Enclosure
What do buildings hide, and how do architectural forms create moments of discovery for those who navigate through those spaces?
Part two of a project series for ARC 345,
currently a work in progress…
Photo
Video
About ENR2
ENR2 is at the University of Arizona:
air.arizona.edu/enr2
virtual tour: enr2tour.arizona.edu
It was designed by Richärd Kennedy Architects:
www.rkarch.com/projects/university-of-arizona-environment-natural-resources-2
ENR2 has received many awards, and is regularly used as an example of how thoughtful design can result in structures which are environmentally responsible and consume less energy.
It may be more accurate to state that Enclosure is inspired by, rather than modeled off of, ENR2. I chose to use the same shape for the “canyon” on all of the levels, for example, because this central shape acts as a reference to line up the various sliding and spinning parts. The interesting details on each floor were taken out of the final iteration, since stacking all the extra etched lines obscured lower levels. And while I am certainly not displeased with the end result of my own artistic interpretation, I also feel that it does not represent the presence and beauty of the original with any real fidelity. ENR2 is an amazing space, and worth visiting in person if you have the opportunity to do so.
About Enclosure
Enclosure started when we were asked to examine our previous project (which for me was The Luxury of Choice) and identify one central theme or concept. The assignment was then to find some building or structure, reproduce it as a digital model in CAD software, and find some way to transform this model by applying the previously identified central theme.
In The Luxury of Choice there is the idea of contents being hidden or revealed… so for Enclosure I tried to explore and play off of this idea in built environments. What do buildings hide, and how do architectural forms create moments of discovery for those who navigate through those spaces? Can the interplay between hidden and revealed elements be remixed, or can those moments of discovery (or similar moments of discovery) be found in other ways?
The structure I chose to model is the Environment + Natural Resources 2 (ENR2) building at the University of Arizona. To accomplish this I imported floorplans and my own drawings into Autodesk Fusion, then scaled those drawings so that the size was 1-to-1 in the virtual space. These were used as guides to create stylized / simplified representations of each floor.
I felt that the building contours and outlines provided really interesting forms, while the central “slot canyon” allowed an opportunity to play with negative space. I wanted the piece to be interactive, where someone could explore the interplay of these elements by manipulating the model. Floor by floor I looked for unique ways for the model to move by dividing levels into segments, iterating on different arrangements of pivot points and tracks, and using virtual models to visualize how the levels all interacted with each other. I exported those models as vector files, cleaned them up in Adobe Illustrator, and then used a laser workstation to cut and etch the parts. The spacers were designed in CAD and 3D printed.