Matthew J Simpson - Architecture Portfolio 2018-'20

A RCHITECTU RE

PORTFOLIO 2 0 1 8 - 2 0 2 0

MJSCS

M AT THE W ( . . . ) S I M P S O N

PART 1 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER

O_A - PROGRAMME - CONCEPT SCHEMA

AN ODE TO APOLLO A centre for research in acoustics and musical production for the creative and scientific studies of sound. Home to aesthetes and empiricists alike, a series of experimental and inhabitable music chambers explore the potential of interdisciplinary acoustic investigation.

Chicago is an emblematic of the many virtues and pathologies of the urban condition. To inhabit the industrial metropolis is to routinely confront myriad environmental stressors. Among them, noise pollution is increasingly cited as a causal factor of psychological deterioration, and so the project questions what practical and creative opportunities might present themselves if we formulate a remedial architectural response.

Located at the intersection of an active road

and the city’s elevated railway, the site is mired – acoustically speaking – by the worst the city has to offer. The periodic thunderous roar generated by passing trains stands in gross excess of levels permissible under local noise ordinance. The architecture must necessarily address this in order to function, but rather than simply attenuating, it turns the programme’s primary hindrance to an advantage. The facility celebrates and amplifies the dynamics of sound and space, whereby experimentally defined acoustic anomalies dictate a rejection of typical spatial practice. In doing so, the building identifies and exploits the physical logic underlying particular acoustic phenomena – the Doppler effect, or sympathetic resonance for example – to practically and performatively assert itself as a scientific and musical coauthor.

O_A - ANECHOIC CHAMBER - HAND-DRAWN ANIMATED VIGNETTE STILL

01 Y3P2 - APLO. - AN ODE TO APOLLO - INTRODUCTION

O_A - H O M E C O M I N G

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A PLO. - BP.M K 1

The BP-MK.1 diegetic experimental acoustic apparatus is a multi-purpose construction intended as a test-bed for methods of acoustic management, and acoustic materials.

The model operates at both 1:1 as a piece of analytical apparatus, and 1:100 as a structural model of the facility’s live room.

The proposition being, that resident acousticians would employ the use of the device to acquire actionable data which would inform a continuous process of material improvement within the facility - a self-contained ‘feedback loop’. Construction would only represent the genesis of this cyclical process of recursive self-improvement.

03 Y3P2 - APLO. - METHODOLOGY - PHYSICAL EXPERIMENTATION - BP-MK.1

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MICROPHONE INSERTION PORT BLACK WALNUT SOUND CHAMBER CHAMBER END-CAP STRIP-STEEL BRACKET SHOTGUN MICROPHONE

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SPRING CONNECTION PT. 3M XLR CABLE SPRING SUSPENSION M4 HARDWARE SOUND SOURCE - INPUT

MICROPHONE INSERTION PORT BLACK WALNUT SOUND CHAMBER CHAMBER ENDCAP STRIP-STEEL BRACKET CHAMBER STAND SPRING CONNECTION POINTS (X4)

A P LO. - EX P. 005 - B P.M K 1 - D I E G E T I C A C O U S T I C A P P A R A T U S

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LUX.

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Y3P2 - APLO. - DETAIL 001 - “IN PHASE” - DOPPLER SHIFT CHAMBER

“TO LOOK A BULL IN ITS EYE” - ACOUSTICS LABORATORY

“A DAWN CHORUS” - LIVE ROOM / AUDITORIUM

D.01 - “ORPHEUS” - DOPPLER SHIFT CHAMBER

07 Y3P2 - “AN ODE TO APOLLO”

O_A - M I X E D & M A S T E R E D

09 Y3P2 - APLO. - FINAL GAs - [2/5]

OG 1 : 1 1 0 [SCA L E D A 2 t o A 3 - 0 . 7 1 x] D I GI TA L D R AW I N G

OG 1 : 1 1 0 [SCA L E D A 2 t o A 3 - 0 . 7 1 x] D I GI TA L D R AW I N G

INFLUORESCENT “Influorescent”, my first term design project, was an interdisciplinary endeavour which involved the establishment of a designmediated experimental film-making practice.

Equipped with an assembled arsenal of carefully considered bespoke apparatus, interventions, and film-making logics, an interconnected series of 7 otherwise unattainable short films was produced. Sparing no first principle of film from re-imagination, and reinterpretation, the ostensible limitations of available resources, and those seemingly

INFL - FLIMWELL CINEMA - FINAL DRAWING EXCERPT

11 Y3P1 - INFLUORESCENT - INTRODUCTION

inherent to the medium itself were all rejected.

This string of experiments culminated in the final entry entitled “Influorescent”, a purgative, critical expression of what I had subjectively forwarded as the urban condition’s attendant ineffable dysphoria. This film, however, is left incomplete if not properly contextualised by the unique situation of its final performance - the ancient woodland of Flimwell. In the spirit of Charlie Kaufman, the bespoke Flimwell forest cinema installation enabled not only the film’s performance to an audience, but the film’s resolution in real time; The resolution being the performance itself.

I N F L. - APP.05 FLIM W ELL CINEM A ANI M ATED STAGING DIAGR A M [ A N I M ATE D DR AWIN G E XCE RP T 1:50 ON A2 TR ACE SCAL E D 0.78x ]

I NFL. - AP P. 0 5 . 1 F LIM WE LL C I N E MA D ETAIL T H E C OS MOGON IC PI VOT ASPECT R ATIO M ODIFIE R

13 Y3P1 - INFLUORESCENT - FLIMWELL CINEMA APPARATUS

I N F L. - APP.02-03 02. DIY A NA M ORP HIC 03. S HOESTRING DOLLY [ A N I M ATE D DR AWIN G E XCE RP T 1:2 ON A1 TR ACE SCAL E D 0.65x ]

“aporia, (n.)”

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“Diminishing Returns” 03 07 -

Influorescent

F L I M WE L L C I N E M A - A R E S O L U TI O N I N R E A L TI M E

ALL REFERENCED AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA IS AVAILABLE AT MATTHEWSIMPSON.SPACE

15 Y3P1 - INFLUORESCENT - CINEMATIC OUTPUT

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Myriad apparatus were designed and constructed, film-making logics were conceived, and conventions were reimagined throughout the duration of this project. Although all carefully considered objects of design worth exhibiting in their own right; this arsenal was only justified by the cinematic output it was intended to enable.

“Into the Rhizome”

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CHARTING THE RHIZOME - PIN-BOARD PROJECTION M AP

“37”

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“Invenitur”

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16-35-70 - AN ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN VISUAL APPARATUS

16-35-70 - FINAL SECTION OG 1:50 A1 GRAPHITE ON DRAFTING FILM

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Amidst the unrelenting adoption of digital film production technologies, the once necessary resources, services and infrastructure ancillary to the use, and maintenance of Celluloid film are waning. To the chagrin of its of vociferous proponents and practitioners, analogue film is an endangered tradition. Given the 7th art and architecture’s inherent reciprocity, what might constitute a compelling architectural response to this predicament?

17 Y2P2 - “16-35-70” - INTRODUCTION

16-35-70 is a film institute set in Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY - the riverside backdrop of many an iconic moment immortalised by the silver screen. The project’s primary mission is to promote the conservation, restoration, and use of celluloid motion picture film. The building is a temple for a perennially at-risk cultural resource, whose architecture borrows from and adapts principles, theory, and qualities which have come to define the analogue medium, and film-making in a broader sense.

SC N3 - “EQUANIM ITY”

OR IGINAL S C R EENP L AY

SHOTLIST

SC EN E CO NSTRUCTIO N D IAGR AMS

19 Y2P2 - “16-35-70” - METHODOLOGY - ‘DESIGN BY SCREENPLAY’

LENS TEMPL ATES

1:100 [SCALED 0 .3 8 x ] - WO R KI NG DR AWI NG S G R A P H I TE O N 6 LAY ERS OF A1 T RACE

1:100 - WORKING MODEL

1:200 - FIRST ITERATION

1:100 - C A R D M O D E L

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In-Situ Fair-Faced Concrete 240mm Cellulose - Non-rigid insulation 60mm Timber Framework 90mm Bituminous layer 3mm Render layer 16mm

6. Steel Rebar Mesh ø 15mm (In-Situ) 7. Steel Rebar Mesh ø 8mm (Pre-cast) 8. Window Assembly 9. Sliding Door/ Shutter Assembly 10. Precast Concrete Floor Slab 160mm

11. Rigid Insulation 60mm 12. Solid Wood Flooring 16mm 13. Screed 50mm

1 6 - 3 5 - 7 0 - SC N 6 - T H E IN T ER N D E N O UE M E N T E NVE LOP E DETA IL OG 1: 20 [ S CAL E D 0.17x ]

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16- 35- 70 - S CN 3 - TH E AU T E U R ROLLING SHUT TE R DE TA I L PL AN O G 1:2 [SCALED 0. 5x]

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Fair-Faced In situ Concrete 284mm Rigid Insulation 60mm, 50mm, 14mm Render Layer 16mm Plate Steel Shutter Frame 7mm Extruded Aluminium Frame 3.5mm Aluminium Shutter Rubber Seal Spacer Glazing 8mm, 16mm Setting Block Extruded Aluminium Roller Track Stainless Steel Ball Bearings Steel Aircraft Cable ø 7mm Timber Support Washers 1mm, 0.5mm Nylon Pulley Wheel ø 31mm Rubber Roller Wheel ø 70mm Lathed Steel Stabiliser M10 Bolt M7 Bolt M5 Bolt M8 Collared Eye Bolt

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16- 35-70 - F IN AL P L AN [ 1 / 4 ]

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1: 50 [ S CA L E D A1 t o A4 - 0.175x ] G R A PH I T E ON A1 DR AFTIN G FIL M

SC N5 - “C RY PT ”

SC N4 - “A ST E A DY HA ND”

SC N3 - “P R I SO NE R ’S C I NEM A”

23 Y2P2 - “16-35-70”

SCN6 - “S H OULDER S O F G IA N TS ”