Chronophobia Chronophilia
Yifei Wu

- SP.19
- Level: undergraduate
- Discipline: Architecture
- Instructor: Andy Ku
Within the flexible Elderly Children's home is a series of activities and forms that measures the passing of time. Traditionally architecture is seen as a solid and rigid object that provides shelter and protection. While the fear of death and change often shifts humans towards a preference for permanence, in this project, users must come to terms with their changing environment. In the way individuals must maintain their bodies and surroundings, by washing their hair and vacuuming their floors, the effect of the environment over time allows us to experience the nature of aging. This may be true even in the modern domestic environment, where machines and tools become increasingly useful, requiring less time to perform activities that maintain consistent conditions. As children grow and the elderly shrink, and as body function and sizes shift, this platform of activities will change together with its people.
For example, on the ceiling is a plastic tube that showcases the accumulating dust in the building, and fabric droops from the ceiling when wet clothes are hung. Gravity and weight notify the residents when they are ready to be worn. Operating vertical louvers exist to protect the exterior of the building from aging and are operated by the residents who must be aware of the wind direction that carries the corroding salt from the coast.