Post Perfect

I first visited Yerba Buena in April to get a look at the spaces and to see where I
would be working. I thought I would like to work in the Entrance/Lobby space,
but that was taken. Then I hoped to work in one of the two big exhibition rooms,
but those were also taken. What was left was the Anteroom, and for me, this
became a blessing.

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I saw the anteroom as a beautiful, subtle and quiet second to the first position
of the Lobby space. The anteroom paralleled the formation and function of the
lobby, but on a more intimate scale. It was the private to the public sensibility
experienced in the front.

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I was also moved by the garden and its relationship to the anteroom. Although
it looked very separate to me, I felt it had an important connection that I wanted
to explore. Before arriving in San Francisco, I had been reading a little about
Japanese gardens and learned that gardens were a way of creating scale in
order to open up, or to enlarge a space, particularly in cities like Tokyo, or
Kyoto, where space is very limited.

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The garden had this amazing, and strange large magenta wall that faced out
from it, as well as a triangular mound made of half dirt and half brick with tall,
green bamboo growing from it. The garden also had this angular pool that
reflect light, like a wave, back into the anteroom.

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The staircase also played a large role in my design, being that it was a focal
point and a pivot for rhythm within this space. Again it echoed as a second, or
minor note to the first, being the lobby and its staircase.

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Light within this room became one of the biggest considerations for my color. I
noticed that the anteroom seemed brightly lit at first was actually soft and dimly
lit. This raised perplexing considerations for me concerning color– I wanted
my color to stand out, but rich colors would have looked too dark. I wanted
to address the low light conditions in my space, but pastel colors would have
looked too faint and weak. And I also wanted to acknowledge the magenta
wall that backed the garden.

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What I see in conclusion is a series of walls that speak to the conditions of
light moving through the space; to a building as symbolic of the highest ideals
in Modernism and Modernity (hence the title, “Post Perfect”); with an intent
to bring the garden back into focus through waves of light as reflected in the
pool, the tall wall, and in the floor throughout the space; and to scale, again
with the tall wall, and its relationship to the vertical of the bamboo. The walls
are meant to work separately as spaces of inquiry, and together again as a
room of contemplation.

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Odili Donald Odita
Philadelphia, 2009