In Retreat: Making Space

IN RETREAT INTEGRATIVE PROJECT THESIS Alana Hoey Detroit, MI

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All my life, I have been creating retreats—spaces within spaces in which to get away. Mediation—the ability to decide who joins me in retreat or if I require solitude—is a concept that fascinates me as much as an adult as it did in the blanket forts of my childhood.

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At age 6, my family moved into this house and my father

promised to turn the small garden shed into a “play house” for me. For the past 16 years, the shed has been waiting—largely empty and neglected. In my search for retreat as an adult, this space continually came to mind—full of potential and longing to become something meaningful at last.

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The desire for retreat in Detroit is very personal. In addition to the connection to my childhood home, providing a space to find peace in an ever-changing urban environment is important for both personal health, creative practice, and community development.

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In Retreat, as a work of art, is an incorporation of architecture, poetry, and urban studies. In Retreat is the built manifestation of internal struggles of anxiety, rest, reflection, and connection. As Gaston Bachelard describes in his book The Poetics of Space, all inhabited space bears the essence of home and becomes the “non-I that protects the I” (Bachelard). In building a retreat, I intend to create a space in which the “user” can move fluidly between states of solitude and internal reflection and openness and connection with others. It is an environment that protects the anxious while facilitating personal growth.

The retreat is designed to reflect the needs of the “user”— for flexibility, peace, and security.

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Though In Retreat provides conceptual framework and methodological example for creating retreat spaces, the

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true significance is personal, the true audience my own self.

Work created out of and for personal attachment is often the most powerful and meaningful. “Love means taking the care to notice what really pleases you and the people around you, and providing those things for yourselves, to serve you and bring you joy every day. It means not just doing the standard thing or the fashionable thing, but exploring yourself and your world to create wonderful things, the things you desire most in your true self, the things that reflect back to you who you really love being” (Venolia).

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While “retreat” often carries with it visions of expensive vacations or conferences, the act of retreating is simple and important to incorporate into daily life. “Having a physical center to which we return for

sustenance, and boundaries within which we are safe to be who we are, help create the self-confidence and the personal power to overcome the doubts, fears, and weaknesses that invite ill health” (Venolia).

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In her book, “Healing Environments”, Carol Venolia explores the purpose and design elements of spaces for well-being. Her nine point list of purposes for healing environments connect very closely with the goals of In Retreat. Incorporating some of the research and conceptual basis for healing environments, In Retreat grounds itself in its particular environment and opens itself up to imaginative possibilities.

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In contrast to many of the preceding works that In Retreat draws upon, this work recognizes the user as a complex being—an artist needing space to create, a body with physical ailments, a mind seeking relief, a child wanting to play, a soul desiring communion, a host hoping to invite. Thus, the retreat is more than a healing environment, sactuary, play house, or studio, but a structure with the flexibility to become any or all.

shed. The alley beyond the back wall connects the retreat to neighbors, yet continues to be a space largely ignored and abused. The retreat begins with a simple presence in the alley space, with room to extend physically and relationally into the surrounding area. The flexibility encourages experimentation and longterm solutions as well as collaboration with neighbors.

The retreat is not static but a space to grow internally and externally in a safe environment.

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The possibilities for creation, reinvention, communion, and rejuvenation extend beyond the physical boundaries of the

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1. stimulate positive awareness of ourselves; 2. enhance our connections with nature, culture, and people; 3. allow for privacy; 4. do us no physical harm; 5. provide meaningful, varying stimuli; 6. encourage times of relaxation; 7. allow us to interact with them productively; 8. contain a balance between familiarity and flexibility; 9. be beautiful

The process of research and creation carries with it as much interest and significance as the final space itself. The methodology of observing, writing, photographing, and peer review give rich and evolving meaning to the work.

and greens create inviting spaces for rest.

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The method of observation creates a relationship between the artist and the space.

Questions like, “Who currently interacts with this space and how?”, “How do elements like temperature, sunlight, noise, and natural life affect the space?”, and even “How does the space and the surrounding environment make me feel?” help in determining both physical ad conceptual direction for the work.

and replaced with transparent polycarbonate.

Perhaps the most challenging and fascinating way the work develops is through the ideation and input of others— artists, craftsman, therapists, and above all, the children at heart. It is rare that someone can be introduced to the space —even the idea—without imagining their own retreat.

The goal of the work—the joy, peace, and inspiration of a

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The spirit of “In Retreat”, both in its making and final expression, depends heavily on creative writing. From poetry to lists, the writing serves as documentation, sketching, brainstorming, and

! the retreat sometimes a home sometimes the farthest from it a space large enough, light enough, to breathe small enough, bare enough to be filled by the spirit

the act of retreating.

By photographing the physical work, artifacts found , and progression of space in the retreat, a second layer of meaning is attached to the final piece. This method helps to show the space and making of space in a new light, both during and after the the project’s development. Images 1 and 2 illustrated the transition of light entering the space as the roof is removed

space—is reinforced by the enthusiasm of those interacting with the work. The potential of a small and simple space sets people free to propose fantastic ideas— desires that come from a very intuitive and childlike place.

These ideas become catalysts for movement, preventing the work from becoming stale.

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The retreat is a simple space— accented with natural and reused materials, touches of

calm and rejuvenating colors and patterns, and a few built elements to facilitate rest and play.

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The roof of the shed is perhaps the most important and visible change to the space. Half of the roof is made of transparent polycarbonate, allowing light into what was previously a windowless space. The loft below it lies on a track, able to control light and heat for both the upper and lower parts of the space.

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The concrete stained floor and wood paneled walls create opportunities for warmth and pattern while staying true to the simple and rustic nature of the retreat. Elements like a writing table made out of one of the old wood paneled lofts and a small garden for tea bring function and life to the simple space. A chair made from a recycled tire found in the alley behind the retreat and pillows of watercolored blues

The questions of what the space should be are answered through its making. The purpose of retreat being selfdiscovery and rejuvenation, the artists own desires and imagination fuel the making of a space that answers the most personal questions—the building itself manifesting inward struggles, realizations, and beauty. The process and the product intertwine to document the search for retreat in making and retreat in the made.

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Bibliography

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Bachelard, Gaston, and M. Jolas. The Poetics of Space. Boston: Beacon, 1994. Print.

"Tiny Houses – Small Dwellings of Every Shape and Size." Tiny Houses – Small Dwellings of Every Shape and Size. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.

Venolia, Carol. Healing Environments: Your Guide to Indoor Well-being. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts, 1988.

Print.

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