Joseph Choma, 2013 Emerging Voices Architect, Exhibits in Atlanta

If you're in Atlanta in the next few weeks, make sure to see Joseph Choma's solo-exhibition, Object to Atmosphere, as part of the Young Architects Forum Atlanta Emerging Voices 13 exhibition. Choma is this year's recipient of the AIA Atlanta 2013 Emerging Voices Citation for his research and experimentation in architecture. He is also an Assistant Professor at Georgia's Southern Polytechnic State University and part of Design Topology Lab, a research platform dedicated to the ontology of space defined by mathematics (previously on Bustler).

Emerging Voices 13 will feature a composition of the YAF Atlanta 48HRS Design Competition entries and winners as well.

"Object to Atmosphere" contains Joseph Choma's body of work which lies at the intersection of perception and computation.

Perceptually, the work investigates ideas of boundaries, thickness, texture, optical illusion and the transformation of an object state to that of an atmosphere.

Computationally, the exhibit showcases his research into mathematics which projects a framework to utilize equations as a design tool, while simultaneously acting as a critique of digital tools -which he argues can be deterministic with their complex, symbolic, "black box" heuristics. Currently, he is writing the first design guide to mathematical transformations to be published by Laurence King Publishing in February 2014.

The largest piece within the exhibition is Choma's second inhabitable drawing installation, "BOUNDARIES 02", a 20' x 16' drawing which climbs a vertical wall while extending across the floor.

The drawing is mathematically generated by spiraling and thickening a sphere with trigonometric transformations.

Physically, the drawing was fabricated by utilizing a 5-axis CNC as a drawing machine. The machine slowly scratched tens of thousands of lines at a depth of .02" into ten 4' x 8' black painted medium density fiberboard panels.

The inhabitable drawing questions what it means to draw and experience a drawing.

The exhibition opened last week at the Barbara Archer Gallery and still runs through March 9.

All images courtesy of Joseph Choma.