Joseph J Depre

Barry Wark | 701

Joseph Depre & Lachelle Weathers

This project speculates on the future of public space in London where the effects of climate change have produced an environment that frequently sees temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius. The climate crisis itself could be understood as a result of the greater part of humanity acting out of a disconnection with the natural world. The design language of the current built environment reinforces the perception that humans are exempt from nature, which has led to an ecological imbalance.

Ecological design is a novel typology that seeks to break the boundaries between the human and the non-human worlds. Our intervention is intended to utilize a mastery of architectural atmospheric spaces to inspire an affectual, emotional response of the participants within the space. This affectual response translates into a greater effect on the larger social consciousness. A sense of connection to the ecological consciousness will inspire curiosity and stewardship that is integral for responsible decision-making for our climate future. The artistry of architecture is utilized as a tool for people to recognize the beauty of being part of a greater, holistic ecosystem.

Ferda Kolatan | 704

Cappadocia Studio 2023

Partner: Micheal Wilhoit

CAPPADOPEIA

n.
An architectural intervention comprised of caring and redistribution of the vibrant material found within the Cappadocian landscape. Considered an ephemeral intervention in a constant state of being throughout the geological timescale. The process of scalar manipulation and aggregation to both preserve and highlight the ecstatic experience of the ancient volcanic landscape of central Anatolia> A mosaic crystalizing the peaks and valleys of a capricious geology. An evolution of architectural expression derived from the history of overlapping cultures within Cappadocia, with the express purpose of making is the most Dope.

adj.
Having the qualities of geophilic erotica

Media Temple in the Desert of the Real

Danielle Willems | 602

Joseph Depre & Michael Willhoit

Metadata is a conceptual at center for the storage of the Metaverse, a parallel digital universe of human creation. It is a Cathedral creating a bridge between the tangible and the immaterial, the real and the hyper-real, The Simulation. The datacenter is the sole material reality of the virtual simulation. This makes the structure housing the datacenter a sacred space which requires being fortified against hostile environments and intents. As the Metaverse becomes more ubiquitous in our daily lives entire populations will abandon reality for their subjective realities manifested online. The vacuum of space found in the absence of daily interpersonal interaction will create a literal desert of the real. People will need to be lured away from the simulation through sensual experience. Metadata response to the sociological condition through programmatic intervention. Media Spectacle and the promise of luxury sensual experience are deployed as modalities of seduction. The thermal baths house in the cavernous sublevels of Metadata are heated through a thermal exchange with the data servers creating cyclical economy of carbon reduction through sensual experience. Water becomes the conduit crating a fluid exchange of energy providing sensual and hyper-sensual experience by both cooling the Metaverse servers and heating the baths. The site is located in Queens, New York along the eastern bank of the East River. The water of this coastal site is subject to tidal fluctuation integral to offsetting the carbon-footprint of the project. The site itself is design to respond to sea level rise as it sits within the coastal flood plain.

Scott Erdy | 601

In 1783 the Montgolfier brothers launched the first manned fight. It was not the science itself but the Spectacle of science manifested as a of a hot-air balloon flying above the King of France inspired the revolution for Democracy. With in the decade Louis XVI lost his head and the world turn toward democracy. For Boullée the hot air balloon’s spherical shape became a symbol of democratic equality. The Spectacle proved its ability to transform reality.
The Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia was the home of the American Band Stand and the first television studio in the United States. It is the origin of McLuhan’s Global Village and the Spectacle televised simulation that informed, inspired, and controlled the 20th century.
The 21st century has seen the rise of Spectacle of the internet become more important the reality. Life has become a simulation experienced virtually within personalized spheres. A personalized hyper-reality sold to the audience of one. Metatopia is a 21st century trans-human Utopia, uniting people in a collective individuality in stacking single occupancy unit in a critical mass. The spheres are stacked on end touching at singular tangential points as individual cells create a larger whole. The mirror finish of the exterior is a monument to the self, expressed in reflection. Each individual unit is designed to sustain life as long as possible without having to disengage from their personalized simulated reality lived on the internet. The vertical garden, aquaponic tilapia, and insect farm is a circular economy of food production built in the atrium that provides all the other resources needed to sustain life with the minimal distance necessary to minimize exposure to the hostile exterior environment post climate-catastrophe.

If it is taken from Debord that the spectacle is the image of the ruling economy, then the one that controls the spectacle controls the economy. This is not a Situationism, for there is no Situationism, there is only The Situation.

The Situation is the spectacle endowed with purpose, a gravity-well pulling a diversity of people into its orbit. The geometry of The Situation is a transformation of the mural culture of Philadelphia into volumetric form. It is a literal reflection of the colorful architectural skin of the local environment and culture.

The primary programmatic concerns are a transportation hub and the transformative effects of the psychogeographic experience found within the marketplace. It is a multicultural buffet of food and drink, programmed across multilevel roof gardens, providing sanctuary from the ordinary. Vehicle traffic from Market Street has been moved underground and the El Train tracks have been encapsulated to provide a tranquil street level gathering space accessible to mobile vendors. The roof market has over twenty different small vendor kiosks arranged to create an experiential meandering. The goal is to normalize the relationship between indefinite “others” in the between place of circulation. The transition between program A and program B becomes activated as the primary experience of action, akin to the playfulness of discovery found through continuous dérive.

Ferda Kolatan | 704

Joseph Depre, Kyle Troyer, & Benjamin Hergert

The object is an investigation into recreating to the expressive gestural forms techniques of rococo plastering through a digital model making. Modeling in virtual reality allowed us to maintain the gesture of creation through the human body. Bridging the gap from digital mechanical production to digital human production, in a sense creating a more emersed digital craftsman. This relationship between craftsmanship and mechanical or industrial production as several historical echoes.

The images we created is hybridization referencing the specific historical echo the arts and crafts movement and the prints William Morris in combination with the mundane fantasies of contemporary middle class sensuality. Our geometries are derived from the pop cultural phenomenon of Star Wars, The Lord of the Ring, and Mickey Mouse’s Magic Kingdom.

The project series presents a compelling exploration of craft and architecture through custom handmade paper pendant lamps and architectural objects.

Each creation merges delicate paper with dynamic design, resulting in structures that transform spaces and illuminate them with a unique interplay of light and shadow. The objects exist as a study of form and scale challenging conventional perceptions to offer a fresh perspective on vernacular materiality.

Integrating traditional techniques with contemporary architectural principles, the objects function not only as light sources but also as sculptural elements, inviting engagement with an evolving narrative of light, form, and spatial innovation.

The studio practice is a direct extension of the work on the streets. Objects and discarded materials move fluidly from the street to become the canvasses in the studio, re-articulating their original functionality into new modalities while maintaining the expression of their original materiality. There is an appreciation for the Absurd in creating woodblocks, which are never printed, preserving the Aura of the singular object as unique as the personas they represent. The collage of imagery and material are symbolic allegories of life and a response to culture.

Ezio Blasetti | 743
Form and Algorithm
Partner: Bhavana Priya Balasubramanian

A line passes through a plane at an intersectional point. As a 3-dimensional shape intersects a 2-dimensional plane it creates a flat intersectional profile. For example, a sphere passing through a 2-dimensional plane creates a profile of variously sized circles depending on the depth of the intersectional plane. The object of the higher spatial dimension is compressed is it representation on the lower spatial plane.

Similarly, a 4-dimensional object can only be understood in part as intersects the 3-dimensional spatial environment. The representation of 4-dimensional hyper-object as it changes the way it intersects the 3-dimensional spatial environment. The 4-dimensional object is not changing, only the way it intersects the lower spatial-dimension.

Here we created a hybrid of two different 4-dimensional minimal volumes through the addition of the Z-dimension to the minimal surface equations. The 4-dimensional hybrids are represented as a series of surfaces as they pass through the 3-dimensional spatial environment.