GENERATIVE AUTONOMY
Filmmaker’s Retreat
Site: Teshima Art Museum, Kagawa Prefecture, Teshima Japan
Located on Teshima Island, this boutique retreat will offer national and international filmmaker’s an interactive program and experience. At a height of 14 ft, space is optimized with a matrix ceiling system. Within its 25,676 sq ft, various amenities and spatial qualities are configured through its structured transformation over a period. Guests will leave with a souvenir upon departure as a sign of appreciation of dedication and contribution to the retreat narrative.
This retreat addresses the lack of autonomy in Japanese society. The retreat acts as an environment responsive to individual qualities to create group harmony. To achieve this, a set of parameters were established to generate spatial and sensory responses. With an underlying experiential structure of haiku, the retreat is confined to a 17-day period with 3 phases of transformation. There are 17 experiential hours in a day divided into a 5:7:5 ratio that determines percentage of private to public hours in a day. The challenge of a responsive kinetic interior environment with a foundational schedule was addressed through a radial configuration with an overlying matrix.
Parameters were set that transform the space in sensory and spatial qualities. As a technological system in its internal structure and mechanics, GAN and sensor technology is used for kinetic elements. The response occurs through a wood, kinetic wall system that progresses from individualized, intimate, private solutions to collaborative, group-oriented outcomes. This, is turn, determines program as the retreat begins as a meditative and self-reflective experience to a collaborative and productive work environment. The materiality of the walls provides a warmth inside of the concrete building shell. A matrix copper frame and panel lighting system stem down from overhead and provide a sense of strength and structural support while adding to the warmth of the space. As with adaptive systems in nature, translucent panels will adapt to the exterior conditions through change in texture, density and color depending on the angle of the sun. These panels will diffuse light entering the space while giving off a diluted color, providing a serene, calming, yet productive and energetic experience. After a full documentation of the weather over the 17-day period, panels break off and be received as a souvenir.
With an emphasis on individuality fostering group harmony, this retreat welcomes filmmakers of all skill levels, nationalities, and disciplines to generate a dynamic and provocative environment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, filmmakers regularly work long and irregular hours with frequently changing schedules. This retreat is sensitive to the large demands and instability filmmakers find in their practice and offers a complete experience in a definitive time period with a sense of structure and stability. Stakeholders find value in the retreats ability to draw in a wide range of visitors, as well as its rigor to prescribe to the narrative and its effect on visitors and value this lucrative consistency.
