Weight of Light
Gallery for Bard Prison Initiative
Full Video Link <︎>
Status: Concept
Instructor: Steven Holl & Dimitra Tsachrelia
Collaborator: Hao Chang
Status: Concept
Instructor: Steven Holl & Dimitra Tsachrelia
Collaborator: Hao Chang
The project locates in Hudson Valley in the north of New York dedicated to the Bard Prison Initiative. The program is simple: a 5000sqf office space plus a 7000sqf gallery space.
Our proposal put the whole building underground and make the roof a green walkable platform. Several “Weight of Light” made of huge cast acrylic is embedded into the building. Light is reflected, refracted, and passed through the uneven surfaces of these lighting devices creating unique atmospheres and spaces for people to experience. People can go up, down, in, and around these artifacts. Light is honest so a space dedicated to light will be educational for the institute.
Our proposal put the whole building underground and make the roof a green walkable platform. Several “Weight of Light” made of huge cast acrylic is embedded into the building. Light is reflected, refracted, and passed through the uneven surfaces of these lighting devices creating unique atmospheres and spaces for people to experience. People can go up, down, in, and around these artifacts. Light is honest so a space dedicated to light will be educational for the institute.
The Icebergs
The Icebergs is an 1861 oil painting by the American landscape artist Frederic Edwin Church. It was inspired by his 1859 voyage to the North Atlantic around Newfoundland and Labrador. Considered one of Church's "Great Pictures"—measuring 1.64 by 2.85 metres (5.4 by 9.4 feet)[1]—the painting depicts one or more icebergs in the afternoon light of the Arctic.
“Icebergs! Icebergs!—The cry brought us upon deck at sunrise. There they were, two of them, a large one and a smaller: the latter pitched upon the dark and misty desert of the sea like an Arab’s tent; and the larger like a domed mosque in marble of a greenish white. The vaporous atmosphere veiled its sharp outlines, and gave it a softened, dreamy and mysterious character.”
– After Icebergs with a Painter, by Louis Legrand Noble
“Weight of Light”
The concept is inspired by tracking the everchanging light reflection that happens at the surfaces of the icebergs in the paintings. Also, thanks to the buoyancy of the water, the gigantic ice volumes become seemingly weight-less which makes the icebergs abstract and mysterious.
Early Sketch
Imagination
By studying the behavior of light passing through an ice volume in the physical world, we are fascinated with the dynamic space underneath the ice.
Study Model
We are imagining having a cubical volume carved out directly from the landscape, holding several Weight of Lights with
Conceptual Model
Finalization
During the finalization process, we found almost impossible to realize the imagined space quality by digital tool. Therefore, we decided to put all efforts on physical model making.
Model Making
Documentation 01
Overview
Documentation 02
Level +3’ 4’’
Documentation 03
Level -14’ 7’’
Documentation 04
Level -33’ 3’’
Realization
We have brought the project to another course of detailing to further study the realization of the project by designing key details and research of glass suppliers on market.
Instructor: Kevin L. Schorn
Collaborator: Sarah Shi
The roof of the building is designed to be the main structural element supported by several shear wall cores and the thin slab and the glass domes will be hanging from the roof.
Structure
Attention was paid to the joints between the roof/slab and the Icebergs. Two details with more information were presented to complete the project.
Detailing
Materiality
We have looked into the available glass product and supplier in the market and found Reynolds Polymer Technology, INC., a company specialized in making giant cast acrylics being used widely in aquariums, which reinforces the constructability of the project.
Cast Acrylic
