Hannah Deitrick: Architectural Design II
PROJECT 01: MEMORIAL & FOUNDATIONAs history progresses, names accumulate in history books and internet searches, though women often fail to gain the recognition they deserve. Through this project, I discovered how architecture can communicate and carry out a significant woman's legacy, glorifying her in the way history books failed to. My project centers around Mary Shelley: author of Frankenstein, inventor of science fiction, and role model for those facing adversity.
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Mary Shelley, 1831. Courtesy of Stump, Samuel John.
Heritage Images / Getty Images
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I. MEMORIAL
a place to remember who Mary Shelley was and what made her extraordinary
CONCEPT DRAWING
Rather than honing in on her accomplishments, the drawing below explores Mary Shelley as a person, specifically her approach to her life's chaos. The building in the top right corner marks the beginning of the disruption, when she ran off to France with her lover Percy (as indicated by the silhouettes) while engaged to another man. Yellow and violet geometric shapes illustrate the tragic spontaneity of her life thereafter, when she experienced the deaths of many loved ones, her grief indicated by empty boxes. All in all, Frankenstein (pictured towards the bottom left) was Mary Shelley's remedy to this chaos, where she explored themes of loneliness and relationships to overcome her life's pain (shown through the collision of shapes and lines in the middle). Shelley's transition from chaos into order inspired the first phase of this project: the memorial.
MEMORIAL
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Since Mary Shelley broke the stereotype for women during her time period, I decided to break the stereotype of a memorial and create something more building-like to represent Shelley's extraordinary life.
ELEVATION (TOP): In a fashion quite similar to Mary Shelley's life, this memorial turns typical 19th-century Victorian architecture on its head. The left half is designed to resemble a typical 19th-century Europe Victorian home, representing both the time Shelley lived in and her tranquil life before the chaos. Mirrors in the middle transition into unpredictable angles to represent Shelley's breaking point and plunge into chaos, respectively. The chaotic half's exterior is made of polychromatic glass inspired by the Prairiefire Museum in Kansas, creating a clash of colors to add to the chaos. FLOOR PLAN (MIDDLE): The plan's rectangular left half serves as a library where guests can discover Shelley's literary accomplishments. After traveling through a perplexing hall of mirrors, guests enter an immersive Frankenstein ride-through (indicated by the maze-like area on the right) to discover Shelley's remedy. In the end, guests return to and exit through the library, taking them on a journey from order to chaos and back to order again--just like Mary Shelley. SECTION (BOTTOM): The focal point here is the transition hall, where mirror-covered beams stick out from the walls and guide guests to the second stop on their journey: the Frankenstein experience. |
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II. FOUNDATION
a place to carry out Mary Shelley's legacy into modern society
THE SITE
The earliest concept of Frankenstein came into fruition through ghost stories and a nightmare near Lake Geneva, Switzerland--where Shelley's memorial will call home. However, the site's connections to Shelley reach beyond surface-level. As seen in the drawing to the left, local buildings and trees are not adjacent to each other in any organized way; they scatter themselves throughout loosely defined neighborhoods. Their lack of structured placement fits hand in hand with the whirlwind of Shelley’s life. Meanwhile, in my drawing to the right, an organized arrangement of trees near an estate and gentle waves of Lake Geneva balance the spontaneity. These features could emphasize the mental stability Shelley reached after writing Frankenstein. Additionally, the east-to-west sun pattern casts shadows over the memorial in the morning and the institute at night, creating mysterious atmospheres characteristic of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s leading legacy. During sunrise hours, mirror elements on my memorial’s exterior reflect the sun’s blinding light, likely visible off the edge of the opposite coast. This far-traveling light could represent the expansive reach of Mary Shelley’s legacy.
In regards to placement, the foundation is loud and clear against a subtle atmosphere, but the memorial is secluded behind a dense array of trees. Much like Mary Shelley, guests must embrace a moment of uncertainty to reach their destination, hiking through a dense array of trees before coming upon an unconventional design--the reward after the work.
In regards to placement, the foundation is loud and clear against a subtle atmosphere, but the memorial is secluded behind a dense array of trees. Much like Mary Shelley, guests must embrace a moment of uncertainty to reach their destination, hiking through a dense array of trees before coming upon an unconventional design--the reward after the work.
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SPACES & MASTER PLANS
Creating master plans was useful for configuring spaces within my foundation, designing parking and guest approach, and coming up with initial concept designs. Spaces include:
I. THE EDUCATION SPACE
Larger-than-life pages out of Mary Shelley’s diaries enclose guests within a winding labyrinth, illustrating the hardships Shelley faced in her own words. As guests read the words on the pages, they also sensually experience them through the room’s atmospheric
changes (dimmer lighting in darker times, cold air blasts for shocking life twists, and glass-ceiling sunshine during lighter moments). Reading and experiencing a brief timeline of Mary Shelley’s life will guide guests through Frankenstein’s origin story and lead them to infer how Shelley used creativity to produce greatness during hardship.
II. THE MEMORY SPACE
This space focuses on the tangible evidence of Shelley’s legacy. Notebooks and manuscripts created during the development of Frankenstein will occupy glass cases, perhaps levitating midair in a very science-fiction manner. Various reincarnations of
Frankenstein films across the decades will play constantly on TV screens across this space, emphasizing the timelessness of Shelley’s work.
III. THE ACTION SPACE
Guests are instantly immersed in a dark, haunted forest-type environment upon entering this space, representative of the adversity and frightening times in Shelley’s life. However, the room’s ominous atmosphere gives guests an opportunity to do exactly what
Shelley did: create something wonderful amid uncertainty. Guests will take a seat anywhere in the room and tell their own ghost stories, just as Mary Shelley did when she first created Frankenstein. The room’s location near lake Geneva adds another similarity to the original story’s telling. If guests have trouble coming up with a story, they can head over to the service space, where professionals donning Victorian-era outfits can give them a prompt.
I. THE EDUCATION SPACE
Larger-than-life pages out of Mary Shelley’s diaries enclose guests within a winding labyrinth, illustrating the hardships Shelley faced in her own words. As guests read the words on the pages, they also sensually experience them through the room’s atmospheric
changes (dimmer lighting in darker times, cold air blasts for shocking life twists, and glass-ceiling sunshine during lighter moments). Reading and experiencing a brief timeline of Mary Shelley’s life will guide guests through Frankenstein’s origin story and lead them to infer how Shelley used creativity to produce greatness during hardship.
II. THE MEMORY SPACE
This space focuses on the tangible evidence of Shelley’s legacy. Notebooks and manuscripts created during the development of Frankenstein will occupy glass cases, perhaps levitating midair in a very science-fiction manner. Various reincarnations of
Frankenstein films across the decades will play constantly on TV screens across this space, emphasizing the timelessness of Shelley’s work.
III. THE ACTION SPACE
Guests are instantly immersed in a dark, haunted forest-type environment upon entering this space, representative of the adversity and frightening times in Shelley’s life. However, the room’s ominous atmosphere gives guests an opportunity to do exactly what
Shelley did: create something wonderful amid uncertainty. Guests will take a seat anywhere in the room and tell their own ghost stories, just as Mary Shelley did when she first created Frankenstein. The room’s location near lake Geneva adds another similarity to the original story’s telling. If guests have trouble coming up with a story, they can head over to the service space, where professionals donning Victorian-era outfits can give them a prompt.
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This design condenses the education, action, and service spaces into one main building, leaving the memory space to creatively bend about. The memorial comes first in the sequence of exploration, intriguing guests before they receive the full story in the foundation.
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This design more seamlessly connects all the spaces, the action space residing in the middle and becoming the main attraction. Service spaces are accessible from all three spaces, but the staff entry is less private and connected to the public entry.
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While the other two designs place the entrance facing southeast, this design's entrance faces northwest, with the education and memory spaces following. The service space sits between the action and memory spaces, useful for guests who have questions about either.
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CONCEPT DRAWINGS & MODELS
All of these drawings center around one central idea: how people can use creativity to overcome obstacles just as Mary Shelley did.
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I. ORB ENTANGLEDTangled knots surrounding the structure represent life's adversities and spontaneity, but at the center of it all is a massive dome representing creativity and "the calm in the storm." Guests navigate through tangled halls (education and memory spaces) before entering the action space, the massive dome in the center where they can harness creativity just like Mary Shelley.
II. TANGLED UP IN KNOTSUpon approaching this concept, guests are filled with confusion as of how to navigate the tangled form. However, by using their creativity in this concept's action space, guests maneuver through curvy halls and eventually meet the foundation's exit. Just like Mary Shelley, guests who visit this concept get to use their creativity to overcome challenges and maneuver through the complicated space.
III. CREATIVE FLOWThe first things guests see when they enter this space are vertical and horizontal poles sticking out at them, representative of the shocking onslaught of adversity. The memory space, a glass tunnel connecting the education and action spaces, represents the transition between hardship and relief. Meanwhile, curved, flowy shapes used for the majority of the building represent Shelley's freedom achieved through creativity and the freedom guests will feel when they follow her example.
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SCHEMATIC DESIGN
This process further developed my favorite design, Creative Flow, and led it closer to its final product stage.
FOUNDATION
The primary change I made from the concept stage to schematic design involves the tunnel (shown in elevations below), which serves as both a memory/archive space and a transition between education and action spaces. The tunnel changed from a glass shaft to a convergence of metal poles to emphasize the transition between chaos (columns at the entrance) and freedom (general organic structure of the building). Additionally, its collision with the rest of the building resembles a human grip, exemplifying Mary Shelley’s ability to “take hold” of her life’s adversity with creativity.
The rest of the schematic design process involved tying the practical to the abstract:
FLOOR PLANS: The main entrance leads guests into a room with elevators and stairs, allowing them to travel to the second floor, the education space. Navigation throughout this space is complex and involves maneuvering up and down floors and through a maze to arrive at the second space: the memory space. The spaces’ ease of navigation increases as guests approach them, symbolic of Shelley’s gradual perseverance over her life’s adversity.
SECTIONS: The foundation involves several elevation changes, as highlighted in the sections below. However, the level changes in the education space are much more abrupt than those in the action space, representing a transition from hardship to freedom as guests maneuver through the spaces.
ELEVATIONS: The upright columns supporting the foundation’s memory space tunnel serve as a symbol of stability through creativity but also mark a secure staff entrance, separated from the public entrance on the opposite side. Staff members travel under the tunnel and through the columns to enter into the service space, where they manage the building.
The rest of the schematic design process involved tying the practical to the abstract:
FLOOR PLANS: The main entrance leads guests into a room with elevators and stairs, allowing them to travel to the second floor, the education space. Navigation throughout this space is complex and involves maneuvering up and down floors and through a maze to arrive at the second space: the memory space. The spaces’ ease of navigation increases as guests approach them, symbolic of Shelley’s gradual perseverance over her life’s adversity.
SECTIONS: The foundation involves several elevation changes, as highlighted in the sections below. However, the level changes in the education space are much more abrupt than those in the action space, representing a transition from hardship to freedom as guests maneuver through the spaces.
ELEVATIONS: The upright columns supporting the foundation’s memory space tunnel serve as a symbol of stability through creativity but also mark a secure staff entrance, separated from the public entrance on the opposite side. Staff members travel under the tunnel and through the columns to enter into the service space, where they manage the building.
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FELLOWSHIP RESIDENCE
Hidden in the trees across from the foundation rests a place for Mary Shelley experts to gather and dive deep into her life’s story: the Fellowship Residence. Its design is intentionally unassuming, both to provide guests relief from the foundation’s abstract ambition and to mirror surrounding buildings, connecting guests to the site, where Shelley’s first idea for Frankenstein was born.
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SITE MODEL
The model pictured below highlights a few critical aspects of my design: building placement, road connections, and tree locations.
BUILDINGS: The buildings related to the foundation are pictured in white for emphasis while surrounding residential buildings are pictured in grey. All of my designed buildings are placed close together for the ease of guest and staff approach.
ROADS: Etchings in the chipboard mark the site’s roads, some of which are existing and others of which will be constructed. The roads connecting the white buildings will have to be paved onto the site in order to facilitate approach.
TREES: Most of the trees surrounding the foundation are not currently present and will be added to ensure privacy from local residential areas as well as to incorporate an element of surprise, for the trees shroud the buildings until the final seconds of approach, emphasizing its unique design.
BUILDINGS: The buildings related to the foundation are pictured in white for emphasis while surrounding residential buildings are pictured in grey. All of my designed buildings are placed close together for the ease of guest and staff approach.
ROADS: Etchings in the chipboard mark the site’s roads, some of which are existing and others of which will be constructed. The roads connecting the white buildings will have to be paved onto the site in order to facilitate approach.
TREES: Most of the trees surrounding the foundation are not currently present and will be added to ensure privacy from local residential areas as well as to incorporate an element of surprise, for the trees shroud the buildings until the final seconds of approach, emphasizing its unique design.
FINAL PRODUCT
Pictured below are the models and drawings depicting my final design for the foundation and fellowship residence. Most of the changes made from schematic design apply to the residence, which now balloons outwards and incorporates a spontaneous window structure to somewhat distort its local buildings in a Mary Shelley innovative manner. As for the foundation, the floor plans were altered to become more practical, but the exterior remained mostly unchanged. The final product communicates Mary Shelley’s legacy by emphasizing her prevalence over adversity through creativity and illustrating her unique imagination through an ambitious design.
