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Joint_Opposition
Program: Boat House Museum
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Joinery, as opposed to uniformity, assembles multiple disparate elements together in an equal way. In this case, distinct spaces are juxtaposed between thick and thin, heavy and light, large and small, amplifying the unstable quality inherent in the ordering of spaces. Joinery becomes the keystone in establishing and expanding the relationships between elements. Instead of presenting uniformed spaces that suggest hierarchical importance, the exploration of joinery embraces instability and diversity broadening the traditional narrative.

The project aims to develop a new language of monumentality through joinery in the design of a Museum and Boat House. As much as a place for exhibition, museum spaces celebrated the union of people and culture from differing origins. In reflection of the traditional monuments that are created in favor of regular expression, the use of joinery as the architectural language aims to avert spaces with connotations linking to one authoritarian hierarchy by bridging and interlocking distinct elements. The building takes on the language of puzzling pieces that are plugged into a larger mass. There are two types of joining moments: positive and negative. The positive joineries are long bridges that pierce through the main mass to link the separated puzzle pieces together. The negative joineries are in between the masses and puzzle where multiple components come together, forming varied solid and empty figures. Dynamic actions can take place at these joint spaces where it allows people to enter, to pause, to look, and to contemplate.

Design Order  Container
6” x 6” x 6”
Chamber
4’ x 4’ x 6’
Architecture
115’ x 50’ x 80’

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Project 1A: Container 
Puzzling Assembly
Inidividual Project
6” x 6” x 6”

Puzzling Assembly utilizes three elements: wood mass, paster mass, and wood dowels, to investigate new monumental form. Each of these elements cannot stand independently and need to rely on one another to achieve balance. The volume of the container is therefore accomplished through the assembly of plaster and wood pieces that are pierced by the dowels in a harmonic way. In this case, the wood dowels are frameworks, defining the directions and boundaries of the container of puzzles. There is a sense of controled precariousness inherent in this stable form.






Casting Process

Final Model

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  Project 2B: Chamber
Centri_Figure
Team Project: Taely Freeman, Natsuko Nozaki, and Aotong Yan
4’ x 4’ x 6’

Concerning monumentality, this project explored the creation of obscurity and depth of understanding from the lens of the viewer, evoking a sense of time through puzzling as the parts of the whole start to reveal varying figures through layers. Formally, this sense of puzzling was explored through a combination of figure mass, figure void, and figure joint. Within this construct, Centri_Figure reinterprets the function of centering formwork, transforming its temporay qualities into a permanent integration of the design. In this case, centering becomes a driving force to inform the design decisions.

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Project 2A: Architecture
Joint_Opposition
Individual Project

115’ x 50’ x 80’


The scale and figuration of the site is analyzed in relationship to the boat house museum. The figural language  displayed in the museum resonates with its surrounding and site in a broader scale, embodying the characteristics of the collective.

































Massing Model Photo
The design of the surrounding space of the Boat House Museum extend the language of joinery. Generous gathering spaces are bridged by pathways






















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