The model is a project from our architectural design studio. In this project, groups of students were assigned an existing building and tasked to build a scale model of it while making a section cut that helped give a better understanding of the building as a whole. Each was built primarily of basswood at 1/4" - 1' 0" scale. In doing so, we were able to compare and contrast the different forms and structures effectively. The building we had been assigned to was the Palmyra House in Maharashtra, India by Studio Mumbai, which was completed in 2007. Studying the house and its model gave us a better understanding of its relationship to its environment. Local craftsmen who had knowledge of traditional construction methods like interlocking joinery were employed for the House’s construction. Focusing on building by hand avoided the need for heavy machinery, which would have damaged part of the existing coconut plantation it is located in. The louvers help bring in air from the Arabian Sea or the plantation, cooling the interior spaces. They also prevent direct sunlight from reaching these rooms while still keeping them well lit with natural light. These characteristics let the Palmyra House naturally fit its site and also leave it undisturbed.

Indulgence, my work invites viewers to partake in an experience taken from my personal life. Asking the viewer to glimpse into my own realizations. As a Muslim, Pakistani-American my upbringing has set me apart from many of my peers. Constantly dealing with the confusions between culture and religion, I sought out to understand them individually. With the impending rise of misconstrued cultural constructs surrounding Islam, I feel determined to understand my faith according to my own happenings and knowledge. This endeavor will so forth be known as my enlightenment expedition. I turned to Islamic Sufism, which embellished the beauty of everyday life. To appreciate the natural world and processes that seem so mundane yet are full of complexities. My work focuses on recreating these realizations. The emotional complexities that are a result of these moments are translated into a piece using light and color. Working with metal, glass, wood, and clay I'm not bound by material rather I am bound by the idea that I am trying to reconstruct. Clouds, recreates the moment when I stared at the evening sky on an overcast day and felt so minuscule. Rather than it being a moment of defeat it was one of relief, calm, and wonder. The installation invites the viewer into a space that momentarily detaches them from their own environment and surroundings. The clouds are captivating and comforting, the close proximity makes the moment all the more intimate for each individual. The blue hue of the clouds overwhelms your sight completely until you find yourself lost among the clouds feeling emotions that are triggered by the installation. 

I think of the human heart as a finite collection of fragile pieces. And each time we fall in love or have our hearts broken, a piece of us is lost. However, that emptiness that we've somehow created for ourselves is replaced with another from someone else. And theoretically, if we continued to fall in love, our hearts would no longer be ours, but a collection of pieces that reflect the people we've crossed paths with and have come to love. A collection of pieces that fit together in a way that made each of our feelings for each other unique and honest. It is in the delicate nature of the human heart that I bring to life in the fragile existence of all 1001 ceramic cranes, all of which I crafted individually by hand. It is a reflection of the vulnerable individual. What may seem to be a collection of identical pieces is not. Each crane is created with subtle differences that render the connections of the piece unique. The entirety of my art is what exists from the remnants of the original 1001. In the absence of a physical piece, there exists a symbolic void that represents the connection I share to those that I love. It is a void that is rendered empty in the perspective of the outsider, but never in the eyes of its viewer. The creation of my art is alive; it is a part of me. It is with purpose that my original piece is rendered vulnerable in the absence of a few. It is in the creation of my art that gives life to the vulnerability of the human connection; it is a vulnerability to love. 

Kalina Chung will receive her BFA from the University of Washington in June 2016. Chung's studio experiments combine various media such as clay, glass, wood and metal. Her work's content revolves around universal themes related to human relationships, existence and interaction—our tangible/intangible connection with the natural world. The objects Chung creates are usually larger than human scale—a direct result of her attempt to visualize the manifestation of a powerful idea into a physical form. 

Precedent Model Study (Fall 2015): the primary objective of the 2-week long project is to foster the ability to see and create architectural spaces that are sensitive to human needs and requirements in terms of materiality, scale, and use. Students work in teams to investigate a building, which is selected for its particular architectural language and relationship with its site. Students research, analyze and then create a 1/2" = 1'-0" section model of their building precedent. Then,they develop an evocative section perspective that communicates qualities of the building uncovered during their research, analysis, and model construction. Our group researched Glenn Murcutt's Marika-Alderton House, which was selected by our mentor for its particular architectural language and relationship with its site. Glenn Murcutt’s Marika-Alderton House stands as an attempt to apply modernism and bring about peace in the midst of the tense cultural and uniquely volatile natural landscape of far Northern Australia. His structure was created as a home for Aboriginal artist Banduk Marika and her family, drawing upon both the inspiration of the native people of Australia in their curved-bark long houses, and the inspiration of the European settlers, with their raised corrugated metal woolsheds. It is most essentially the interpretation of structure as elevated, shaded platform. The house “floats” on the air, raised on stilts with a permeable membrane of open windows, allowing the tropical winds to permeate the walls and floor and sweep upward through holes in the roof. The corrugated metal roof with deep eaves protects the house from the sun and heavy monsoon rains. It is intrinsically local, made of natural timber with a steel frame and built using unskilled labor. Glenn Murcutt’s Marika-Alderton House is an example of a structure dictated by the complex cultural and natural web into which it is placed.

Kayla Fox is intrigued by the way humans examine gesture and body language. Through figurative ceramic work, she is able to manipulate familiar elements of anatomy to disproportionate and exaggerative measures. Fox’s work has begun to question the psychological interactions between viewer and sculpture, and how viewers might project elements of artwork onto themselves. Her goal is to connect to each viewer in a unique way through interpretative interaction between the sculpture, and the previous experiences viewers must draw upon to understand that work.

Rome, Italy, is a city of constant revision. Grand monuments erected for short-lived leaders, hasty demolitions in the name of historic preservation - these traces of history were left behind then scrubbed away throughout the course of Rome’s extensive history. Countless hints of the past are scattered around the city, yet many people pass them by with little thought to their significance. The Tiber River showcases the nature of Rome as a palimpsest of revision throughout history, home to “ghost” bridges, ports, and shorelines, as well as lost communities that once congregated there. This architectural design proposal aims to illuminate the rich history of revisions that have taken place along the Tiber – especially flooding, reconstruction, and embankments – and revive its previous activity and community life. The northern bend in the Tiber, between Ponte Vittorio Emanuelle II and Ponte Principe Amadeo, would become home to the Museum of the Tiber. The project would overlook the ruins of the “ghost bridge,” the Pons Neronianus, reflecting on the river’s history and connecting the Via Giulia (a historic artery of the city) to the renewed activity along the Tiber. The aim of the project is to draw people back to the community life that once took place along the river’s banks, while encouraging thoughtful reflection on the river’s evolution in Rome.

Working in small groups, our studio collectively studied various residential projects, focusing on conceptual design, human scale, programmatic relationships, and the buildings' relationship to the site. Our group was assigned the Floodplain House designed by Paul Hirzel Architects. In order to gain a better understanding of the project, our group created 1/4" = 1' basswood section model. The Floodplain House was built to provide a live/work space for the client’s 70 acre winery. The live and work areas are housed in the main body, while a bedroom rests within a grove of cottonwood trees as its own private wing that flanks the main structure. The house sits on the edge of Potlach River to maximize the land for the vineyard, as well as provide an immersive experience for its owner and their guests. At 184 feet in length, a steel Howe truss rests on four thick concrete piers, allowing the house to cantilever above the river similar to a bridge. The structure is elevated at a height above the ‘500 year flood plane’ and to prevent rattlesnake infestations. Building on such a challenging site, the exoskeletal structure doubled as scaffolding during the construction to keep initial costs low. The external structural system allows the walls to be placed and angled freely in order to frame views and suggest movement. Paul Hirzel Architects' Floodplain House effectively incorporates the clients' needs and is responsive to the existing site conditions.

In the past three years of developing my skills and enriching my knowledge as an artist, I have worked mostly with clay to express my ideas through wheel throwing. I enjoy the feeling of creating forms in the moments of spinning as my fingertips move. Abstracted forms emerge by capturing these feelings, actions and moments in my life. Though life is full of many things, I am interested in isolating what is essential and finding ways to express this in my thrown forms, and their arrangement with each other. The subtle relationship between objects and how they are perceived in a space is essential. Nothing is superficial: the scale, the shape, the lip, the surface, lighting, the height and spacing. Composing an installation through the placement of distinct forms is one of the most important aspects of my artwork because it exemplifies the relational characteristics of living things that inspire me from daily life. Clay is malleable, responsive and resilient - it offers the possibility of continually reconsidering and reinventing forms.