OUTTAKE FROM 3DS CULINARY: Half Scale Stair Detail

SCI_Arc Close-Up Exhibition, 2016

Los Angeles, CA

Part outtake, part wishful thinking, part self-critique, our investigation proposes an alternative future for our recently completed 3DS CULINARY project.  That project, located in Hollywood, was for the renovation of a 1928 building, and included a Culinary Lab for 3D printing food, a demonstration kitchen, and a cantilevered mezzanine space.  One of the primary design elements for the space was a guardrail element that transitioned from stair to mezzanine.  Our proposal reconsiders that element, incorporating ideas from the multiple schemes that were developed during the design process.

Over the last couple of decades, a broad shift in architectural thinking has led a number of architects to argue that the relevance of the architectural detail has faded in favor of more subservient part to whole relationships.  And at the same time, the digital and material revolution has introduced a new dilemma in detailing and architectural form making- as we now face the reality of nearly unlimited possibilities.  Today, we not only have the possibility of making smooth, highly complex geometries, we can make them seamless and continuous- a reality that not only leaves us wanting something more, it only further reinforces the idea of the subservient architectural detail. 

Our interest is in exploring ways to exploit these possibilities to create a greater dialogue between building parts.  We're ultimately of the position that the detail is an opportunity to continue the conversation, and to say something that the larger building couldn't or doesn't say -  by allowing both part to whole and part to part relationships to exist simultaneously.