Limón is a second-year graduate student at Texas Tech College of Architecture. She was raised in Dallas with roots from Guadalajara, Jalisco. Xiuyin Hu is completing her graduate degree from Texas Tech after receiving her undergraduate degree from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China.
Historically, large portions of West Texas’ towns and cities have been organized by the Jeffersonian grid. Further west, however, complex topographies require more narrow arrangements that often resemble veins and arteries spreading across the mountainous landscape. This stark contrast created an opportunity to question the regulated grid by superimposing it onto an irregular settlement. Avoiding hyper-realistic and technical forms of documentation, these compositions were rendered with an emphasis on geometry and color. In this way, the drawings begin to occupy a liminal space. This was crucial for engaging with the program of a cemetery, which usually involves a somber reflection in both the architecture and its visual representation. To challenge this notion, the drawings display an alternative idea of the experience and program, but also alter the notion of solemnity. Through Rhino modeling, playful geometries are rendered in bright colors, then edited in Photoshop. These renderings not only occlude the usual associations of death, but instill the architecture with a sense of life and vibrancy. Overall, the hyperbolic imagery challenges the realities of the built world and emphasizes the contrast between the organic and perfect geometries — all the while offering a chance to ameliorate, and make lighter, the heavy burden of its content.
Instagram: @daisylimon.arch