THE NEGATIVES
The silence.
The pauses.
The emptiness.
The voids.
If we were to put them all into the context of a painting, they form our background. They are the silent players that do not receive enough credit for their role in bringing our eyes to the object. They intensify and dampen senses, bringing different surges of emotions, even if the object stays the same.
As paradoxial as it sounds, in this project, I aim to push water into the background, making it my negative space of this painting. Its energy calms and prompts us to self-reflect, the gap that is missing in our ever so hectic lives.
The brief for this studio was to design a bath house in inner Melbourne by exploring the experience of space and tectonics.
To begin with, I decided to look into one of my new found hobbies, Ikebana, a Japanese form of floral arrangement. Each flower is carefully selected and based on their distinct characteristics, allocated a role of shin, soe, and tai, meaning heaven, man and earth respectively. Unlike Western floral arrangement, Ikebana emphasises on ma, the empty spatial voids. It focuses on shaping these voids to bring out the qualities of each stem and help each flower 'breathe'.
From Ikebana, I took three main principles
its response to change of time and seasons
its focus on negative spaces to shape positive spaces
its rules
Our site is located at the corner of 2 busy streets in an arid brick heavy neighbourhood. With our height limit 10m and an overlooking gas station, there were no potential for views, thus I focused on the internal environment.
FLAT SITE
POOL OF WATER COVERING SITE
CLOSING OFF THE BUILDING
This is to reduce daylight, block out noise and shut out immediate views of the surrounding.
OPENING UP THE TOP
This is to allow for ventilation and for users to reconnect with the external environment (rain, air, temperatures and changing seasons).
Uniform brick glass as external facade.
Creating continuity in the neighborhood.
Creating a mass to emphasise the boundary between the interior and exterior and to obscure views from the outside.
Casting diffused lines of shadows on a pool of water to respond to time.
tai
the ramp
As on descends to the tai resting space, her perception of the water pool changes from a simple plane to a heavy mass.
the tai resting space
Once she reaches the resting space, she starts to feel the heaviness of water from the pool above. It grounds her.
the cold bath
Soe remains directional but the idea of weight is lost.
Instead, she becomes one with the weight while moving along shadows that widen up, motioning her to slow down.
.
soe
the indoor bath
Finally reaching the light in front of her, she is guided through this foreign space by rushing water.
It is a little intimidating.
There are no hard walls, ceilings nor a real floor.
Nonetheless, she floats through and finds herself embraced in the arms of nature.
.
the flower bath
She is now aligned with a plane, that extends far beyond her eyes.
The petals in her bath continues across with reflections of dancing leaves and shadows from the nearby tree.
.
the outdoor bath
She ends her trip at shin, heaven.
It is liberating to a point that everything seemed blurred.
Meandering around the sporadic water droplets, she diffuses into the background.