LEFT BRAIN DESCRIPTION

Window treatment made of white opaque spheres of varying sizes:

  • 1st window has 50 spheres; 2nd window has 42 spheres

  • 3 different sized spheres: 7 7/8th in diameter, 6 inch, 4 5/8 in

2 Modified chairs, both without seats or back rests

  • 1st edit: 12 spheres of varying sizes fused to the limbs of the chair

  • 2nd edit: extended shadows, transluscent triangular shapes connecting the chair to the ground

2 figures:

  • one in attitude penche leaning on the chair,

  • the other of a staggered double attitude leaning back onto the chair

Sciagraphy : March 8th - 1:34 pm

Warm color palette: dusty pink, burnt orange, pale rose, light cream/yellow, cherry red

RIGHT BRAIN DESCRIPTION

I was attracted at first by this warm glow emanating from the corner.

It was intriguing - an odd mass, immobile, resting, alone

coming alive because of the sun's rays.

How could something so heavy and amorphous take on such a light and airy quality? I wondered. Then there were these towering opaque orbs fitted into two of the window frames. They partially blocked the light entering, thus casting shattered shadows of lose spheres onto the walls and floor. It was mysterious but amusing all at once.

I thought I saw these dancing figures, like shadows printed on the wall, but I wasn’t sure. The light was too vibrant to be certain.

I turned my body slightly towards the left, away from the windows, and saw another form. A chair, this I was sure of. But it was fixed to the ground. Straight diagonal lines jutted out of it, downward like arrows stopped mid flight. The whole scene was ... just weird. Intriguing, but confusing. Warm, but dizzying.

I wrote down in my notebook...

a weird awkward

jutting

juxtaposition of

gleaming

glowing

flaming

flushed

vibrant

vivid

geometric

shapes

beaming

one moment

suffused

the next

aglow, a glow...

25 E 13th St. is one of the campus buildings at Parsons where I had class in my first year - pre pandemic. The space located on the 3rd floor facing South was chosen by my Representation & Analysis teacher as the focus for the entire semester of class (in sophomore year), because of its atmospheric qualities. It is a 100 year old building with fragile windows made of glass that is starting to sag, squeaky - but no less beautiful - wooden floorboards, and an odd but charming wall configuration. The class was focused on teaching us how to draw using both digital and analog tools. Our teacher emphasized the importance of using these two types of tools in order to bring together our left brain and right brain - the measured rational brain and the creative imaginative brain. Digital tools are fantastic to achieve precision, accuracy and scale, but they fail to provide emotion and atmosphere. This is where analog techniques are useful.

For our final we had to present three drawings: an axonometric, a perspective collage, and an orthographic (plan and two elevations). We had to include two chair modifications, one window treatment that we designed, sciagraphy (the representation of light and shadow), and people. These are the four key elements that infuse a space with mood and emotion.

More detail on my window and chair treatments can be found here and here. My goal for the space overall was to highlight the quality of the light as it passed through the window covering I designed. This project design, however, is not supposed to be about me. It is not “I want this” or “I did this”. It is about the space itself - the atmosphere, the emotional quality, the feeling. That is the aspect of interior design that my teacher stressed on us.

These are a series of axonometric drawings I created in sketchup with the help of drawings from AutoCAD. I used my usual palette of warm colors (that features in most of my work) to echo the natural warmth of sunlight. I exploded one of the window treatments and the bubble chair to display how the pieces connect to each other. I lifted some of the sciagraphy lines from the floor to suggest movement and dynamism which are first signaled in the pose of the two figures. The second modified chair is lifted off the ground to emphasize the modification: the light rays that connect the chair to its corresponding shadows on the ground which I materialized by actually drawing the rays. The placement of the figures is playful - one series is placed on top of the door frame while the other sits on the edge of the wall. The repetition is meant to reinforce the movement already suggested in the dancer’s pose.

Orthographic drawings were the first type we learned to draw. We started by learning how to cut a room - the cut line is the essence of all orthographic drawings. When cut lines are overlapped, they create an entire space. Everyone in my class had the same site, so this set of drawings was similar for everyone. The details - sciagraphy, people, chair and window treatment - are what made them unique. The basic drawing was created entirely in AutoCAD; the rest was a combination of AutoCAD and sketchup.

The perspective collage was a unique approach to drawing; our teacher wanted us to create scaled 3D models of the space with our designs included (inspired by James Casebere’s work) so that we could take pictures and layer them over real life pictures of the space as well as perspective shots from sketchup cameras. Combining the three cameras presented a challenge in terms of coordinating the superimposition and position of the walls, chairs, etc. but resulted in a truly unique depiction of space. This drawing demonstrated the power of using both measured and atmospheric tools together. I did not begin this drawing with a specific goal in mind; I simply started assembling and layering and let the objects guide me. In the end, I created a warm and glittering atmosphere displaying a sense of mystery as the figures remain simple outlines (they are not solidified).