compiled works 2012 fall semester

surface morphologiesmichael signorile

My ambitions for this project are to design an education center based on the habitats of the animals that live in close proximity to the site. I want people to move through the site and be able to learn without thinking they are learning. I want to incorporate the idea of bird watching. I really like where I was able to go with my indexing and dynamic variations and I feel that could be very interesting to incorporate into the design. Maybe something that incorporates using the lifespan of the grass in my design. I would like to create buildings and spaces that speak to the birds, and grasslands. An aviary without boundaries. There are no boundaries, only areas of higher attraction. I would also like the incorporate the idea of trans-parencies based on some of the information that was shown was very compelling to me and can be a powerful factor in my design. I would also want to create an education space where learning isn’t based on the building but the landscape around it. Maybe there could be exterior spaces that students or adults move through, and just observe their surroundings and then they could go into more confined areas that could be considered reflection areas for the people to think about what they just walked through, maybe even information about what they just walked through and if they didn’t see it they would be compelled to move through it again. I also want this area to be a kind of recreation area, a place where people can kind of go to and from there bridge out to the boardwalk. Maybe some kind of walking/running area that moves through the site and allows people to capture the same effects they would from moving through the habitat and education areas. It would be nice to create nature based influences in sustainable design.

After writing this I went back and looked at what my original goals and ambitions were for the studio this semester to see how my goals play a role in this project. I think they will help play a role with this project because some of the things I am interested in like enclo-sure systems. I emphasized enclosure systems a lot in my original goals and ambitions. Maybe it is enclosure systems or even the lack of enclosure systems that can help create play a role in theproject.

surface morphologiesinitial abstract

the ecocenter is a center where research is the exhibit/ gallery. people go to the site in order to watch natural processes and the self sustaining habitat that is being improved by the building systems.people will move through observing these systems. there are no real interior spaces. the spaces share a certainambiguity. one where there is no clear boundary of an interior and an exterior space. people go to the center as a way to learn about the grasslands and the habitat is centered as a way to learn about the grasslands and the habitat that is centered around it and to see the way these externalities of the grasslands can be used as a way to benefit the ecosystem and the environment.

surface morphologiesmidreview abstract

This project is an attempt to understand the states of variation the grasslands go through usingarchitecture as a catalyst. To try and understand how a small piece of an ecosystem can completely change the ecosystem over time. Our site location at Liberty StatePark is mainly made up of grasslands, The grasslands dictate where different species inhabit, and feed. Initially studying the bird movements on the site made me recognize how the change in grassland density and the heights dictates where the birds move, eat, and nest.. So what dictated where the grasslands started to grow ? The seed dispersal patterns along with the prevailing wind patterns. It is fascinating how something as small as a seed can completely create a framework for an ecosystem to develop.

The question becomes what happens when architecture starts to become the catalyst or inhibitor for this growth. An architecture in which starts to create a synthetic/manmade ecosystem inside of a natural ecosystem, unbounded by the season change. An architecture which becomes a laboratory, an exhibit, in a perceptual state of change. What catalogs the difference ? One is in constant change,where it can be documented, and one is subjected to the natural environment. The architecture is showing contrasts of the two. Surfaces are exterior faces of an object or one such object. Morphologies are such patterns of a particular language. Using various surface morphologies dictated by sun, wind patterns, bird movement and locations on the site as catalysts or inhibitors that create a micro-system inside of a natural ecosystem.

surface morphologiesfinal review abstract