Thu Tha's proposal: "The Transforming Scaffoldings"

First few Ideas

These are the first few ideas of how I want to transform the space. The first idea is to make the advertising electric facades. To be able to change during the day and night. The second idea is to have a skywalk that merge with the shophouse so that street vender and shophouse could have interactions and can benefit both by bringing customers to both activities.

Scaffoldings Ideas

Later, the idea of merging skywalk and the shophouse transform into scaffoldings. This relate to the concept of impermanence where the scaffoldings appear during the night and gone during the day.

After that, I developed a system where the facades are actually the bamboo scaffoldings which can be setting up easily by pulling them out.

The Final Design

Before

After

Here you can see the changing atmosphere between day and night.

The Master Axon 

This shows the activities and how the scaffolding changes between the days.

You can see the way the scaffoldings changes between day and night. During the day, the scaffoldings act as shelter for the street vendors. Later during the late evening, the scaffoldings changes into an extend space from the shophouse where people could sit and drink from the night bar in the shophouse.

Thu Tha' s site research: Ladprao Junction

For my site, I looked at the activities in front of the shophouses, which were mostly occupied by the street venders. My diagram showed how the street venders occupied the space, and the effects of it. This relates to my concept of impermanence where venders are often there in an amount of time and later disappear. 

Details and Close Ups

Map of the site

The site chosen is by the main road and is by the Ladprao junction.

Facades

Most of the shophouse are photo printing shops and so they compete by putting advertisements on the facades causing them to be very colorful.

Activities

There are different ways in which venders display their things. Some put them on table and some uses the stairs in front of the shophouse as a place to display their products.

Some venders uses cloths to hang around their boots like a tent to protect from sunlight.

Street venders put some of their belonging out on the road occupying the space for the cars, this also causes people to occupy and walk on the road instead of the sidewalk.

Effects of street venders

Because venders put and occupied their belongings on the road, cars are forced to park further onto the road causes traffic.

Thu Tha's shophouse research: The Use of Front Space

My process on building the physical model

First, building the structure

Adding the floors

Lastly the walls

Here is a clip of myself putting the models together

 

For the research, I decided to research about how different shops use the space in front of the shophouses in order to sell or advertise their product or business.

Here is a few example that I found.

My Animation

 For my animation, I showed how my physical model of the shophouse was build, then zoom in to the front of the shophouse and show how the space in front was use by different types of shops such as restaurant, comic, clothes and barber shop. Also I tried to show the circulation of people entering the shop through out the day starting from when it was open until it is close. Lastly, I lined all the shops up to make a street and showing the different times each shop opens or close. Here you can see the contrast between when the shop was open and close and how the space in front was used impermanently.

"Thu Tha's" documentation and post- analysis

One Word from the Teaser

 

Here are a list of words that people thought of when looking at my teaser, "Sublimation". From this I have learned that people often refer their thought to what they say. As simple as the picture. Most people chose words to describe ice, some totally see a different thing. Only a few were able to express words which were in the field of my concept. 

The Installation

 This is what was being projected on the screen. A video of a candle. This shows the visual image of wind.

 

The pattern of coal powder on the floor. Shows the sense of delicate and fragile.

This is how whole thing looks like.

Reaction and Response to the Installation

When the audience enter the space, they look at the projected candles immediately as it was at their level of sight. Then they look at the installation on the floor. After that there was a big moment of silence. 

After they had look at the space for a while, audience no. 1 reached out her foot and tap the installation. Audience no. 2 then followed and did exactly the same thing. 

As the space was dark as there were no artificial lights apart from the projector, audience no.1 could not see what the installation on the floor was made from. She had to use her mobile as a torch to look and the installation and bent down to see it closely. 

Later, they were allowed to whatever they want with the installation, including destroying them.

Audience no.1 stepped in immediately and enjoy playing around with the installation, where audience no.2 find it heartbreaking to destroy the installation. "Don't do it, it hurts".

"Thu Tha's" installation drawings

Mapping of Expected Experience

The projection of candle is needed so that when people stepped into the space, the can visualize the wind from the candle before experiencing the wind itself when stepping further into the site. This creates both visual and physical sense. Also to show main property of this site which is "windy". 

This diagram shows the steps in which people would act and experience.

This is a mapping of senses that people should experience as they step onto each position shown above. The first sense is sight as it can be seen from afar and as for the physical sense, the audience needs to be standing in the directed position to feel the wind. 

Rules and Obligations

This show the dimensions that people should be standing in order to experience the installation and what or what not to do.

Another diagram of the prediction of the installation. In order for the installation to be respected by audience, the powder should be covering about 70% of the space as people will obeyed and value the installation. If the powder is less than 50%, the installation would become unvalued, people would not see the importance of it and will stepped over and eventually destroy the installation. Also to create a comfortable space, no more than 3 people should enter the space as this won't allow them to look at the installation carefully.

Position of the Projector

This diagram shows where the projector will be put. The position is very essential as the size of the projected candle needs to be right in order to create the atmosphere.

 

The projector needs to be hang from the ceiling so when people step closer to the installation, their body won't get in the way of the projected ray. 

The Meaning behind the chosen symbols

The video of candle was chose to be projected as candle can create a very calm sense and it attracts people to look at it for a long time. The light of the candle is very fragile and can be blown of anytime by the wind which is concept of impermanence. The candle itself also has its limitation, after some time, it would melt and eventually run out.

Another chosen symbol is a tree. To me a tree without its leaves is a very attractive form for me and also it shows a sense of losing. A tree that was once full of green leaves, very fertile and healthy, later loses all its shapes and what is left is only its form. This also shows the concept of impermanence but in a much longer term. It takes time but no matter what it will always come to an end.

Intended Effects

Defining “erotic” in my own way is that erotic is a feeling, a short but very sensitive and strong feeling. This feeling start by increasing rapidly until it reaches its peak, and then come down slowly. It is very fast but very strong and very emotional. It is a very passionate feeling that happens faster than a click of fingers, “BAM!” it hits you and you don’t even know it.  This type of feeling is special, as it does not happen too easily unless something really hit you hard.

The way I want to show this is by making an installation that won’t last very, an installation that is fragile, sensitive and delicate. Something impermanent. Something that can explain that the feeling of erotic is fast going, unexpected and unpredictable.

The two symbols that I used to express this are candle and a tree in the wintertime. For the candle, I used it because the light that the candle gives is attracting in a way and it gives of a very calm feeling when staring at it. It is peaceful but very sexy. I could stare at it for the whole day. Another reason is because the flame that the candle gives out is very weak and vulnerable, it could be easily put off. The moment when the flame dances whether to go in or out gives us excitement as you have no idea when it would go out. The candle itself started to melt and become distorted, which gives the idea that through time, everything changes and become deteriorated.

Another symbol I used, the tree has a very seductive form. All those branches without its leaves give me a feeling as if I were being attacked by them, branches by branch, wrapping around me until I run out of breath. The tree has a meaning of its own, it started off as a seed, then grow bigger and bigger and the next thing you know is that it took the whole space of your garden. Each seasons when it changes its form especially in winter when all those green leaves fall down and starting to reveal its naked body that was hidden all those time.  

These two symbols not only suggest impermanence but the fact that nothing last forever. Everything gets eroded, eaten away bit by bit, no matter how fast or slow, it will eventually turn into dust. 

"Thu Tha's" installation development

My Chosen Site

7th Floor, by the main elevator                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                            

I chose this site because I really like the composition of this space, one plain solid wall with another wall with one window. Another reason is that the wind was really good and I thought I could use wind as part of my installation.

My First Idea

My first idea of the installation is to do something like Andres Amador's work. I want to use some kind of powder to create an image. Back then it was going to be a small one on a table by the window, that way my installation could then be blow away by the way according to the concept of impermanence.

Another idea is to create something and burn them down so that the audience could watch the piece being destroy from one big piece into ash. But eventually, this idea is too dangerous.

After a few thoughts, my idea starts to finalize and the next step is to test and try things in which i would choose to use for my installation.

Wind Diagram at the Site

As for this, I learned that most of the wind was coming from the right side at noon but as for the evening, most of them were from the left by the nearby window.

Site Stimulation

This is a stimulation of the site with the projected candle, just to get an idea of how it would be.

Powder Pattern

These are a few ways of making patterns with powders which I explored. The first type of powder I used was baby powder but the smell was way to strong.

 Another attempt of using baby powder but with different patterns. This is a pattern of a tree. I made these by making templates from chan-oy.

This is another one of the same pattern but when another material which is coal. Coal powder is made by crushing normal pieces of coal.