BS Arch Studio IV

This semester, we collectively decided to design a residency made for five silk ae­rialists and five high divers. Our project quickly became about rethinking housing specifically, and how we could design a space that effectively incorporates all the features required for such unique makers to simultaneously live and work with­in one combined "dwell" space. 

The immediate problem we realized we had to address at the start of our design process was how to create a space that encouraged creativity rather than just productivity. Acrobatics and high diving both originated in the Middle East, and have since been white-washed throughout the United States and Europe. Unlike today, both of these athletic arts were initially learned as means of survival rath­er than for enjoyment. Diving and acrobatics actually resulted from an oppres­sive system that exploited those in great financial need. So after doing a lot of research on various traditional design elements in the Middle East (such as court­yards/riads, screens, and arches), we were able to re-connect the historical roots and significance of these crafts back to both our building and those meant to inhabit it. 

The effects of colonialism and white-washing are long term, and lead into what is known today as "grind culture," which to us is essentially this concept of people having to work tirelessly with little return in a society overrun by capitalism and greed. In order to challenge this notion, our residency is intended to have an in­ward focus that leads towards inner-healing and personal growth. It relies heavily on nature as both a grounding and reprieving element so that our makers may find themselves lost in true creative freedom and restore the passion that led them to their art in the first place. 

With all of these goals in mind, we wound up with a building that opposes the hor­izontal manner in which most of us normally live our lives through the use of ex­treme verticality.