Wayward as the Minnehaha with her moods of shade and sunshine

Abstract

In a world which is increasingly occularcentric, architecture has the opportunity to reinvigorate experience with designs based on the perceptual systems of the human body. In comparison with the sense organs of other animals, humans are capable of acquiring information about the world almost equally with one sense as with another, for while vision is greater over distance, touch and hearing have more emotive capacity. Architectural design which is created specifically to engage the senses will not only be more physically fulfilling, but socially, culturally, and psychologically as well. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha is used as reference for the design as it creates a tangible fictional world through the use of a memorable cadence. In addition to providing a structural background, the poem is also linked to the site: the Minnehaha parkway in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the program: a library and an American Indian cultural museum. Each of the senses was considered to be a tool in design: sound shaping form, touch defining materials, sight defining vistas and light, and hearing refining volume and form. The final design uses a continuous ramp system as the meter of experience, allowing for various spaces to acquire unique characters as the building descends from street level underground and out to Minnehaha creek.