thread 1. context While this studio/house respects basic bylaw and code issues on the site, infinitely more important is a catalogue of the tactile and sensory qualities currently found in the existing house and lot. Light moves through variegated windows on the south, it has an original douglas fir floor, a garden surrounds the house on all sides, there is a particular and enjoyable way that one finds one’s way to the back door through the garden. The project, here, defines the broad scale envelope of the the house, a preliminary material and site strategy and some space and scale parameters. thread 2. projection Experiments in light are essential to the fibre and photo work of the artist. The studio is a fly tower where large scrims and sheets of fabric are used for experiments in light and shadow. The thin three story space on the south side is both a working space and a dense section through the visceral experience — rubbing up against the architecture, the datums, the hanging scrim, the shadows created by the light, the garden, the continual reminder of their tactility through feel, microscopic visual connection and the long view from above. The windows reflect the type of work going on in the various spaces in the studio. A bridge which is the second floor, exists so that work can be done on larger pieces, and there is access to ta reference library and stair cabinetry along the north wall. The third level is a living/working area, with a large three story open space from which large pieces can be viewed. The floors on all levels are delicately slotted in strategic places so fabric and material can be moved from the basement workshop the the various levels. thread 3. surface Surface is conceptualized as a series of planes running east west across the site. The planes become, at various points, facade elements, window surrounds, pins on which a vertical garden (vines) could take hold. The interior is demarcated the same way, as strong planes running east west. The result is a very dense datum line condition in plan and section, where the datums are sometimes expressed as tectonic element, sometimes only explicit in the construction. thread 4. containment In this project architecture and art are seen as part of the same experiment; a process where containment, as form and as a spatial animator, creates an intensified environment where the ephemeral can exist and be engaged. The containment is box; a house, an installation. The ephemeral is object, art, ideology, program. The way they engage place as a whole is the manifestation of the ideological position, the interstitial, the reactive. Containment mediates between context and object. Object mediates between observer and containment.
bio: Andrew King is an architect, Angela Silver is an artist, both in Calgary. This is their third collaboration, the first was an exhibition of visceral reflections on Berlin, the second, an installation for a national arts festival.
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