The Curse of the Great Idea

Sometimes, having a great idea at the beginning of a project can be a curse because it’s easy to get stuck in the sheer wonder of the idea and fail to think critically about it. The project below is a great example of this. The initial idea of using a sequence of slits in a material to create of series of light and shadow effects on the great was stunning. Additionally, it supports a significant campus experience of the play of light and shadow in the corridors and along the edges of the courtyards. Unfortunately, this project never evolved from this point. It continued to be a series of sliced planes with light behind them. There was no development of spatial qualities nor did the model reflect any actual place on campus. Similarly, the diagrams which accompanied this program were linear and placeless.

The first model created some very interesting effects on the ground plane.

Part of the problem stems from the diagrams which also failed to evolve. Each iteration remained a linear diagram. Although it looks neat and rational, it does not reflect how people actually use the space. Nor does it say anything more than a simple path.

Unfortunately, the model failed to evolve into anything more - neither spatial nor grounded to an actual place.