JUXTAPOSED ACCELERATION
Acknowledging the relative nature of human experience, we attempted an analysis of space and structure though juxtaposition using scale, orientation, mass, and light. Taking as a precedent the conflict between Piet Mondrian’s centripetal and Theo Van Doesburg’s centrifugal compositions, this space seeks a dynamic equilibrium at the core of which are a gallery space and auditorium corresponding both conceptually and architecturally with the aforementioned distinctions.
Design Team: Zach Maurer, Vahe Markosian
Once we were given the site - University National in Bogota, Colombia, we went through a series of experiments testing and analyzing how shadows and reflections were cast to determine the final orientation of the project. We wanted the light at different times of day to reflect the conceptual distinctions between the architectural juxtaposition of inward focused, and outward focused space.
We iterated our designs through model building and photography, so that we could simultaneously gain an understanding of the materials and physics behind the ideas we were coming up with. In our final model we pushed ourselves to cast large yet thin cantilevered structures out of concrete. We achieved this through creating precision molds on the CNC machine and suspending wire mesh in them to reenforce the concrete.
Exploring and pushing the language of several 20th century modern movements Juxtaposed Acceleration is a building which both embraces the campus of Universidad Nacional and secludes itself from it. It is precisely in the juxtaposition between these two phenomena that the synergy of the building is contained. The colorful construction suspended between both is a means of interface and dialogue connecting the two spaces, and bridging the gap between opposing views.
