GroundBoard
Mapping Boundaries and Human Interaction with Divided Spaces
September 2024 to December 2024Site: Generative Site, Ann Arbor
Instructor: Keith Mitnick
Individual Studio Work
This project examines how natural formations and human-imposed boundaries divide the land, shaping our perception of space. It reflects on the layered experience of boundries, defined by activities, ownership, authority, and human intervention. Expanding on this concept, the project explores how boundaries, formed through walls, surfaces, and height differences, influence spatial experiences. It invites individuals to navigate, perceive, and question the ways in which spaces are divided, experienced, and reimagined.
The studio task required incorporating a post office into the design, which prompted the integration of institutional systems with recreational spaces. This combination not only fulfills the programmatic requirements but also amplifies the expression of the project’s core ideas. By merging the structured efficiency of the post office with the dynamic and experiential qualities of recreational spaces, the design underscores the relationship between boundaries, systems, and human interaction within a unified architectural framework. This integration creates a dialogue between functionality and experience, enriching the architectural narrative.
Abstraction: Natural or Man-made
Natural boundaries and human-made interventions together divide the ground, from large-scale landscape features like valleys that
block paths, to constructed walls, and lines artificially marked on the land. Even the invisible borders of property ownership abstract
the land into unseen divisions. The land becomes fragmented by these boundaries. In this project, I explore these divisions at varous scales—whether natural or human-made—and classify them based on their forms, abstracting these boundaries into models represented through plan and section.
Using clay, strings, and the natural cracks formed as the clay air-dries, I mimic the forms and methods of creating boundaies—both natural and humanmade. By combining these elements in a relatively organic manner, I generated the following conceptual models, representing these abstractions. Through techniques such as massing, carving gullies, building walls, and drawing lines, I created rectilinear and curvilinear boundaries. This combination reveals the intriguing ways in which boundaries shape and define spatial divisions.
From Drawing to 3D
Through more precise and deliberate moves, I categorized the previously summarized methods of boundary creation and translated them into Rhino models. By systematically combining these boundary-forming techniques and following specific rules, I developed a series of logical, rule-based conceptual models. These models represent a shift from the earlier, hand-crafted and organic approach to one governed by structure and intentionality with underlying logic behind spatial divisions.
The models share identical plans but are inverses in form. This inversion emphasizes the impenetrability of boundaries, subtly altering human perception and shaping different activities within the divided spaces.
Map, Human Activities
Abstract concepts of ground and boundary are often revealed and mapped through activities, where human interactions extend beyond merely standing on the surface. These boundaries and spaces, shaped by perception and abstraction, influence behavior and create layers of meaning within the environment.
Bringing the relationship between activities and boundaries to an architectural scale allows for the design of forms and furniture-scale elements that respond to these activities. By mapping the activities to the boundaries generated from forms, this approach reintroduces and amplifies the experience of abstracted boundaries, shaping spaces that engage with the nuances of human interaction and perception.
Program, Post Office and Recreation Space
The combination of public spaces—a post office and a recreational area—creates a natural boundary where the flat terrain of the institutional space meets the curving surfaces of the recreational area. This boundary is not only expressed through form but also through the activities it enables. Such a design brings the earlier concept of how boundaries shape perception and activities into realization at an architectural scale.
The post office areas, located on the flatter planes, prioritize efficiency. In contrast, the recreational spaces utilize height differences, sloped surfaces, and curved forms to create dynamic zones that encourage interaction and engagement. A climbing wall divides workspaces and recreational zones, reducing oversight from second-floor staff areas and maintaining privacy.
The post office areas, located on the flatter planes, prioritize efficiency. In contrast, the recreational spaces utilize height differences, sloped surfaces, and curved forms to create dynamic zones that encourage interaction and engagement. A climbing wall divides workspaces and recreational zones, reducing oversight from second-floor staff areas and maintaining privacy.