Week 12: Amelia & Xiao

Hello all,

Below you will find what Xiao and I presented to Carolina today.
For next week we are going to work on our structure more, finalize the bottom half of our model, work more on our yearbook/invitation as well as proposal booklet layouts (not included in this post), and finish writing our narrative and the content for the proposal.

We would like to make a book of (and for) everyone in the class, as a mock-up for our yearbook idea. I would like to take pictures of you all next week, if everyone is okay with that. Also, just to plant the seed, we will be asking for 1-3 pieces of work and a little bit of writing, but don't worry about that now :)

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CLAIM (work in progress)
Our graduation proposal sets forth to highlight the reverence and excitement of this passage or threshold in a graduate’s life. By creating a very ethereal and temporary structure combined with a permanent landscape-intervention, we hope to capture the fragility and “moment-in-time” nature of a graduation ceremony, while articulating the strong foundation graduate’s share. Our structure—built of paper and wood—is collapsible, storable, and the epitome of sustainability. The media for the event has been pared down to the simple use of light and shadow to create a sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing palette. Depth and visual interest is found through subtle variations in white light, created by the physical structure and placement of both candles and incandescent lighting. Way-finding takes place through the use of affordable and sustainable candle-lit luminaries, placed on the ground in lines to lead people to and from the event. Chinese-inspired lanterns in the trees around campus provide further visual interest. Beneath the structure is a concrete circle flush with the ground, approximately 75 feet in diameter, with concentric rings denoted by lighting embedded in the cement. During the ceremony, a circular stage will be installed in the smallest ring for the commencement exercises. When graduation is not taking place, the wood and paper structure will be disassembled and stored, while the concrete circle will remain to be used by students for events such as yoga, basketball, outdoor classes, parking, and other activities. This new concrete ring will serve all the purposes that the basketball court currently provides, while creating a level of aesthetic appeal appropriate to a school of our caliber. An aerial view reveals the combination of the circle and rectangle interventions (the Ellwood building being the rectangle), referencing an ancient Chinese belief derived from the Yin and Yang theory, in which heaven is like a dome covering the square earth. It also serves as a compliment to the existing structure and landscape, as well as a giant representation of our logo.