Research Description:

Stopping Points: A Link Across Thresholds within Culutral, Environmental, and Historical Boundaries

Research in the idea of desert architecture, built space and natural space, began in a second year design studio with the thought of how we touch the landscape and what kind of mark we will leave for future generations. This led to research into minimalist art in the desert that produced different ways of making a mark. Combining these initial processes under the mentorship of Professor Donna Cohen will begin the journey into a project of designing a wildlife sanctuary and educational compound within the middle of a historic town in the Zuni nation. I am interested in locating architectural stopping points, points that denote a transition between thresholds of land that used to be Zuni and what is now Zuni. These points may be places of architecture or they may be places in the land. They can occur at many scales. The main stopping point of my trip will be in Zuni, New Mexico. In preparation for the trip I would diagram those stopping points through topographical models and abstract diagrams of natural and built spaces of those moments. This would help generate a timeline to guide the journey to the end result of reaching the site and further understanding the extent of the boundaries listed above.

The actual trip of approximately two to three weeks would be an investigative study into the Zuni culture and the climate, landscape, culture, and time that affect the region. The stopping points would be thresholds that further facilitate my understanding of the architectural potential of the site in Zuni.

Upon return to the studio, the compilation of information from the trip will become a well sorted information base. From that base I will then work with Professor Cohen on developing a proposal for the education center. My research of the stopping points and thresholds will inform the proposal for new construction between the historic artifacts of the past and the mark that will be left for the future, a link between thresholds of place and time.