E K P H R A S
I S
SEEING THROUGH
INTERCITY BUS TERMINAL AND HOSTEL, Washington DC
Drum studio
project spring 2011
I started this drawing-model after the Studio’s class final reviews. At
that point, I decided to take into consideration the faculty and students’
comments, and my own reflections about the project. My rationale in moving
forward was that if I improved my physical and
psychological connection with the project, I could concomitantly improve the
lack of connection between certain parts of the building. Therefore I designed this drawing-model as an
opportunity to dissect and analyze the “inner organs” of my building and
improve its functionality.
As studied in class, before the 16th century a section was
represented as a wound in a building or as a building in ruins. A section may
be perceived as carnage-like and show
internal elements that could generally go unnoticed in our profession, or that
I personally did not perceive beforehand. For example, to name a few, the
cooling and heating system, the electricity, the plumbing, the insulation, and
the variance of a material’s thickness. It assimilates to watching an x-ray or
an autopsy of a building.
I chose a section of the building that was functional but I felt it as
“coldish and desolate”. This section comprised many of the project’s
components. The first level included the loading bus area, the waiting area,
and the commercial spaces that faced the waiting area on one side and the
street on the other side. The second and third level included more commercial
and office spaces. A hostel was located from the fourth to the sixth floor. I
printed out a white over black color layout of the section that looked like an
x-ray. By looking at it I immediately noticed several weaknesses. I noticed that
hostel hallways, common areas and rooms needed more “personality and life”. Bus
terminals are sparked by constant human interactions, so I wanted to
incorporate changes to maximize the human experience. Also, I wanted to improve
the experience of city viewing without removing a sense of safety and
homeliness. Finally, the section helped me better appreciate study light.
Hence, I overlapped in the drawing a structural wall that served both as
a connector and circulator, which converged different functions of the
building. Why did I find it optimal to include this wall in the drawing?
According to Guillerme and Verin, “The geometrization of existing forms was
certainly desirable and feasible. Geometry by itself, however, cannot alone
justify necessity: why choose one form instead of another? If among possible
forms there exists an optimum model, it is not geometry but physics that can
determine what this might be.”[1] My
understanding of the project is therefore maximized by having a representation
of the physical sections. My understanding would have been more limited with
the original flat section.
In the end, I decided to print the original section and glued it to the
back of the drawing to compare my “patient” before and after “therapy”.
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