Liz Burris, Student Work

Architectural Styles: Moorish, Early Modern, Modern and Postmodern

Materials: Balsa Wood, Black Paper, Wood Glue, Foam Board, Masking Tape

With this piece I was inspired by specific elements of the aforementioned architectural styles. With Moorish Architecture I am really fascinated with muqarnas, which is this particular form of vaulting- it is quite geometrically complex but it often takes the form of a honeycomb and in certain structures it even resembles stalactites. With the Modern styles I was interested in the uses of geometric shapes and line. I looked specifically to the Sydney Opera House, the Denver Art Museum, and a variety of houses.

Initially I was unsure of what I was going to make. I knew I wanted a stalactite/honey comb like feature so I began to make that first.I used the tape to create my take on the muqarnas. Here I hit a roadblock and had no idea what to do next so I decided to install the piece I had created and then build the rest of this work off of it.After creating my honeycomb like structure I naturally began thinking about honey bees. From that point I decided I wanted to make some honey-like detail, so I experimented and used wood glue for the "honey" bits. I then used foam board to create a geometric structure in the middle of this piece and balsa to create the bottom. As I continued to work on this piece I became more and more interested in how these particular details worked in creating shadows.