Space between the subject and the object is implied in such a comparison. The larger the object, the more we are forced to keep our distance from it.”

case is interpreted in a non-traditional manner that a model would be. We are seeing a representation of an idealized place through a media that is purely representational, i.e. a copy of a copy.

A model is often considered a representation of reality and is therefore, considered abstraction. It seeks to capture a finite amount of aesthetic qualities that one might see the features of interest with clarity without creating an exact replica. Anderson’s models create a filtered way of looking at the world, which could be argued is the case with all film. Even documentaries with “raw footage” are filtered through an aesthetic and ethical lens, often intended for a particular type of audience. Hours of video is filtered by filmmakers typically choosing the iconic action shots to include in the final cut and leaving out the mundane dayto-day bits or in the case of nature documentaries, when the animals are simply lounging. This footage can then be interpreted in various methods: a shot of a baby seal could be shown as a children’s nature documentary, a climate change film, or a film used to encourage tourism to the arctic.

Michael Fried

find that Anderson is inadvertently pushing the discussion of using models in film rather than digital representation.

At this time, it is much more of a challenge to create and identify the impact a particular artist or architect had on a digital model.

The concept of modeling and abstraction of representation is seen in architectural models, both in the professional world and in academia. Anderson’s choice to use physical models demonstrates the continued importance of physical representation of a concept, regardless of its abstraction or aesthetic tendencies. As architects, it would be wise to take a cue from Anderson’s modeling methods within his films and apply that to our own projects. While we currently are moving further into an era of digital modeling, there still remains an argument to create physical models, and not by selecting the “print button” on our personal 3D printers. Physical models remain some of the best examples of abstract architectural representation and scale. This act of creation comes with it a signature style and understanding of the work that is otherwise lost in the digital realm.

One of the major differences in Anderson’s work as it relates to abstraction is the use of physical models rather than digital models. While the ease of use and affect of digital modeling is more accessible and has been widely utilized in the last decade, Anderson chooses physical models to create a style and form of aesthetic for his films. This stylized choice has not only gained him widelyviewed success, but also a signature style that can easily be identified. This is ultimately a similar goal of architects and is often achieved over time without realization. It is impossible to look at a Frank Gehry or Zaha Hadid building and not be able to identify the architect. Steven Holl’s iconic models of the Chapel of St. Ignatius are a perfect example of this. We not only can see his style, but the creation of abstraction used to create something concrete. When we apply Young’s concept of over/undermining of abstraction of objects, we

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Top: Model Photo of the Grand Budapest Hotel

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REFERENCES Note: unless otherwise stated, all images within this text are from Matt Zoller Seitz’s book, Wes Anderson Collection - the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Fried, Michael. 2011. Art and Objecthood : Essays and Reviews. Chicago, Ill: The University Of Chicago Press.

Zoller Seitz, Matt. 2015. Wes Anderson Collection - the Grand Budapest Hotel.

New York: Abrams.

Murphy, Mekado. 2014. “You Can Look, but You Can’t Check In.” The New York Times, February 28, 2014, sec. Movies. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/ movies/ the-miniature-model-behind-the-grand-budapest-hotel.html.

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“There’s a sense of physical reality to this movie. The physicality is rooted in history, and in an understanding of history. And yet, at the same time, the movie is almost whimsically fantastic - particularly the exteriors. The hotel itself is like a spread from a pop-up book.”

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