Status: Concept

2015

The concept was to create a ‘disappearing and edgless mass’ in affects found in cinematic techniques and recreate them in form through architectural features of the building, specifically glass and in later development, metals. The features would in turn reflect back the city only to reveal the context embedded within the architecture itself. The reflections however would be distorted through reflection, refraction, and transparency already predefined within the catalogue of techniques. 

The catalogue of techniques in this specific project came from the capturing footage of water balloons being erupted in slow motion through high speed cameras. What was important in the images was how when the balloons were exploded for an instant the water would still hold through surface tension before it completely erupted. There was a gradient that existed between the water mass and the particles and all the distortion produced between the two effects were to be specifically in to the architecture

The Grand Palais consists of mainly a large space for exhibitions. The massing of the site was pushed to the North East corner to allow for an entrance from a garden area. This creates a public space for the surrounding neighborhood. A destination where people can stop from their bikes on the path that runs parallel to the river, La Seine. The massing is formally impacted by the neighborhood and pushes out toward the rest of the cultural campus with the theater that exists to the North, and Le Petite Palais across the Street on the East.