Photoshop rendering of museum exterior. The building this museum would occupy is the Orpheum Theater in LES where STOMP has been running since 1994.

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The lounge space is seperated from the cafe register by custom bookshelves.

Like mental illness, materials and colors change in reception across class-while the mentally ill on the fringes of society are often punished and criminalized, those on the highest tiers are treated and forgiven. Materials when moved across social class move similarly through the spectrum from being considered avante-garde to being regarded as trashy.

The lighting is not meant for reading, as this space is not a reading room. Considering the content of the books sold in the bookstore (vintage books on psychology), a more appropriate name for this space would be: anti-reading room. The subject matter here should be met with discernment and understanding of context and history, not taken at face value in a well lit room.

Reflected Ceiling Plan showing the lighting grid veering off into an encompassing grid around the deliberately disorienting stair. The combination creates a deconstructed space warp. Just moving throught this space challenges the visitors feeling of normalcy and security in their own skin.

The third floor is all black and lit as needed by the lighting grid carried through all the spaces as well as by the exhibitions themselves. Each floor experiments with experiential means of learning.

The second floor exhibitions are in a more typical white gallery space, with experiential exhibits which one must enter.

The seating throughout the museum is provided by swarovski benches which are peppered with deep black, sparling holes. These benches were specified for the metaphor of beings viewed as incomplete or broken from afar but upon closer study, their errors are actually enlightened, and their mistakes are depth.

The first floor has a vintage book store instead of a gift shop.

This is a detail drawing of the gold stair. Though a luxury material, it is stiff, foreboding and enclosing. It is wrapped in a black, warped, prison-like grid. The stair interrupts consciousness and normalcy.

This follows the movement of lighting and furniture in this space ranges from industrial and rough (custom mesh and metal pieces) to luxurious (B&B Italia side tables, Tom Dixon armchairs, and Ligne Roset reception couches; Lighting by Porcelain Bear and general track lighting).

Self-care, or self-analysis is a luxury that not everyone is afforded, though everyone needs. Mental illness doesn't discriminate though it's treatment and reception vastly do. The materials in this space imitate this dichotomy.

The temporary artist's residence uses each available plane as a serenity check.

The bedroom desk is backed into the stair's half circle facing a workshopping wall is across from the bed. It directs the artists morning benediction toward their inspiration and purpose.

The window allows daylight, moonlight and outside human movement pour into the space at all times, connecting the resident to the outside world.

Behind the bed is a serene but vibrant wall covering which adds energy and peace to the space. Visible from the workshopping wall, in conjuction with the bed, it is visually easing.

The fourth wall, unseen, is a closet wall which also has a door to the bathroom. This wall is the reminder to take care of themselves.

Museum of Obsession & Neurosis (MoON)

senior thesis project, 2014