Thesis Book 05 - vtechworks.lib.vt.edu · Julio Noriega Marissa Nering Elodia E. Muñoz Salvador...

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J O S E A N T O N I O T O R R E S - B A R R E T O

- COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN STUDIES - VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITYMASTER OFA RCHITECTURE

CENTER FOR THE ART OF MOVING IMAGES - WASHINGTON, D.C.

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T I T L E

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José Antonio Torres-Barreto

Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Architecture

WAAC - Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center

CENTER FOR THE ART OF MOVING IMAGES

A FILM CENTER FOR WASHINGTON, D.C.

February 10, 2006

Dr. Paul Emmons, Ph.D - Committee Chair

Jaan Holt - Committee Member

Susan Piedmont-Palladino - Committee Member

Shane Pomajambo - Committee Member

ABSTRACT

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This thesis explores how a displayed image and architecture interact together. This manifesto is analogically explored using parts of the human body such as the eyeballs as a structural analysis for the buildings with a projection of the cornea, the pupil, the retina, the optic nerves and the brain. This analysis follows a sequential order of capturing light, transcribing light into image, and displaying such image onto a screen. Both, the image and architecture are created parallel to each other respectively when conceiving an architectural idea in order to develop the idea into a building and then perceiving the architecture from such building.

These steps are a cinematic approach using a video camera to record an experience of movement through the journey of a metro ride. This video is one of the tools used to edit an urban tissue of downtown Washington, D.C. The project becomes a Center for the Art of Moving Images exposing vectors of movements through its architecture. The building is manifested in a three-dimensional design where the site provides a sunken plaza 60 ft below street level perceived as a new floor in the city. The underground metro station transitions to the street surface through the use of this plaza in a very harmonious way. The result is a visual depth parallel to the perspectives perceived in movies where you see beyond the surface of the screen and in this case, beyond the surface of the city.

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Brenda Liz Torres-Barreto

for showing me the way - for being my best personal advisor, my greatest support, and my guardian angel...

I dedicate the success of this thesis to my sister

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To God and my parents Tony & Lydia,my two sisters Zilkia & Brenda,

my two nephews William Antonio & José Guillermo,

and my entire family Torres-Barreto

for their prayers, endless love, patience and constant encouragement...

Dr. Marco Frascari, Ph.D.Shane Pomajambo

Luz Del Mar RosadoArch. Angel Cocero

Arch. Elio Martínez-JoffreIng.

Alberto NavarroWilliam Rodriguez

Dr. Jorge L. Torres, MD.Dr. René C. Torres

Luis G. Daza, PhD.

My Thesis Committee,

Thank You!!! from the bottom of my heart

Valentín Diez Angel Burgos Matt DeBoldGeorge Makrinos Agustín Carbó John WirthJorge Bernal Victor Cuadrado Ishraq ZraikatLuis Cruz Rebecca Vicens Hon HuynhVictor Irizarry Vanessa Vicens Ulrike DietzJosé Del Valle Natalia Montagna Derek WilliamsonFrancisco Vélez Nestor Cerami Adam ParrisEdgardo Rivera Santiago Mosso Benjamin ButzEmanuel Gonzáles Aatif Sharieff Alberto DueñoJosué Ortiz Warren Chow Ricardo y MatíasJulio Noriega Marissa Nering Elodia E. MuñozSalvador Nogueras Henry Hollander Katherine MazaheriWilfredo Rodriguez Adrian Oggero Lori MarmolejoJorge Rosales Elif Ertekin Gladys PachecoMonica Montero Steve Yelland Ann Elise SchneiderRobert Torres Yuko Ando

Dr. Paul Emmons, Ph.DJaan Holt

Susan Piedmont-PalladinoShane Pomajambo

Great friends and Supporters...

for teaching me the way

...and other friends that helped me and shared infinite knowledge throughout this long journey.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION P. 1

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

SCENE VII

SCENE VIII

P. 2

P. 4

P. 8

P. 16

P. 18

P. 23

P. 36

P. 45

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX

REFERENCES

P. 64

P. 67

P. 68

THE CITY - Washington, D.C.

THE SITE - Chinatown, D.C.

THE PROJECT AND PROGRAMS - PART I

THE MATERIALS

THE PROCESS

THE SPHERE - ‘the eyeball’

THE SKIN AND STRUCTURE - cornea, pupil, lens

THE PROJECT AND PROGRAMS - PART II

“ Play” dis. is a representation of all forms and sources that create moving matters becoming a visual engagement like a moving image.

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CENTER FOR THE ART OF THE MOVING IMAGE - WASHINGTON, D.C. - JOSE ANTONIO TORRES-BARRETO - MASTERS OF ARCHITECTURE - COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN STUDIES - VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY

I N T R O D U C T I O N

I N T R O D U C T I O N

“Architecture can be conceived as a sequence of building, the brain. In this last one, the images are developments before they get built. To prove this, experiences which unfold over time as a conceived in memory, then 'displayed' outside on a dis.PLAY uses computer and cinema as tools to cinematographic space.” - Architect Paul Nelson screen. produce an architectural design as well as to expose (1932) them in the real and virtual realms.

Many architectural firms incorporated into their design these sequential processes, as well theorists Afte r a comprehensive research on visual

dis.Play represents the act of showing a still image, in early 1990's. The revolutionary tool that allowed representation of movement, and its relation to as well as the act of playing such image implying this to happen was the computer, and its capacity to architecture, I carefully decided to create a 'Film movement. These terms started to come along by create new forms and shapes. Today, architects are Center' in downtown, Washington, D.C. The Film

th proposing new approaches for building designs that Cen ter is t he t ool tha t wi ll f aci lit ate the early 19 century when several devices, such as the have merged the visual media into the skin of representation of the phenomena between Zoetrope and Zoopraxiscope, used persistence of buildings and continuous forms within the structure; architecture and movement. The Center will vision to create the illusion of motion from still becoming thus, “liquid architecture”. The interaction suppor t the new d ig i ta l technology in images. This thesis explores how a displayed with the computer screen in the design process is cinematography and imagery while considering the image and architecture interact together. This taken to a level of constructing a building as a persistent urban growth of Washington DC. This exploration is manifested analogically using parts of screen for communication where architecture is not creates a familiar “urban-screen” center.the human body. Both, the image and architecture only a beautiful building but also a smart one.are created parallel to each other following three

Together, dis.PLAY and Downtown, D.C. become sequential steps; capturing, transcribing, and Some of the theorists had concluded at that time performing stages, mainly due to the power of displaying; and conceiving, developing and that we are compromising the meaning of being in a cinema, which involves depth and moving matters perceiving; respectively. real space because we have committed to virtual enhanced with sound and scenes with 365 chapters reality. But how could it affect the architecture if a year. The elements that enhance these scenarios A human eye's anatomy; such as, the cornea, pupil, architecture is actually represented on a physical are the buildings against light casting shadows and and retina; constitutes the main element of this building that we can touch and inhabit? I think it is reflecting light itself exposing different patterns of exploratory design. The main building 'captures' the other way around. These days we can create movement throughout the urban fabric.and 'transcribes' the light within the rods and cones new forms of buildings and simulate them to see its inside the retina sending the final information potential as new role models for actual and future through optic nerves towards the secondary

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1

Peter Zellner Hybrid Space, 19991

SCENE 01

THE CITY

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T H E C I T Y

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3

T H E C I T Y

Daily, we interact through a realm of The urban area I have chosen for the thesis as having a Chinatown.” automated movement; similarly to a net of is Chinatown, located at the center of information that leads us to visual downtown, D.C. The most important icon The archway is a “gateway” to the town with cognition. Such cognition is a natural in Chinatown is the Chinese “Friendship” a colorful structure of red, green, blue, and impulse to observe various layers of Archway, designed and built in 1986 by a gold rising more than forty-seven feet in the information that are implicit everywhere couple of Chinese-American architects, Dr. air and spanning sixty-one feet and four around the city, such as traffic lights and Dwan Tai and Alfred H. Liu that was born inches, becoming the widest single-span advertisements, among others. Cities like and raised in Chinatown, D.C. Chinese archway in the world. The New York is a global urban center where structure boasts 7,000 tiles and 272 the manifestation of moving imagery is The archway was built for the city to keep a painted dragons in the Ming and Qing exploited exquisitely becoming an “urban- friendly relationship with the Chinese- dynasty style. It is especially colorful at the screen” city. American community, as well as a symbol Chinese New Year's celebration, which

of a permanent Chinatown. On a local occurs sometime late January to mid-I have created and used the term “urban- level, the Mayor at that time said that the February depending on the lunar calendar. screen” because we live in a society of archway is a 'gateway' to attract more The other celebrations are the “Lantern imagery that has emerged from the latest business and visitors along with the actual Festival” at the end of February and the technological infrastructures, such as fiber development of downtown. The metro “Double Ten” celebration on October 10th. optics, Internet, tele-video conferences, station lying underneath the archway, and All of these celebrations happen to involve and wireless communications with the the archway itself, enhance tourism, not the use of firecrackers with a parade exploitation of images from a computer only for Chinatown but for downtown as around Chinatown, inviting spectators to point of view up to an urban context, where well. Dr. Dwan Tai envisioned people come along and culminating at the Chinese the city could be perceived as a moving coming to see the archway and then Archway carrying the culture around town image. staying to dine, shop, or have a great day in every year.

town… - “it will put Washington on the map

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1 Alison Maria Friedman “The rise and decline of Chinatown, D.C.”

Notes: Cognition: the act and process of knowing.Cognizance: Apprehension by the mind's awareness.Urban Screen: the exploitation of images and information in urban fabric.Sentient: capable of feeling: Having perception. [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]

Site - Chinatown, D.C. Gallery Place/Chinatown MetroThe Capitol

THE SITE

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SCENE 02

The site I have chosen for dis.PLAY is in surrounded by two buildings involving important corner in the city. I see the site as Chinatown, D.C. at an important corner outdoor activities in order to activate the an intermediate point between the constant where the Chinese Archway is standing at social cohesion of the Ch inatown commuters with all the museums, galleries, H Street and 7th Street. The site is also community and its visitors and tourists with an d re st au ra nt s an d th e ex is ti ng next to the MCI Center building and has a new galleries, shops and restaurants. The community of Chinatown. Housing size of two American football fields. The chora becomes the 'urban-screen center' projects and hotels can be built else where shape is almost a square, 323 feet wide of downtown, D.C. around the si te wi th in the ac tual and 367 feet in length. I have described reconstruction and refurbishment of this particular site as the “Chora”, a Greek I learned that there were different bids for Chinatown and downtown, D.C.word by Plato in “Timaeus” defining a various projects in this site including a giant meaningful space where an important mall complex consisting of a video event is manifested between two other entertainment mall with a parking garage. spaces. I would think of an architectural Other projects considered for such site and urban design to be the chora of consisted of housing, retail, hotel, downtown, D.C. exhibition, and cultural activities. A few

years later the new project was finally built The metro stat ion, 'Gal lery Place- consisting of a hotel with more than 20 Chinatown', has one of the main accesses cinemas, retail and office spaces, along in the site at the mentioned corner bringing with apartments and underground parking a daily access of thousands of commuters garage. What I'm proposing for the thesis to the streets of Chinatown and producing a project is similar to the actual one but circulation of 4.5 million visitors a year to excluding the use of apartments and hotel. the MCI Center. The concept I have in I believe the site is suitable for outdoor and mind for the site is an open space to the sky public programs to enhance the use of such


T H E S I T E

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T H E S I T E

The site: 118,541 Sq Ft (36,140.5 Sq M) (2.72 acre)Note:The rectangular American football field is 160 feet wide and 360 feet in length.

The Chinese Archway at H St. - Looking West

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T H E S I T E

0202T H E S I T E

The red colored buildings in the sequence of still images are the only remaining buildings that I have decided to eliminate and relocate into the final design. They were mainly Chinese restaurants and low income apartments. The red square is the whole site (272 acres).

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T H E S I T E

0202T H E S I T E

1

3

4

7th

St.

6th

St.

F St.

H St.

G St. Alley

NORTH

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1 SITE

3 CHINESE “FRIENDSHIP” ARCHWAY

4 MCI CENTER

2 METRO ENTRANCE / EXIT

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MCI Center

H Street 7th

Str

eetVacant Space

1

1

Pictures of Existing Surrounding Buildings

SCENE 03

THE PROJECT AND PROGRAMS

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IPART


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I wanted to start the approach by studying visual I started to develop the sketches that involved two representation of movement, such as moving buildings embracing an opened space to the sky. images displayed on a screen and the relation to This would create a chora for the community that the architecture as the projector of subliminal could be used for outdoor activities such as the movement of spaces. The subliminal movement is Chinese festivals among others. When the city perceived only with the use of dynamic spaces that started the construction of a new building at the forces vision to move about when interacting with site, an open gap was made for the foundations such spaces. The spaces are connected in a approximately 60 ft below ground. This gap was con tinuous spatia l sequence tha t reveal s exposing the retaining walls built between the site independent scenes due to the arrangement of and the actual underground metro station along structure. These spatial sequences are fragments 7th Street. The whole scenario gave me the idea of information similarly to the still images of a film. of keeping such gap on the design I was working Paul Valéry states that a building is in motion if we on to create a sunken plaza in the opened space. are the one moving around making the building The sunken plaza would give access to the turn. The “Parallax” is a term used by Steven Holl underground metro station by building an entrance as the change in the arrangement of surfaces that through the exposed retaining wall. My proposal define space as a result of the change in the be co me s a tr id im en si on al ap pr oa ch on position of the viewer. architecture and urban design creating a new floor

for the city as an extension of its landscape and This thesis literally incorporates the moving boundaries within the X, Y, and Z-axes. I expect images and also the subliminal image we create the moving image and archi tecture to be from a dynamic space we inhabit. The use of intertwined disPlaying the architecture as well as dynamic spaces and also the use of displayed the people on a new urban-screen center.images on the building's skin are to be intertwined within the public and private spaces of the project.

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open tobelow

Chinese Archway

bld

g. #

1

bldg. #2

First Model of Atrium - ramps towards Sunken Plaza

T H E P R O J E C T - PART I



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The program I'm proposing is a “Center for the Art the people walking around the project. These portable evidence. The camera becomes the of the Moving Image” or Film Center, consisting of moving images are automatically played back agent of vision and Tourism.” Diller + Scofidio is an outdoor walk-in cinema at the central space displaying the scenario of another place within the among the first architecture firms to have surrounded by two large buildings. One building project. The idea is to provoke the awareness of embraced electronically mediated presence as a is an IMAX Theater floating between two towers of movement and voyeurism. The act of voyeurism crea ti ve work ing pr inciple, a means of film galleries (the eyeball), while the other is a Film becomes a natural act for curiosity and the image interrogating the contemporary built environment Academy (the brain) providing film production in the screen becomes a representation of a real- and the visual culture that surrounds us.offices and three sound stages to enhance the time scenario. The real person is the moving education on moving images and film industry. subject becoming then a moving image on a The idea of capturing, transcribing and displaying The underground realm is activated with screen as 'visual partnering' between life and images is to be taken to a level of constructing a restaurants, shops and four cinemas, all looking recorded videos. The Film Center brings the series of installations where people watch these towards the central space of an atrium that is awareness that the reality may become a virtual images of life-recorded memories of the actual embracing the sunken plaza. The whole project one since computerized mechanisms are the day. Diller + Scofidio did a lot of installations in provides extra retail and office spaces with an pr in ci pa l in fr as tr uc tu re ru nn in g di gi ta l different countries where the subject of human-under ground parking garage designed for 1,000 communication and imagery through the walls to image has been their target and their motivation to cars. feed the screens. make use of the latest technological instruments

for video recording and projection of images. I These programs are supported by a series of The Film Center becomes the producer and the believe that visual 'feeding' enhances human screens on the building's façade and also at the product itself to attract not only the local knowledge in a rapid cognition, because the g l a s s c l a d d i n g s t h a t w o u l d d i s p l a y community but also tourism because tourism is human brain evolves every five years, since digital advertisements and short films made by the film dominated by sight. Diller + Scofidio stated that technology and globalization became part of big academy students. There are also surveying “the tourist proof of the trip resides in the industries and part of almost every household in cameras around the site taking actual footage of snapshots or video-tapes, both instruments of the world.

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Diemendberg, Edward ‘Diller+Scofidio, Blurring Genres’, 20031

The eyeball Guy - The Movie Director




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AFI - American Film Institute, Founded 19671

As part of my process, I have to acknowledge the themselves in an imaginary world for a short period slowly every 24 hours following a rotation during the human eyes because they have been the reason for of time…in all its form, the cinema is a modern art year until winter. It moves away from the center all the discussion in this thesis…you should be able and those who make motion pictures take great giving space for skaters on the ice rink. From spring to see to understand this topic of moving images. pride in their creation.” to fall seasons the sunken plaza remains dry for Eyes are important in the process of framing and outdoor activities or extended sitting area for the capturing through camera lenses because they are Part of the moving images in the project is a series of restaurants and the cinema cafe.the witness behind the camera and the jury for screens that are displaying the actual local news in image composition. Due to my appreciation to different languages as well as Chinese TV The egression from the metro is to be an experience these pair of natural lenses, I have embodied this broadcasting. In other screens the work of students of continuous frames of moments when using the architectural design within the 'human eye'. The from the film academy are being displayed for free to Fi lm Center as a transi tion between the main building would become the 'eyeball' (Film promote their individual work and the academy underground realm and the street level. The metro Gallery / IMAX Theater), the secondary building is itself. The Film Center also provides a virtual library station is now engaged to the project creating a new the brain (Film Academy / Sound Stages), and the with the history of the film industry and special surface for the city where the platform meets the centered space (the open atrium) is the gray formatted movies are shown in the IMAX Theater opened atrium of the project through the sunken matter…the idea being conceived and displayed. along with film galleries. plaza. The story telling of ones experiences is being The Center for the Art of the Moving Image is surveyed and played back while walking oriented to the education of the movie/film industry The atrium constitutes of a sunken plaza that has an underneath the 'eyeball' which is the suspended with a joyful way of incorporating the local ice rink that opens on winter only and it is IMAX copper-sphere. The 'eyeball' captures the community and the tourists together. The president surrounded by cinemas, shops, cafés and image that is to be translated in the 'brain' at the of the American Film Institute in CA said that “motion restaurants that are constantly offering internet secondary building in order to display the collected pictures are one of the most popular forms of services and a selection of movies on each 'screen- information at the atrium's screen façade.entertainment, enabling people to immerse table'. The escalators at the atrium are moving

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A B C

A

B

C

Ramps on Film Gallery at the ‘eyeball’

One of the entrances from 7th Street

Escalators from metro to street by the film Galleries




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The big screen at the center of the atrium transforms screen as optic nerves does with the collected data urban fabric. The site boundaries are displaced the Center to a walk-in cinema becoming the main from the retina to the brain. between stress and compression forcing a dynamic attraction day and night from spring to fall seasons. perception of the building when approaching it from Classic movies are shown at night to be watched The Center has brought a new way of egression the street. The building starts rising from below from either side of the screen at both ground plazas from the underground metro station. You may exit where the city becomes a cradle for the Center. I (screen plaza I&II). The structure is attached to the the station without taking the enclosed tube for have also manipulated a rhythm of structure in the sphere at one end and it is also supported by the escalators to reach the street level because the 'eyeball' with continuous movements that are public elevators shaft at the other end. Solar energy atrium in the Film Center is a direct access to the perceived as you walk through inside. The interior is the main source of energy for the big screen and new 'surface' of the city 60 ft below ground level of the building evokes constant movement through the solar panels are located at the top of the steel becoming a new floor beyond the street realm. The its galleries and continuous ramps taking the

thbridge that is connecting both gallery towers. The observer towards the top of the building while corner of H and 7 Street is more dynamic with energy is stored in batteries underneath the bridge enjoying the film expositions as well as the city curves from the main building (the eyeball) that are and the electricity runs through fiber optic cables beyond the glass cladding as the city being an extension of the site as if the surface was being from the sphere out to the structure, connecting the displayed on a screen.peeled off exposing a three-dimensional layer of

Screen Building

The Cornea and Pupil started as a screen building that constituted of editing rooms and screens as part of the main skin of the building.

Screen Building



C

The Pupil


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The Film Gallery exhibits a time line story of the cinema industry, the technology, and the life of movie directors and actors.

A B

The Gallery also exhibits the Film academy student’s work along with a public library for this subject.

The Lens

The Cornea

The Optic Nerve

The Cornea

The Cornea

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The optic nerve is the bridge that connects to the secondary building which is the Film Academy and Production Studios - the brain.

First Cross Sections of Main Building that was first the screen building - “the eyeball”. It became later a Film Gallery




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A - Study for Cross Ventilation on Main Building - “the eyeball”

The Cornea, Lens, and Pupil

B - Study for the skin of the cornea

A B

C

C - Study for Programs





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The Pictures are from the first model made for the metro entrance Looking towards the Sunken Plaza

Floor Plans - The First Three Proposals

1 2

1 2 21

1 The Eyeball

2 The Brain


SCENE 04

THE MATERIALS

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T H E M A T E R I A L S

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The constant interlocking of time, light, material, and cooling during the summer absorbing the heat. In detail creates the cinematic whole overlapping the addition, the open areas would be under shadow foreground, middle ground, and distant view to most of the time on summer time by the two create an architectural space. Bending glass, Cast buildings that are embracing them.glass, and Sandblasted glass are used in this thesis to create different patterns of light and color such as The materials chosen for the interior spaces (the luminescence, diffused glow and obscure glow. contained) as well as for the outdoor plazas should Weathering integral to the material itself yields a enhance the sense of touch and light perception. painterly dimension over time bearing the marks of Materials must be sensitive to light in order to aging like copper for example. Corrosion in copper absorb it and project it intentionally with the creates an interesting patina of green-blue colors, manipulation of colors. The architecture itself animating the object that is actually stationary. becomes the body of a camera embracing micro

elements (materials) such as the lenses, the The main structure for the body (the container) of shutters, and the film.the building in the thesis is made out of steel and concrete bearing walls. The skin is mainly steel Since the sunken plaza in the atrium is in between curtain walls for glass cladding especially at the two large buildings it will only receive direct curved sections of the 'eyeball'. The arrangement sunlight at noon which makes it interesting to set of the structural 2 feet diameter columns is every 24 up a sun dial system at the north end of the plaza. feet in relation to 24 frames per second on movies. The sunken plaza becomes a full scale film at a

noon on winter and summer solstice when the sun The outdoor floors at the plazas (the surrounded) strikes directly at certain materials revealing are a mix of concrete and stone, both for thermal images. The materials in the project are parallel application on winter providing a heating system to the particular elements that compose a film underneath the stone with hot water. The revealing memories of time through the absorption characteristic of both materials are also suitable for of light.

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T H E M A T E R I A L S

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Steven Hall ‘Parallax-Chemistry of Matter’, 2000

Top Left: Patterns of light from a huge prism at Puente Hills Mall, City of Industry, California.

Top Right and Bottom: ‘Translucent Cement’; a new material from the concrete industry that has emerged in the last 5 years.

The series of pictures are from a study model about the mix of three materials; concrete, copper, and glass. The latter is used also as a test for image screening.

SCENE 05

THE PROCESS

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The three sequential steps in my thesis are the The eyeball has a mechanism similar to the camera The exploration with the three steps helped me typical process that a camera undergoes when because it processes the light within rods and cones through the development of the architecture and the recording an event. The lens of an analogous inside the retina, running the information through programs, as well as for the production of my own camera captures the light of the environment into a optic nerves that are to be conceived as a memory images and videos. This thesis project had an film in a dark chamber inside its body, where the of an image inside the brain. When producing advance scheme for the arrangement of two process of transcription transforms light to an architecture for example, I first conceive the buildings with a central space connecting to the inversed image. Therefore, the film is developed architectural idea in my mind that is developed underground metro station. The scheme was a outside the camera to reveal an image that can be further to a final conception with drawings and product of personal interest towards the site (chora) displayed for others to see as a representation of the models that lead to the final product of an actual size and the ideas that came from looking at the site captured environment. The same process happens built representation or a building which is perceived when it was under construction. Most of the with video magnetic films on VHS and actual digital by others. development of its form and shape came from a cameras in memory cards, where electronic bits of study I did with “optigraphs”. information are gathered together to form an image.

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T H E P R O C E S S

0505T H E P R O C E S S

Op.ti.graph [Greek: optikos, in other senses, and graphein, to write]

The optigraphs began as “surveillances” of found images extracted from newspaper, magazines, brochures, technical manuals, entertainment guides, television, advertising, and any other medium offering evidence of the cult of the image. (Asymptote “Architecture at the interval”, 1995)

Optigraphs:

1 2 3 4 5

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T H E P R O C E S S


In my case, I have created the studying images the movement and circulation of the commuters. through the journey of the metro experience myself by taking photographs to a series of The end of the movie is at the Chinatown station in enhanced the idea of framing and exposing the architectural tools lying on my drawing board. I took order to start the journey through my project from “hidden” or things we don't usually observe as being pictures of the top and side views and merged them the metro platform, 60 ft below ground towards the taken for granted.together to create a strange form that involved a sunken plaza and then up to the street level. The curve as the main element of the composition. I experience wi ll become an “egression to The movie was focused on the people's feet in order then decoded the forms to single vector lines in destination”. to capture a better direction of the movements. This order to choose one portion of the image. The way I had set up the camera at the floor most of the selected portion was to be placed on top of my site The first tool used for the movie was a video camera time and sometimes at the window to see the rapid drawing with a process of collage and mapping. I (the collector) to capture my ideas that were to be movements of the exterior objects moving like will use this composition to start developing the transcribed in to the digital realm of a computer (the images on a projector. The movie helped me frame arrangement of the buildings to decode the form and translator). I will then edit the material on my views that normally you wouldn't see at the eye shape for the future plan and section views. After computer using a video editing program for this level, provoking an awareness of the subjects on the the optigraphs were constructed, I wrote a script for purpose and the final cut will be displayed on floor at the station platforms and train cars. When a short movie about the experience of people taking screen. The architecture will be conceived from this the train would start running or when it stops, the the metro from any station towards Chinatown as point of view taking in consideration what I have people's feet would search for balance creating a the final destination. The idea was to understand learned from the movie. In this case the views taken 'dancing' scenario.

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THE CAPTURING

THE MOVIE - ‘egression to destination’

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T H E P R O C E S S


SCENE 06

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THE SPHERE - the eyeball


T H E S P H E R E - t h e e y e b a l l

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The Sphere - The Retina

The sphere started at the second phase of the thesis becoming themost important character in the Film Gallery - the eyeball



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The Sphere known as the ‘eyeball’ was also a character at the architecture school.




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B- Sketches: Development of Atrium with sphere exposed

A B

A- Sketches: -the retina- Development of sphere in between two buildings




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The eyeball constituted of an enclosed building covering the sphere at both sides.

Top Pictures: Model of back of the eyeball

SCREEN STAIRS

ELEVATORS


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The Sunken Plaza and Atrium


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Top Right: Colored Sketched of the different layers for Film Gallery - the eyeball




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The sphere ‘appears’ floating in between two towers (Cores for Film Gallery)


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Geodesic Skin

The sequence of pictures are from “The Rose Center”, a planetarium in NYC.The Rose Center is the most important reference for the retina in the Film Gallery.The structure at the Rose Center is used as an example for the construction of the retina and the skin is also similar but it will be attached to a geodesical structure.

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SOUTH ELEVATION WEST ELEVATION

SECTION A-A - LOOKING NORTH SECTION B-B - LOOKING WEST

outdoor screen - walk-in cinema

exit

exit exit

entrance 01

entrance 02

entrance 01

2nd floor hallway/balcony

IMAX theater IMAX theater

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SECTION OF MAIN RIBS FOR STRUCTURE TOP VIEW OF STRUCTURE

FIRSTT FLOOR PLAN SECOND FLOOR PLAN

entrance 01 entrance 02

2- top section

1- bottom section

ecuator

20

ft

IMAX THEATER: 35MM / 70MMDIGITAL / ANALOGOUS

358 SEATS


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VIEW OF SCREEN PLAZA AT STREET LEVEL - LOOKING NORTH

SCENE 07

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THE SKIN AND STRUCTURE

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T H E S K I N A N D S T R U C T U R E

0707T H E S K I N A N D S T R U C T U R E

Structural analysis for the lens, cornea, and pupil. They constitute of a glass cladding as the cornea,ramps as the pupil, and the curved hallways as the lens.

First Structural Scheme:

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0707



Floor Slabs and Anchoring Analisys

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Cross Ventilation and Loads

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Floor Slabs and Anchoring

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Study of Ramps with Glass Cladding

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First two pictures does not include ramps. Only the firststructure that holds the floors.The bottom one shows the second layer of structure holding the ramps

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The net of structure that constitutes the cornea of the eyeball - The Film Galley

METRO LEVEL

SCENE 08 - The Final Cut

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IIPART

THE PROJECT AND PROGRAMS

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T H E P R O J E C T - PART II


INTERIOR RENDERING OF FILM GALLERY EXTERIOR RENDERING OF FILM GALLERY

The galleries are a continuous exhibition from floor to floor through the use of ramps

The ramps constitutes of independent exhibitions related to a specific movie director and his/her work.

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2

1

1

2

Metro Level Floor Plan at the Sunken Plaza

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Sound Stages Level

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2

1

1

2

3

3

Street Level

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Roof Plan - Top View of Film Gallery

solar panels

open terrace

Lounge / Bar at bridge

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Lounge / Bar

Galleries (lens)

Glass Cladding (cornea)

Ramps (pupil)IMAX cinema (retina)

screening rooms

class rooms

office rooms

Film Academy First Floor

Production First Floor

sound stages

cinemassunken plaza

restaurants

Cross Section - Looking North

SECTION A-A

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Longitudinal Section - Looking West

library

open terrace / restaurant

SECTION B-B

restaurant’s second floor - the bridge

solar panels

conference rooms

office tower

restaurant

restaurant

restaurant

restaurant

administration floor administration floor

connection hallways

parking garage

plaza metro plaza

restaurant

restaurant

restaurant restaurant

restaurant

restaurant

students hall

entrancemetro escalator

steel bars

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east elevation

west elevation

north elevation

south elevation

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Top: Isometric Views

Bottom: Sunken Plaza - Views from Metro

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Interior of Film Gallery

Gille Deleuze - “A Language of Architectural Projection” and “Cinema I - The Movement-Image”, 19971

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This thesis explored the urban tissue of 2.72 acres of vacant space in downtown, D.C. by connecting different paths of movement created by traffic, pedestrians and metro commuters. Such connections are merged in a Center for the Art of Moving Images that captures and exposes the vectors of movements through its architecture. The movements are projected within the x, y and z-axes consisting on different circulations that are engaged horizontally and vertically due to the different urban scenes around and within the site; such as transportation, commerce, and residential structures. The circulations take place in a building that compromises architecture as the main mediator between different urban scenes, visitors, and their characters. The Center for the Art of Moving Images becomes a stage in this merging point where the people are performers and also spectators, performing thus, an exciting play.

The idea was to display different layers of information from 'the place', in this case the architecture and the urban context. The people trigger the display through their movements in and around the Center. They are considered in this project, the main source of energy that activates the design. The project is engaged to the urban context through the architecture that is connecting the different tissues of both, the underground metro and the actual street environments.

learned from Gille Deleuze that it is important to create spatial sequences that awake the effect of movement by a rhythm of structure (vertical ones) and a

change of views (horizontal ones). I adopted this rule as a main one, and added to these spaces curves, creating a harmonious transition from one place to another to ease the process of visual movement. This is well manifested in the three-dimensional design, where the site is perceived as a new floor in the city where the underground metro environment transitions to the street surface in a very harmonious way. The result is a visual depth perceived from a sunken plaza 60 ft below street level.

1

CONCLUSION

continue on the next page...

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The plaza is within an atrium framed by the two buildings that are rising from the same surface as a continuous structure that transforms the underground surface into another urban space. The depth in perception is parallel to the perspectives perceived in movies where you see beyond the surface of the screen and in this case, beyond the surface of the city. The screen is a planar surface where only bi-dimensional images are projected but the content is perceived as a continuous landscape or panorama through the magic of perspective created by the camera lens. The image revealed in this particular urban scenario in Chinatown is perceived, created and interpreted by each individual that inhabits it. This brings to everyone's experience a warmth feeling, and a sense of property, that should serve as a model for future building designs in Washington DC.

The three sequential steps I used to develop this thesis (capturing, transcribing, and displaying) was incorporated only to the architectural design of the Center for the Art of Moving Images. The effect that the Center caused to the urban context was not expected, but it actually worked to a better conclusion. Such effect lies on the egression to destination, which was represented in one of the movies that was filmed during the exploration stage of this project. The egression is the connection from the metro platforms to the Center, becoming the destination.

The transition in these spatial circulations revealed three sequential spaces in the urban context parallel to the three steps I used during the design process. These urban spaces are the metro, the Center, and the street surface. The people are captured inside the metro train car and then released to the Center for a transcription of experiences within the new surface of the city.

The experiences are to be displayed on the street surfaces revealing moments of interaction between the public and the city itself as a cinematic approach. This cinematic approach was applied not only to architecture, but also to the social aspects of a city and its urban context. This application could be perceived in a way that Chinatown could follow this approach to enhance the quality in its communities.

I have also learned from this research that there is no limit beyond the surface that constitutes an urban fabric and the city. Architecture is the mechanism to cut, paste, open, close, stretch, and compress such fabric. The people adapt to these structural changes, and they are also the ones that make it work properly. The adaptation becomes an experience that creates an image of that moment and that place. The image of the city is there to be reinterpreted and experienced by each user. The movement is carried by each of them when inhabiting such image.

CONCLUSION

...continued from previous page

dis.PLAY is also a phenomenon that occurs when visual perception and dynamism of spaces are merged together to form an exquisite journey.

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FILM HISTORY:

A distinct theory that emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century posited architecture as the fundamental site of film practice. The cinema is also the only one to represent real human conditions

with movement and sound, as it would be looking through a window of a building. The movie industry had always the power to attract audience of all ages to a theater near you and will always be an interesting place to be. Despite the new generation of digital film, a movie theater will always have that nostalgic essence like in its original days.

The cinema is the art of the moving image, where a series of images are projected onto the screen to create the illusion of motion. The Zoetrope was invented by William George Horner in 1834 that consisted of a series of pictures in a paper strip arranged on the inside of a revolving drum. At the end

thof the 19 Century a famous English photographer that was working in the west side of the United States at that time, Eadweard Muybridge, worked in stop-action series photography with a series of 12 different fast-shutter cameras that he invented. These 12 cameras alone managed to capture for the first time the legs of a horse proving that there is a moment where all four legs are in the air. Muybridge later invented the Zoopraxiscope, a primitive motion-picture machine that creates the illusion of movement by displaying individual photographs in rapid succession. Etienne Jules Marey learned a lot from Muybridge and later invented a single camera that would take 12 consecutive pictures (chronophotographic fixed-plate camera) equipped with a timed shutter in the 1880's becoming the founding father of the cinematographic technique. Thomas Edison invented the Kinetoscope in 1891 using a motor to revolve a strip of film in front of a light source. The light source projected the image from the film on a screen in a booth becoming the first film projector. The Lumiere brothers, Louis and Auguste, created the astounding Cinematographe in 1895. This portable device was a camera, film processing lab and projector all in one package! A year later the invention of the Vitascope was projecting the images onto a large screen in a room as we still see today. All of them have inspired many others in Europe and America to develop new films, cameras, and projectors for the film industry. In the 1920's was introduced for the first time the use of sound in movies. The sound was placed in a track inside the film (sound tracks) later known as talkies.

APPENDIX

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REFERENCES

Beatriz Colomina - Architecture Reproduction

Malcolm McCullogh - Abstracting Craft

Stan Allen - Practice

John Beckman - The Virtual Dimension

Otl Aicher - Analogous and Digital

Steven Holl - Parallax, 2000

Steven Holl - Questions of Perception

William Mitchell - City of Bits

Fernande Martin - Semiotics of Visual Language

Gille Deleuze - “A language of Architectural Projection” and “Cinema I -The Movement-Image”, 1997

Dimendberg, Edward - ‘Diller+Scofidio’, Blurring Genres, 2003

Asymptote – “Architecture at the interval”, 1995

Peter Zellner - Hybrid Space 1999

Alison Maria Friedman - The rise and declineof Chinatown, D.C

Dean, Michael - Between Architecture and film

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I learned about architecture. I learned about life...

- tony torres 02.10.06

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