My process with any image is to first think about what qualities the space has and what sort of character can be evoked to bring out the most compelling visual. From there I begin to imagine how someone might interact with the space and create a scene setting narrative. In this case is the character an architecture student walking to class carrying modeling supplies? What time of day will the light be breaking over the surrounding buildings and splashing onto the corten facade? This image I chose to show an atypical human interaction on the architecture that will give a different sense of the character of this place. The architecture is radical in form and materiality, by superimposing a radically different use of the building I aim to express this paradigm through human interaction.

For this challenge image I decided to explore how someone could use this space though the eyes of a crew of friends, maybe students, who have come to this corner late one evening to collect urban snowboard footage. They have walked past this building before, passing by maybe on their way to class. The group noticed the unique protruding frames around the windows as they were walking down the stairs that hug to the side of the building and imagined the steel frames as not just sun breaks, but as planes to be jibbed and ridden. On the evening before the shot as snow began to fall excitement began to brew in the friends bellies.

I am always poking at architecture in this way, drawing from my own experiences and projecting imagined ones onto a built or natural environment. I grew up snowboarding in the mountains and foothills of Utah in the American West. My friends and I would always be looking for places to jump off of and park benches to slide on. So this project has been a fun exercise of really examining the mechanics of a photo shoot set within a beautiful wonderful architectural setting. Sure a building can be beautiful on its’ own. Ephemeral lighting, dramatic form, or unique materiality. But how people interact and shape the architecture, as unexpected as that may be, is where I think architecture gets its’ value. By thinking through the eyes of a person visiting or experiencing the space I can begin to create atmospheres and narratives that will then inform design decisions. What time would one set up an urban jib session at KTH? Late and night, or very early morning when the lighting can be completely controlled for the photo shoot, and the snow can be sculpted without interruption. Plus the chances of getting caught might be lower as well. What color of lighting would best accent not only the snowboarder but play with the architecture to give the shot a heightened level of dramatics? I played around with blues, greens, and purples but a saturated pink fill light gave the scene a carnival atmosphere and maintained the warmth of the corten facade. The use of three spotlight positioned in a way that the snowboarders path would be illuminated and called out from approach, to maneuver, to landing. The spot lights being positioned in this way also accented the steel window frames that give this facade depth.

Going forward from this point I am going to begin digging into the atmospherics. Falling snow, footprints in the snow, film and photo equipment, and then the camera crew themselves.