Black Hill National Park
Research | Translating Experience into Virtual Reality
Research | Translating Experience into Virtual Reality
New Haven, USA
Exhibited in “Machine as Medium” Symposium
Published in Retrospecta 45 : Yale School of Architecture 2021-22
Exhibited in “Machine as Medium” Symposium
Published in Retrospecta 45 : Yale School of Architecture 2021-22
This project is an architectural investigation of the idea of how the presidential library can be a site of refuge. Although Theodore Roosevelt was always framed as a strong figure, within him, also existed a pain that he did not physically express, but showed in action. On Feb. 14, 1884, he wrote in his diary, “The light has gone out of my life,” under a bold “X.” He writes softly in cursive but the “X” he drew was probably the darkest and thickest line he had drawn in his whole diary. Dealing with two deaths, the death of his mother and the death of his wife, he fled to Medora. He fled from the location he grew up, where he had a palimpsest of memories. It probably was unbearable to exist in the location where the deaths occurred. Moreover, it must have been hard for him to act upon the routinely regular life, with a part of him missing. Fleeing all the darkness and taking refuge in Medora was probably the best way he could start to breathe, as he emotionally and mentally regained himself. Medora was a refuge and also a new light for Theodore Roosevelt. Medora was a place of refuge that gave back warmth. The cowboy lifestyle that TR lived in Medora was rooted in nature. The sound of the trees he heard while riding his horse, the river stream next to his house, the excitement of adventuring to new places to hunt, cattle ranching in his ranch, the sun that greeted him in the morning, the harsh winter that he strongly endured, the meeting of small neighboring people in town. A busy life, A simple life... No wonder conservation meant so much for him, as nature brought back light. Medora had given flames back to TR so he could go back and light up his darkness back at home. This project reflects on these ideas. To design a building that embodies these emotions. The project highlights the place of Medora and uplifts it as a site of refuge as Theodore Roosevelt may have experienced it.
Driving through the Black Hill National Park in South Dakota we paused as we encountered a small hole in between two massive rocks. Awing at the stone mountain, we drove slowly into the hole. Quietly nobody spoke to each other. Just looking, trying to grasp the uncanny feeling each of us had in the car. This project is a translation of this memory. Not just in a visual understanding but in personal experience. It is an investigation of translating the uncanny feeling, the tempo, the geological and human time. It is a series of questions and reflections upon how experience is translated into memory, from memory into a digital experience, and from digital experience back to the memory of another being. Using simple but powerful geometric motions, the rocks in the digital space transform into characters in space. They move around in their own time as the three suns in the digital experience also move around according to each one’s own time. Through “Intra-action,” as defined by Karan Barad, the rocks, the sun, and the being introduced into this digital experience create a dialogue.
Movement to Pause
Void to Solid
Man-Made to Natural Made
Spatial to Object
Logical to Emotional
Void to Solid
Man-Made to Natural Made
Spatial to Object
Logical to Emotional
Experiences