WATER CONSERVATION FACADE

 

The intent here is not to spoil the planned winding path and Governor’s Islands natural desire to become a retreat from urban life of NYC but instead to become a part of it as a subtle chain, to unconsciously heighten the viewer’s awareness to light, water and their surroundings using materiality as a medium of expression. With the facade as a focus, the project became a visual experience of space and light with understanding through material combinations and their descriptive limits. It focuses on the distortion of a viewer’s surroundings by the diffraction and diffusion of light as it interacts with water, glass, and opaque materials. The interior is therefore directly related to the exterior and, through variation, tells a story which heightens the viewer’s awareness as he/she progresses through the space.

 

The project is therefore an expression of the internal differences of the material world which activate our perception and express the different states of awareness that constitute ‘life’. Materiality is significant in the creation of meaning with regard for its sensual possibilities, heightening the rendering of experience to a space and the meaning behind the design. Its manifest denial to explain itself and the qualities of textures and relationships inspired me to rethink of this relationship between material and immaterial properties which inform our view point. 

 

Location: Governer's Island, New York City, NY, USA

Credits: Project: Elizabeth Irene Benson