Idea of abstract design isn’t creating something new, something that has never been created before but to bring out familiar things in new ways that hasn’t been shown before. It is about making things mean something new and also bringing familiar things in while making them appear totally different in a way that is new and true. Personally speaking, I think abstraction is the most important concept of art. To me, abstract style is based on culture, on shared experiences. In other words, the essence of this style is not about creating art but experiencing art. It is about getting read of what is not essential to the last bits to make a point until there is only left room for the pure experience.
As an architecture student I think architecture’s essence is not form, not even the function but atmosphere, the feeling it gives you, the experience that invites you to discover. And abstraction is the best way to go back to basics, to essentials of architecture and focusing only on the experience but nothing else. The world of abstraction is fully open to imagination and creativity has more potential than ever. Furthermore, it is a safe zone to get rid of the concrete ideals; to me it is like walking on the clouds without the fear of falling down. It is the pure state of mind belongs to creativity. Abstraction is the basics of design.
With all these ideas in mind, I created a field composed of spaces. Field has 5 layers which are separated as main layers which are located on the vertical axis and function to create borders and as secondary layers located on horizontal axis which aim to connect the main layers by intersecting.
The strategy was to create boundaries with these layers and extend spaces from these borders. In addition, the strategy is a reference to my vision on abstract design style; in the abstract world our imagination extends from the borders that concrete world creates same as the spaces of the field. Furthermore, in my design I tried to show how it would be to experience a world composed of pure forms. In order to achieve the pure forms, I went back to the basic design operations and used folding, bending, tearing and intersecting. Between them I think folding is the most important one. Folding can create variety of spaces with so little operation. Another way to make my point on creating many with so little, I did not use any tool but hands on the layers of the field; as a result, I achieved this raw vision on the cardboard. There is no spontaneity yet I let the material guide me at some points. Therefore, spaces occurred naturally, in their own unique and true ways. Consequently, the spaces are strengthened with the freedom that abstraction gives. Lastly I inspired from Le Corbusier’s Modular which I think the ultimate abstract style, therefore I created my own Modulors to experience the field.
This was a design aimed to get to the roots of spatial experience; the essence of architecture, origin of abstraction. Spaced experience is an invitation to discover the basics of architecture in the abstract world and as a consequence it aims to show the power of abstraction design style that is long time forgotten.