INTENTION
As a site-specific comment on formal procession of space, this installation is intended to “choreograph light for the moving eye” (Plummer, 54). The piece continues the datum line established by the separation of private studio space from shared circulation and common areas, and is positioned to inform a terminus to this procession and complete the extension of the datum. Creating itself from the geometries present, string guides the form of the light modulator, and through tension shapes the form of the color and light bounced onto its surfaces.
Beginning with site analysis, opportunities for attachment along the datum are in three locations on the truss above, two spots along the bottom chord and one at a buttress point along the wall, and at the feet of the desk below,. The installation emerges from a point of genesis at the collection of the site forces demarcated through the string and in alignment with the 49” half wall directly north. The tensioned string conducts the modulating surfaces towards the light source, offering themselves for interaction with the natural forces present.
The location of the piece is important as to focus the qualities desired for pattern and surface. Drawing from the existing geometry, several rectilinear planes: intersect: the half-height partition wall, the 2’-wide concrete column in the south wall, and the gridded metal window frames flanking it. As Kengo Kuma discusses the importance of architectural decoration, “pattern…explains and strengthens the structure of the space” (Abruzzo, 42). The modulating surfaces reflect the rectilinear quality of the space surrounding them, and by cutting and tensioning these flat surfaces, new interpretations of these rectilinear forms create new opportunities for color and light to flow on them. The faceted surfaces catch and reflect light from many directions, similar to phenomena that occurs underneath Herzog and DeMeuron’s Caixa Forum (Arcspace).
The cut flaps are pulled in three directions based on optimal color bounce determined through rudimentary tests: the northern most panel is pulled towards the south, the middle panel is pulled both south and north, and the southern panel is pulled towards the north. Each flap is tensioned to introduce the maximum amount of bounced color onto the surface as possible. By tensioning the form of the surfaces, the bounced colored light gradients in and out of deeper hues based on its changing relation to its adjacent surfaces. These adjacent surfaces, varying in two shades of green and one of blue, flow through the three surfaces, with colors interacting similar to the effect in the Männisto Church by Juha Leiviskä (Yoshida). The blending of the three colors harmonizes the stratified string structure that shapes the form of the installation.
In reflecting on the architecture of regions with similar climates to that of Portland, Scandinavia brings a long history of enlivening an overcast or rainy landscape through precedent examples such as Paimio Sanitorium, the city of Bergen, or Nyhavn in Copenhagen. Through testing the bouncing ability of several bright colors, the bounced color of blue and green samples prove highly visible from the furthest distance. These colors evoke the relationship with nature which through light pulls the installation towards the outside. As in Dan Flavin’s untitled (to the “innovator” of Wheeling Peachblow) (Bell, 164), one of the objects of the installation is to utilize existing architectural conditions to create new spatial qualities through the medium of light. By creating a brighter surface before and in relation to the column, its visual weight lightens by adjusting the terminus of the larger datum procession.
FINDINGS
Once I began attaching my surfaces, I noticed the piece would need to be tensioned much more than I had imagined at first, in order to introduce the maximum amount of bounced color onto the flaps. This guided the shape to its new form away from my hardline diagram.
One of my hidden concerns about this project was that the space above my desk might suddenly become too heavy, and even block all visual and social connections to the kitchen. I am pleased with the way the more tensioned shape creates an archway framing my desk. I also feel that it does resolve the datum present in the studio towards the window, especially from the perspective coming up the stairs. It is not as successful in the view dead along the datum.
The main problem with the new, highly tensioned form of the piece was the way it prevented color bouncing particularly on the South sheet. Because I had planned the directions I would be tensioning the piece based on the effect of color bouncing horizontally, at a 45 degree angle and vertically, the eradication of a horizontal surface while keeping the tensioning towards the north concept created problems for bouncing the blue sheet’s color. Bounced blue color is successful only in some locations.
The most successful light bouncing was with the neon green. Because I used house paint samples to determine the colors I would be using, I didn’t take into account the light-bouncing qualities of florescent colors available in spray paint. I would consider those colors first were I to redo this project.
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This collection of essays is the result of a Symposium on the work of Dan Flavin located in Marfa, Texas in 2001. From prominent art critics and historians, the presentations focus on the historical perspective of Flavin’s work in the medium of light as well as attention to the meaning and evolution of his style and background.
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This book explores the way in which architects have made visible the normally hidden qualities of light. The author explores many themes and epochs of architectural form, and writes extensively about light phenomena explored by architects, such as light refraction, bouncing color, time changing light qualities, channeling light, and sifting light. The extensive nature of investigation and expanse of typologies informs the credibility of the source.
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