Snell's window is a phenomenon similar to a fisheye view by which an underwater spectator sees an ultra-wide hemispherical scene of what is beyond the surface of the water.
Snell's window opens onto a mythological space in which we have built our body of work as an autonomous practice. The work in this portfolio uses Snell's window as a device by which to portray the impermanence of architecture. The series of renderings contained within are fragments of timeless pieces of architecture, which can only be assembled by the viewer of these selected moments. These moments collected and catalogued are stills in a flip book animating what is a seemingly static physical structure into a kaleidoscopic experience, a temporary, virtual condition. Snell's window, as a liquid medium, embodies the merging of the virtual and the actual, thus this work is always in a fluctuating, impermanent state. Each project's aperture is framed within an historical context, which serves as the ground to produce the factors required for the amalgamation of architectural silhouettes. The silhouettes are distorted to an extreme to reflect viewpoints lasting as long as one's attention span in today's society. This portfolio is not an essay in distraction, but one with a cadence bending light as a fleeting device portraying time's nature of passing without notice. Each project within will only last as long as Snell's window is open to capture the light seen in a world beneath the sea of the endlessly transitory.
Snell's window opens onto a mythological space in which we have built our body of work as an autonomous practice. The work in this portfolio uses Snell's window as a device by which to portray the impermanence of architecture. The series of renderings contained within are fragments of timeless pieces of architecture, which can only be assembled by the viewer of these selected moments. These moments collected and catalogued are stills in a flip book animating what is a seemingly static physical structure into a kaleidoscopic experience, a temporary, virtual condition. Snell's window, as a liquid medium, embodies the merging of the virtual and the actual, thus this work is always in a fluctuating, impermanent state. Each project's aperture is framed within an historical context, which serves as the ground to produce the factors required for the amalgamation of architectural silhouettes. The silhouettes are distorted to an extreme to reflect viewpoints lasting as long as one's attention span in today's society. This portfolio is not an essay in distraction, but one with a cadence bending light as a fleeting device portraying time's nature of passing without notice. Each project within will only last as long as Snell's window is open to capture the light seen in a world beneath the sea of the endlessly transitory.
Location: New York City, NY
T. Joseph Surjan - design scientist & writer
S. Hjelte Fumanelli - project architect & digital modeling
T. Joseph Surjan - design scientist & writer
S. Hjelte Fumanelli - project architect & digital modeling