Kait Reynolds
University of Texas at Austin
"Junkspace": Designing for a Layered World
September 2022 to December 2022 The Living Systems Studio asked “what is design in the near-ish future?” For me, design — and ultimately “Junkspace” — is the product of cross-disciplinary collaboration that explores spatial design through architecture and computational methods. This project was an experiment integrating AI methods in a traditional design process. This included generating heat maps and transience maps of DTLA, parameterized floor plans, and a digital material bank. This approach used the following AI methods: object oriented programming through multiple languages, scripted design applications, and data manipulation and visualization. “Junkspace” is inspired by time as it relates to the seasons, and Rem Koolhaas’s Junkspace, by the same name. Much like the natural world, humans live in constant overlapping systems that directly affect our way of life. Through studying people’s natural rhythms, as an individual, a group, and at the urban scale, this speculative design speaks to 1) increasing urban density in Downtown Los Angeles, and 2) creating small and overlapping interiors generated through computational design, especially in space that isn’t necessarily desirable to take over.
AI Dreams: Space Exploration Through Light, AI, & Material Effects
In Fall 2021, AI Dreams began from a fascination with James Turrell’s Ganzfeld. The ephemeral light installation was rooted in the Ganzfeld Effect, a neurological theory proposing that visual and audio sensory deprivation causes spatial hallucinations. Humans are wired to understand their surroundings through the input of physical barriers. The Ganzfeld Effect is the absence of these barriers. Without visual markers our brain fills in the gaps, causing hallucinations of objects and space. Within Turrell’s light filled rooms there are no features — corners are smooth, the room is sound insulated, and patrons are encouraged to remain in the exhibit for at least six minutes, the amount of time needed to experience Ganzfeld. Though AI Dreams was inspired by the absence of stimulation, the project produced the antithesis of Turrell’s feature-less rooms.
Arch Hive