THIRD PRIZE WINNER!
Tan Wenjun
China
Born in Guangzhou, China, studying in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology(HUST), Wuhan. A master candidateof architecture majoring in architectural design theory as study direction.
Interview with the Winner
What is your design philosophy?
In my opinion, the purpose of design is to make people feel happy emotionally, psychologically and physically, in addition to providing basic material conditions for human living environment. Therefore, phenomenological experience is the most important aspect of my design process. On the other hand, design is also an architect's creative activity, and he needs to use various media to help architects achieve their goals. At the same time, the development of technology presents various new digital media to architects, which will change their way of thinking and expression, thus changing our living environment. Therefore, I think we architects should embrace new media and methods, and create unprecedented new experiences for human beings that are impossible to achieve through manual media in the past.
Can you briefly explain your understanding of the topic and the source of ideas?
The maintheme of the competition is Emotion Display, which uses a series of factors such as architectural space and materials to display emotions. In my opinion, two questions need to be considered: the first question is, how to translate the invisible emotions of human beings into the form of visible buildings? The second question is, how to display the complex, rich and rapidly changing emotions of human beings in a limited space?
For the first question, I was inspired by Bernard Tschumi's“Manhattan Transcript”(1980), in which Tschumi used a series of diagrams to explain the camera changes, the movement of the characters, and the development of the plot. This was a very inspiring and innovative attempt to translate the film elements which have the properties of space, color and motion into architectural elements. Therefore, I hope to use a similar methood, through the translation of the film, to show the emotional changes of the characters contained in it.
For the second question, I was inspired by a series of illusion by M.C.Escher and the film “Inception” by director Christopher Nolan, which let me experience the fragmentized and folding scenes that I haven’t perceive in before. In my opinion, the diversity of emotions is very similar to the spatial complexity, so I hope to use these interwoven Spaces to express one episode of the ”The Prestige”, the movieI selected. The prototypes of spaces - the building blocks,are first derived fromthe movie scenes, and then intersected by extracting features and Boolean operations to form ambiguous spatial experiences. By this way, when aaudience stands whereverthe viewpoint is, he can simultaneously feel the experience "gestalt" brought by the combination of spaces representing different emotions.
When and how you were first introduced to architecture?
When I was in high school, I heard from my classmates that being an architect was a very challenging profession, so I applied for this major without hesitation. I did not expect that I have struggled until now in the blink of an eye.
What does architecture mean to you?
Architecture is not so much a major as a way to look at the world. The theory of architectural design provides me with an epistemological foundation for understanding the man-made things, understanding and exploring the world. For me, it's a philosophy of making choice.
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