Grounded Figure: A Winery

Abstract

The nature of figure-ground relationships and their potential for use as a tool for architectural composition was investigated through the design of a winery. Included in the winery were facilities accomodating both the production and consumption of wine. These programmatic elements were used as guides for the development of multiple figure-ground relationships at a variety of scales. In addition, the dialogue between different figures as well as the careful development of the backdrop surfaces were topics of study.

Several design strategies were employed to create relationships between figure elements and their backdrops, including the insertion of volumes into and through one another, the careful development of material and surface, and light. From this work, as well as previous projects, several key findings can now be articulated concerning the potential use of figure-ground relationships in the development of a work of architecture. These include the need to optimize the proportion of figure(s) relative to a given background and the key role that the disposition of figures relative to one another plays in the development of a meaningful figure-ground relationship.