Making Complex Space

“Constructing Complex Space” was a fourteen-day workshop project that took place at the Mackintosh School of Architecture from June 19th to July 1st, 2006. Ten students, from disciplines across the school, participated in the workshop, which was conducted by Robert Mantho studio tutor/lecturer at the MSA and Michael Wenrich lecturer at the University of Virginia.

The two-week project consisted of three phases- 1. site exploration and analysis, 2. investigative collaborative design, and 3. construction of the collective design proposal. The project was conceived as an architectural promenade comprised of a plane of fabric that wrapped and folded around the existing structure and constructed wall and platform. The fabric plane marked, defined, contained, and extended space as it interacted with the exiting building and introduced structures. The spaces created varied from open to closed, with a range of spatial definition, from clearly defined to very ambiguous. Aspects of spatial definition were also affected by temporal and situational conditions as the quality of light or the number of participants significantly influenced the user’s experience of the constructed spaces. The project required participation, while the project did have visual impact, its core characteristics could only be encountered through physical action.

The sites internal complexity and its relationships to the city were also explored. The fabric became a marker, an enclosure and a ground surface, negotiating the surface of the existing building, the constructed wall, the elevated platform and the street below. It served as a thread stitching the typically isolated site back into the context of the city.

The project was an experiment in expanding our collaborative practice and our exploration of spatial condition and experience. The collaborators sought to construct a physical experience that engaged people in a process of revelation and perception about the specific site, about spatial definition, and about the city.

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