Sense of Time/Place
Through contemplation one is always confronted by the incredible vastness of the Prairies and, indecently, ever aware of one’s relative proportion to it, of our own perceptual dimension. These vast dimen- sions compress the self by the meditating quality generated through the singular experience with the landscape. The impact of prairie size demands a new balance. In the open landscape the body asks for a frame as the negotiator. Architecture can be model and frame. The temporal transition and evolution of a culture is read through weathering, a continuous cycle in the Prairies as the main construction material is wood.Wood decays and returns to the land.The conditions for settling the Prairies obliged homesteaders to be resourceful in their use of energy and materials. Excessive waste could hamper the growth of a farm and materials were continually reused. Innovative strategies, design solutions born from pure necessity, using any available means, are common occurrences within the Prairie setting. Built exclusively out of recycled and surplus lumber, Flatbox is intended to wear rapidly, returning its own existence to the land.
Eduardo Aquino teaches at the Univer- sity of Manitoba. This project was built with the students of the Faculty of Architecture.
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O n S ite review
S urface
I ssue 9 2003
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