In my mind, impressionism and the ephemeral are inextricably linked. Monet observes and records slight differences in light and time leading to his series of haystacks, London, and Rouen. Intent on capturing and preserving the ephemeral, the painter challenges the viewer to study their surroundings with the same, astute eye. Celebrating these moments, it seems that the next step is to work toward creating them—where the ephemeral moment itself is the product, the art, the architecture.
While it may be easy to appreciate certain ephemeral effects on a building’s surface, facilitating and encouraging these events through design is something that I have been chasing in design studios. Just preceding Catalyst Week, my studio focusing on Steel and Glass culminated in the design of a hermitage—a small, one occupant dwelling with a focus on meditation and spiritual reflection. The resulting two hundred square foot glass box acted as a simple mirror in some settings and a kaleidoscope in others, remaining nearly transparent from still more vantage points. The modeled effects were exciting to play with, but with Catalyst’s experimentation, I have begun to think more about what can be achieved through more actively seeking and creating these fleeting moments.
Starting with a flash paper demonstration—waiting for a square to dry, then watching it rush into smoke in a moment—the performative and time-intentional possibilities began to circulate in my mind. I appreciated the amount of time spent with no other devotion except to play, especially with such exciting (and new-to-me) elements like electricity, heat, and fire. Through manipulating something so familiar, like candy, in a way that almost seemed like taboo, my mind started to drift to other everyday products that would yield dramatic results.
The idea of The Event permeated through the entire week as we repeatedly huddled around (and stepped away from) tables in Rapson Courtyard. A key discovery, made by many groups always on accident, was the importance of a set-up time. In order for something to be truly exciting, that excitement needs time to build. Kate and I made such a discovery during our Day 3 critique while we made the class wait for water to start a fire. While poetic in itself, the reaction and execution were both off—leading to another important discovery/reminder, that of proportional pay off.
Through the entire week, I struggled with the concepts of scaling—how to test something on a small scale, and then how to bring that to full scale or in combination with other elements. Rube Goldberg machines are difficult to master, and inspired by The Way Things Go, we learned this fact the hard way. Part of me wants to say that several of the projects I worked on for this week were failures, but in aggregate, these trip-ups returned as a new way of thinking on troubleshooting and planning for the inevitable Murphy’s Law moments. Yet another part of me insists that just being part of an event is enough to qualify as something of weight. Who says when a performance ends, when it begins, or if it does what is intended or not?
Being a new student, I had no idea what to expect through Catalyst Week, but in registration, I was drawn in by the weighty word Ephemeral, and held by the promise of electronics, something I knew very little about. I’ve learned several new skills through this course—simple programming, Arduino setup, basic circuit knowledge, and how to test the limits of a smoke detector. Beyond those more obvious examples, I have also started to develop new ways of problem solving and design thinking. I look forward to continued investigations, and can’t wait for the opportunity for “real-world” applications of circuits, elements, and façade.
EPHEMERAL FACADES 