ann arbor MICHIGAN
Univesity of Michigan
Critic: Jeff HALSTEAD

At the beginning of the design stage, a series of form-making excises are conducted. Those objects are generated by a collection of postmodernism building elements. Elements are merged and split to assemble a new object. The new form exploration end on a stage with mechanical complexity where the original form doesn’t possess. As the post-modernism architecture is regarded as “ironic classicism”, the new form can be called as “irony of ironic-classicism”.
Beyond the conscious form exploration process, the project is also inspired by the film director Peter Greenaway. Metaphor and symbolization are characteristic methods of him to provoke his narrative into an intriguing level. Light and color are elaborately manipulated in his scenarios to reach an uncanny atmosphere. In the past, architecture form is meaningful and specific, but here they are converted into a purely visual image. Material and color are introduced and expressed as another strong movement. It is hard to tell whether it is a building, a mechanical object or an industrial product. The argument is raised when classic architectural elements finally end on an object with futuristic cyberpunk aesthetic value

sP: What or who influenced this project?
LL: Peter Greenaway, Mamoru Oshii, Jeff Halstead.

sP: What were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?
LL: Reading: Scopic Regimes of Modernity by Martin Jay, architecture projects by Yaohua Wang, Blade Runner and a bunch of sci-fi novels and moves.

sP: Whose work is currently in your radar?
LL:Robert Venturi, Peter Greenaway