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moriyama tower
harvard graduate school of design : core iii
critic : john may
fall 2016
Core III began with a provocation that proposed an architectural attitude for the
problem ahead : a tower in Dubai. Interested in materials and process, I chose to dip
orchids into wax. The provocation allowed me to frame the problem as one of contrast:
heaviness vs lightness
One of the first decisions made was that the upper half of the tower would be considered
light, almost appearing to float, and the bottom half would be heavy, sinking into the
ground.
Museum, black box theater, and pool were labelled heavy, while hotel rooms and artists
studios were labelled light. Physically, this manifested in a suspended mass one enters
below, allowing one to really feel the heaviness of it before entering the elevator.
As users ride up to their room, views are directed towards this immensely huge mass.
The organization above is quite differe - hotel rooms float in an excess of circulation.
To be clear, upon exiting the elevator shaft, circulation is open to the very hot temperatures
of Dubai. The idea here being we shouldn't be able to do everything all the time. That is,
rooms are meant to be used for short periods of time, from late in the cool evening to
early in the morning.
Floor plans explored ideas in which artists, the primary users of this tower, were allowed
a variety of spaces in which they could either hide, be revealed, or live strictly with
other artists.
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