Studio | The Light Withdrawn

Michael Thron (MSD '26) won the Anthony Nicholas Brady Garvan Award for an Outstanding Thesis/Capstone. 

Abstract: 

At The Cliffs in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, this project, “The Light Withdrawn,” uses projection-mapping software and a laser projector to create an installation that reconstructs the building’s original facade using archival photographs taken from before the 1986 fire that burnt down the historic structure and collection of Newspaper arcticles fro the last 140 years telling the tragic story of the Fisher Mansion constant deteriating state and cities uncertanity with what todo with the house and site. For one evening, the projector will align a digitally reconstructed elevation onto the existing ruin, reconstructing the house without physically altering its current condition. Rather than restoring or rebuilding the structure, the work approaches projection as an act of preservation and a way to view a structure that is a shell of its former self. The existing masonry becomes both screen and surface, contrasting the past and present on the graffiti-covered house.

The installation invites viewers to experience the building through time rather than as a fixed monument. By reconstructing the façade's image and layers of historical articles, the project examines historic preservation, memory, and loss through a sculptural act using new media. It questions traditional ideas of restoration, permanence, and materiality. It challenges the viewer to see preservation as interpretive and performative. Culturally, the project activates public space and engages audiences in a dialogue with Philadelphia’s architectural history, inviting them to confront absence, loss, and memory.

This image and description are from Michael Thron's personal website, where you can discover more about his capstone studio project, "The Light Withdrawn"