Joe Dahmen | Katice Helinski | James Smith
“The cultural identity of MIT exists within its intricate network of corridors which extend ‘infinitely’ above and below ground throughout the campus. The proposed Student Center would introduce a spatial interruption along this corridor system. The design process began with a spatial exploration of the ‘corridor’, investigating the qualities that exist within it. Qualities of tension, compression and gravitation exist alongside the experiential movement found within the space of the corridor.” (PDF)
The installation: The endless and closed corridors of MIT are opened and the relation to the outside is exposed. The occupant is levitated toward the outside, out of these tubes.
A detail model showing how a construction of mirrors could exist, redefining the angle of view and opening a space to the sky.
A movable map of the corridors of MIT and their relation. The malleability of this map allows different arrangements of space to be explored, to discover unknown places.
Material juxtaposition: Plaster fills metal, and the two are changed. Both spatially and materially, this union creates something new from two known types.
A more refined material model, combining the ideas of the detailed model of mirrors with the materiality of the project.
The final model: Corridors are suspended, floating one above the other, and some are truncated. Light permeates the entire design. The endless tubes are given an outlet and new life.
The new corridors and spaces react and interact with the existing corridors, creating tension within their regularity. Spaces are found that wouldnt have existed without the tension.
An overhead view of the final model, showing the relation of the new to the old. The halls are like canals, intersecting here at the union of the old and the new.
