P005 → Distorted Nature
Course: UG2: Fieldings, Winter 2022
Instructor: Neal Robinson
Project selected for the 2023 Taubman College Student Show
Color is seen differently. What may look normal to a deer (red/green color-blind), appears maddening to a human. This center is about providing a new outlook on “nature” through distortion and disorientation.
The building appears to be disconnected shards striking through the steep, densely forested Ann Arbor, Parker Mill site, each projecting vivid colors through the use of dichroic glass. However, underneath the ground, the shards connect to one another creating a single building separating and containing humans from nature while allowing nature to encroach between the shards.
Through an abstract framing system mimicking the wildness of the forest, an array of shadows will be cast on the interior of the shards producing a disorienting effect furthered by the bold colors produced by the glass.
This nature center aims to produce a vision of nature that is so “wild” that nature as well as “human nature” will be seen in a new light and color. Literally.