
Here is a detail from the plate that describes the concept of the project. I really wanted to used ovals and inflecting curves to organize and make connections between the different ideas, but so far I have not been able to make it work. Will keep massaging this one...
La Chiesa del Sacro
Fascino seeks to bring back glamour, a persuasive device that was employed throughout
the Church before the Reformation to emphasize the wealth, power, importance and
otherworldliness of the institution. By recalling the function of glamour in pre-Reformation
Churches, the glamorous church seeks to renew faith.
Glamour in the Church was used during the Baroque period to
dislocate people, by suspending the ordinary routine of their lives. Feudal
peasants were tied to the land and were immersed in nature. For them, entry into
the space of the Church allowed for the experience of opulence and supernatural
beauty, which resulted in the consolidation of religious belief. The
Enlightenment and Reformation saw a transformation of Church conventions in
terms of glamour. The proliferation of the printed word and Biblical translation
allowed individuals to access the word of God and encouraged personal
interpretations of the Bible and the world around them. These factors coupled
with the rise of capitalism and industrialization planted the seeds of modern individualism.
The Enlightenment promoted secularization and championed a belief in science, thereby
further contributing to the decline of religious faith and the rise of the
state. Contemporary capitalism has emphasized the individual and eroded social
ties including those that bind religious communities. The power of the church
is diminished. We are isolated, atomized individuals in contemporary society. As
people struggle for meaning against this historical backdrop, religious
identity will likely play an important role in constructing collective identity.
To be glamorous, a thing has to be in part inaccessible, difficult to possess - whether through rarity or expense.
Reference:
Alexandra Shulman, Editor, British Vogue - The Glamour Issue, December 2007, p. 17.
Paid a visit to the Skin and Bones show that just opened at Somerset House. It investigates the relationship between fashion and architecture. Lots of beautiful dresses and great architectural models on display!I'm experimenting with casting some jigs to place my cast fabric models in while they are being vacuum-formed. These should work to ensure that perfect edge condition that provides a guaranteed interlock.


For the final plates I want to set up a kind of fashion shoot with my models as the well...models :)
I am going to use Inez van Lambsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin (photographers) who collaborate often with M/M Paris (graphic/art director dudes) as a precedent. I love the sensuous way they combine line drawings with photos. I will keep that in mind as I prepare the plates.



The greater the number of oval segments that feature the slow, more glamorous part of the curvature, with dramatic approaches, combined with a relatively greater number of inflections, denotes which areas of the building are most glamorous. This organization creates a hierarchy of vague form defined by a proliferation of hidden spaces.
Glamour is the elusive element of celebrity culture that elevates the star. It is the careful transformation of a person from how they truly appear to an idealized fantasy that exists nowhere on this planet. Images in fashion magazines of unattainable clothing, impeccable hair, flawless makeup, photoshop adjustments and the occasional nip/tuck, construct contemporary icons for us to meditate upon whilst in line at the grocery store; celebrated figures imbued with an otherworldly character. The public instinctively craves these images like nothing else. The Church, an institution that once monopolized the production of glamorous visions of a world beyond, has fallen behind pop culture in the output of such imagery. Having taken on the austere desires of the Reformation, The Church is no longer able to seduce. Although the Reformation favorably lead to an age of rationality and the beginning of greater class equality, something vital was lost. The Church, which like modern architecture, fell victim to a narrow view of functionalism, needs to regain its position as the primary source of glamour and lure followers back into the fold.
Glam Space describes an architectural agenda for a chuch in
Rome that highlights spatial qualities which signify that which is glam
or glamorous. Originally, glamour refers to a spell which may be
cast on a person. This spell changes how things appear. The primary modern
meaning of glamour alludes to fascination, charisma, beauty, a kind of exciting and often illusory and
romantic attractiveness. Thereby, it describes both a material quality and an
immaterial one. Glamour gives utopian fantasy a sensuality, permitting a
human connection. It provides just enough familiarity to lure the imagination.
It is a highly mysterious blend of engagement coupled with distance. It is
neither transparent nor opaque, but translucent: a partially revealed
environment.
This shifting concept of glamour as that which is
tangible/intangible is echoed in the notion of The Church which serves as a
material representation of the trancendental world. The Church’s opulant
treatment of space in the Baroque era not only communicates its otherworldliness
but also serves to seduce and convince those who experience it, of the
institution’s power.
Considering the
two-fold formal characteristics of glamour, the built form of glam
space will be a structure within a structure. The relatively sober outer
structure alludes to the interior space but obscures its contents. Enclosed
within is a seamless undulating surface which transforms from wall to floor to
pulpit to pew and so on. Continuous curves make it difficult to discern depth
in the space. The interior shell will take its cues from the dramatic walls of
its baroque predecessors. This undulating sheath will work to define the spaces
of The Church where transformative events occur: the areas which host The
Sacraments.
Similarly, the iconic
costumes associated with the rituals of the church, underscore a long-standing
tradition of marking transformational events through elaborate dress. The
Sacraments, the most intensely transformative ritual within the church, demands
a distinct set of highly articulated garments such as wedding gowns,
christening gowns etc. which serve to mark the unique importance of these
divine encounters. Taking into account fashion's ability to provide an everyday means of transforming ones appearance and acknowledging its position as the most common contemporary medium of glamour, the glamorous church will depart from the austere tendencies
of recent church design by using the techniques of fashion, in particular
dressmaking, as a way to re-establish glamorous associations with The Church.

I omitted the lower levels because the model won't be able to stand and its very fragile so I don't want to risk breaking it.








