AKI ISHIDA

How does our spatial experience influence our perception of time?

 

We understand time in matters of seconds, minutes, hours, days; but how do we understand time in matters of our experience in space? Architecture filters the passing of time- a line of light traces the curve of a translucent vault, a copper-clad column weathers with rain, the scale of the city compresses into one bay. This thesis studies the experience of infinite time in the realm of waiting, and questions how our experience of waiting can modify our perception of time.

 

The program - a laundromat - intensifies the thesis with its cyclical nature and establishes a space for waiting. Located in the dense urban context of New York City, the laundromat is situated below street level, underneath an existing sculpture garden.  

 

Through the juxtaposition of the city’s movement above, and with the play of light, material and scale, architecture’s influence on time is tested and designed to construct an infinite stillness.

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- Carolina Cohen Freue