Architectural Association School of Architecture

lara daoud

Using tape to map out the progression of light and shadow patterns in the courtyard outside the Foundation Studio.

Image narrative: representing displacement in culture having moved from the UAE to the UK. Representing spaces of the mind through domestic spaces.

Creating positive casts from the negative spaces formed by a ballerina's movements.

Embedding myself in the fabric of a derelict domicile; representing the spaces of the mind through domestic spaces.

$Complicating the limits of the courtyard space outside the Foundation Studio. Projection of my film on the courtyard facade at night time. The film consists of time-lapsed footage of the light/ shadow patterns taken during the day superimposed over a film of the facade wall fracturing open and closing repeatedly. I played with reality and the idea of a confused reality to change one's perception of a space. Dematerialising the confining walls and breaking down the barriers in the mind to try and subvert the claustrophobic space and change one's experience within it.$

I wanted to visualise how light/ shadow would travel through a 3D fragment in the courtyard space. I created a card box where I marked out on the faces how the light and shadow fell on it. I cut out the frame and extruded the faces till they met up. Then I created a cast out of this. The core frame of the structure is the shadow frame and the components that slot into it are the light components.

Documenting the repetitive progression of light/shadow patterns throughout the space. This animation started to dematerialse the solid walls, reducing them to an almost fluid state.

Being in and experiencing the courtyard space over a prolonged period of time, I realised that from day to night, my experience within the space varied so much. During the day, the repetitive patterns of shadow and light animated the space reducing the confining walls to an almost fluid state. This animation of light/shadow broke down the barriers in the mind making it seem like a much freer space. At night however, my experience was completely subverted because the artificial light created static shadows on the courtyard walls. All of a sudden I was much more aware of the proximity of the surrounding walls and it became a much more claustrophobic space to be in because it was so inanimate.