The Residence of Uncertainty

Page 1



the Residence of Uncertainty Matt Shara, Thesis Work

San Luis Obispo, California Summer 2013



statement of purpose

...

My name is Matt Shara and I want to be an

The last four years have inevitably marked a

with a feeling of immense potential and I want

in my life, both inside and outside of school.

architect. Architecture has always filled me my studies as an architecture student to reflect and expand my awareness of this potential as it

relates to people and space in our built and natural

environments. I am uncertain and uncomfortable within the profession of architecture and within the institution in which I study. I have many doubts about the profession of architecture,

my own place within this diverse yet highly specialized discipline, and my own abilities as a student of architecture.

significant period of growth and development My personal values, life goals, and creative and

intellectual capacities have evolved immensely.

I am very grateful for the many incredible experiences I have had in this time that have

inspired me and have revealed so much positive direction towards my wildly uncertain future. I will outline a few such experiences as they

clarify the statements above and serve as a place

of reference— a segue into the work presented in this book.


Hargrave Studio, Fall 2010: The room was

Studio I felt my own abilities and confidence as a

we followed in this space and only lamps were

lost. Such a space I yearn to return to in my final year

always dark. There was an unspoken order that used to illuminate the studio. We pursued issues

between our consumer culture and the natural

student grow immensely, a confidence I have since of study at Cal Poly.

environment. On the first day of class we watched

San Francisco Urban Design Program, Fall 2011 and

There are two key points that I would like to

full immersion into one of our country’s most diverse

Edward Burtynsky’s Manufactured Landscapes. mention from this design course: the content of the work pursued in the studio and the resulting space that each student was given to explore this content.

Architecture is inevitably connected to the many social, political, and environmental issues of our

time and it is important that as students we begin

to shape our own attitudes towards these realities.

I cannot deny the importance of fundamental practices in architectural pedagogy, but I can emphasize the importance of a young student’s

awareness within a cultural context and the importance of space to explore this relationship.

In the Hargrave Studio I found fulfillment and meaning in my work, space to explore alternative mediums of representation, and ultimately space to be uncertain; space for failure. In the Hargrave

Spring 2012: My experience in San Francisco was a and geographically stunning cities. More importantly,

it was a direct confrontation with the professional practice of architecture and realities of our culture of which I was entirely ignorant before. Again it is important for me to mention two key points from my experience in San Francisco: my collaborative efforts

in design class and the incredible firms in which I

conducted my internships. Throughout second and third year I struggled, it seemed with progressive

intensity, to capture my ideas in design class. I left projects unfinished, succumbed to states of creative possession, and by the end of my third year I was

entirely discouraged and fully without confidence in my abilities. In San Francisco I immediately embraced

the opportunity to put aside my radical idealism and

acknowledge my relationships with other students as


the grounding foundation from which my ideas

Summer 2011 Design/Build: In the summer of 2011

degrees of success in my collaborations they

a group of friends outside the context of school,

could grow. Although I experienced varying nonetheless impressed upon me the importance

and joy of collaboration within the process of

design. This is a means of design I would like to embrace in my final year of study at Cal Poly.

I interned at David Baker + Partners in the fall and Interstice Architects in the spring. My work at

each firm varied in my role within the office, from graphic creator/editor at DB+P, to conceptual designer/model builder at Interstice; each firm strove to integrate my attributes into their work

process. I enjoyed both office environments, but after each internship I was left with a desire to express myself more through my professional

work. I look forward to taking the necessary steps

towards licensure, but after my experiences in San Francisco I know that these are not steps that I will take immediately upon my graduation from Cal Poly.

I had the opportunity to build several structures with

without the expectation of critique, without the desire for perfection. Our intentions were simply to build;

to build something which we could enjoy, something

that might augment its site and that others could enjoy as well. As an architecture student design tends to manifest in a vacuum. This vacuum is the artificial reality that the academic context creates. Although

one might strive to consider “real world� forces such

as a budget, client preferences, and site constraints and opportunities, this consideration is incomparable to the reality of actually designing and building; of

going to the lumber store and the local quarry, of cutting, measuring, and assembling ideas once born

on paper. The knowledge I gained working in this

period grounded many of my unbound architectural ideas and expounded new ones into the areas of

building materials and construction assembly. This is

a dimension of design I would like to pursue further in my final year of study at Cal Poly.



Presented in the following pages is a collection of work that proceeded this statement in the 2012-2013 school year. The work reveals my dedication to the collaboration I share with my partners Paul and Kory, my dedication to the intentions that I set for myself as outlined in the Statement of Purpose, and my desire to make connections between the diverse and fragmented results of the these intentions.



architecture is collaboration

...

Unless one hopes to design, fund, and build a

and importance of the individual. A conversation

will always be a collaborative endeavor. All of

structure, for us, has inevitably transcended into a

work of architecture entirely alone, architecture the built work shown in this book is a result of

the triple-threat team dynamic of Kory Worl, Paul

Schumacher, and myself. My personal work that I have selected to place in this book is, in a way, also a reflection of the shared values, beliefs, and

perspectives that my friendship and collaboration

about the role of the individual within a given societal

conversation about deeper moral and spiritual values. This discourse is vital to us as aspiring architects and has inspired a direction, a direction which we are to

practice and find meaning in our discipline within a world imbalanced.

with Paul and Kory has inspired.

These explorations parallel those that have plagued

For the last three years Kory, Paul and I have

We are very fortunate for the positions that we have

reached an increased level of discontentment with the institution of architecture within which

we study and also the professional practice of

architecture that we have confronted through our

various internship experiences. Our relationship has been an outlet for the three of us to engage in a constructive dialogue about a healthy vision

for ourselves as individuals and also to envision the affects and arenas in which our future manifestations might best be placed in the world

around us. There are and have been consistent themes in our rejection to the cultures of school and the professional practice. Most of these

themes are centered around the passion, beliefs,

our most gifted creative individuals in the last century.

fallen into in our lives, with the opportunity we have as students, and as individuals to even pursue a career

as architects, but we have also experienced glimpses of

the isolation, depression, and addiction that has been the downfall of those many muses that have come

before us. Our awareness of the past foreshadows a

dark and lonely future, one that we hope to amend

with our commitment to a meaningful and fulfilling practice, one inspired and fueled by a healthy creative community of like-minded individuals. Throughout the pages of this book you will find the first inceptions

of this practice, glimpses of insight, and attempts to

make connections in hopes of developing a sustainable lifestyle as creative avant-gardes.


“The rhythm of collective work is hypnotic; the sound of work turns physical labour into a shared performance, a dance, that carries itself forward without apparent effort; the work works on itself and completes itself. Diligence and the rhythm of work are contagious. The body and the hand of the maker fuse work and thought into a singular action. Construction work both fatigues and rejuvenates, humbles and makes one proud.� Juhani Pallasmaa, The Dance of Construction



/

/

ice break er letting into the sky letting go gointo thenight night sky


//

10.08.2012

Into the night sky we climbed; twelve bags of

anchored in place, suspended in uncertainty.

and a garden hoe. We ascended to the roof,

to embrace the significance of our ideas.

concrete, an empty trash can, a wheelbarrow, our terrace, and found the horizon bound by twinkling lights and the distant hums

and creaks of idle machinery. Above our

Tonight we had taken on the responsibility Tonight we had let hesitation go into the night sky. Tonight we had broken the ice.

dying campus the moist fall air forebode

The extension chord was our connection to

aggregate still. Bag after bag, pour after

and steel, around chairs and through table

rain and caught clouds of sand and rock

pour, our optimism shot through fatigue and

our physical exertion brought us together: our bodies pulsing sweat into the cold,

a masculine intimacy unknown before,

the source. It wandered over scraps of wood legs, and fueled our weapons which cut and

drilled into the night. Each action demanded

a reconfiguration of space and systematically we adapted, organized and stumbled through


///


//// processes. chaos

somehow and

and

Somehow

we

somehow

we

maintained tripped

we

into

perfected

orchestrated

direction... determined though we were to

discovery,

our ideas embodied in the stone characters

momentum, our

craft.

It took nine hundred and sixty pounds of

concrete to fill the forms and despite the effort, the shear weight of our endeavor,

we never once stopped to determine our

see our visions manifest, determined to find they would soon become. Childish naivety subdued our mistakes and intuitive impulses guided

our

empirical

methodology.

Fragments from a forgotten education flew into situation; together we knew everything.


We sought to create form through an We We sought sought to to create create form form through through an an illusory negative in a material with its illusory illusory negative negative in in aa material material with with its its own intrinsic alchemy. Surface and plane, own own intrinsic intrinsic alchemy. alchemy. Surface Surface and and plane, plane, proportion and weight, these characteristics proportion proportion and and weight, weight, these these characteristics characteristics developed an unknown spirit. We centered developed developed an an unknown unknown spirit. spirit. We We centered centered potential with intention, and plywoodpotential potential with with intention, intention, and and plywoodplywoodpronounced voids eagerly awaited our pronounced pronounced voids voids eagerly eagerly awaited awaited our our grey medium. Mix after mix, pour after grey grey medium. medium. Mix Mix after after mix, mix, pour pour after after pour, heave after heave we released our pour, pour, heave heave after after heave heave we we released released our our heavy batches. Released and then... let go. heavy heavy batches. batches. Released Released and and then... then... let let go. go.

/

/


//


/// /// ///


Bold

statements

and

ambiguous

declarations; a conversation lost in the sea

of

images.

sound. So

And

many

images,

beautiful

images,

images!

Standing naked with our hearts on the altar, the clergy dragged on and past, stopping for glimpses, a few deeper roots were discovered, but the rest was lost in... interaction? Shallow,

explored

self-centered, amidst

interaction.

misunderstanding

We

and

pulled from the curiosity surrounding us. Push. Pull. Slide. Stand. Grab. Glimpse. Turn and twist. Discovery was made together in

that space through movement, those fragile

moments when childlike emotion connected our bodies and compelled us to play. Discovery revealed our intention for all to

see in the madness that ensued. Discovery

revealed our intention captured in stone.

pot ential unbound

////


the architect as phenomenologist


...


into the:

1

Eyes of the Skin

a meditation on Juhani Pallasmaa’s

eyes of the skin

10.19.2012


Profound architecture makes us experience

are brought into the situation of experience.

spiritual

the

ourselves great

as

complete

beings.

function

of

In

embodied

and

meaningful

art.

fact,

all

this

is

the

It is our responsibility as architects to create meaningful experiences. This, however, is a

challenging task for the architect because it requires us, as creative individuals, to not only understand our mediums of expression, but also to embed this expression with

profound knowledge: metaphor and beauty

that transcend cultural values and reflect the physical boundaries that allow our visions to

manifest. It is essential for the architect to observe the psychic realities of the user that

From here the architect can begin to translate existing

conditions

into

meaning,

meaning into space, space into experience. It is through a creative process of investigation

and fascination that the architect will

eventually confront the existential problem

at hand, the personal and collective task in their work. Pallasmaa quotes the philosopher Ludwig

Wittgenstein

to

embrace

this

condition, ʻWork on philosophy— like work

in architecture in many respects— is really more a work on oneself. On oneʼs own interpretation. On how one sees things...”

Without a personal presence in their work

the architect is susceptible to forces outside 1 Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Chichester: Wiley-Academy, 2005. Print.


and

mostly

unrelated

to

the

essential

meaning in the work itself: the confines of time, the limitations of money, and ulterior pressures from conflicting interests that

exist within the professional paradigm today. “How

would

express his

the

painter

anything

encounter -

with

Maurice

other

or

the

poet

than

world?�

Merleau-Ponty

It is easy for the architect to reproduce, to

re-verbalize

ideas

with

systematic

efficiency. It is a cognitive trick that soon

creates ideology; a major shortcoming in all styles in art and architecture. Ideology fails to acknowledge, and in fact disengages itself, from the essential forces that created

In the experience of art, a peculiar exchange takes place; I lend my emotions and associations to

the space and the space

lends me its atmosphere, which entices and emancipates my thoughts...

it

also

perceptions

and

incorporates

and

integrates physical and mental structures, giving

our

existential

Space

integrates

experience

a

strengthened coherence and significance.

flows

of

integrates

daily

experience

life

experience

and

with

the

architecture

with

space.

Through a spatial transaction architecture holds the potential to point, reveal, and shape

our understanding of the world. The architect

intends the direction in which we are heading.

it in the first place. It is more difficult,

The timeless task of architecture is to create

ideas/perceptions/beliefs/teachings

that concretize

however, to adapt; to evolve and sculpt our into

the environment at hand, the context of the

situation. Although a potentially ideological approach

to

design,

phenomenology

holds the potential to place the architect at a point of consistent questioning in pursuit of an essential understanding in their work. It is through this essential understanding

that

personal

exploration

lends itself of value to the collective whole.

embodied and lived existential metaphors and

structure

our

being in the world. Architecture reflects, materializes and eternalizes

ideas

and

images of ideal life. Buildings and towns

enable us to structure, understand and remember the shapeless flow of reality and, ultimately, to recognize and remember who we are.

Architecture enables us to

perceive and understand the dialectics of permanence and change, to settle ourselves in the world, and to place ourselves

in the continuum of culture and time.


Matt Shara Pallasmaa

emphasizes

architecture’s

basketball idols, we wear the dresses and

Whether it is on a pier that reaches out into

stars, we chase dreams that are not our’s and

potential to reflect our place in the cosmos. the sea at sunset as the marine layer envelopes

the coast, or a light filled marketplace

mock the personas of our favorite television accept roles that suppress our individuality.

surrounded by the echo of commerce and

At the end of the day do we know who we

us, or the flutter of a tree’s leaves shadowed

to say? Anything to do? Have we spent

the movement of people brushing alongside against our bedroom wall in a thin sliver of light that only reaches our side of the house at a certain time of day, these are experiences that remind us of our geographic location on

earth, that make us feel connected in our

cities, and give us solitude in our bedrooms. These experiences connect us to an archaic

set of values and remind us of our place and our devotion to our environments. A

phenomenological

approach

to

architecture is absolutely vital, especially in

the context of challenges that contemporary man finds himself in today. Meaningless jobs, scaleless cities, and the constant

pursuit of external objects and fetishes has severed contemporary man from his roots. In

a bombardment of images and information

we can feel the vast complexity and chaos of the universe unfolding in a single moment.

We are in Hong Kong, New York, London,

really are? Do we actually have anything any valuable time anywhere at all? In the vacuums of our cars we move throughout our cities without feeling the textures of

the ground or the turbulence of topography. With buds in our ears we let sound server connection to the outside while we create

our own utopias free of sirens and honking and the roar of traffic and begging of the homeless. Through our fascination with

science and technology we have created a world where contemporary man lives

without meaning, without mystery, and without reflection of his own experiences in the world around him. Unless contemporary

man wishes stay in this disillusioned state

of neurotic demise he will need structures to

organize

his

attunement

with

his

environment, he will need space to remind him of his deepest values, and he will have to acknowledge his place as man in the universe.

Los Angles, the Sahara Desert and the

depths of the Mariana Trench all at once.

Juhanni Pallasmaa

We live inside the live’s of our football and


the:

desert

whispers hot blue

a voyage through paniment springs, ca.

november 10/12, 2012

















a landscape intervention

montana de oro state park november 30, 2012


dune womb ~ the



between the sea and the sky: down came the wind screaming

running through eucalyptus tree cross the road cut towards the sea

hailing white flags

momentary salutations thrown up in the sky running

faster and faster faster and faster screaming sand into the sea



the wind and the sand: a fold in the dunes

our womb for response open palms to the sky in forgiveness ask warmth

before the heavens fall down



woven pieces atune: an impulsive collision of elements actions frozen in form interlocking medium petrified still

holding back the shrill screams blasts and hails

and created by us right then: shelter from the storm




the architect as alchemist

...

Waste, waste, waste! Every process and practice

to attract attention from vulnerable green consumers.

and after an absurdly short existence each material

of recycled products, broken down and re-formed into

in the built/material world today generates waste, object that we touch will break down or will no

longer be of any use. There are very few solutions (burying underground is the most commonly

practiced) to deal with the vast amount of waste that our consumer lifestyles create each day. As

architects

and

other

tradesmen

battle

with the contradiction to create meaningful

Many solutions use bio-aggregates, foreign mixtures a new product that is rarely full of character or reveals the material’s original history. Both are solutions that allude to steps out of the burial ground of waste that we

create for ourselves, but we have yet another proposal

that deals with the intrinsic beauty of a found object

and also dares to exploit its usability to the greatest potential.

spatial experiences, rich with unique material

Alchemy is the practice of transforming a substance

and our culture struggles to find solutions to what it

value. Every discarded material has its own inherent

characteristics, at an affordable price to clients, deems as waste, a new paradigm for building must emerge to resolve this conflict. In the past many

solutions have highlighted the use of a recycled object in a particular design, romanticized it even

with little or no value into something that is of great structural capability and intrinsic material spirit.

Acknowledging these phenomena within the material is what makes the following projects conceptually rich. They are not simply examples of “green�


architecture and design, recycled objects tacked

forgotten, these are the areas that no longer hold value

are examples of a stealth sustainability, where

hold tremendous potential for change, and if the

onto an existing method of construction, they material reuse is integrated into the very essence of the projects being.

This idea of architect as alchemist has applications

to the over-culture’s desire. These areas do, however, architects of the future recognize the wisdom of those

that have paved the way before them, they will design where the need is needed most.

far beyond the material realm. Psychological

The following projects focus solely on built work, on

alchemy as society’s solution to healing and

the following pages are four projects that re-envision

entrepreneur Carl Jung saw applications of

change¹. If we look at the condemned sites and buildings within our cities— even within the most affluent of communities, we can see our culture’s

shadow: abandoned warehouses, factories, big box shopping centers, shimmering office towers that shun their surroundings, barren wastelands of

suburban homes: grey, brown, sitting in neglect, sitting in death. These are the areas that have been

1 Jung, C. G. The Undiscovered Self. Boston: Little, Brown, 1958. Print. s. Chichester: Wiley-Academy, 2005. Print.

the material realm of alchemical design. Shown on waste materials especially prevalent within the

building professions: the common 2” x 4”, corrugated

sheet metal scrap, standard shipping palettes, and off the shelf industrial shelving components. These projects attempt to synthesize material and form with extreme site specificity.


the frame and the sea spring/summer 2011

Originally conceived of in the spring of 2011

The Frame creates a system of construction based on

The Frame, is a nomadic structure built from

shipping palettes—a widely available, standardized,

for the Cal Poly Design Village competition, repurposed materials. The Frame consciously contains no disclosures about its origins; it opens itself to speculation and imaginative discourse.

Its anonymity and apparent lack of function only embellish its mystery.

The Frame transforms space into place. Where nothing

existed

previously

to

differentiate

this landscape, the structure creates a physical locality grounded within the landscape through architecture. By distinguishing itself in such a

way, the Frame reveals this location as an offering to house a multitude of events, experiences, and moments. Without the Frame the place is approximate and these actions could either occur elsewhere, or potentially not at all.

available materials and tectonic legibility. By utilizing self-supporting unit, The Frame embodies principles of architectural alchemy. It is not an adaptive reuse

of unique trash, but instead an easily replicable system of transforming waste into architecture. Each

connection is expressed honestly, so honestly that

the entire structure offers itself to deconstruction for anyone with a set wrenches. These details and

identifiable components form the building as a clear de-mystification of architecture. It is not designed

to awe, for its focus is not on itself, but instead on

becoming a simple companion within a beautifully lonely landscape.


[


shadows cast across the palette floor


[ a moment connection in sand



the frame and the sea glistening, horizontal shadows on the body lay,

forgiving motions of the null past’s prey

to look forward

beaming:

can’t you see!

yes, yes I can, but will forget...

it’s okay, says the sea, I am here

and you are me.

listen to the water’s rum and

the echo of the sand’s comfort touch.

take

a glance out, your vision framed,

and step,

with me in to uncertainty.

[


the bar




Caught here in a few spare analogues is our

kitchen bar, the first project that marked

our collaboration together this year. The

Bar employs a method of construction and

assembly, coined the Method of Strips, which

coordinates salvaged pieces of wood into a

spectral array of tones and grain patterns and

capitalizes on widely available wood scraps. Dissimilar parts are cut, planed, drilled and threaded together on a rod that serves as

the central spine, or organizer of the newly

serviced pieces of wood.The resulting form

is an ergonomic surface that withholds space for the leaning body.


douglas fir, pine,

birch, maple, oak, and redwood.

forgotten remnants

found. gnarled edges, splintered ends, a

buckled midsection. screws, nails, and

staples gone astray. discarded in

neglect— perceived obsolescence,

embedded in every piece of wood is a jewel of unknown dimension: the

substance of the

alchemist’s elixir.




saw, plane, drill:

the assembly process

left each man alone in his mechanic fascination.

idiosyncrasy combined

material

and a spirit arose: a

true celebration of

architectural alchemy,

achieved through a process of

collective discovery.


////


/

wall the

(of critical transaction)

there is an inherent struggle between the individual and the institution

the individual seeks to be independent, autonomous and honest to their spirit

the institution seeks to organize, to consolidate and to direct

the individual needs the institution; its foundation

the individual needs guidance, support, resources and the institution needs the diverse contribution of every individual it withholds

the institution needs opposition and critical thought to prevent itself from becoming (the)

individual


This project, the Wall of Critical Transaction,

that this place will be a place of transaction between

and the institution. The wall attempts to mediate

the individual and their larger environment.

explores the struggle between the individual (through the creation of place) tensions between

individual and institution... a meeting place between

the inside and the outside: the inner world of the

The Wall employs the Method of Strips in a corrugated

embraced in sharing one’s ideas, and the outer

metal, rusted, wrought with holes, and covered in debris,

individual’s uncertainty, the nudity that must be world of the institution, stable in its support, age,

and certainty, convictions of approval that haunt the individual’s becoming.

A wall is an essential architectural element that

addresses both interior and exterior conditions,

but in our context a solitary wall also becomes an object, and once situated in an environment, an object that creates a place. It is our intention

sheet metal construction. Discarded pieces of sheet were sawed into six inch segments and organized on three horizontal rods. Two hole configurations create a non-planar sectional form; a wide base that cants slightly towards the Wall’s top. The resulting form is

a wall composed of many different parts, dozens of sheet metal strips organized to create a continuous spectrum of color and texture. Positioned eye level within the Wall’s surface is in an oculus, a window that greets viewers from the outside looking in.










oculus, inside


oculus, outside



wall, front elevation


/


////


/

wall, back elevation


place: the first residence


/






{

w


w

the

room of

welcome





The Room of Welcome is a threshold, a threshold that celebrates the movement of the human body in

transition from one space to the next. This room is a

three part construction: an exterior shell composed of industrial shelving components, an internal steel stud structure which holds the composition in form, and

an interior skin composed of two extensively textured OSB boards. The Room of Welcome is a pure form

revealed by its resonance in two different gallery settings: one white the other, purple and orange. An installation that hugs the body, an atmosphere repurposed, a declaration of architectural alchemy: The Room of Welcome.






in a light transformed




the architect as artist

...

The architect must communicate ideas and

extends the architects capability to be a total designer:

mind. Ideas may inspire the architect as flashes

in the diversity of mediums that are necessary to reach

concepts that come from the depths of the creative of inspiration, vague glimpses of light that devote

further exploration, or extensions of already

a creative individual capable of expressing themselves the completion of an embodied work of architecture.

connected threads into one’s own philosophical

In the following section I would like to share my own

an idea makes into one’s creative will, it is the

an aspiring architect, but as an aspiring architect who

understanding of the world. Whatever entrance responsibility of the individual to channel its emotional charge into a medium that can be

experienced by others involved in the collaboration of a design. This expression may manifest in the

form of an image, poem, painting, narrative, model, or a medium yet to be defined. Although

the resulting artifact may only be part of the

“process” of the overall design, it still nonetheless

pursuits as a “total designer”. I ultimately see myself as

wishes my work to reflect my growing understanding

of the world around me. I know that the following examples reveal connections that will always

inspire my work and I know that these mediums are synonymous with my work as an architect.


\ || cryptographs The following drawings were created during a single session using the readymade object

shown on this page. This exercise explores the idea of dissonance: using colors and techniques unfavorable to the artist. Each drawing evolved through a similar process in which the readymade was arbitrarily placed within the center of the page, a series of streaks, or paths were created from its clay bottom, and several outlines and shadows

were then traced from the resulting location of

the object and the consistent location of a nearby

drafting lamp. With these markings in place, each drawing then channeled its own currents, pastel

at first and then pen, with only small changes in color and technique made between drawings. The

resulting twelve drawings are shown in sequence: dissonance.



.

1

.


.

2

.


.

3

.


.

4

.


.

5

.


.

6

.


.

7

.


.

8

.


.

9

.


.

10

.


.

11

.


.

12

.


paraboloid, fall 2012



spine, fall 2012




?

perch the


The Perch is a seat for the adventurous. A composition of four hundred and eighty pounds of concrete, a found bike seat with an extended

seat post, and various metal scraps and fixtures, The Perch is a charming point to gather, and a

celebration of serendipitous construction. This

out of the ordinary seat features an abundance of surfaces and textures for the curious. Its monolithic base anchors its ambiguity to place,

unveiling an ancient past to the imagination. May perspective reveal an understanding— yet opened, to discovery?








scales:


1

/2




3

/4


5

/6





.... 1



.... 2


.... 3


.... 4


.... 5





scraps: 1 & 2

16” x 22” ink doodles november, 2012






the architect as therapist

...

Every client, site, and collaboration has its own

revealed, through the activity of Sandplay Therapy,

especially, comes to the architect, as a patient

design process.

existing psychological conditions. The client, comes to the psychologist: with tremendous

vast potential for a therapeutic step applicable in every

uncertainty and an intense urge to create a better

Sandplay Therapy was developed by teacher and

results of their temporary collaboration, and if the

is a therapeutic practice used for adults and children as

future. Both architect and client do not know the

architect looks beneath the surface of their past stylistic triumphs then what stands before them is empty, pure empty space.

In order to create a more meaningful architecture, to surface, and to discover content that is potentially relevant yet currently unknown, we

posed a question— rather a series of questions, to ourselves when confronted with uncertainty regarding the direction in which to head in

psychotherapist, Dora Klaff, in the 1950’s and 60’s¹. It

a way of “identifying and reconciling internal conflicts that manifest as anxiety and depression, as well as

penetrating the depths of personality to experience the Self directly.”² The sandbox creates a safe venue

for emotional healing through the exploration of

an individual’s psychological content. The play, in

the sandbox, creates a physical landscape that the individual can document, digest, and understand in a way meaningful to their personal development.

our design process. Although our pursuits as

In a therapy session the client has the opportunity to

towards ourselves as both architect and client, we

current inner state. The format of play aspires to

architectural therapists were personal and directed

create a world in the sandbox that responds to their

1 http://www.sandplay.org 2 http://extension.ucsd.edu/programs/customprogram/documents/ whatisSandplay.pdf


manifest unconscious content through unfiltered

lives: creative, physical, faithful, and rich with content.

a singular scene created in the sand.

The Room of Insanity, The Room of Gluttony and

and unbiased actions. These actions then result in

We chose the sandbox as a medium to explore and

generate a direction forward when faced with our

current place of uncertainty in our thesis pursuits. We knew that we were on a path to create a residence of our own, we knew the rooms that would soon

become the spaces of this residence, but we also knew that this residence would manifest in a form

yet unknown. We needed to consolidate our ideas into figures and explore these isolated entities in

a meaningful arrangement that we hoped would guide our development moving forward.

Kory, Paul, and I conceived of twelve rooms;

these rooms evolved from our collaboration living and working together this year. Our rooms were

atypical and personal, vital to our multifaceted

Twelve spaces, one residence: The Room of Welcome, Eternal Desire, The Room of Growth, The Room of

Action, The Room of Detoxification and Release, The Room of Sustenance, The Room of Isolation,

The Room of Inquiry, and of course there is a Stage, there is a Powerhouse, and there is a Great Spirit.

After the rooms were collectively conceived of we isolated ourselves to explore the content in each room personally. This exploration resulted in a narrative and

a figure model that evoked the essence of each room.

By independently investigating the issues, the ideas and phenomena present in each room, we were able

to surrender ourselves as individuals and collectively conceive of a better future. The sandbox was our arena of exploration, and shown in the following pages are

our photographic and built resolutions that concluded our collaboration together this year.


sand p l ay t he r apy .


the stage, model


the sandbox


sketch and narrative



this is a sandbox it is a section of a sea much larger

embedded in its surface are figures: rooms of a dwelling yet fully defined each room: an opportunity,

embodiments of the characters they will soon become.

each room is autonomously symbolic, each room is a pure form. generated from our need to create a residence,

conceived and brought to this sandbox independently

the atmosphere of each room lies impregnated in its gesture but their relationships remain to be decided

right now the residence lacks context to define its walls

right now the residence lacks materiality to birth its forms, right now is the investigation of connection. so play with us right now and discover!
































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ne

/

the

...

room

of

may 25/26, 2013

insanity

The Room of Insanity is a receptacle for the manic

mind, for those impulsive, yet overwhelming states of creativity, disillusionment, and total

uncertainty. Rather than failing to acknowledge that these emotions exist, the Room of Insanity confronts insanity with optimism.

The room rests on a timber base, a collection

redwood and cyprus, five and half feet from the ground. The room requires commitment to enter: one must ascend the room’s fifteen foot ladder in order to enter the interior volume. Once inside,

the insane have the space necessary to ventilate,

to express their manic minds, to articulate the absurdity that overwhelms. These actions are catalogued in the walls of the room, and slowly, over time the room’s walls will thicken.

.

ascent(to)madness.jpg


ins [

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12

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faith in uncertainty...



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