union

how could a void space be so dense as to form/transform the space it inhabits?

41 Cooper Square (home of the Cooper Union) holds what could be considered to be one of the most distinct atrium spaces in the world. The atrium, here, proposes that a ‘void’ could form/transform everything in its orbit. Indeed, researching into Morphosis’ original drawings/ drawing sets, the void was shaped first and subsequently shaped the other spaces — its lines, cuts, and dense gravitational force beautifully contorting the façade itself.

With that, I was obsessed with the notion of this atrium volume and how that volume is expressed inside and outside — even extending into its feeling within Manhattan’s gridded layout. To explore these intense relationships, I re-modelled the architecture to isolate that atrium to possess its own volume with its own gravity.

The physical model in the photos show this moment of singularity, whereby it singularly pulls at the city’s gridded ‘fabric’. Here, I had decided to ‘freeze’ that fabric, freezing it at exactly the moment I had been imagining the atrium making its first contact with the city.

The digital model and film below render just how intense that moment would be — is.