Julia Gottstein

the volumetric column

The Volumetric Column deals with the column as a void space cut into an existing structure – columns create amplified open spaces—generate volumes—form spatial structures, which enhance the existing building.

Initial point was the AT&T Long Line Building in Manhattan, New York—a building, which was built as a bunker during the Cold War and remains now as a witness of a never conducted war in the urban area. Through the question how space articulates itself, which is contrary to its existence, the intention arise to create spaces that transfer the quality of emptiness, that offer void spaces and provides the qualities of emptiness. The distinct shape of the columns are a transformed result of the way how gothic columns act on a predefined system of point clouds, which determines how each single line bundles at the bottom and bifurcates towards a spatial configuration.

The Building itself transforms to a backdrop for an intervention in the inner—the envelope as a catalyst and supporter.

Master thesis at the IOUD – Institute of Urban Design, Innsbruck