S a v a n n a h E v e l y n M a s o n S e l e c t e d W o r k s 2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2

Undergraduate Design_University of South Florida

4007 Palmetto Palm CourtCarrollwood, Fl, 33624 savannah11@mail.usf.edu813 260 9281

Familiar perceptions of architectural practice might suggest solutions of balance between volume and order , harmony in

material and gravity with resolution alleviating and satisfying the spatial demands. These connotations are reliant upon

beliefs of the architecture as technical syntax provided through logic, eliciting pleasure through its fulfillment on necessity

and simple aesthetics. In many ways my architectural appreciation birthed from the very same ideals; technical and physical

understandings of design accrued from adolescent experiences exploring foreign landscapes, or perhaps more basic

statements of construction developed with prior fixation on Lego’s and art. A methodical approach to architecture seemingly

systematic and practical; inadvertently suppresses the conceptual ideas that deliver architecture into art, from the physical

to the metaphysical. The perception of abstraction as a series of architectural components with unrelated intentions serving

a uniform intention reveals architecture as a proponent of conscious and subconscious definition. Notions of from, space,

and order not only satisfy the physical demands of space, but transcend the limits of thought to define art in architecture. The

works defining my academic career thus far, exemplify a shift between the potential and kinetic; ideas evolving to consume the

intentions of studios, while at the same time obtaining realness through strong development of technical skills and structure.

02 Ink + Oil

INTRO I

14 Cube of Constraints + Infinite Matrix

20 Combative Formations

30 The Three Perfections

INTRO II

36 Hybrid Analysis + Introspection

42 Methodologies of Light

59 Foreign Landscapes

CON

TEN

TS

This portfolio is intended to provide insight on the

development through an academic career, marking levels of

achievement which characterize the fundamentals of art and

concept, and never straying far from reality and resolution.

Ink + Oil 02

'Megascops asio' 24" X 18" _ Ink + Watercolor [Independent work]

'Winged Being I' 11" x 17" _ Watercolor, Tea, Ink [Independent work]

'Reciprocity I' 15" x 15" _ Ink + Graphite [Independent work]

Ink + Oil 08

'Buteo Jamaicensis' 17" x 17" _ Watercolor + Ink on Wood [Independent work]

'Tenebrism' 36" x 24" _ Oil on wood [Independent work]

A launching and classification of construction and drawings that travels probabilities

of space-making. This study involves the transformation of past, and prior

endeavors from which must be cultured and emulated. The fundamental nature

of design is to clench a series of finite permutations that are, strengthened and

built upon, rather than proceed in a destructive process. A kit of ingredients are

assembled and imprisoned within the cube which plants the seed of mutation.

Cube

of

Cons

trai

nts

+ In

finite

Mat

rix

Professor Jason Welty _ Spring 2012

5 weeks

Intro I 14

The kit meets another set of comparetive

mutations with their own spacial structure,

and the cubic construct undergos a

process of transformaton.

Infinite Matrix

“There is little direct attack in Jeet Kune Do. Practically all offensive action is indirect, coming

after a feint or taking the form of countering after an opponent’s attack is foiled or spent ; it

requires agile manuvering, feinting and drawing an opponenet, a scientific plan...” -Bruce Lee

The ambition of this process is not to reach specific outcomes, but a series of linking ideas inspired

by Bruce Lee’s art and philosophy of fighting, called Jeet Kune Do. Every step and mark towards

this project is a direct result of its predecessors. A collage of the primary sketches represent

influential design decisions that developed a language of presence and absence, an efficient

flood of weight and gravity, and an unmistakable entrance were all decisions are a web of unions.

Com

bativ

e Fo

rmat

ions

+ M

assi

ng

Professor Jason Welty _ Spring 2012

5 weeks

Intro I 20

Fabrication of a kit of elements that are destined to become a joint

mass and system that represent individual themes in Jeet Kune Do.

Ideas of interstitial occupation and the condition of in-between

yields a different character of internal space than that of the nested

spaces created among the massing of parts that define a boundray.

This abstraction of the ground plane gives way to human activity and

simple ideas of circulation that are defined by a network of programs.

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or

anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life.

There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not

stay there, you must go beyond them.”

- Bruce Lee’s Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Intro I 28

Original Artwork by Zheng Qian

The ancient Chinese culture believed that painting, poetry and calligraphy

were the ultimate subjects in visual arts, and rarely did a single artist master all

three. During the eighth century the Chinese poet, painter and calligrapher

Zheng Qian presented a gift of his work to the emperor. Delighted, the emperor

inscribed the words Zheng Qian's Three Perfections.” Since that time, these

three art forms have been connected and appreciated as the ultimate craft.

The

Thre

e Pe

rfec

tions Professor Jason Welty _ Spring 2012

2 weeks

Intro I 30

Does Architecture dominate landscape?

Within ancient Chinese art, Architecture is juxtaposed with

natural subjects to create inexhaustible tensions: between

the confined spaces and the infinite natural realms. Harmony

between Architecture and Landscape, however, is achieved

by such an ingenious use of the creative tensions between

opposite forces. Multiple forces are represented upon the

plaster anchor which represents the dichotomy between

opposing forces of Architecture and the natural landscape.

A System of elements that rely on one another to exist.

This work is an exploration of how a volatile anchor can

exist in flux, or a sense of tectonic movement, to replicate

tensions caused by the pushing and pulling of forces

relating to ground, and to the other systems. The three

systems created from plaster, wood and chip board is

an analysis of the intimate relationship among painting,

poetry, and calligraphy in Chinese culture and how each

discipline makes for a lively interchange and interaction

that can only exist and depend on one another to survive.

An analysis of Steven Holl's Stretto House and Alvaro Siza's Leca da Palmeira's Pool

introduces an intense study of how concepts and ideas can be expressed graphically.

The focuse of these hybrid drawings explore the language of a section and plan

relationship, and an understanding of overhead and ground plan conditions. They

express circulation and variations of program, and the contrast between public and

private space.

Hyb

rid A

naly

sis

+ In

tros

pect

ion

Professor Brandon Hicks _ Summer 2012

5 weeks

Intro II 36

Steven Holl's Stretto House

Intro II 38

Alvaro Siza’s Leca da Palmeira’s Pool

Leca da Palmeira’s Pool introspection broadens into a

life of its own as is instigates through a manifold of systems

that are delineated by materiality. The linear elements

depict an overhead condition, based on Siza’s wisdom of

Japanese joinery, that comprise of chambers of dark private

corridors that enhance human activity, heighten a sense of

awareness, and anticipation of the environment outside.

The development of plenum space is an extension of Alavro Siza’s

philosophies and a generator for design discussions. This analysis is

explorations of the uses of light, and how light and shadow alter, mold, and

erode a structure.

Met

hodo

logi

es o

f Lig

ht

Professor Brandon Hicks _ Summer 2012

6 weeks

Intro II 42

Studies of Light that obscure, expose, and sculpt.

Intro II 46

In a world of darkness absent of all light,where a promise beholds the only sight.A structural oasis appears, breathing deep with life.

A journey begins in this land of many,where a balance of light and shadow bear souls of plentyand there are paths to be taken.

Walk this way amongs the wells of life, its gills pleadlike water from a desert song.

L i g h t W e l l s

Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy

Lakenheath, Suffolk, England

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Fore

ign

land

scap

es in

Film

Pho

togr

aphy

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

All

pict

ures

ta

ken

with

a

Cano

n EO

S Re

bel

XS

35m

m

SLR

film

ca

mer

a “The real voyage of discovery

consists not in seeking new

landscapes, but in having new

eyes.”

-Marcel Proust

Photo 59

This is a journey of bridging ideas of opposite nature that seem to depend on one another, as day

depends on night, the imagined and the real. This is an origin of change; without opposition there would

be no progress, as winter and spring, and the intrinsic North and South. This is a chronological emphasis of

how a creative journey has become a continuous manifold of didactic and methodical approach to design,

while alternate conceptual design process and nodes of representation are frequently experimented.

From the first project in the design portfolio to the last, identifying progression from entry to exit,

demonstrates a consistent syntax amongst development of architectural skills and understanding. The

language of art begins to narrate, and create analogic meaning and sustains a life and value to design.

This is a vulnerable journey and a muse for the unknown and anticipation for the uncertain. Design is

vulnerable to the world, and by understanding this lifestyle we reach new plateaus of risk and fulfillment.

Helensburg, Scotland,