Miramar

Departing from a set of formally and compositionally different structures the aggregations takes shape after neither, instead considering each as a set of aggregates that are broken up, reshaped, recomposed to create a new configuration with its own objective properties. A fuzzy aggregate is a building that produces ambiguous readings of autonomy (parts or figures that stand on their own) and cohesion (parts that become synthesized with other parts). MIRAMAR is about parts that have been not quite completely fused together, while at the same time being not completely interconnected.

The objects become confluences of these intersections- some abrupt, some fluid- converging in a formaldialogue of parts. The aggregations break up large volumes through voids left by remnants of controlled geometries; they misalign, stagger, step, create dynamic landscapes; pieces pinch each other, carving out moments of privacy in an otherwise outward-facing facade. The object stands on its own objecthood through the careful agglomeration of smaller abstracted aggregates.

University of pennsylvania school of design 2019

critic: Georgina Huljich

collaboration with Catherine Shih

A fuzzy aggregate is a building that produces ambiguous readings of autonomy (parts or figures that stand on their own) and cohesion (parts that become synthesized with other parts). Our project is about parts that have been not quite completely fused together, while at the same time being not completely interconnected.

Readings of parts on the façade, which are defined by carved profiles, appear to operate autonomously from one view (for example looking at the housing tower in elevation it appears disconnected). However, as you turn the corner, the profile line of the figure turns and shapes the corner, creating an involution that shares a seam and is fused with another part, synthesizing it into a larger, continuous organization.

 Materially, the project becomes a fuzzy aggregate through the articulation of seams, where the fragmentation of materiality creates new readings of parts through misalignments where two parts interlock, however the material seams act independently of their synthesis. Therefore rather than being indexical, material misalignments create an ambiguous relationship between the building’s façade articulation and how the part operates internally.

The interior contains three converging programs; public performing arts venues, a school for the arts, and housing for students and host families. Catalan culture is based on familial ties and as students attend school in the city outside of their hometown the social ties weaken. The building disrupts the symbiotic notion of the observer and the observed through the programmatic juxtaposition of performance arts and social infrastructures. Through porosity, visual exposure, and landscape confluence, an otherwise monolithic building opens up and becomes an active participant in the fabric of the city. Urban windows at street level and shared terraces that spill out of carved openings above, create a visual relationship with the street is enabled through an invitation to be seen.

People at street level catch a glimpse of life, a snapshot of the stories and domesticity that inhabit the space and become reflected on the exterior, infusing the building with life from the outside. Similar to the way in which carved openings enable a visual relationship with the building from the exterior, in the interior, openings in the floor from profile lines create misalignments through vertical atriums, visually connecting spaces to create a larger sense of community in public zones such as the school’s main gathering space.