portfolio of work
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Portfolio of workTRANSCRIPT
ArchinarrativeANDREW MA
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
During freshman year of college, I wanted to become a banker, a lawyer or a consultant for no specific reason. Then, I began to question why I do what I do. Questioning decisions that I had made and had intended to make brought confusion and angst. Having had an itinerant background, living in different parts of the world throughout my life, I recognized that there are certain norms and actions that places set for us. Recognizing the complex interplay of how our culture is formed, I took every opportunity to explore and to understand the world around me by conducting ethnographic research, filming, and traveling.
what where whenMike Maloy; the Man, The place, The Time Davidson, NC 2009-2011
“Mike had a hard time at Davidson. It was a time of war, protest and the Civil Rights Movement. Being an African American basketball player at that time period in the South was not easy.”Interview with Tony Orsbone
While I was filming a documentary on Mike Alvin Maloy, the first African American scholar athlete in North Carolina, I became acutely aware of the interconnectedness between the actions humans perform and the places in which they perform them. I recognized that there are certain norms and ways of interacting that a place sets up for us. The dynamic relationship between human and space got me interested in the world of Design and Architecture.
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“There is no private space, There are only varying degrees of public-ness.” Paulo Mendes Da Rouche
When we create a living space for two individuals with different lifestyle, we tend to create barriers to “respect” one’s privacy. Instead, I designed a house for an herbivore and an omnivore where all space is shared, yet each user’s private space is implied by the designed system of circulation.Plan1
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A House for Two Cambridge, MA 2012
Perspective Drawing and Collage
2012
Diagrams
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When I visited South Africa for the second time, I was anx-ious and doubtful about my new career aspiration to become an architect. After a week of wandering around the coast of South Africa, talking to elderly locals and young vagabonds, I met two surfers from France, Fred and Guillaume. The spontaneous encounter led to a three-week journey along the coast of South Africa. We slept in tents, we cooked, we fished, and we partied. It soon came to my attention that I was happier than I’ve ever been, even when I had neither money nor proper shelter.
I realized that material possession, wealth and social status only made me anxious and stressed, and repressed me from what I actually wanted to do in life. The experience that we have is what defines our lives, yet we tend to focus so much on other “things” to impress and to be recognized by others. My time spent with Guillaume, Fred and all the others I met in South Africa helped me guide through what is important to me in life: to pursue my dream of becoming an architect.
Freshness of Life, BruFred and Guillaume
Freshness of Life South Africa 2011
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Tadao Ando Pilgrimage Japan 2012
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Our perception of public and private space is determined by the ownership rather than the experience. The inevitable force of our capital-driven society has devised a structural system in which short-term economic rationality overpowers the livability and the experience when designing a space. Such structural force under economic rationality has created standardization in our world, which neglects historical cultural elements and environmental characteristics. Resulting in sites like Kenmore Square.
“Cities do not just happen, they are made. Neglected, they quickly loose their vitality.”Richard Rogers
Cambridge,MAGrid Within a Grid 2012
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In creating a fi lm archive in Kenmore Square, I merged the boundaries between the interior and the exterior through gridded pattern incisions to reconfi gure our perception of private and public space. Through altering our perception of public and private space by redefi ning the existing use of the grid, I created space that would not be defi ned along the lines of ownership but by experience.
“Medium is the Message” Marshall Mcluhan
Diagram
Cambridge,MAGrid Within a Grid 2012
Elevation
what where whenTravels of Troubled Man Korea 2010
“Your vantage point determines what you can see.” Brian Cox
My manipulation of time and space in filming made me acutely aware of the interconnectedness between the actions humans perform and the places in which they perform them. Urban design is the language of the cities; when you walk down a street everything that you see is designed. In cities, it is within this designed space that human beings constantly interact with one another. Through my observations, I realized that built structures transcend the limitations of time since they are the anchor of social interactions of generations past, present, and future.
what where whenPast Futures, Present, Futures Storefront for Art and Architecture 2012
Who am I? Why do I do what I do? Questions that I have asked myself in college led to my pursuit of career in archi-tecture. I see architecture as an art of constructing the future that I have dreamed of and will dream of from the past, the present,and the future. I will learn it, pursue it, and live it.
“The utopian desire, the image-ability of possible futures, and the poetics of new social forms and expressions are in a moment of directed experimentation.” Eva Franch
Photo by: Naho Kubota
My contributions to the exhibition included: Production of the featured film, Installation, Curatorial research
Photo by: Naho Kubota
