When I was imagining acrylic panels that staggered throughout imperial lane, I wasn't sure if they should just be the frosted white that it was or perhaps a design/texture that could be embossed onto the acrylic. With the existing designs I already have from my surface designs I wanted to see how they would look on clear acrylic instead of MDF board like I have already done. Where the laser engraved the design, it created dust, making the grooves white instead of clear. The pattern of the embossed design reminded me of salt, this idea of water and salt intrigued me as the soil of the reclaimed land still has remnants of salt as it was never excavated. As I sat thinking about this idea, I was curious to see how salt water would evaporate. Would the salt remain the same? Would it leave patterns of water movement?
Over the course of the two week mid-semester break I did an experiment where I filled a container with water just enough to cover the surface of the container, then I added in table salt and let it dissolve. Once the salt had completely dissolved I let it sit in the sun until there was no remaining water, this took about a week for the water to completely evaporate. What was left was salt crystals that did create patterns, but not as much as I had hoped, but I was interested in this idea of crystallizing, freezing something, frozen in time. I began researching about salt water, evaporation and dissolving of salt. I also looked into how water holds memory.
"Water memory is the purported ability of water to retain a memory of substances previously dissolved in it".
Preserving and withholding memories of the historical narrative of the space. Encapsulating these memories through the salt water of the waterfront, evaporating and crystalizing the memories that the water has dissolved. The traces left behind.
Salt is a common mineral that is powerful in that it can preserve and deteriorate things. Imperial lane shows signs of deterioration and decay due to old age and water particles scrubbing the surface. This changing of state I want to show using salt and water, addressing the environmental issues of degradation caused by land reclamation.
Case Studies:
Tokujin Yoshioka - Crystallize (2013)
Yoshioka focuses around natural processes such as crystal formation, and the way prisms and spaces interact with light. He grows the crystals themselves and lets them grow freely to produce these sculptures. This ever evolving art, changing in real time like a moving image.
Tania Kovats - Evaporation (2015)
Kovats explores the significance of our relationship with water and the world’s seas and oceans. Evaporating salt and ink, not only left a crust of salt crystals, but these pieces in the installation are rusted and decaying, like the natural effect of salt weathering. Salt is a damaging mineral.
Other interesting case studies I found:
Lori Esposito - Evaporation Walks (2012)
Danae Mattes - Evaporation Pools
Motoi Yamamoto - Salt Labyrinths
Olafur Eliasson - Your Submerged Spectator (2021)
From the feedback I got in Week 7, one comment I got was about my facade design and how it could possibly flow further into Fort Lane like water. So I started sketching and modelling how this may look if it was to stretch throughout the lane way.
After doing this, I came across an issue, there is several other entrances into other businesses along the lane way. Because of the design of the facade, how can I integrate other entrances/gaps into my facade to enter these other businesses?
Facade Details/Fabrication
My facade has quite a few panels that overlap each other and are varying in different sizes which means each panel will have to attach slightly different depending on the panel. When I was making my facade design model, I had to face this issue when attaching the pieces together. However the joinery I used in my model will not work for a 1:1 size of my facade. Because I am using acrylic, it is too lightweight to be freestanding, therefore the acrylic is going to have to attach to the exterior wall of Imperial Lane. As I was researching different ways of joining acrylic, there were a few types I could use. The most common I found were stud mounts and acrylic spacers. I think stud mounts would work better in this case because they can vary in lengths, can attach all panels to an existing wall and have different mounting options. Acrylic spacers are short and would not work as my acrylic panels are more spaced out between each other. I am still not sure which type of stud mount would work best.
Figuring out where these mounts will go, I have to make sure they are not positioned too close to the edges where splitting can occur, and that all pieces would be secure.
With my facade, I like the opaqueness and layering effects that is happening. To emphasize this I think adding lighting would illuminate each panel. This could create a key moment as people are walking through the lane way, especially with the lighting that is already happening in the site. As I was researching I came across this work 'Gweilo' by Partisans, consisting of acrylic sheets that have been made into lights. I love the simplicity and subtle lighting in this work. Surface design and exploration has been a huge part of my design process, with the latest discovery being the engraved clear acrylic, adding this wavy and curvy design to my facade will reflect what I am wanting to tell with the history of the site. Adding this detail to the panels communicates ocean movements and water properties that was once present in the lane way. Using LED lights to illuminate these engravings to enhance the detailing and creating attention to Imperial lane.
From my feedback, I thought about extending the facade to encapsulate more of fort lane, rather than just a small section. I have extended the facade that stretches to the length of fort lane, with more wave like panels. Some issues have been raised from this change of the facade. There are other entrances and businesses along fort lane, with the nature of my panels, I am not sure how I am going to continue to leave these entrances alone without completely cutting off the entrance. The other issue is the length of the panels. Some panels stretching to 15 metres long, making this would be a bit problematic, not only for manufacturing (as I have found most common sizing for panels is 3m x 2m), but for moving. It also takes the focus away from Imperial Lane. I am not sure if increasing the size of the facade is feasible.
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