Self Similar, Treasure Island 2005

Harvard Graduate School of Design
Professors:Craig Scott and Lisa Iwamoto


The premise of this studio is to create an architectural system that spans across all scales, from material, to spatial enclosure and site strategy. An operative self-similarity is implemented for this performing arts complex in San Francisco Bay by arranging membranes to function in multiple ways: as acoustic baffles, weather barriers, breakers. The layers can fill with vapor, people, or the rising tide, modulating the building’s phenomenological character. Black box theaters are avoided by parametrically morphing the skin module for each necessary acoustic surface condition.