Multi Status - Metro Entrance

Instructor: Michael Loverich ︎
Site: DTLA, CA US
Year:  2019 Fall
Individual Work

The project focuses on casting in an accretive process to layer up with various materials from different status, like liquids of wax & plaster, solids of Sculpey, 3D prints & wood, lines of string, surface of fabric, volumes of the solid and liquid materials. I used this process to create volume and connection with inherently weak materials.

The previous studies are all based on a quarter of the surface of the vault. And I focused on part-to-whole relationships with small scale elements that aggregate a larger structure. They all built up with weak materials, but they could become stronger with different conditions like Sculpey being baked, wax getting rigid when the temperature is low. But when they are in a different environment, like wax that could be melted and drip on Sculpey to connect them together. So the main idea is all about draping, covering, and smothering a form until the shell is strong enough to support itself.

The canopy used solids of Sculpey and liquids of wax. Each piece is squeezed by jigs, which can allow them to mass-produce. Then the wax could connect each piece to make them connect as a whole. The support used lines of string and liquids of wax. A string is squeezed into each Sculpey piece, and they both dip in melted wax to absorb wax entirely, which could let them stand up on the stairs, underground, and lower ground to support itself and the canopy. And the reason why I used string is that it can give a direction for wax not only by gravity. 

The drape things were milled with solids of wood to imitate the drape of fabric or the drip of wax. In the drawings, the drape thing is cut by circles creating an entrance to allow people to walk in or go downstairs. Or people can also walk next to or beneath the drape things. The stairs were also milled with solids of wood, which originated from the Sculpey that it has already had a stair system. For future use, people can walk through the tunnel between drapes and walls to take metros.