01.
02.
03.
cities in protest. ornamental framing.
freelance research with geoffrey goldberg. graduate studio with paul anderson & sam jacobs.
04.
polymorphus phi. nested homes.
graduate studio with andrew zago. graduate studio with julia capomaggio & grant gibson.
The aftermath of a night of riots in Paris.Credit...Bruno Barbey/Magnum Photo. From nytimes.com
Year: 2019 - 21
With: Geoffrey Goldberg
Type: Urban This work began in the spring of 2019 as a research seminar on the protests of 1968. Following the seminar, Geoff continued the research and asked me to help unify the work into a coherent set. Below is his description of the project.
Cities have long been regarded as centers of political power and as concentrations of authority and culture. They are condensers of social interaction, and this raises the question: how does political change unfold in the city? From an architectural perspective, how does politics play out spatially? To examine this, the events of 1968 were the studied at UIC.
Considered fifty years later, these events are “stresstests” to conventional urban theory about socialization and public gathering. Existing organizations, operations, and the status quo were deeply threatened by these events. As such, examination of what happened at the physical level can provide further insight on the interface between the political and the physical, and how political concerns and built fabric affect one another.
A study of protests in 1968 was undertaken to investigate the relationship between political power and urban spatiality. The tumultuous events of 1968 were the physical voice of massive social unrest that was throughout Europe and the United States, as a motivated populace took to the streets and vehemently sought major revisions to existing authority. The protests took place in a number of cities throughout America and Europe, with demonstrations, riots, and even occupations. Whole swathes of cities were taken over by groups unrecognizable in traditional terms.
In the 1960s, Detroit’s racial tensions had escalated due to increased racial profiling and brutality from the predominantly white police force, unemployment, and housing discrimination. In the early morning of July 23, 1967, the police raid of an underground bar in a black neighborhood ignited simmering racial tensions. It led to five days of civil unrest, including looting, arson, and rioting. After the violent response from the police escalates the uproar, the National Guard is sent in and effectively quells the rioting. The riot resulted in 43 deaths, 1,200 injured, more than 7,200 arrests, and over 400 buildings destroyed.
london.
detroit. On March 17, 10,000 protestors against the US war in Vietnam marched from Trafalgar Square to the US embassy in Grosvenor Square. The protestors met with violent force from London Police. The violent conflict lasted for four hours and resulted in over 100 injuries and 250 arrests. The conflict in Grosvenor Square caused national outrage on both sides and reforms in the British government to prepare for further conflicts. Students occupied the London School of Economics at the end of October, effectively shutting it down for a weekend. On October 27, 100,000 marched from the London School of Economics to Trafalgar Square and peacefully held speeches. During the march, 3,000 marchers split off and marched to the US embassy in Grosvenor Square and repeated the violent clash with police. The majority of the march remained peaceful and ended at Hyde Park.
Grief and rage following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on the evening of April 4th led to three days of civil unrest in the the black neighborhoods in Chicago’s south and west sides. From April 5 - 7, riots, looting, arson, and gunfire spread across the neighborhoods of Garfield Park, Woodlawn, Lawndale, Cabrini Green, and Roosevelt Road. More than 2,000 citizens were arrested, 48 civilians were wounded by police gunfire, and 11 deaths resulted. Over 10 million dollars of damages resulted from the aftermath, and miles of Chicago’s west side were left in rubble. A city-wide curfew was enforced, officers were told to ‘shoot to kill,’ and the National Guard was called in to quell the unrest.
May ’68 in Paris began with student protests and occupations against capitalism, rigid traditional institutions, and American Imperialism. After the student protests met with violent police repression, the protests swelled to include the general population and workers. The civil unrest lasted seven weeks and brought the French economy to a halt with approximately 11 million workers on strike. The government temporarily collapsed, and an election was called, resulting in the re-election of Charles De Galle. Though the political aspects of the protests failed, the unrest led to a widespread cultural revolution that transformed French society.
The Chicago Democratic National Convention (DNC) protests were a week-long series of protests in response to the US war in Vietnam and the candidacy of Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic front-runner who supported the war. Beginning on August 23, nearly daily protests, marches, and demonstrations occurred in the Chicago loop and near the north side. City officials were unsuccessful in preventing the protests. In attempts to maintain “law and order,” the Chicago Police Department and the National Guard used brutal force, resulting in what was later called a “police riot.” 668 protestors were arrested, and hundreds were treated for injuries. Though the public response to the protests and the violent police response were mixed, the ‘68 DNC protests changed the cultural and political landscape.
The Prague Spring refers to a period of liberalization following the election of reformist candidate Alexander Dubcek in January 1968. Dubcek’s election led to the decentralization of the economy, the democratization of the administration, and the granting of additional rights to the citizens. Threatened by this, the Soviet government issued warnings to Dubcek in July. When Dubcek failed to respond accordingly, the militaries of the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, and Bulgaria occupied Prague on August 20, 1968. Prague citizens resisted the occupation in thousands, encountering violent repression from the occupying troops. The resistance was effectively repressed.
Detroit Police officers raid an unlicensed drinking club in a Black neighborhood where 82 people were celebrating the return of two GIs from the Vietnam War.
While police load patrons into paddy wagon, a large crowd gathers to watch and throw projectiles at police. After police leave, crowd grows and begins traveling down 12th street breaking windows.
Police try to sweep the area, making first arrests for rioting. Sweep is ineffectual, police are outnumbered.
Detroit firms have hired over 5,000 “previously unemployable,” mostly Black, persons as part of Greater Detroit Board of Commerce Campaign launched in response to riots.
Unrest spreads. 350+ Michigan State Police arrive. Mayor Cavanagh request the National Guard.
Buildings along 12th Street are set on fire. Crowd stones the fire department, preventing them from extinguishing fires.
Crowd swells to 10,000. Black community leaders are unable to calm protesters. Police attempt to cordon off area to stop riots from spreading.
Riots spreading eastern
Snipers begin to police, guardsmen firefighters.
Civil unrest spreads are “out of control.” Governor authorizes presence which begin to appear
The outward migration of Detroit’s white population increased to 67,000 from 22,000 the previous year.
Focus: Hope 68, a non-profit organization, forms in response to the riots to directly address the issues which led to them.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in TN. Riots ignite on 12th Street, at the same location of previous riots in July.
The National Guard quickly enter the city to use force to control the riots.
Mayor Cavanaugh appoints Special Task Force on Police Recruitment and Hiring. 35% of the police hired by Detroit in 1968 are black.
Presence of US Army troops begins to quell unrest more effectively than National Guard.
The riot is officially over. US Army begins to withdraw.
Sniper fire and arsons continue but in reduced numbers. National Guard withdraws after sufficient order restored.
Riots continue, spreading into eastern city.
to fire on guardsmen and
and police report they Governor Romney of National Guard appear on the streets.
Governor Romney and Mayor Cavanagh contact Washington for federal troops.
President Johnson OKs request for federal troops and deploys them to Detroit with the caveat not to disembark until ordered.
President Johnson holds televised news conference justifying use of federal troops in Detroit by citing failures of local leaders.
Three black teenagers found dead from gunshot wounds in the Algiers Motel. Suspicion of police involvement leads to fallout between black community and police for years to come.
U. S. Army is deployed to Detroit’s east side.
Chaos still continues. Police are overworked and found to have committed many acts of abuse to people in their custody.
During a police raid of an underground bar in a black neighborhood in the early morning of July 23, riots broke out as the police tried to load patrons into a police van. The uproar spread across the city and could not be contained by city police. After three days of riots, looting, arson, and sniper activity, the National Guard was called in to contain the protest.
Rioting
Looting
Arson
Sniper shooting
80,000 march against US action in Vietnam
The march turns violent near the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. Around 86 hospitalized and
Revolutionar y Socialist Student Federation founded at the London School of Economics
Stoppages by London meat por ters and dockers in suppor t of Powell
Jul Sep Nov Dec May Jun 13 20 27 31 28 Su Su Su F Aug 27 26 22 21
of socialist newpaper Black Dwarf
London anti-war marchers run riot‚’ outside Hilton Hotel
Students
30,000 peacefully march from
London School of Economics toward Hyde Park
Downing Street to deliver petition signed by 75,000 for UK to cease suppor t of US army
6 000 protestors split off from larger march an go to Grosvenor Square and clashed with police
March 17: an Anti-Vietnam War march from Trafalgar Square to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ends in a violent clash with police. October 27: a second and larger anti-war march and demonstration occurs. During the protest, a breakoff group marched to Grosvenor’s square, and the March 17 melee was repeated. The majority of the protestors continue peacefully to Hyde Park.
Occupied Building
March 17th Protest/March
October 27th Protest/March
MLK returns to Memphis to attempt a second, more successful march. His airplane is delayed due to a bomb threat.
MLK delivers the speech known as “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” recalling his 1958 assassination attempt.
Dr. Martin Luther King participates in a massive march in Memphis that ends in violence.
Most high school students absent. School principles call for police reinforcement. Schools closed by noon.
Students
in
MLK is assassinated in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
Mayor R. J. Daley declares Chicago state of emergency
Chicago public schools with heavy police presence.
Mayor Richard J. Daley calls in the National Gard and Army.
declares emergency over.
schools reopen presence.
James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary is arrested in London Airport, extradited to the US and charged with MLK’s murder.
6,700 National Gard and 5,000 Army troops arrive in Chicago.
Looting and arsons continue in reduced numbers in South and West sides. Large gatherings prohibited in Garfield Park, Lawndale, and Woodlawn neighborhoods.
Chicago’s firefighting forces are concentrated in the West Side.
Mayor Daley tells police and soldiers to “shoot to kill arsonist” and “shoot to maim looters.”
Democratic National Convention occurs in Chicago. Thousands protests resulting in more riots and violent conflict with the police.
Over 2,100 arrested, 11 citizens dead, 48 citizens hit by police fire, and 90 injured police as a result of 48 hours of rioting.
Army maintains a visual presence throughout effected neighborhoods.
April 5 - 7: Grief and rage following the assassination of MLK resulted in widespread riots, looting, arson, and gunfire across Chicago’s west and south sides. The police response was violent and ineffective, resulting in 48 wounded from police gunfire and 11 dead. The National Guard was called in to suppress the unrest.
National Guard Conflict
Police Conflict
Looting/Conflict Area
March
Arson
Death
west side.
south side.
Fochet Reforms imposed on students and faculty at Nanterre University. 10,000 students strike.
Nanterre students sociology buildings violently removed.
Nanterre University’s administration shuts down school after a series of attacks on left-wing student organization offices.
500 students demonstrate against the school’s closure and in solidarity with the students facing charges from March 22. Police respond with brutal force.
Strasbourg - 2,500 students gather in solidarity with Paris students.
Sorbonne - Violent demonstrations ensue after those arrested on May 3 receive 2 months prison sentences.
Latin Quarter50,000 march against police brutality in a day long battle with cops.
High school students, unions, and young workers gathered at the Arc de Triumphe with demands.
Nanterre students gather in Paris which ends in 5 hours violent clash with police. 20,000 students marched toward the Sorbonne.
Clashes police escalate The brutal radicalizes
students occupy the buildings and are removed.
“Movement of March 22.”
Most workers return to work.
Nanterre students occupy the administration buildings in protest to the US involvement in Vietnam and are violently removed.
Police attack strikers and students at the Peugeot factory. Two workers killed, one student drowns running from police.
The results of the election support the Gaullist regime and the government remains relatively unchanged.
Police clear out the Odeon Theatre, Sorbonne, and Beaux-Arts with little resistance.
Over 50 factories occupied by workers
200,000 workers on strike
Approximately ten million, or two-thirds of French workforce on strike.
Estimated two million workers on strike
After a demonstration becomes violent, the most brutal ‘black Friday’ occurs yet
Paris stock exchange set on fire by protesters.
Charles de Gaulle leaves France for an unknown location with no public notice.
Lyon - 6,000 students and workers protest and are met with police force. A police commissioner is killed.
Charles De Gaulle reappears, announces national elections in one month
400,000 pro-de Gaulle demonstrators march to the Arc de Triumphe
between demonstrators and escalate throughout the day. brutal force used against the students radicalizes moderate students and bystanders.
Large crowds gathered at the Left Banks and create barricades. Police attacked with force at 2:15 AM.
Over a million people marched through the Paris.
Sorbonne occupied and declared a People’s University. Police release students sentenced for protest related arrests.
People occupy the National Theatre in Paris, and turn it into a permanent assembly for mass debate.
Sit down worker strike at Sud Aviation, near Nantes. Workers occupy Renault plant near Rouen.
Seven weeks of civil unrest and violent police repression brought the French government and economy to a halt and transformed French culture. Protests from both sides took place across the city. Occupations, barricades, marches, and strikes transformed the streets of Paris.
Student March
Barricades
Occupied Building
Police + Protestor Clash Pro-De Gaulle Rally/March Student ProtestRobert Kennedy
Incumbent president
announces he won’t be running for re-election.
Dr. Martin Luther Rioting and violent Chicago
Luther King Jr. is assassinated. violent clashes with police across ensues.
Robert Kennedy is assassinated after winning California Primary.
The Yippies and anti-Vietnam group MOBE apply for permits to camp in Lincoln Park and for protests across the city. All are denied except for one rally permit in Grant Park.
Abbie Hoffman publishes "The Yippies are Going to Chicago" in The Realist
TET offensive ends. Richard Nixon wins presidential election.
Pigasus, a domesticated 145 lb pig, is nominated for president by the Yippies. 7 Yippies are taken into police custody.
Mayor R. J Daley calls in National Guard in anticipation of protests. An 11 PM curfew is put into effect.
The Yippies “Festival of Life” opens in Lincoln Park and is attended by 2,000. Police violently break up festival at 11 PM.
Democratic delegates begin arriving in Chicago and are escorted to hotels surrounded by police guard.
Protesters in Lincoln Park clash violently with police again at 11 PM over curfew.
2,000 anti-war protestors hold an “unbirthday party” for LBJ at the Chicago Coliseum, then march to Grant Park where protest remains peaceful.
Tensions rise between delegates of democratic party within the DNC. reporter Dan Rather is roughed up by police.
1 PM 3 PM
Protester climbs flagpole in Grant Park to remove American flag. Violent clash with police ensues..
During the DNC televised Vietnam debate, democrats vote down a peaceful resolution to Vietnam situation for democratic platform.
15,000 protesters gather at Grant Park for the only permitted demonstration during the DNC.
Herbert Humphrey wins democratic nomination.
Protest move up Michigan Ave to hotels where democratic delegates are staying. Police respond with brute force, and national television networks air confrontations.
Police form a cordon to prevent protesters in Grant Park from marching to the site of the DNC.
DNC is adjourned.
Reports cite over 660 arrests and over 1,000 demonstrators treated for injuries during DNC protests. 192 Police injured.
While Humphrey officially accepts nomination in International Amphitheater, protesters outside are met with tear gas and brute force from police and National Gard.
From August 23 - 29, protests, marches, and demonstrations in response to the US involvement in Vietnam occurred across Chicago’s near north side and loop and were met with violent police repressions.
Monday, Aug 25
Tuesday, Aug 26
Wednesday, Aug 27
Thursday, Aug 28
Police Cordon
DNC Site
Action Program “Socialism with a Human Face” removes state controls over industry and speech.
"2,000 Words” Manifesto urges mass protests. Soviet on verge
August
Meeting of the Soviet, East German, Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Czechoslovak Communist party representatives in Bratislava regarding Czech situation.
Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Bulgarian militaries cross borders of Czechoslovakia.
First clashes with the occupation troops occur. Shots are fired in area surrounding six tanks.
An occupying tank rams a truck barricading the street starting a fire which engulfs both vehicles.
Soviet letter says Czechoslovakia verge of counterrevolution; may step in.
Dubcek, Smrkovsky, Kriegel, and Spacek are taken by armed Soviet soldiers to an unknown destination.
All movement in Prague’s streets halts.
The Communist Party Congress occurs and elects a pro-Dubcek Central Committee and President.
Thousands assemble on Wenceslas Square. 6 armored soviet tanks begin moving toward the square from 3 directions.
Suicide of Jan Palach by self conflagration.
15 min civilian noise demonstration where all sirens, car horns and bells in Prague sound, frightening troops occupying the city.
The Czechs yield to Soviet demands in the Moscow Protocol agreement. Prague remains under occupation.
People march hand-in-hand from the National Museum to Wenceslas Square. After the march the Square is still and empty.
President Svoboda, accompanied by Husák, leaves for Moscow to negotiate end to the occupation.
Dubcek, Smrkovsky, Kriegel, & Spacek are taken by armed Soviet soldiers to an unknown destination.
Aug 22, 1968: Thousands assemble in Wenceslas Square to protest the military occupation of Prague. Tanks and armed soldiers violently confronted the protestors. 137 protesters were killed and over 500 wounded.
Protests
Army and Protester Classes
Protestor March
The aftermath of a night of riots in Paris.Credit...Bruno Barbey/Magnum Photo. From nytimes.com
Year: 2023
With: Geoffrey Goldberg for Olga Solovieva
Type: Urban Maps diagramming the 2020 protests in Belarus were commisioned by Olga Solovieva, a professor at the University of Chicago to include in her upcoming book on the 2020 Belarusian Protests as well as her photography exhibits on the protests.
The month of August 2020 was a time of major political upheaval in Belarus, following a presidential election early that month. There was much controversy surrounding the legitimacy of the election, and the month of August was a particularly active time, with many protests voicing outrage at the political activities of the self proclaimed “victor”, President Lukashenko.
In this study we consider these August protests in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. They have previously been shown as documented in photographs, here the protests are considered more analytically, for a different understanding. The protests were studied by mapping the events in scale to capture what happened where, and to place the events more accurately in space. Two different maps were prepared:
- One map from August 11th showing diffuse and mobile protests across Minsk to avoid conflict with the police.
- A series of three snapshots showing the Woman’s March of Aug 29 and the female protestors interact with riot cops.
Immediately after the election, on August 9, 2020, Lukashenko declared himself the winner in a “landslide”, which was subject to much controversy and doubt. The government put the city on lockdown and police and military repression was violent and forceful. As a response, the protestors took a technique called “Be Water” from Hong Kong protests which used internet platforms to organize small, flexible and disperse protests across the city. The idea was that the small protests would be unpredictable and in non-key areas in order to avoid violent conflict with the police. As the city center was locked down, most of these events occurs on the periphery of the city at shopping centers and metro stations. As a result of these protest, the government issued an internet shut down. The night of August 11 was chosen, and different protests around the city are shown on a single map.
Another inspired protest technique used by Belarusian citizens to avoid violent repression from the police and military involved a particular role for woman in the protests. Due to gender ideologies inherent in the existing culture, police and military were less willing to use the same level of violence on women protesting as they would on male counterparts. Women used this differentiation to their advantage, and took to wearing white clothes and carrying flowers to symbolize a peaceful protest, and were thus able to successfully wage protests against the falsified election results with minimal arrests and violence. While women-led events happened throughout months of protests in response to Lukashenko’s regime, the events of August 29, 2020 were chosen and mapped, an event almost entirely with women, demonstrating the effectiveness of the strategy.
The events on August 29th began early contained to sidewalks by police lines. thousand to fifteen thousand, the police the march and the women effectively crossed took over Independence Ave. The crowd their way through the police lines. The sequential maps done over 90 minutes, protest when it was largely controlled the protest had grown in size and began Victory Square, and lastly, at 19:00 when and taken over the streets, beyond the police trailing.
18:30 (approx). 17:30 (approx).
in the afternoon and was initially
As the protest swelled from five police were no longer able to control crossed police lines peacefully and crowd swelled as protestors pushed The story is told through three minutes, starting at 17:30, showing the by the police, one at 18:30 when began to overtake the streets in when the protest has moved further police lines, as a march with the
19:00 (approx).
Year: 2020
With: Andrew Zago
Type: Civic - Graduate Studio Winner Faculty Fellowship Award 2020
The design of a new compound for the Phi Foundation on a heavily sloped site with four existing buildings, each hundreds of years old, provided a multitude of unique challenges. To incorporate the four buildings and their varied histories into the needs of a twenty-first-century arts center, this project embraced the site’s multiplicities of identities, ground lines, histories, and uses.
The Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art was founded in Montreal in 2007 as a non-profit organization seeking to present contemporary art to the public. In its ten years at its current location, rapid technological changes have strained the building and curators to keep up with new forms of emerging art forms and their technological needs.
To account for the multiplicity of the site in combination with the need for transformability of the Phi Foundation, we sought to create a polymorphous building. A building that occurs in and has many forms, shapes, and appearances. To do this, we designed three types of transformable elements that can create over sixty different spatial configurations.
Group Project with Esau Hernadez and Paul Chaca.
Two rotating galleries spin to create three different floor arrangements on the second and third floor.
rotating galleries
An elevating theatre/gallery and platform allow for multiple entrances and floor configurations. The vertical movement creates a space for formal performances as well as a black box space.
A shifting platform acts as a bridge, connecting the galleries spaces to the artist residencies, which allows visitors to glimpse and participate in artist production.
Three different floors shown in three different congigurations.
To allow for the shifting technological and spatial needs, this project exposes the duality of the front-of-house and back-of-house spaces needed to create the technological illusions of contemporary art. Much of the new construction exposes the mechanisms of the building, not just to reveal the “man behind the curtain” but to create an easily hackable space that can adapt to the needs of each installation. Moving through the building, the user encounters a range of experiences, depending on her path, which includes the four-hundred-year-old brick walls, exposed structural and utility components, white boxes, and black boxes.
perspective: Third floor gallery atop the floating theatre.
perpective: rotating white box gallery with black box in elevated theatre behind it.
perspective: rotating gallery positioned to create a perimeter enfilade with elevating platform.
perspective: entrance through the floating platform, showing threatre seating.
perspective: view from elevated walkway into the Winter Garden entrance.
The facade is constructed of two types of masonry units which are translucent and semi-translucent. The stones are laid in a Flemish bond, which creates different experiences on either side of the walls. Moreover, the semi-transparency of the facade allows for visible changes in the facade when the moving elements are rearranged and different lighting is implemented.
Year: 2019
With: Sam Jacobs + Paul Andersen
Type: Civic The use of frames as facade and ornament was the driving design force for this project. This project incorporates a variety of framing systems, including domestic timber frames and prefabricated trusses, to create ornate structural systems.
Using the domestic precedent of half-timber frames, this project scales up their form to create an urban tower. The semiotics of a domestic frame at an urban scale create a sublime sense of size, making the passersby feel like Lilliputians. The frame becomes large enough to house a smaller framing system and create an interior urbanism.
On the interior of the structure, the facade details continue into the frame systems in varied ways. Each layer of the facade corresponds to a different floor plan. The arches on the facade are replicated on the interior structure, creating a cathedral sense of grandeur in the lower atrium. Contrastingly, steel and glass towers are housed within the structure. The frames of the mini-towers align with the larger frame of the building but also create their own rules.
For each layer, the sectional qualities of the structure were considered to allow for playful voids and interactions between the various frame systems in the building. Early research into grids and composition were used to help generate the floor plans.
The structure was lifted off the ground to create an open plaza to host public events such as political demonstrations, farmers markets, and festivals. Raising the structure above the ground is a symbolic nod to the bureaucratic functions of the federal plaza.
There is a geometric beauty inherent in prefabricated roof trusses. By taking available trusses found on the Menards website and arranging them in nontraditional structural formations, these studies explored geometric designs created through structural members.
The facades of half-timber houses use structural elements to create geometric ornamentation. While some of the elements displayed on the facade directly connect with the structural system within, much of it is purely ornament made from the structural system--unlike many forms of ornamentation which covers the structural details. In many modern steel frame buildings, the frame is the ornament. However, the simplicity of frame does not include any of the purely ornamental structural details seen in half-timber frames. By scaling up and regularizing ornamentation techniques from half-timber houses, these studies imagine ornamental structure on an urban scale.
images from menards.com images from trekearth.com
left: model photo, south view. above: model detail, first atrium.
as they align with the facade plans.
above: model photo, detail tower facade. below: model photo, detail second atrium.
above model photo, second atrium view. below: model detail, ground level.
as they align with the facade plans.
Year: 2018
With: Julia Capomaggi and Grant Gibson
Type: Domestic
Selected for Year End Show
The sunken furniture and a ring enfilade construct a reversible game of familiar presences in both homes. Built-in furniture in vertical and horizontal surfaces defines the functional roles of each area and affects the ones immediately below or adjacent. Walls, floors, and ceilings turn into active surfaces holding furniture, spaces, and protrusions, translating into something different on the other side.
The two homes are intrinsically locked, affecting and defining each other but never really mixing. The effect is translated into a relationship between users of maximum autonomy and, at the same time, extreme interdependence. Each user can access one outer and one inner body in two different levels. The homes interrupt each other to get natural light in the inner body; the walls splay out and touch the exterior wall to form a window. This creates a slanted ceiling for the inhabitant in the ring. In both units, the kitchen space is placed in the center. On the top floor, the cooking area descends into the floor and protrudes into the cooking area of the other tenant. The extrusion is then mirrored on the ground of the bottom user to create a cooking and eating counter.
One of the units is inhabited by a family of four, while the other is a one-bedroom, almost penthouse apartment for a single person or a couple. The façade of the house is a series of cutout shingles overlain on a frame of steel and concrete, two elements that feel both urban and suburban. The shingles, as well as other elements in the house, contain a floral decal that ties the house to its natural setting and allows light into the house. The cutouts of the shingles also replicate the effect of seeing the trace of the other by only allowing a glimpse.
The house is lifted off the ground to free up the space and provides a minimal footprint on the natural setting to take full advantage of the green space within the city. The lofting of the house also allows an entrance into both units without disrupting the circular enfilade of the ring. The ground floor programming is kept at a minimum so that the land can inhabit the elements of a natural park as much as possible. Thus, the house becomes a treehouse. The house is placed in a natural setting so the house, like its inner chambers, becomes a hidden presence in the larger ring of the site.
This house seeks to eliminate the dualism and differences between two separate units while avoiding two identical homes. The two homes are similar to each other; there are traces of the objects, furniture, and ways of living of one house on the other. They reflect and intersect each other, but they never interfere.
Second floor
first floor
ground floor
The floral cut-out on the shingles creates a screen which provides dispersed lighting and privacy based on program.
above: model photo. second floor social and relaxation area. right: model photo. first floor entrance, social and relaxation area. bottom: east and west sectionsThe sunken seating pit on the opposite page descends through the ceiling of the other apartment and is reflected as a couch directly below it.
On the adjacent page, a double bed retreats into the floor of the apartment for a couple. In the master bedroom of the family apartment, the double bed of the other tenants becomes a volumetric protrusion which punches an indentically shaped bed into the floor.
bottom:
left: model photo. first floor bathing, master sleeping, and patio areas.
above: model photo. second floor sleeping area, patio and social spaces.
south, west, north, and east elevations.
