This project is about the role of perspective in the design process and how it can be used to alter ones perception of an experience through crafted moments in the architecture. These moments, called perspective moments, hinge on being in the space, and through no other way. With the design of these pivotal moments, the traditional methods of plan and section can not fully encompass all that will be experienced, making perspectives necessary in the entire design process.
Throughout school and my experiences working with architects, the standard architectural design process usually progresses as follows; draw plans, draw sections, fix plans, draw elevations, finish design. After this is all completed, then do a perspective to show the finished design. I find this system extremely flawed in the sense that the perspective, the only thing that explains how one actually experiences architecture, is left to the end. It is not part of the design, it is not referenced, and it is the last bit of work to show off to the client. The role of perspective should be much more prominent, as it lends itself greatly to architectural design. Perspective simulates what architects are trying to create: the experience.
One specific example of what I want to achieve in this thesis is the idea of removing the architecture through architecture. It is the idea that because this is a museum, it is the artwork that should be the focus, not the building itself. For this reason I want to use these moments I create to become the frames for the artwork; masking the experience of being in the museum, leaving the art to become the major driving experience.
In order to achieve my thesis, I will develop a design process that focuses on use of perspective to design a new museum for the city of Helsinki, Finland. Using the Guggenheim Helsinki project brief as site and program, I will essentially remove solving those aspects of my project placing all of the focus on the process, and then result with a museum that one experiences through a focused and intentional lens put in place by the design.
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