Untitled Monuments | Barcelona, Spain | Unit 21 | 2024
wentong.feng.21@ucl.ac.uk

Nestled within the historical site of Barcelona’s 1888 World Exposition, ‘Untitled Monuments’ is a cultural center dedicated to film conservation and restoration. It uses a unique methodology where film acts as a generative script, determining the survival of image pixel points based on specific parameters. The site, Palacio de les Belles Arts, though demolished, remains significant to Barcelona’s cultural heritage from the Exposition.   Integrating the site’s heritage, the proposed building utilizes 50th-anniversary celebration video footage to generate complex geometric ‘columns’. These columns, unpredictable in form yet following specific rules and patterns, are strategically placed on the site, developing the building’s master plan. They create a landscape that wraps around the building, transforming and augmenting its spaces. The design embraces a playful twist of geometries, scaling from structural elements to detailed components. Untitled Monuments exemplifies an experiment embodying the qualities of filmic experience, challenging the obviousness of visual surfaces within the ‘columns’ and using the interplay of light to create depth.

Project 1 Methodology
The first project investigates using image pixel points as input for script data to generate forms that evolve similarly to plant growth.  

The ‘Column’ Collection
A collection of organic ‘columns’ generated by a grasshopper script, showing its complex geometries.

Final Plans and Section

Technical
Demonstrating the structural detail of ‘columns’ into the building design and the use of CNC toolpathing to create surface texture.

Project 2: Final Film
A journey through the building proposal.