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L.A.W.u.N (Locally Available World unseen Networks) Projects made by IU faculty members:  David Greene, Samantha Hardingham, Rowan Mersh, Theo Spyropoulos, Shin Egashira, Isabel Peripherique, Edwin Kendall.

Text & Images: Samantha Hardingham and David Greene/The Invisible University; digital photography and imagery by Kevin Shepherd and Sara Shafiei

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Theatre for Magicians, Rome

Author: Sara Shafiei

Under the tuition of Dr Marjan Colletti and Dr Marcos Cruz

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'Like all else in the world, magic cannot stand still.

It must either advance with the times, or fall behind them.

And, in this connection, the one quality which above all others

Is essential to progress is novelty.

Without novelty in some form or other, nothing can be achieved in the way of progress.

[But Magic] inventions are not derived from accidental ideas, happy thoughts,

or heavenly born revelations.

Their origin is in the fact that inspiration, and always endeavoring to imagine novel combinations and novel applications of familiar devices.’

The Great Magician Nevil Maskelyne (1912)

The project attempts to portray how magic and illusion can become an inherent part of the architectural design, which foregrounds the engagement of the user in the building.

The proposal begins by exploring how Harry Houdini’s ‘Vanishing Elephant’ trick is manifested within Albrecht Dürer’s ‘cone of light and vision’ to merge showmanship, optics and illusion.

The resultant building, a Theatre for Magicians, is located in the National Botanical Gardens in Rome.

The building is situated at the peak of the site with picturesque views overlooking the site. The structure of the building is rooted in excess baroque ornamentation. The laser cutter is harnessed to create the detailed pattering on the façade of the building, allowing light to filter through the skin, creating a ‘glowing’ theatre in the hills, enticing visitors inside.

The use of perspectival illusions (such as text and cone anamorphosis) aid in the creation of a landscape of deceptions, whose ornamental tectonics are revealed to the dynamic spectator.

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Anamorphic Tectonics

Author: Sara Shafiei

Under the tuition of Dr Marjan Colletti and Dr Marcos Cruz

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‘The spectator makes the picture.’

Marcel Duchamp

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Anamorphosis is ‘a distorted projection or representation of an image on a plane or curved surface, which, when viewed from a certain point, or as reflected from a curved mirror, appears regular and in proportion; a deformation of an image.’ (Webster’s Dictionary)

Anamorphosis can be seen to use perspective constructions to create a “trick”. The viewer is presented with something that does not make sense when viewed conventionally, and so they must seek out the unconventional viewpoint in order to resolve the “trick”. Therefore, anamorphosis becomes a secret, in which the search and discovery of images became an act of magic.

In order to unravel an anamorphic image, the subject’s relationship to the object of vision much be altered. As Dan Collins suggests in Anamorphosis and the Eccentric Observer, ‘For the viewer to observe anamorphic image they must become an “eccentric observer,” an observer who is willing to sacrifice a centric vantage point for the possibility of catching the uncanny’.

From a traditional point of view, sculpture and architecture ‘implicitly endorse an observer willing to link conventional profiles of an object into a flawless and harmonious progression.’ There are very few designs, which break away from this mould. Borromini’s Colonnade in the Palazzo Spada in Rome, and Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza represent the inverse of the norm, as their architecture insists on establishing a hierarchy of views that favor a specific vantage point. This form of design allows the viewer to become part of the process of creating an image, therefore becoming an inherent part of the final product.

It is for the possibility of this outcome, that anamorphosis is used as a tool of illusion in the architectural proposal.

Here, anamorphosis is used on the façade of the theatre. The façade holds the distorted anamorphic image, and the cone (which intersects the façade) becomes the plane, which reveals the true image.

As there are no traditional signs around the site to navigate visitors, visitors must explore the landscape and architecture before them to unravel its secrets. The anamorphic cone within the façade reflects the words BOX OFFICE, when the cone is viewed from the correct vantage point. In this case the “secret perspective” is positioned at the top of the grand stone staircase.

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Authors: Jaime Bartolome, Pablo Gil, Sara Shafiei

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The Palo Monte, Ritual Centre

Author: Sara Shafiei and Ben Cowd

Under the tuition of Shaun Murray and Dr Marjan Colletti

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The Project is a building design for a Palo Monte Ritual Centre, situated in the National Botanical Gardens, Havana, Cuba. The Palo Monte is a popular Cuban religion that originated in the Congo region of Central Africa.

Throughout the design process we worked hard to develop a language of architecture that could symbolically and spiritually represent the Palo Monte religion. We used drawings, collages and study models, built from natural and local materials to experiment with materiality, spirituality and spatial conditions. Oceanic art, architecture and pattern making inspired the form and organization of the building and resulted in an architectural language personal to the Palo Monte’s history, beliefs and culture. The reading of the building aims to educate visitors and tourists of the true practice of Palo Mote, unveil the mysteries behind the religion and lay to rest the common misconceptions and myths surrounding it.

We experimented with bamboo forming, bending and layering techniques to create the 7 spiritual ‘pods’ in the building. Each pod represents a specific god and responds to the very unique and functional, spiritual and symbolic requirements of the Palo Mote.

The building is hoped to be an opportunity for Cuba to experiment with this sustainable building material and learn and develop the various processing and construction techniques to enable them to use bamboo throughout Cuba.

Encapsulated Fields – Reflective Scapes

New Faculty Building for T.U. Delft Bouwkunde

The competition was completed by Tobias Klein, Sara Shafiei and Johan Voordouw in 2008 as a short charette competition for the new T.U. Delft Bouwkunde building.. The project attempted to make a vertical series of streets and plazas that meandered through the programmed spaces of the school. Multi-storey void spaces punctuate the floors to be used as studios, crit spaces and exhibition voids that could be viewed from multiple vantage points by faculty and students to continually participate and view the activities within the school as they moved along its winding corridors. The submission was an extension of Herman Hertzberger’s Centraal Beheer in Apeldoorn, the importance of the project was to form connections between the different years and studios to inspire the students and inform the faculty, forging a stronger school programme and a more cohesive student body.

The candy-stripped façade was inspired by the tulip fields that surround Delft, the coloured glass continually animating the offices and voids as light passes throughout the day bringing colour into the building and would be used as a playful marker to the surrounding city just outside of the the T.U. campus.

SLASH: Paper under the knife

Sara Shafiei and Ben Cowd exhibit new work at the Museum of Art and Design, New York

link to Museum of Art and Design (MAD)

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saraben>exhibition: architecture of Sara Shafiei and Ben Cowd

Dreamspace Gallery, London