Critics: Jason Lee, Scott Sorenson
Sited: Midtown NYC, W33rd St, New York, NY
Plug-In - Environment is the story of reconnection with nature, away from dirty reality. Imagine a place where one can escape the urban concrete jungle and immerse in an unfamiliar natural environment for a few days. We are living in a future of artificial intelligence. There is an opportunity to live in virtual space: a disconnected environment through a screen that becomes our second source of vision. A disjunction between sensation and memory takes place as we no longer retain and connect memories to tangible objects and experiences but rather quickly accept whatever subjective visual feels appropriate. The fear of this muddied reality of determining what is real and what is fake has not yet reached a point where our somatic sensations, touch, smell, and taste, can be virtually simulated. We now face a dirty reality where our surrounding natural environment is diminishing. How can one imagine a place to store memories that would safeguard the authenticity of the natural environment and human experience?
Unrolled Section - choreographing the sequence of environments. It shows the division of the public level for visitors versus the private "stay" level for guests
+/- Connection Diagram
Electric Circuit Diagram
Each room acts as a receptacle charged with an interior biome; the transition from room to room mimics the idea of energy flow.
A Dense Urban Environment
The project is located in a dense urban environment, contrasting with the internal living program in natural environments. Midtown Manhattan is an ideal location for this contrast as it is full of everyday activity.
Mass/ Form Finding
