top of page

Building Blocks of a Relative Universe

Joshua Marino, Yazan Khattab & Glover, Mitch

Life is full of connectivity in many styles through different sizes, forms, and functions. Through a variety of elements, the project was focused on exploring and identifying an example of this connection on a broad scale using the abstract thinking of Bauhaus. The important components of the design function were scale, minimalist design, and key distinct features portrayed through the progression that translated the idea of connectedness to viewers. To create a flow for the design it was decided that a diagram of magnification would work best because it is something familiar that many people could recognize and understand. The magnification is directed through transparent triangles that also translate a key feature through the design. That was meant for drawing attention to the design as the key distinct feature would become the component to sustain the viewer’s interest. The component of scale in the project somewhat lead to the decision of the formation of the diagram. The scale ranged from the extents of our solar system to the minuscule features of human existence, the atoms. A motive for choosing to scale different sizes of life was to show just how far-reaching the connections are throughout or ways of existence. Our design utilized key features in every scale that were amplified or duplicated emphasizing the connection between each. The features agreed upon followed the theme of displaying activity throughout the various sizes of life. Specifically, the components in each scale displayed consistent active participation through illumination such as the stars in the sky that give off energy or through power grids in supplying energy in different parts of the globe. This displayed the lengths of connectivity between scales of life that appear to be completely separate relations. Translation of the activity theme started with the solar system where the stars throughout space were illuminated brighter and the planets were emphasized for the activity and energy in the solar system. Next was the Earth in an individual piece of space from a topographical viewpoint with illumination focused on the power grid of lights spread across the map in different locations to reflect the activity around the globe. As the diagram continued to scale into the Earth the next stop was a city with the lights throughout the buildings shining and the buildings emphasized to represent human activity in this aspect of life. The features in the city scale do not reflect the activity of human movement and interaction as the power grid suggests but more the activity of human occupation and dominion over the land. Moving on from there is the human scale where different parts of the nervous system are illuminated to resemble the functional activity that happens within the body. The final magnification revolves back around to the start of the design of the solar system becoming the same diagram for the atom to further display that connection is evident in any pairing of the scaling elements. Also by using scales of life to create our diagram another feature of connectivity is displayed through the scales of life themselves by scaling down to show the parts each layer is made up of and their cooperation to create functional life.

bottom of page