Welcome To Wonderland
Phase II
Welcome to Wonderland takes its inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s book A lice’s Adventures in Wonderland . This project celebrates the imagination of Silicon Valley and San Jose. Silicon Valley has long been known for pushing boundaries in technology. By creating an eccentric Biome composed of gigantic flora, Welcome to Wonderland celebrates imagination and wonder, and drives the innovative spirit.
The multi-scaled flora is packed into a huge figurative, imaginary box measuring 100 feet wide by 225 feet long and 200 feet high. Those portions of the flora that protrude outside the box are sliced off. You will recognize the imaginary box from a distance. In close proximity, the box loses its boundary and becomes more diaphanous. As you move into the interior walkways, the protuberances of the flora are sliced away in the same procedure as the exterior.
Year:
2021
Location:
San Jose, CA
Status:
Competition Entry
International Architecture Design Competition | Urban Confluence Silicon Valley
Finalist (963 entries from 72 countries and 6 continents)
3 finalist designers received a $150,000 stipend to develop the concepts in collaboration with outside experts
Collaboration:
Glen Morris, AIA, Vice President, Huitt-Zollars
Joe Ales, Ph.D., S.E. Managing Principal, Walter P Moore
Jeff Masbruch, Director of Design, COST Inc.
Todd McCurdy, FASLA, Landscape Architect, TMLA|Todd McCurdy L.A.
Steven Young, Principal LD, Visual Terrain Inc.
Josh Cottrell, CTS, SR Account Manager, Electrosonic Inc.
Amy Pastor, LEED AP, Principal, EXP
Asif Parkar, Vice President, Cumming
Geza Szakats, PE, LEED AP, Holmes Fire
Video Editing Service:
Kurtis von Krueger
In addition to the flora being enlarged and pruned, it is also abstracted into various shades of white composed of varying materials, textures and finishes. This design procedure defamiliarizes the flora from its original self. This project raises awareness of the contrast and variety in the white spectrum. Each flower is composed of a different material but will give the impression of being white, either with its raw materiality or topical paint application. This project puts the notion of white into the process of abstraction for the sake of dismembering to achieve defamiliarization.
The flora relates to each other by touching, leaning and intertwining to produce a multitude of spatial qualities and experiences. Curvilinear floors and ramps allow for a completely immersive experience, giving you the feeling of flight. This surreal structure invites visitors of all ages back to a state of childlike wonderment, to become a bee or a butterfly. The spatial qualities and the circulation combine both sculpture and architecture to become the adventure of Welcome to Wonderland.
In the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice says “Being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.” Welcome to Wonderland is the realization of surreal literature. The experience transports you into a fictional character that challenges your cognitive ability. In order to activate and cultivate the Arena Green Park, the ground level remains wide open. As you move deeper inside, the oversized flowers impart the feeling that you are physically growing smaller with every step you take. The experience is the intertwining between two different worlds. The juxtaposition of artificial nature against real nature allows you to dream or rethink the familiar world in a fantastic new way.
Welcome to Wonderland does not take sides, neither sculpture nor architecture. This ambivalence is the definition of this Biome. Sculpture generally conveys the perception of a visual art form that is composed of solid objects. A sculpture as such, affords you the possibility of perceiving a sculpture. In other words, a thing seen or perceived by human beings elicits the affordance of being perceived as a sculpture. Through the introduction of the interaction between the multiple sculptures and the circulation, this project invokes another potentiality. A potentiality which never releases in the relationship between human beings and an individual object. This perceived affordance, the quality of non-sculpture and non-architecture, creates a new world that is this Biome.
Welcome to Wonderland does not conceal its structure in order to express the ontology of the system. Its structure is a synthesis of conventional framing and organic composition. Some structural elements mimic the flora while others are revealed as they are. This misregistration allows you to get beyond the recognition of structure even though it is right in front of yours eyes.
Welcome to Wonderland takes the dichotomy of daytime and nighttime to constitute two distinct and contrasting perceptions. While this project shows its enormity in stillness during the daytime, it transforms its artificial nature into a vibrant, colorful bouquet at night. It is framed by the stars and the glistening city of San Jose.
Digital technology adds whimsicality in Welcome to Wonderland at night. Projection mapping on the exterior brings the flora to life with dynamic colors, and textures. Within the interior larger-than-life hologram creatures allow you to experience an enjoyable and yet slightly unsettling environment.
The many juxtapositions within Welcome to Wonderland represent the creativity of Silicon Valley. Welcome to Wonderland is a local landmark but sets the stage to become a world-wide sensation.
