Konstellation

Konstellation / CRGS / 2016

This project focuses on the anonymous, the collective consolidation of the architectural space (Miller, 2006) and the uncovering of relationships in this process as constellations of stars (Giedion, 1948). Fire sprinklers, smoke detectors, and exit signs manifest timidly, revealing the relationship between technical complexity and aesthetic intent in a project. Each constellation shares space with other functional structures. “It is their configuration, their spatial interrelationship, which allows for meaning and recognition” (Friesen, 2016). Supposedly standardized procedures, problems and solutions in the construction process, generate a diverse and vast array in ceilings, as crystallized interactions, that allows us to read the immaterial construction that defines the space as we perceive it. A constellation, as a reflection of our actions in the construction and use of space, juxtaposes the visible consequences of invisible processes in the spaces of everyday life.

The substrate that holds together these construction elements, becomes something more, sheetrock transforms into a celestial vault, a screen that holds reality as we see it. It crystallizes what we see now, what we can decipher as a layered interaction of actions and ideas, where “any artifact, no matter how humble, could reveal clues to new patterns of life,” (Marchand, 1998) “wherein what has been comes together in a flash with the now to form a constellation.” (Friesen, 2016)

Gabriel Pena Tijerina