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Allen Bell

Allen Bell

Asheville, NC, US

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A Basilica for Italian Syncretism

This project is the product of a very short-lived study abroad trip to Rome, Italy in the Spring of 2020. The point of departure for the studies that ultimately led to the finished product was a series of studies and analyses of Italian high fashion. The qualities we focused on (including the packing of fabric, the perforation of a field hat, the frilling of a dress, and the flexing of a shoe tread) dictated the design language employed throughout the Basilica. The building serves primarily as a church that employs both the traditional setting of the Roman Catholic congregation as well as a much more Western ideological setting where the individual is encouraged to worship/reflect on their own, separated entirely from the traditional organized worship space most are familiar with. The Basilica also functions as a fashion venue when the need arises, supplying the event with a suspended runway as well as space for people to attend the event using the individual worship spaces in the dome as oracles to view the show. This design is supposed to challenge the idea that, typically, architecture tends to be considered a rigid entity with firm materials and forms. Our design challenges this in that it is made up of flexible and rigid materials equally beyond typical material capacities; by virtue of understanding how materials are used and assembled into the wearable features in fashion design, our building is more carefully tailored through the understanding of each component with respective capacities in the spectrum of geometrical and material dynamics.

 
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Status: School Project
Location: Rome, IT
My Role: This is a collaborative project in which I was one of a team of two.
Additional Credits: Julian Chow (RPI)