Interior Design 270

Winter 2006

 

 

 

Instructor                       Michael Culpepper

 

Project One:               A Viewfinder: A Mechanism of Awareness

 

DUE:                             Monday January 9, 2006 – Full Scale Study Model

                                    Wednesday January 11, 2006 – Viewfinder installed on campus

 

 

“But now I have undertaken a different kind of search, a horizontal search. As a consequence, what takes place in my room is less important. What is important is what I shall find when I leave my room and wander in the neighborhood. Before, I wandered as a diversion. Now I wander seriously and sit and read as a diversion.”

                                                Walker Percy, The Moviegoer

 

“Architecture is not simply the platform that accommodates the viewing subject. It is a viewing mechanism that produces the subject. It precedes and frames the occupant.”

                                                Beatriz Colomina, Strategies in Architectural Thinking

 

 

Establish a point-of-view about the physical world on the campus of BCC.  This point-of-view is a phenomenon that is overlooked or misunderstood. Mobilize this phenomenon with a Viewfinder that challenges the public to become aware of this phenomenon. The Viewfinder should heighten, exaggerate or contrast the phenomenon.

 

This project is the creation of and installation of the actual Viewfinder.

 

Analyze:

  1. the cropping techniques of photography
  2. the abstraction of a James Terrell Sky Window
  3. the subtlety of Robert Irwin scrims

Consider:

  1. the actual performance and use of the viewfinder
  2. inhabitation vs. prosthetics or extensions

 

The Viewfinder will be made of authentic and appropriate materials such as:

  1. Industrial Felt
  2. Lead Wire
  3. Plywood
  4. Cast Resin or Wax
  5. Flashing

 

Craft is paramount.