moriyama tower

harvard graduate school of design : core iii
critic : john may
fall 2016



Core III began with a provocation that proposed an architectural attitude for the problem ahead : a tower in Dubai. Interested in materials and process, I chose to dip orchids into wax. The provocation allowed me to frame the problem as one of contrast: heaviness vs lightness

One of the first decisions made was that the upper half of the tower would be considered light, almost appearing to float, and the bottom half would be heavy, sinking into the ground.

Museum, black box theater, and pool were labelled heavy, while hotel rooms and artists studios were labelled light. Physically, this manifested in a suspended mass one enters below, allowing one to really feel the heaviness of it before entering the elevator.

As users ride up to their room, views are directed towards this immensely huge mass. The organization above is quite differe - hotel rooms float in an excess of circulation.

To be clear, upon exiting the elevator shaft, circulation is open to the very hot temperatures of Dubai. The idea here being we shouldn't be able to do everything all the time. That is, rooms are meant to be used for short periods of time, from late in the cool evening to early in the morning.

Floor plans explored ideas in which artists, the primary users of this tower, were allowed a variety of spaces in which they could either hide, be revealed, or live strictly with other artists.