28+31 : Anna Bernhardt

Anna’s concept word was Edge and she decided to subdivide each of her spaces into separate themes that stemmed from the main word Edge, consisting of On the Edge, In the Edge, and Over the Edge.

On the edge, as I understood it, is based off the idea of being on the edge of your seat and having to explore each border and turn as it offers a new and refreshing surprise. I thought her explanation of the entre way was most successful in theory and execution because walking through the entrance your are immediately closed off by two solids on either side and are forced to follow them until they meet the edge where you are greeted by two directional pulls to the left and right. These solids acted as a claustrophobic plane until you met these clarifying edges.

In the edge focuses on being contained within some variety of an edge no matter where you occupy the space due to the chaotic array of level changes on the floor and overhead beam joinery between the two columns and wall. This sense of being ‘contained’ is also generated in the entrance where you open the door and you are immediately greeted by the edge of a wall. I think above all else, Anna does an outstanding job initiating her concepts from her entrances that then lead you through the entire space.

Over the edge takes on a more surreal approach where she utilizes two angled walls growing from shorter to larger from her entrance that creates a focal point around an abstracted tree (column) lying at the opposite end of the room. These flayed planes and edges reflect her ‘over the top’ concept and the use of two tubs where water flows over into the next carries this idea not only to her structure but to the function as well.

Anna has a great ability to orate her ideas while also maintaining eye contact with those around her. She articulates her words, speaks audibly yet smoothly, and has a calm persona that makes her speech all the more believable and convincing. Overall, I think that Anna’s floor plans show the most spatial details of her ideas because it is easier and more viable to visualize her concepts when I see the space as a whole and not in the detached sections and ceiling plans. However, drawings aside, I believe that Anna as put her best effort into the models that truly show creativity and solidify the space beyond her words.