ORNAMENTAL PERCEPTION & ILLUSION

SOM LIBRARY ORNAMENTAL DESIGN

Assigned Building: SOM Library, Yale University

This is a design project in a seminar course which focus 1 redefining the role of ornament in architecture. I understand the visual grid system in the SOM library as the ornament of its initial design. The grid shapes perception and help us situate ourselves in three dimensional space. Holding the idea of the grid, I perceive the whole SOM library and its surrounding landscape as a big pure "chessboard" that objects are placed on. By intermixing the convex and concave form, the tone, and the diagonal line, an illusion effect is created, challenging one's perception on this "chessboard".