OBSERVATORY
Carolina Zúñiga
Professor: Luben Dimcheff and Dasha Khapalova
First Year Core Studio
Individual Work
2018
This project began with drawings created by the elements earth, wind, fire, and water which were then merged into a single collage. The collage then informed the creation of the first drawing machine which was constructed out of wood and created marks based on those seen in the collages. A central theme in this machine, which was derived from the collage, was that when the machine component representing fire was pressed down, water would shoot upward from the machine. This created an inverse relationship between the elements of fire and water.
In the next drawing machine, which was adapted to the body, the raising of arms would cause a graphite stick to move upwards which created a mark, and that movement would trigger the release of dust. This was meant to mimic the inverse relationship between fire and water.
The final site was created as a series of irregular slabs with holes in between. These slabs created different levels which were meant to represent the way that the opacity of water changes in relation to the density of water. The observatory itself is a slab with a series of three towers which emerges from the site and create spaces above and underground. Each tower allows visitors to view the site at different heights and creates different light conditions.
final model
final drawings