The brief for the studio called for a multi-purpose space that can be used for yoga, meditation, various events, as a class room, or as a photography studio. The space should accommodate the core mission of CRS: to be a community center for artists and individuals who want to share their creativity.
In looking for an approach, transcendence emerged as a common element in the various activities. During meditation, one leaves behind everyday reality to enter into an empty space, free from pressure, desires and needs. Yoga focuses attention internally, concentrating on movement and breathing. We decided the form of the space should recede and disappear, as if a fog had entered the space and obscured its limits.
Figure 1: Concept illustrated with collage of two 'Seascape' photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto
Figure 2: Conic smoothing, floor planFigure 3: Space is curved, doubles back on itself in every direction
Space is defined by surfaces which in turn are delineated by their edges. The maximal edge which defines the common space within which we all live is the horizon. The edge of the horizon anchors us, grounding our psyche – we could not live without a horizon line, in an endless world – an endless field of vision would make us feel anxious, forsaken.
Instead of blurring all the edges, conic geometry is intersected with curved walls to define a partial edge with a certain ambiguity. It has aspects of finitude and infinitude, of restriction and openness joined in a single crease. Thus we are reminded that the edge is meaningful and that it gives a sense to the space it encloses. Thus the form of the studio suggests that the progress of human consciousness itself is preconditioned by the fact that the totality is never attained. The impulse toward the infinite is defined by the finite.
Location: Union Square, New York
Date: May 2015
Project Team:
Principals: Ostap Rudakevych, Masayuki Sono
Lighting Design: Brian Mosbacher
Builder: Toderic Inc
Photography: GION