Jeffrey Sipprell, UCLA M Arch II

That definition came out of a further investigation into what the atmosphere of the space could be like. Putting aside the programmatic specificity of the project for a moment, there still remained a desire on my part to create this very private, discreet volume that would be violated at certain instances by moments of, what I'll term for lack of a better word, voyeurism. I wanted the space to feel dark, but still have an inviting glow that would illuminate the bodies in the space. In previous iterations that was done with lights that were pocketed within the pool of water - in a sense the water became the light source.

But what if the soft lounge surface could somehow also become the light source? Would that make it more of inviting space? Would that make it more private and intimate, since the surface would become the figure and the body would become the ground (an inversion)?

These kinds of questions prompted me to do some research on black lights and their ability to transmit uv light that would cause phosphors embedded within an object to react (think of a white shirt or your teeth). If the FieldTurf surface would be manufactured with high phosphor content white strands, it would glow brightly, reacting to the uv light. This uv light would be emitted from the ceiling form - which in this case would want to be translucent to diffuse and distribute the uv light evenly across the lounge surface, while formally still creating the male-female curve relationship that I was studying earlier.

This translucent material would be plastic sheets, similar to what I used in the project at UIC (NUBI project), that would be cut, scored, and folded to create a rigid 3D form. This of course would create a much more polygonal surface across the ceiling, rather than the smooth NURBS generated surface of the lounge. But as one surface is in contact with the body, and the other is about light and material, the formal separation is warranted.

This created a very strong atmosphere within the Hedonist Bar with which to play off the 'voyeuristic' games of violation that I was interested in from the beginning - in this case there 4 specific moments:

Violation of the private space from the public street (via spybox)
Violation of the private space from the service interface (via bar)
Violation of the intimate cave via visual connection to entry
Violation of the intimate cave via auditory connection above surface

Playing with light, movement, and the construction of form (in this case hollow) allowed for a very rich study into how this idea of intimacy I was interested in from the beginning can begin to be obfuscated - in a sense constantly operating in a tenuous condition of existance and destruction at all times (though at different strengths within the project).

Click here for final boards (4.5 mb).