context_LAB: CUNY: Chenwei Pua

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

CUNY: Chenwei Pua

critic: Gregory Marinic

War of the Worlds
author: H.G. Wells
origin: UK
date of publication: 1898

Moment I: 'They were Scrutinized and Studied'
media: hard cover
process: cutting/rotating/layering

Moment II: 'Enlarged their powers, and hardened their hearts'
media: foam/paper
process: bending/wrapping

Moment III: 'Started on its Way to the Earth'
media: foam/museum board
process: subtracting

Developed Theme I: "Approach"

Moment IV: 'Incrustation was Falling'
media: paper/chipboard
process: bending/wrapping/layering

Developed Theme II: 'Falling'

Moment V: 'The Crowd had Increased'
media: foam/foam
process: overlaying

Moment VI: " Alone"
media: museum board/hard cover
process: bending/joining

Moment VII: 'Ran Slantingly and Stumbling'
media: hard cover
process: bending/cutting/merging

Developed Theme III: 'Escape'

'Moment VIII: 'They can Scarcely Move'
media: wood/paper
process: cutting/overlaying

Moment IX: 'Jammed'
media: chipboard
process: layering

Moment X: 'A Monstrous Tripod'
media: hard cover
process: cutting/bending

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STUDENTS

David Aviles Morales, CUNY/Arch.
Elisa Aucoin, UT/Interior Design
Lauren Beuris, UT/Interior Design
Mark Borys, UT/Interior Design
Cristian Cabrera, CUNY/Architecture
Jessica Caldwell, UT/Interior Design
Jose Noa Cortes, CUNY/Architecture
Amanda Coulter, UT/Interior Design
Christine DiBianca, UT/Int. Design
Janet Dugger, UT/Interior Design
Marcin Galas, CUNY/Architecture
Emily Goins, UT/Interior Design
Perrin Graham, UT/Interior Design
Rebecca Hand, UT/Interior Design
Ehsanul Haque, CUNY/Architecture
Madeline Hayes, UT/Interior Design
Marcos Hernandez, CUNY/Arch.
Jillian Hudson, UT/Interior Design
Jennifer Johnson, UT/Interior Design
Jung Kim, CUNY/Architecture
Ayako Kobayashi, CUNY/Architecture
Georgette Mosley, UT/Int. Design
Elizabeth Pope, UT/Interior Design
Chenwei Pua, CUNY/Architecture
Bersley Reyes, CUNY/Architecture
Anna Smith, UT/Interior Design
Alyssa Stevens, UT/Interior Design
Allison Stooksbury, UT/Int. Design
Jonathan Suarez, CUNY/Architecture
Bartosz Tarnawa, CUNY/Architecture
Martin Tenecela, CUNY/Architecture
Evelin Tusa, CUNY/Architecture
Natalia Vela, CUNY/Architecture
Rebecca Whitson, UT/Interior Design
Tara Woodend, UT/Interior Design

INTENT

As an experimental endeavor, context_LAB is a collaborative effort between architectural studio ARCH3611 and entertainment technology studio ENT3240 at
CUNY-New York City College of Technology and interior design studio ID471 at the University of Tennessee. Students of architecture, interior design, and emerging technologies shall engage context from urban, social, cultural, and programmatic standpoints while imagining its implication on built form. The collaboration shall produce an interdisciplinary and geographically-rich dialogue whereby students and faculty share information and output toward greater understanding of the historic Lower East Side of New York City and visualization of its future. Architecture and interior design studios will employ two interconnected means as initial process explorations: classic literature and film derived from classic literature. These generators will enable greater understanding of emergent design as a design ethos. Students of entertainment and emerging technologies will develop a visualization environment using advanced robotic and video manipulations that use physical and virtual materials.

CLASSIC LITERATURE

Classic literary works comprise the canons of world literature. A classic book may refer to a published work that should be read or recognized by people worldwide--and thus is translated into multiple languages. More recently, the phrase classic book or classic literature has assumed a new meaning in popular culture. Traditionally speaking, any pre-1900 book that remains in print qualifies as a classic, however other books are considered modern classics due to their contemporary significance or perceived future significance. Several classic books are currently out of print and their copyrights are held in the public domain. A significant number of these works are available on-line from sources including the Project Gutenberg. The CUNY-New York City College of Technology architecture studio will explore development, portrayal, and symbolism within classic literature, considering parallels between the medium and architectural narrative.

THE MOVING IMAGE

As a temporal moving representation of idealized space, film offers the designer a critical body of inspiration for meaningful visual association. Film is the dynamic representation of space as well as the spatialization of time. As a design medium, it allows the artist to collapse time per desired means while concerning itself primarily with views revealed frame by frame. Alternatively, time in architecture is translated as a measure of the user’s regulated movement through space. In architecture as well as film, beyond the frame inference fosters implied understanding and development of the overall mood of a moment. Employing techniques similar to cinematography, interior architectural design must contend not only with spaces visible within the viewframe, but also the order, atmosphere, and materiality of the spaces beyond the frame itself.

As a discipline, theoretically contemplated architecture, particularly its internal sequence, offers an opportunity for
deploying film-based study as a generator of the carefully considered interior environment. Assuming an analogous relationship between cinematic conjecture and built form, the University of Tennessee interior design studio shall explore the development of sequence, portrayal of context, and use of cinematic representation by various filmmakers interpreting classic literary works.

FANTASTICAL LITERATURE & FILM

The first series of generative manipulations will involve inquiry into the notion of fantasy. Students of architecture shall read the following fantastical works of literature. Students of interior design shall view film interpretations of these classics.

Literature:

Journey to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne
France (1874)

War of the Worlds
by H.G. Wells
UK (1898)

Alice in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
UK (1865)

Film:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Directed by Eric Brevig
USA (2008)

War of the Worlds
Directed by Steven Spielberg
USA (2005)

Alice in Wonderland
Directed by Harry Harris
USA (1985)

URBAN CONTEXT

context_LAB will explore an emergent architecture that addresses contexually-based goals relevant to literature, fim, and site-specific physical, cultural, programmatic, technological, and sustainable considerations in the Lower East Side of New York City. Accordingly, building/use typology will be informed by extensive site-focused inquiry. Site documentation and analysis of existing seen/unseen conditions will provide infinite design opportunities and enable significant formal morphologies to develop. Students of architecture at CUNY-New York City College of Technology shall approach the design problem toward development of formal opportunities and performative capacities related to the building scale. Students of interior design at the University of Tennessee shall approach the project from particularities inherent to the site context. Students of entertainment and emerging technologies at CUNY-New York City College of Technology shall generate a robotic/virtual visualization work that interacts with the physical urban context model, physical architectural models, and digital data toward describing design output as an interactive experience.

Robotic Infrastructure & Visualization

Students of emerging technologies at CUNY-New York City College of Technology will create a kinematic installation using robot-controlled camerawork and audio-visual media signal processing. Robots and media components will be situated within the Lower East Side physical urban context model and coordinated into an abstract visual narrative. ENT3240 is designed for motivated and team-oriented students majoring in the following areas: Entertainment, Computer Engineering, Computer Systems, Architectural Technology, and Mechanical Engineering. The course, led by Insook Choi, is coordinated with ARCH 3611 and intended to prototype, refine, and develop the final installation into a high-quality interactive experience. The class will document problem-solving processes and alternative solutions in the context of the installation.