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ADVANCED DESIGN A
Prof: Dan Powers
THE LIBRARY OF LOST MEMORIES, THE LOST LIVES OF NORTH KOREA:
To begin this project, we were told the title of our project, A Library of Lost Memories, and to define it in our own way. From there we were to pick a topic to focus our library on. Alongside this we were told to pick three art pieces, one literary, one, performance, and one visual, to help inspire and guide our design choices. For my Project I chose to focus on the lost memories and lives of the men and women of North Korea. The three art pieces I chose were The book Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, the movie Coco by Disney, an illustration by the artist Perry Tse pictured to the right. From here I dove into research. For our site, we were allowed to choose any place in the world. I knew I wanted to chose a place in South Korea. Finally, I chose to create an attachment onto the Metropolitan Library in the capital of South Korea, Seoul. I wanted to attach my building to the library and wrap around the library and the city hall building. Making my building in a way to emulate North Korea as this sort of other half of the library. I wanted my building to serve not only as a library to inform but as a place of awareness and acceptance. I was inspired by my research of North Korea and the way that North Koreans live once they have defected and while they are safe from North Korea, they have a new set of difficulties they must face and most often with very little support or connections. I wanted to incorporate a place for speakers to present and to provide space for support for North Koreans.
I have never been as passionate about a project as I have when I began this one. All I wanted to do was to continue to learn and create as I went through the design process and it lit a fire in me. This is why I have decided to continue with this topic into my thesis and focus on North Korea, how defectors continue their lives after escaping North Korea, and how architecture can influence and improve this.
MUSEUM OF CONSEQUENCES, THE OBSERVATORY:
For this project, we were instructed to select an invention created between 1600-1800. I selected the telescope, due to its controversial history. I chose to focus on Galileo’s telescope. When Galileo started using his new invention he learned anddiscovered many things. Most notably, he discovered that the earth was not the center of our universe, and that we were in fact revolving around the sun. This created a great conflict between Galileo and the Church that led to his being on house arrest for the rest of his life for heresy. I wanted with my museum of consequences to focus on the censorship and fear mongoring that follows gaining knowledge. Also, I wanted to explore the modern negatives that came from Galileo’s discovery. The positives of knowledge are clear, but, with knowledge comes fear from those who do not fully understand. With the discovery of the earth not being the center of the universe, and learning how minuscule earth is in comparison to the rest of the expanding universe, the never-ending list of conspiracy theories and fear of the unknown has taken off. Again, we were allowed to select a site anywhere in the world. With my invention being the telescope, I wanted to add to the program of the museum and have my building also act as an observatory. Because of this I needed to select a site that is a dark sky region to allow for maximum ability to see stars. I finally decided on Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley National park. While developing my design I knew I wanted a linear building to emulate the telescopes very thin and linear nature. I chose to go with these two offset forms in the shape of the path, so as to expand upon the path and to integrate the building underground. I also couldn’t ignore the extreme climate associated with Death Valley with the most volatile temperatures in history.Wanting to make my building mostly transparent so as to get views of the crater while exploring the museum, I designed a wrapping a louver system to provide shade and help with the heat. Each end of the two forms would be open with the northern end cap having different eras of telescopes to test, while the southern cap being the large observatory telescope.
museum on conseq.
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