Bridge 3: Venetian Room Project Statement
This book serves as a memorial in honor of the Venetian Room. It is a collective experience reinterpreted into a book that is similar to the room itself visually and in terms of the feelings, it evokes to the viewer. It is similar to the actual room because of how the book has the ability to blend in with other books when placed on a shelf, which expresses how the Venetian Room has been successfully kept hidden in New York City unlike other such gems that have become common tourist spots. The book is also left untitled to reflect how there is no clear labeling of the Venetian Room and to further emphasize how hidden and unknown to the public it is. The book contains pages from different narratives and stories: history, private, public, and forgotten. These stories are mixed in with each other in spreads to create an overarching story and experience. The physical book has many components that were directly inspired from the room itself, such as the color scheme, the use of reflective materials, and the use of flowers. Overall, the style of the book tries to capture the essence of the actual room.
Private :
Upon entering the building, one must look hard to find the room. Its hidden in plain sight – on the way from the entrance to the Albertine Bookstore – but most people don’t even notice that there is anything in that space. There is no actual entrance and the Venetian Room seems like it has been intentionally hidden. The only access one has to it was through two small windows that let the public see the room from two different angles. It feels like a tease to not be able to enter. You will feel desperate to see the gilded walls and furniture up close and the only way to do so is to stretch your neck as deep into the room as you could.
You will notice that the overall space was much smaller than expected. One is bound to form an impression of what the room would look like based on pictures online – However they don’t do justice to the actual experience. (Especially since the internet doesn’t mention any dimensions – allowing your imagination to go wild.) You will, however, realize that the small size and the quietness of the room allows one to really focus on the details.
The room is predominantly made of marble, wood, and bronze. This section of the project talks about a personal experience – what one would see, feel, imagine and think while visiting the room. We intend to recreate this experience by taking inspiration from the materials in the room itself and bringing out the vibrant colors of the room in the pages of our book in order to translate the feelings one would feel at the moment – making the viewer experience them once again – keeping the memory of the Venetian Room held in that book forever.
The materials used were gold paint, reflective paper, lace, and flowers. Through these materials, we intended to showcase how the lack of access to the room drastically alters one personal experience in both positive and negative ways – leaving them with a taste yet yearning for more. We tried our best to recreate the aesthetic and the overwhelming gilded walls of the room while reiterating the importance of the idea of access and how one’s personal experience is driven by the lack of it.
Public:
One of the sections assigned for the Bridge 3 project was the public sector, in this particular section, the role was to interact in personal interviews with bystanders, observe the atmosphere, as well as tie in elements of popular culture, literature, and musical composition. When walking into the secluded Venetian Room, which is apart of the French Embassy, the individual had to enter through security and be checked through a body scan. The interaction of the individual and the security guard gives the allusion of solitude and retreat, giving the environment a fuller experience.
For this project, the group intends to make a storybook that encompasses each aspect of the Venetian Room. Each page, decorated with specific elements of French culture will bring a rich imagery to the viewer, allowing them to fully indulge in the atmosphere of the Venetian Room. Some of the materials we intend to use are lace, gold foiling, pressed flowers, and transparent paper. These materials will convey the concept of the story-telling-like atmosphere of the room. During the presentation of the work, music may be apparent accompanied by a traditional French snack.
History:
Another part of the project for the Venetian room is the aspect of history. This aspect of the project recalls the important historical aspects that created this place as well as affected it. After visiting the Venetian room a couple of times and doing research on its history and time period, three integral page ideas were formed for the history section of the end product – a memorious book of the Venetian room. The basic history aspects in the history pages of the book focus on the story of the family that owned the mansion before it was donated, the ‘look-back’ to the Renaissance, Romanesque, and Late Baroque/Rococo work, and the ‘hidden gem’ aspect of the room.
The historical aspect relates to the project – a book on the essence of the room – because the Venetian Room’s history is what made its presence present. Without having being commissioned or being designed by Stanford White – and the McKim, Mead, and White architectural firm – and without the illustrious family that lived there this special place in the French embassy could have never existed. In concept, this is what brings the other aspects together. One couldn’t write about the personal experience they had if this room weren’t commissioned, or gilded, or packed away for safekeeping instead of being withered away by wear and tear. One couldn’t write about the public experience without it being open to the public, by being gifted in 1997 and restored in 2016. Although one could write a fiction based on the place, without being able to be there in person and truly experience the space, one wouldn’t be able to create such a fiction. The history of the place, not only the story of it but the actual history surrounding it, ties all of the books together to create clear and cohesive ideas among the aspects.
For materials, the history pages look back to the gilded age in a similar way that McKim, Mead, and White looked back to palaces in Europe and Beaux-arts. Use of gold paint/gold leaf to accent the pages will be used to create the essence of the space literally. The experiential way in which the pages can be viewed is the essence of the space metaphorically. For example, one of the pages has the ‘hidden gem’ aspect of the room by having the viewer pull up a layer of fabric meant to not only represent the hidden aspect but also the drapes in the room, to find the actual imagery on the base page. This exemplifies the hidden aspect because going to the Venetian room is a much harder find, and often overlooked, as well as unknown. Also included is imagery of the family as well as important Rococo, Renaissance, and Beaux-arts work that heavily influenced the design of the Venetian room.
Forgotten:
Forgotten is the fictional piece of the project. It allows for imagination and for the viewer to feel closer to the space through the story of someone else. The forgotten piece of the project creates another storyline that takes place in the Venetian room, alongside all the of the personal and historical accounts. The creator of the story gets to fantasize a bit about what could have taken place in this room and what aspects of the room would stay in someone’s mind. For the fictional story, the reflective mirrors on the wall are a very prominent part of the story.
The character in the story looks at the mirror at three different points and her life and reflects on her current self. In general, the story is like three journal entries at different ages of a girl’s life. The character was created from looking into the family tree of the Whitneys, and seeing how the character could be a friend of William Payne Whitney’s kids because their families were friends. As a result of being family friends, the main character would then have access to the Venetian room. The story is set back then because the room itself must have been more alive then. There also has been no opportunity for people to see the room until recently due to the room being closed for quite a while. Visitors now can’t enter into the room, but can only look inside from the entrances.
For the final book, each person has to design four of the pages, which will eventually get put together. The forgotten pages include three pages that illustrate the three different stories that my main character has at different ages. These pages will use forms of collage to best capture each story and its relation to the Venetian room. The use of reflective materials in the background, strings to tie in a physical touch and connections, silhouettes to show objects and figures, as well as aspects of the room will be used to further illustrate the connection between the room and the main character and the events that take place there. The first page is going to illustrate the character’s childhood experience in the room, running around and breaking a teapot. There will be a silhouette of a broken teapot, along with stitching to represent her running around. The background will consist of the reflective material with “make a funny face” in French written on it subtly, lace in the corner to reflect the room and to add a childhood nostalgic touch, and toile fabric to reflect the room and have a storybook feel. The second page depicts the struggle the character has with growing up and choosing what she wants to do. It shows the childhood side holding on to her by a string, and a grown-up side, where the reflective side is and the music aspect is shown. The third page is made of acetate so that the fourth page can be seen underneath. It portrays the different phases the character goes through and how they are connected to each other. This is shown through the division into three pastel sections and the use of sewing. In addition to those three pages, there will be a simple reflective page for the viewer to reflect for themselves. All of the pages will get pieced together in the end so that the different stories and narratives reflected in each aspect of the project are woven into one another, creating a single piece in the end.
Conclusion:
The main goal was to capture all aspects of the room that stood out in various ways depending on our section of interest and reflect them in our book. The intent for viewers is for them to see the book as a precious and delicate memento – one of its kind. Flipping through the book should feel more like an experience, where one is able to grasp concepts from the historical point of view, connect aspects of the design with literature and pop culture, create a story in their head of what the room could have been purposefully built for and to therefore wholly and privately remember what the felt while going through it. Although there is no clear text or message seen in the book – the use of materials and visuals portray what individually and collectively stood out from visiting the Venetian Room.
Personally, this project was very rewarding although difficult. I worked a lot on the look of it and getting materials ready and prepared. My part of the project, other than the pages, was to make the cover, spine, and back. It took days of work, especially with layering gold paint on the frame, as well as pressing the flowers, and creating a wooden lattice. However, with clear planning and the support of my group mates, I was able to finish it on time as well as complete it with a feeling of success.
Other things that I had helped with, that I feel led to the success of this project, is looking at different materials to spark ideas for the project, check out the space to ensure that we could use it for the project, and talk to the Design lab to figure out if we could actually make a book like this.
All in all, I feel that this project was a major success and that we divided up the work relatively well. I’m so glad to be able to keep the book after the project because I personally am very attached to the work I put into it.
