Primitive Transformations

Studio project at The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), instructor Betty Kassis, 2012

From the primitive, I began to transform the geometry. The initial transformation took form in the interjection of a ‘virus’ into the DNA of the original. By cutting the form and pulling the resulting geometry around a plane, the truncated tetrahedron is subjected to a transformational paradigm which stretches the logical limits of its inherent geometries. It reveals something about itself in the grueling ordeal through which we warp it, the development of a formal shell-shock.

The process of transformation was taken with the idea of a geometrical intervention in mind. A plane was used to ‘cut’ the truncated tetrahedron into two distinct pieces. The intersections of these pieces were then used to pull the shape back and forth along the first plane.

These, in turn, served as references for a triangulation of the form, resulting in the warped figure. Within the frame of triangulation, the process allowed for some variations to emerge. The correct triangulation of the form became important, as this allowed it take on different formal equalities.

Evading the typical de facto stance of triangulation, this sought to bring meaningfulness to an otherwise banal computational step within the transformation, controlling new geometry as it arose.