THESIS ABSTRACT STATEMENT / Draft 10/13/10

This abstract statement is subject to change and will be revised as my interest continues to change over time.

10/13/2010

Air / Inflatable

“It is in the air.” Most of the main body of architecture except the basement is exposed in the air. Nevertheless, air is considered to be unfamiliar site to architects and often viewed as the territory where there is nothing tangible to grasp and handle to design. It is arguable but worth questioning whether architecture is on the ground or in the air, and how architecture is going to be different if you select (or personally like) the latter as your answer.

Air/Atmosphere refers to invisible gaseous mass having no physical boundary, and thus can spread, infiltrate into and prevail in a space and even define a place. I situate architecture in the air: what other possibilities are there?

“Inject the air.” My thesis project resides in the short but the rich history of inflatable which peaked in 1960s and 70s, in pursuit of the new architecture that is instant, adaptable, mobile, and disposable. Injecting air into a certain place to change and modify the atmosphere is nothing different than designing a place, if you intend that architecture exists and operates in the air.

The air-filled form with its soft skin is (or have the potential) to be a site-specific installation due to its ethereal and malleable performance in a space and the effects spreading over its surroundings by blowing up, illuminating, amplifying sounds, images and finally deflating and disappearing. Its soft air-tight envelope separating two different airs (one injected and the other in the site) will continue to vibrate, and eventually the air moves through the other, and begins to dye each other with its own color.

Synthetic fabric (PVC) is being considered for primary material to produce an artifact (inflatable). It will be combined with sequential drawings suggesting time-lapse as a way to capture the ethereal qualities of the material and depict its operation in space. Plus, techniques such as media projecting or pattern printing on the surface will be explored to broaden and advance its material potential.