Caroline Lippincott
The Fetish of Forever: Objects in Transformation
Traces and marks left behind tell the stories of buildings and their materials. Remnants of the past remain, while new construction is layered on top, creating a kind of palimpsest. Artifacts of material time - rust, erosion, growth - are inevitable, yet often feared. Typically in search of longevity, architects gravitate toward materials and finishes that promise durability. My work questions some of the assumptions we have about material quality as a function of time. Through experimental artifacts, this thesis reorients our perceptions of time’s effects on the built and natural environments, and introduces a new and expanded time scale. Perhaps permanence is found when we learn to expect the unexpected and work with - rather than against - time and impending deterioration.
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Collection of Bioplastic Cubes with Rock and Sand Aggregate
Gelatin, Glycerin, Water, Aggregate
2"x2"x2"
2022
Blending materials thought of as permanent and impermanent, I try to understand what happens when the impermanent element vanishes. How does the permanent exist without the impermanent?
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Melted Bioplastic Cubes
Gelatin, Glycerin, Water, Aggregate
2022
The cubes are also thermoplastics meaning that their properties change under certain temperature conditions. As shown above, when exposed to intense heat, the bioplastics melt. On the other hand, when exposed to colder temperatures, the bioplastic hardens and becomes more brittle.
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Stacked Bioplastic Cubes
Gelatin, Glycerin, Water, Aggregate
2022
Next, I will be stacking and configuring the cubes on the beach where most of their sand and rock aggregate came from. After some time, the gelatin base will wash away, and all that will be left are the rocks and sand. How can we arrange these pieces so that the remnants fall in an impactful assemblage?
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Drawing with Rust
Copper
6"x6"
2022
I am trying to manifest what intentional decay can look like in regard to architectural representation. How can we manipulate a material and the factors that lead to its degradation and turn it into a new way of seeing? How controllable is the process of decay?
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In the Elements
Weathering Steel
2022
I am also exposing these pieces of copper and steel to the ocean. This experiment also makes us think of materials as a litmus of atmospheric and ecological conditions.
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Sketched Floor Plan
Copper
6"x6"x6"
2022
I used material like tape and pastel crayon to create drawings on pieces of copper and weathering steel. I then exposed them to accelerators, like in this case, condensation from boiling salt water. And so when I remove the tape, an relatively clean version of the image remains in tact.
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Shaped and Dried Homemade Pulp Paper with Wildflower Seeds
Pulp paper and wildflower seeds
2022
This next series explores the idea of growth. Normally undesirable substances grow on material surfaces as a consequence of neglect or environmental factors.
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Planted Paper
Homemade pulp paper and soil
2022
With my thesis statement screen printed on top, I planted the wildflower seed paper in a pot. After only a couple of days, sprouts emerged and continued to grow.
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Objects in Transformation
Mixed
2022
Incorporating time’s role in architecture allows us to uncover different uses for materials and unlocks new options for design. Perhaps permanence is found when we learn to expect the unexpected and work with - rather than against - time and its effects. By manifesting time through representation, we get a better understanding of not only what it means to be timeless, but also how we can better appreciate natural aging processes like erosion, rust, and growth.
- Architecture
- Ceramics
- Design Engineering
- Digital + Media
- Furniture Design
- Global Arts and Cultures
- Glass
- Graphic Design
- Industrial Design
- Interior Architecture
- Jewelry + Metalsmithing
- Landscape Architecture
- Nature-Culture-Sustainability Studies
- Painting
- Photography
- Printmaking
- Sculpture
- TLAD
- Textiles
