Not What It Looks Like
By Hilaire Fong
Jan. 26, 2003 9:00 p.m.
It is not a crime scene.
Nor is it a construction site.
The caution tape recently stretched across the outside columns
of Perloff Hall is part of a quarter-long project taken on by
eleven graduate students of the UCLA Department of Architecture and
Urban Design.
The project, called “Re-Constructing an
Institution,” involves finding ways to alter the current
public spaces in and around Perloff Hall, which is also the AUD
department.
“We want to make it look like more of an architectural
school, not just any school,” said Mark Mack, professor of
architecture and urban design.
The objective of the project is to think about space while
finding low cost and approvable solutions to improve the physical
environment of the department.
“The caution tape is used as a spatial instrument, not a
physical barrier,” Mack said. “It defines the space
differently.”
With the tape, the courtyard is more defined, and it is not part
of the quad as much, he continued.
The tape also creates a signifier to people outside, said Steve
Knudsen, the second-year graduate student who put it up.
“We wanted to draw their curiosity and bring them in to
pay attention to internal things,” he said, referring to the
separation AUD graduate students feel from the rest of the
university.
Other students also chose to do their projects in areas in which
students would notice from the outside of the building.
Craig Folsom, a second-year graduate student, created a blue
lighting effect inside the hallway by putting gel into the light
fixture.
“The light makes the hallway more of a darkroom, like
ultra-violet light,” said Mack. “At night, it is very
dramatic.”
Gudmann Gudfinnsson also used gel in the lighting fixtures to
make the seminar room red.
This makes the green landscape look more green and intense from
the inside, since red and green are complimentary colors.
“I picked a lot of room that would get a lot of traffic
and a lot of students on the outside,” said Gudfinnsson.
Second-year graduate student Nina Uyu solved the problem of
direct sunlight coming into the studio through the windows on the
south side of the building.
“I made screens for the window that students could put
their drawings in,” said Uyu.
Depending on the various types of drawings, different amounts of
light shine in through the screens.
“The dark drawings let in less light than the transparent
ones,” Mack said.
About the project in general Mack said, “The whole idea of
the project is to make small tests that are prototypes to see if
the students can implement their ideas.”
“The project is to make people aware that we are not fixed
in what we have,” he continued.
Mack’s students will present their findings and ideas to
students and faculty at the DeCafe room on Feb. 14.
There, they will decide where suggestions can be implemented
permanently, Mack said.
