Project Snapshot: Center for Contemporary Iconographic Studies

This is a project from my days at Miami University. It was from my first graduate design studio taught by Diane Fellows. The project was to create a museum, the Center for Contemporary Iconographic Studies, adjacent to the World Trade Center Site.











This also marked my first use of digital painting for a design presentation. I was very excited by the results of this rendering process, as it was able to give sharp, clear, dynamic representation of the project in a relatively quick and simple manner. I have been a huge fan of this process ever since and have used in on many student, personal, and professional projects.





























The entire class pitched in to build the site model, but one of its most important features, the black water, was one of my contributions. Black, reflective water is great in architectural models because it is a sharp, clean way to represent water and it gives great reflections for photographs. At the time of this project, the plan for rebuilding the World Trade Center site involved preserving the footprints of the original towers, and building a series of spires around the perimeter of the site. My design can be seen on the right of the tower's footprint.





























The concept for my design was based on the layering and evolution of the city over time, dynamic movement in and around the site, and was inspired by several modern artist who dealt with similar issues, primarily Marcel Duchamp and Franz Kline. The final presentation of this design was a great success. One of the principals of SOM attended the review and commented, "You are 99% on your way to being a world class architect." It was a great compliment, but I'm not sure I would agree, and in the last few years that percentage has probably dropped! :)