PROJECTS
Angelica Facey - Ashley Street Books & Film
Chun (Shella) Wang - Jump Out of Frame
Frame Rate
In cinema a frame is one of the many still images that compose a complete motion picture. The speed at which these images are played back to us is measured by the frame rate. Humans can process images at a rate of 10 to 12 frames per second. Anything above that becomes interpreted as motion. Frame rates have an impact on style and how one experiences a motion picture. In cinema the typical frame rate is 24 frames per second since it is closer to how we see the world and creates a more cinematic experience. On the other hand, a sporting event with a lot of motion will opt for a higher frame rate to capture all the detail.
In architecture, a frame can be thought of in several different ways. Tectonically a building uses a structural frame as the underlying bones to define space. According to Colin Rowe, contemporary architecture is almost inconceivable in its absence. The use of the frame has transformed how we build taller and more complex structures since the construction of the first American skyscraper in Chicago in the late 1800’s and continues to allow us to push the limits of how we imagine space.
Architecture like cinemas can also frame space visually. Using different architecture elements: windows, corridors, apertures, etc. an architect has control over what views are framed through the design of these elements as interface. This use of the frame enhances the choreography of the space affecting how people move through it as well as blur boundaries between spaces on the interior as well as between interior and exterior.
Understanding frames as being temporal and static, the studio will explore the expression of a frame to define and structure an architectural proposal for a cinema in Ann Arbor.