UNBUILT: inSPIRE REVOLUTION

UNBUILT: inSPIRE REVOLUTION

Alexander Bahr
Master of Architecture Candidate 2018
PennDesign, University of Pennsylvania


This project sets out to explore how graphic design can be used in architecture as a method for transmitting an specific message. In doing this, the project looks to validate the writings of Hans Hollein in Everything is Architecture in which he explains that architecture, as an extension of the human sphere, is a medium of communication that can project an specific cultural and metaphysical expression.

The design is a performing arts center that takes inspiration from existing spires in Philadelphia, specifically the graphic uniqueness of the pinnacle representing a certain neighborhood or group. Through a catalog of existing spire iconography, new combinations and mixed perceptions inform the new architectural geometry and works towards a new architecture informed by historical precedent, and not toward ambiguity. Through this process of objectifying an architectural graphic, the project came to understand that an architectural object alone does not hold full autonomy to the public perception of architecture. Only when an object is placed in an environment ready to receive it can the public correctly perceive the intended content.

Through advanced experimentation of graphic styles, architectural drawing techniques and rendering processes, the project began to telegraph architectural information through the use of a new graphic language. Shades of Magenta and Cyan and along with new hatches and patterns start to infer an idea of possible materiality and panelization. The project was deeply sensitive to the transmittance of a graphic silhouette and high graphic as a method of relaying a secondary graphic information to the visitor. As a result, methods of chopping and slicing the architectural form was done to create aperture and embed additional 2D graphic information into the architecture.

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