As children, we were expected to stay in the lines, fill the spaces, and use the right colors. As we grow older, the rules started to bend. Coloring outside the lines exemplified a playful attitude to life, and embrace for imperfection, and the deliberate means to reinterpret parameters. In the 1920s, the New York Zoning Resolution proliferated a tiered building typology commonly known as “wedding-cake style” architecture. The shape of these buildings was derived from a rational response to the laws preventing buildings from blocking light and air to the streets below. From their orderly exteriors to their stacked interiors, these figures were monotonous, exact, and efficient. Sited at 110 Wall Street, this thesis draws inspiration from Andy Warhol’s screen printing methods and uncovers the exuberant possibilities when one loosely follows expectations and draws outside the lines with flying colors.

Project: Thesis
Location: GSD Harvard
Date: January 2017
Advisor: Jennifer Bonner