AMBIGRAM & AMBIGUITY
Academic Work | Individual Work
Constructed Drawing I, II - Cornell AAP
Year: FA 2023 - SP 2024 Type: Visual Representation
Instructor: Michael Jefferson, Christopher A. Battaglia
Exploration Towards the
Representational Ambiguity
This project deconstructs precedent drawings and recomposes them into ambigrammatic forms, open to multiple interpretations. By intentionally bending drawing conventions, the work explores how ambiguity can shift meaning across scales, from line drawings to 2.5D engravings to three-dimensional totems. Each piece resists a single reading, instead inviting viewers to encounter multiple perspectives at once.
An ambigram is a typographic design that remains readable or transforms into another word when viewed from different orientations, such as rotation or reflection.
#1
2D Ambigrammatic Projection
This piece begins with precedent drawings of the ‘Bait Ur Rouf Mosque’ by Marina Tabassum, which I reconfigured into a new composite plan emphasizing axis and symmetry. I then projected half of this plan into an oblique drawing, rotated it, and combined it to form an ambigrammatic composition. The result is a representation of an impossible spatial situation, merging worm’s eye and top-down views into a single drawing, challenging conventional perspectives.
#2
2.1D Ambigrammatic Projection
This piece began by recomposing a series of photo and line diptychs into a composite line drawing and orthographic projection. I then spatialized the geometries in relation to the picture plane, playing with depth, location of geometries, and focal length.
Cornell University
‘The Shed’ by DS+R
#3
2.5D Ambigrammatic Subtraction - The Board
In this piece, I further developed a preveious drawing to more clearly convey the essence of a dome. The result is a hybrid drawing that can be interpreted as a Choisy, a section, or a plan, and viewed simultaneously from a worm’s eye view and top-down perspective. I then applied a subtractive operation to transform the flat drawing into a 2.5-dimensional engraved board, experimenting with depth and shadow. To enhance the shadow effects, I chose light maple hardwood as the material.
#3.5
Little Totem before Bigger Totem
#4
3D Ambigrammatic Subtraction - The Totem
The aim of this piece was to transform the previous 2.5-dimensional board into a detailed design expressing material form through the typology of a totem. To achieve this, I took a segment of the earlier drawing, revolved it to create a dome, and then subtracted it from 8”x8”x2’ bounding box. I used dental plaster for its light color, which effectively captures shadows, and added gold leaf to highlight the carved areas. The result is an ambigrammatic 3D artifact that appears the same when viewed upside down.
Looking back, I realize how early influences quietly shape how we think. The ambigrams from Angels & Demons, which I read as a child, seem to have stayed with me, drawing me toward making something that reads the same both upright and inverted : AMBIGRAM!
This project became an exercise in working with and against convention. Using architectural drawing conventions while intentionally unusing them. Through this process, I learned to distinguish between what is merely complicated and what is truly complex.
More importantly, I came to understand what constructed drawing means. Every line carries force. A line is not something casually drawn, but something built with intention, logic, and the ability to be drawn again. In that sense, lines become walls, borders, and limits. After the project, the wording of the course finally made sense to me: every line has power.