Project: QUATOPIA

Quarry+utopia

Instructor: Mitesh Dixit

Patener with Shihui Zhu

Argument

The intent of this project is to create a series of multi-experience spaces to cheer people up from their depressed city-pace and forget the civilized world’s problems. Thus a paradox: how to create culture institution and infrastructures of support, while fulfilling the rules of nature? The intent is to seek a balance between function and natural surrealism.

Concept

The balance between rational and irrational is achieved by merging the functional cultural space into the naturally formed land space by extruding the current landscape to create architectural space inside the original site. To achieve the sense of Surrealism, meanwhile to fulfill the function of different scales of performances, this project is the combination of theatre, amphitheater, experimental space and space for meditation.

Landscape Studies

Using the different techniques, several study models of landscape design was created to explore the texture and materiality by useing soap, concrete, resin, chipboard, blue foam, vacuum foam with different finishes. The models are also trying to examine the relationship between program and terrain. By pulling up and pushing down the landscape. It creates the space in between as proposed site.

Mobility: Extracted Landscape Studies

This model is exaggerated the current landscape of Skytop Quarry, Syracuse, NY, showing the movement density by using three different scaled round objects, which represent the relationship between topography and mobility of the site. The color-coat is layered on top, representing the land use, corresponding to the terrain.

The

Middle

Landscape

Based on the study of existing landscape by cutting sections, The quarry landscape is exaggerated by maximizing the mark that the quarry out and build up a surreal landscape.

Bottom Left

The expoded axon showing the primary, secondary, and tertiary accessbility approaching the exaggerated landscape

Bottom Right A series sections cut through the landscape to see the landscape changes within site

S r a c u s e U n i v e r s i t y S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e & U S C S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e