Zachary Wignall's topic, “Indexical Architecture / A Synthesis of Subtleties,” seeks to probe the sensory subtleties of space in relationship to their place. He will travel through varying landscapes of the United States and Europe focusing on subtle experiential gestures between landscape, space, and the body.
Zachary Wignall
University of Florida
Jury
Mustafa Abadan (Chair)
Stephan Dallendorfer
David J. Lewis
Gabriel Smith
The nature of an index lies in the qualities of things. “Indexical Architecture” frames architecture as a set of latent qualities, revealed only by the proportions and senses of the body. “A Synthesis of Subtleties” dives deeper into the nature of an architectural index understood as a series of subtle spatial qualities that structure experience: a sense of place, the interplay of light and shadow, layering of space, material details, varying thickness of transparency, and surface texture.
These subtle conditions have an immediate engagement with the body, invoking memory, emotion, and visceral sensation. Understanding places through a process of phenomenal subtleties allows an architecture that communicates with the body, crafted to hold memories and structure identity.
Zachary Wignall
University of Florida
received his Master of Architecture degree in April 2017 from the University of Florida Graduate School of Architecture where he was awarded the Henry Adams AIA Medal and Certificate for academic achievement. He was a graduate teaching assistant for introductory design studios at the University of Florida and was a coeditor, along with four colleagues, for the first student-run graduate publication for the Graduate School of Architecture. Growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah and Oviedo, Florida, Wignall became fascinated with how landscape relates to architectural place. He currently works with the office of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in Seattle, Washington. He intends to continue his research and teaching efforts in parallel to licensure, developing an architectural process that prioritizes sensory curiosity between person and place.
