HOL(E)Y SURFACE!
2017
School Project (Instructor: Viola Ago)
*1st Place (tie) 2018 Taubman Student Exhibition
Principally about using surface to achieve aesthetic and architectural effects, the fire house's outer
shell is a perforated mesh pattern - a brushed stainless on the outside face, powder coated red on the
inside. The layered nature of the pattern, paired with its two-sided materiality (the outer face is brushed
stainless, the inner face powder coated red) create ethereal moments as you move around the building,
breaking down its form. Particularly looking through the tower, where inner forms are revealed, and the
top begins to fade away. Folding inward on itself, the surface creates interior/exterior moments in the
entry courtyard, covered patio off the residential wing, and the community space within the tower. The
resulting double layered qualities create ethereal or flickering moments of their own such as the screen
above the private patio.
shell is a perforated mesh pattern - a brushed stainless on the outside face, powder coated red on the
inside. The layered nature of the pattern, paired with its two-sided materiality (the outer face is brushed
stainless, the inner face powder coated red) create ethereal moments as you move around the building,
breaking down its form. Particularly looking through the tower, where inner forms are revealed, and the
top begins to fade away. Folding inward on itself, the surface creates interior/exterior moments in the
entry courtyard, covered patio off the residential wing, and the community space within the tower. The
resulting double layered qualities create ethereal or flickering moments of their own such as the screen
above the private patio.
The pattern of the mesh relates to the program within, adapting its opacity to the program behind:
denser in areas requiring greater privacy, more open for areas that are more public. The panels of the
surface and its seams are put to use architectonically, as the surface relates to its form and program
within. Pulling apart to become oversized operable panels and doors allowing access to the garage and
tower, but also peeling back to reveal entrances (here at the main entrance, the side public entrance,
the private residential wing entrance, and the second floor entrance).
The tower is the project’s grand gesture, not only in terms of its surface driven effects, but also its
greater community outlook. On the site, the project aligns itself with the adjacent soccer fields, and can
be used for various community outreach events put on by the fire station. This, coupled with the tower’s
high visibility, serves as a reminder of the heroics of firefighting, and begins to dignify the fire station,
elevating it beyond a mundane public institution taken for granted by the city.
greater community outlook. On the site, the project aligns itself with the adjacent soccer fields, and can
be used for various community outreach events put on by the fire station. This, coupled with the tower’s
high visibility, serves as a reminder of the heroics of firefighting, and begins to dignify the fire station,
elevating it beyond a mundane public institution taken for granted by the city.
An unrolled “hybrid” analytical drawing sought to capture the various effects of the surface. Ultimately flat-bed printed on galvanized sheet metal, the drawing displays reflections and textures analogous to the surface it is representing.
