Extracting the Figure Within the Solid Void

November 4, 2008: Thesis Studio Midterm Presentation/Layout board

Babylon today: The Analysis

I will update this further with text, for now this is the analysis that I have been working on. I hope the drawings can speak for itself in the meantime, until I get a chance to put them into words...

Aerial Image:

Parameter study
(Similar to the field that I derived from the Piano analysis excercise (See excercise 1, frame 4)

Excercise 2: Nodal hingepoints within Field (As derived from excercise 1, frame 3 with piano study

There is much more to investigate as this site seems to fulfill a lot of conditions that relates to my thesis..will explain further later on as the study becomes more and more concrete.

"Extracting the Figure within the Void": ...The Experience within the solid void..

Perhaps the key to life is to release this tension inside all of us. It was tension that provoked certain events. It was tension that gave it form. It made a relationship as well as break it. The harmony of opposites attracting and finding the link between its extremes. Tension causes the birth of man, and it was also tension that provokes them to destroy. It is this struggle to link the two extremes together that hinders its progression. It paralyzes the mind to progress whether it needs to go backwards or forward. We accumulate components, layers and layers of multiplicity to spaces we find empty to the point where the mind becomes stuck in a realm that no longer wants to function. A congested haven no longer desiring anything new.

By extracting the space that links the two extremes (The old void), we not only redefine what has been released, but we have now given life to a new form. This new kind of Tension becomes a solid form (a positive space) a new definition, a new freedom. The next “tabula rasa” to build upon in life and in Architecture. This is the new type of Void.

Site proposal:

The Tension between Man and God.

Genesis 11: 1 – 9

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

This is a short excerpt from the Bible. According to this passage, it was the tension between man and God that created the first of "many" languages. This passage tells the story of a tower that was in the process of creation to celebrate the pride of man and the rise of human technology of their time. The tower was to rise so high it is meant to touch the heavens. This idea that Man can reach God, and pretty much symbolize that Man can be as powerful as God, made God angry. He made each person speak a different language, so that they would not be able to unify and communicate the building of this "evil" structure.

This story reveals that tension gave birth to its fragments, from a unified language to diverse confusion between societies. It is according to Christian belief, is the birth of the nations. The idea that the history is still dominant within the walls of the site tells me that the negative space within it evokes another story. A story only the walls can speak of, and the language that derived the form. Therefore I have chosen Babylon as my site of exploration.

Precis (Abstract)

There lies a battle between two extremes; black v. white. Two visual elements that relies deeply on each other, yet exists as separate entities. White is a color, but it is defined as the “absence of color” and therefore it has no form because one cannot see its boundary. Something with no boundary is known to be infinite. Black is the extreme opposite. It is the “blend of all colors” and because the human eye can absorb its form visually, there lies a boundary. In Architecture, something represented in white is termed as “negative space” where there is no information on its own to convey, and black is considered a “positive space” where the information is deciphered through its boundary and form. However both have something in common, and that is absence.

White is the absence of color, and black is the absence of light. Two extreme opposites, both interlinked yet wants to exist independently. There is a tension between these two elements, a battle between its own hierarchies, or is there such a hierarchy?

In a piano for example, one cannot hear a combination of effervescence without hitting the black and the white keys combined. It is a flat melody if alone played with white, and if alone played with black. In this instrument, both can harmonize in balance. In a Nolli plan, where the white represents circulation and black represents only the form of the buildings around its surrounding site, again white is just as dominant as the black but it cannot exist on Its own, it needs that solid outline to relate the space to. My project is a series of investigations through tectonics to discover this tension between the two extremes, for it is within this space that unlocks and releases a new form. It is this emptiness that contains the key to unlock the tension within its depth of field.

Perhaps the key to life is to release this tension within. It was tension that provoked certain events. It was tension that gave it form. It made a relationship as well as break it. The harmony of opposites attracting and finding the link between its extremes. Tension causes the birth of man, and it was also tension that provokes them to destroy. It is this struggle to link the two extremes together that hinders its progression. It paralyzes the mind to progress whether it needs to go backwards or forward. We accumulate components, layers and layers of multiplicity to spaces we find empty to the point where the mind becomes stuck in a realm that no longer wants to function. Trapped in a congested haven no longer desiring anything new.

By extracting the space that links the two extremes (The old void), we not only redefine what has been released, but we have now given life to a new form. This new kind of Tension becomes a solid form (a positive space) a new definition, a new freedom. The next “tabula rasa” to build upon in life and in Architecture. This is the new type of Void.

In Betweens...

To all my readers:

I thank you all for keeping up with my investigations and writing so far, and I apologize ahead of time for not updating the next one. Not to worry because I do have more, the investigations continue however, I can't seem to find the right space to just sit down and write at this moment. The creation of my work requires a lot of thinking and let alone space to just be myself, I have things happening right now in all different directions, it is what I call the "in betweens". Midterm week for all classes, and other responsibilities so I have my hands full right now. I end here....

till next time..
- jeanne

[update] FEELING THE BEAUTY OF TENSION

I am finally done with my first major midterm, another one to go in less than a week or so. Currently I have been trying to recover my sleep pattern again, it got knocked off after staying up all night almost every other day of the past three weeks. Mostly because of endless project deadlines, consistent pushing on an idea and of course my writing. I will begin my update with the Precis, the first official draft, from the many versions I have been writing up, and next I will introduce finally, the final thesis and the site proposal. I do not yet know what the "program" will be. I placed quotation marks on that term because I feel it is overly stated and direct in architecture. Yes, I agree that in architecture one cannot exist without a program, however you dont want to associate that term and design a generic building type either. One must invent, and therefore proceed. Program is about the experience of a being walking around, and by walk i dont mean just upright. there is a whole new opening to one who crawls, one who runs, there is beauty in tight spaces, beauty in cracks where a pinch of light penetrates through. In program there must be a story, a story of movement. That dynamic motion where one can sense the walls and corridors relate to each other as if they speak a unified language . A language no human ear can comprehend but what the human experience can feel as they experience and become the witness. Tension I discovered is not only in tectonics, where things pull or aggravate extremes. It is where one gesture interacts with others; a battle of heirarchy as one form or void attempts to dominate the other within a threshold. This tension is experientially beautiful.

Dynamic Interface: The Urban Linkage Theory

The word Interface by definition is a surface that contains the common boundaries of two bodies, spaces, or phases. It is also termed as the interconnection between two systems. It is one that enables separate and sometimes incompatible elements to coordinate effectively (dictionary.com). I believe that to unlock the tension that I speak of, one must generate a field that contains in it a relationship between the two opposing boundaries (the tension) of positive and negative space. In other words, the relationship between the black and the white. From the last exploration, the generated field conditions worked under one scale. It causes a relationship derived from its modularity both in its positive configuration and its negative inverse. However, to relate it to my initial study of music and its variations, the organization of these linear elements needs another variation and that would be the scalar variations, How would they now relate in different scales causing the different field conditions to inter-relate?



The Functionalist Grid: All right angles "Declared to be far superior to the other angles and represents the sum of forces to keep the world in equilibrium (balance) Having the rigidity of the man-made grid layout, and the characteristics of how certain cities develop having infinite variations". - Le Corbusier

Linkage Theory:

" The organization of lines that connect the parts of the city and the design of a spatial datum from these lines relate buildings to spaces. The concept of datum in spatial design is analogous to the staff in music, upon which notes are composed in an infinite number of ways. The musical staff is a constant datum, providing the composer with continuous line of reference."

- Finding Lost Space: Robert Trancik"


The linkage in the piece of work above indicates that there is a coordinate dialog betwen the different scales and how the different fields are all inter-relating. As placed in an architectural context, the black indicates a solid form whereas the whites indicates empty spaces. However these two opposites are all interlinked as they are woven together into a bilateral dynamic surface which I then propose is the site context for which the program will adhere into. Also, the site is categorized as having urban characteristics.

How effective is the Functionalist grid? It is quite clear and proven that most cities do not restrict itself to grids, which leads me to my next investigation. Going back to the idea of the piano hammer/key mechanism. The link that creates the sum of its parts is its hinge. The hinge is what creates the dynamic movement through space while being limited within its own boundary. The modular experiments, the small tectonic investigations I had developed in my earlier study also represents this idea. Different angles of movement are generated from its connections, and due to its fragmentation as a module, certain spaces are revealed, "tension" within certain areas are highlighted and the relationship between its parts that composes the module and the final entity that was created from the modules itself in itself, shows another urban condition, I would observe to be more dynamic and less regulated to movement, circulation and flexibility as compared to the grid collage.


The Harmony within Complexity: The model insighted me to observe it more closely as I studied the relationship between each modular pieces interacting with the other. As a whole, the unity seems to have provided within its own complexity, a rather simple harmony between the pieces that interacts. This harmony I then analyzed as fragments in space. Secluding the rest and just focusing on certain provokative moments which i found to be beautiful and architecturally speaking. The pieces in its different configurations of angles, thicknesses and dimension evokes a dialog within the space it creates.

My attempt is to capture the power of tension within the microspace. It is possible that the same urban context can be applied both in a site context and possibly start to define programmatic content and meaning within its different moments.













"An architecture of complexity and contradiction has a special obligation towards the whole - its truth must be in its totality or implications of totality. it must embody the difficult unity of inclusion rather than the easy unity of exclusion"

- Robert Venturi

I conclude by realizing that what I am further analyzing is the relationship between the two extreme spaces. As of current conditions, the positive space is seen as a solid form, whereas negative space is seen as emptiness. In the interface they are all intermeshed so that even the negative space is not so empty after all, it contains a certain complexity in itself linked to the positive complexity it attaches to. In model form, negative space is idealized through the different fragmented moments that the "whole" condition creates through its modularity.

Therefore, what unlocks the tension within the depth of field is the link that ties the two extremes, the question now is what if the roles reverse? what relationship would it create and what possibilities will emerge in the architectural realm? Is positive the new negative? and can we as a society exist within that empty space? if so then how?

Saturday's Writing Seminar: Formal Beginnings

Note: This entry addresses two questions. Of which we were told to do some free- writing. In other words, we will write without removing the pen from the paper, it is probably not grammar efficient but it does empty our thoughts down into a sheet of paper. What i am about to write is an introductory about my project, known as the "Precis" or the "abstract". Once again, it is a form of free writing. Once I take a look at this again, I am sure i'll have it up grammatically correct and more formally explained. For now its just what I can rapid typing.

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I have always thought about balance. Balance in everything. To be balanced requires a heavy discipline and process. In yoga I learned that balance is harmony with oneself and harmony with nature. The unity between the mind (your consciousness) body (the objective physical entity) and the soul (subjective inner being). Of course this is such a complicated idea but I am just writing this down as a warm up. Now, if we are to take it further down, to break down the specifics, the inspiration really came from the Yin and Yang. In visual graphics, it is the relationship between the black and the white, the spatial representation of positive and negative space. But of course, being highly optimistic and this yearning to be critical and radical, I want to focus on the negative space, that is what I will start to address as the “void” concept. This emptiness that not only is expressed in architecture but in every field possible. For me, it is that void, that feeling of emptiness, that longing for something to happen or something to be seen that instigates the actions, almost like dropping a question and trying to formulate the ideas for its solution. In the creation painting by Michaelangelo, the hand that touches Adam’s finger is the power of that void concept. Notice that they aren’t touching yet there is a sence of tension, being that there are two conflicting forms. There is a sense of liberation because they aren’t touching yet also restricting because the two hands are so close in proximity, you would assume they would touch. It isn’t just about the void, it is the tension that created that void that sparks my interest for this thesis project. Everyone loves to formulate on the “something” the positive and solid forms, but almost the general society wants to right away accept or attempt to formulate on the “nothing”. Just like every scientist and philosopher out there, I am going to be an architect to go after the “nothing”.

The power of question is very important. To question something basically means you care about something that you want to know more or you want to rip it into pieces to really discover what it really is inside and out. When you want to share that to the public it means you expect them to have a reaction to it.

Everyone loves to formulate on the something but people are more skeptical when the “nothing” is proposed. People are more willing to go with what they are familiar with than venturing into the unknown. Only a certain few has the guts to do so. My topic, that tension, and void is all about that attempt to venture into an unknown realm in architecture. Really who knows what there is to find, or more like I feel like there is an opportunity waiting to be uncovered. If positive space is so crucial in life, theory and space, how come the negativeness, that emptiness isn’t getting just the same attention? Where is that sense of balance in the world? I feel this is a powerful idea to express: what if the roles reverse each other? Positive v. Negative, black becomes white and white

"Black or white, or white on black" - Generating the "field" conditions.

I am observing the behavior of these modular variations by generating patterns inherent from their one on one interaction. The resulting patterns generated a figure ground interface where the black (positive areas) and white (negative) areas meet but with a certain heirarchy and order to it. I concluded that these figure ground conditions contain infinite opportunities of study, and when translated into an architectural concept, the rigidity of the pattern, and its heirarchy in composition reminds me of an urban condition.

Field Composition 1: Lateral joint















Reverse figure ground of field composition 1


Field Composition 2: Joint with bi-axial configuration


Reverse Figure ground of Field Composition 2:


Field Composition 3: Cross axial configuration


Reverse Figure Ground of Field Composition 3:


Site: This behavior reflects an urban context. Orthogonal matrices, highly ordered in its intersections, shifts and variations. In terms of site I am going to propose an urban context in a macro level for now, perhaps my site is a city, an existing where these conditions comply or something completely generated, a theoretical spatial landscape.

Physical Model: I designed the modules and placed its idea and concepts in a physical setting (the three-dimensional field) On the field generated on paper, it has its limits, and now seeing this configure itself in three dimensions I feel leads to more exciting studies on what this field condition can do and react to.


Variation with added modular pieces:



From observing what occurs in the model, I had not realize there was more to see on what was generated in the two dimensional plane, therefore more questions now arise for me:

What occurs in these micro variations?
If we were to dive deep into its smaller inter-relations,

how does one define the void now?

How does one define the space? and if so, how does it all fit together and relate to one entity? Or perhaps there is more than one.

Unlocking the Tension in the Depth of Field

" To unlock is to reveal: To reveal is to emerge a new sense in space or the being"
- Prof. Gamal El-Zoghby


A field condition can be described as having an infinite boundary within its own space and time. Similar properties all inter-related, a network of some matrix interacting. This investigation addresses the variations derived from this field of tectonics; the study of modular variations working together to form a single interface, but there is a secondary interface at a different scale as well. There is Tension within the field itself, a tension that will possibly release to unlock another region of space and time. (That which reveals the project). In my objective studies, it is through the variants (from the piano's vibrations and notational differentiations) that generated this field condition in a macro scale. It is now through the variables of the modules that generates the other surface within its field in its micro scale. There is a language between the two variant scales, a dialog in which only an unlocking (the revelator: that "thing") element can reveal its objective intent...

Vibrations leads to an echo, an echo through, space, an echo through time, an echo that amplifies the voice of our mind. This is where the human mind can resonate. To resonate is to unlock that which only the being itself can realize.

I continue by creating different variants from the single module derived from the piano keyboard. These configurations indicates the infinite possibilities of how positive and negative spaces (voids) can interact. This is done by altering the position of the black and white elements allowing a chain of possible integrations thus creating a variation surface.

1. In what way can one define what is positive and negative space? Thus leading to an investigation of a figure- ground.

Unspoken words: Form as language..music as form

Music as language: "Music is composed in such a way as to deny heirarchic structure and patterning resulting i a succession of events rather than a progression of events"


- Elizabeth Martin: Architecture as a Translation of Music

The beauty of the piano in its form and sound is through its variations. It is through this variations that music is spoken. From a module of interacting elements comes one sound. A piano however is not just this one module, and this is what creates the harmonious relationship from one dinstict sound to the next. It is a variation through its physical composition, a variation through the notes it can play, and the variation of the player's fingertips interacting with the object. These drawings are attempting to address these variations as a form. In an attempt to address the concept of a boundary/surface/field. This is a series of steps that will now attempt to take the instrument/tool ideas and translate them into an architectural language.



















The Variation Theory: Form as language - language as form

There is a relationship between the internals of the piano system, and its external keyboard. All the keys aligned composes the keyboard. In this drawing, i saw a relationship between rhythm in music, and rhythm in its physical composition thus deriving what I hope to be an architectural language..


joint –noun

1.	the place at which two things, or separate parts of one thing, are joined or united, either rigidly or in such a way as to permit motion; juncture.

I took this idea of the joint as the relationship between the white keys and the black keys on the piano. Its variant combinations, arpeggios, octaves and so forth, determines the variation of these spatial organizations. Is it possible now that a field has been derived? These combinations of solid experimentations can be translated into a field, a surface or even structure. I have discovered an applied tectonics from the abstraction of the piano mechanics.

IDEA(L) - The tool: Dynamic Mechanism.

pi·an·o1 /piˈænoʊ, ˈpyænoʊ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pee-an-oh, pyan-oh] Pronunciation Key–noun, plural -an·os. a musical instrument in which felt-covered hammers, operated from a keyboard, strike the metal strings.

I begin with passion, a thirst for that unknown knowledge yet to be revealed, researched and discovered. It is through this culmination of training and discipline where it all comes together. The project in its final moment becomes a projection of a journey; a narrative, a poetry of experience from my own perceptions, realized into architectural form. This is what Thesis Architecture should be about.

The Instrument: The Piano -

"There is only an art when you play, and only then you will become a human" - anonymous
The instrument, a composition of a sum of its parts leads the way to investigation. In this first stage I picked an instrument with personal meaning. A tool that I always found myself linked to. I chose the piano. A simple harmony of percussion movement that is a culmination of dynamics resulting into one bundled momentum. It begins with an interaction between object and human: that single touch - the primary impulse that triggers frenetic movement resulting into infinite resolution: music. It is through this music that the energy emerges from within its wooden encasement. the sound of a piano is very distinct. It mimicks the sound of the human soul. It projects the thought and emotions of the one who plays it, as if the piano becomes the tool that allows the player to speak without its tongue, and for the audience to hear without their ears. There is tension; between the fingertips and the wooden keys, there is strength and confidence with each strike, and there is power in the sound that it creates as if it solidifies and sculpts itself in space and time. This is why I love it so much. I am the player. I learned a language that speaks through my fingers, and sounds like a beautifully distorted heartbeat. It can mimick sadness it can mimick joy, it is an object that tells the story of the player, and therefore it is unique each time around.

The module: Piano key - The action strike mechanism
1. How can a single action trigger multiple impulses to create a sound?

I chose the upright module because it is the type of piano that I play. It also in its form and composition allows for exploration within three axes. The thickness, the length, and also its height. I pulled off the concept of the single key - strike mechanism because there is a relationship within the interaction of its parts.

The action play mechanism begins with the single key. Once the player strikes, it triggers frenetic movements of dampers, hinges and springs. These make sure that the final strike of the piano is controlled, and they all tranfer down to the final hammer, attached to the steel string. The hammer is felt covered so that the string would vibrate consistently. One hit and the first note is played. This single module is repeated variedly in length of string and the angle of direct contact from the hammer. This is designed to allow for different frequencies and amplitudes of vibrations. These variatiants creates the different and distinct tonality only heard in a piano.

This drawing begins my investigation on what the action strike mechanism can do for me. Exploring its relationships, not as a piano but simply by its pure mechanics. The red lines indicates the angularity of each element from one angle to the next during their motion. The red dot indicates the location of the hinge mechanism, and the black indicates the areas of the module where compression (the chain of impulses) occurs, and a single juxtaposed movement is created.

2. Is it possible to isolate the dependent elements and allow it to become independent?

This is quite an abstract idea. To basically pull apart or simply "isolate" the pieces in its exact location to see if its connecting parts were to be missing, can it form new connections? In the drawing, the dashed forms are the independent members. As observed, no new connections are made, clearly the parts need to co-exist together in order for the interaction to take place.


3. Hinge and the derivation of Field: Can a field be derived through the intersections of its movement?

This drawing begins to address the emergence of a field condition within the movement of the module. By extuding and projecting the angles of movement, and indicating the zones of interaction, a new field has actually been created through its intersections of the already existing field. This result yields into my next analysis, which will now focus on the idea of field...but what is it about the field that interests me in this interrogative assessment? I have to continue. My goal is to define this specific field, and how it can have a relationship between the field in its macro level (the sum) and the micro (its parts)

The very first..and last of the Firsts.....

The greatest of events that we all remember in time are either the first and last. In Psychology, test results yield that the items most remembered are the first ones perceived, and yet when asked to remember them in order..the last of the items is the first one recognized. Well im assuming, theoretically, even though the day wasn't so special..this is one of those scenarios.

Of all the first days of schools that i've ever encountered in life. I feel this is the one that deserves the most attention. Believe it or not, its hard to realize that this "first day of school" is in fact, going to be the LAST one for me. I am graduating and scary as it sounds, and dorky as I may be, i want to cherish this last year of mine. The environment, the friends that i encounter, and have yet to meet, and everything that changed my life all in all.

Campus was beautiful the first day back. It was sticky humid, but the trees and the smooth curvature of pratt's green landscape mediated between the wind and the stickiness. First class was Thesis selection. The presentation wasn't so great, and a lot of the curriculum changed. The new blood of architects are now infiltrating Higgins Hall. Surprisingly I got my first choice. In that room, i felt a feeling of relief. I was walking down campus earlier and i felt so estranged not by the environment but by the new faces, and old faces i haven't seen in a while. It seems like being in Rome for a whole semester really pulled you out of the loop of things. Almost like a piece of a puzzle that you need to shove back in place. The students all wrote down their selections after the presentations and we ended up crowding into a massive pigpen situation inside the hallway, as we wait for KUBUS to select the professors for us.
[Here is KUBUS organizing all our selections, making sure that we get either our first or second choice professors..] and here is Steve..desperately hanging in there waiting for the results]

I think it was the wait that pulled everyone back together since we had no other choice but to face each other in the heat and socialize. Nonetheless it was a great day, and like i said The last will be remembered as the first...