The Union of Landscape, Form, & Space

I’ve always wanted to build a bridge. I’ve always been interested in the connection of things. I’m interested in how things come together, how they disperse, how they congeal, and the communication of materials.

I’ve learned in my career that the small projects are sometimes the most critical and challenging to design. This is because the compressed nature of the context.

lately, I’ve been searching for a new site; a site to build and a site to produce income. With the state of the economy and the increased cost of land, that has been a challenge. What I didn’t realize is that the site was right under my feet. I’ve always seen this land that my current home sits on as just a typical single family property with no spectacular features. Upon closer look, and the ever changing circumstance of contextual space and time, I realize that this site can be extraordinary.

I’m not a big believer or practitioner of symbolism and symbolic gestures. I believe that architecture is beyond that as a craft. However, in our world of overwhelming information, it is difficult to elude symbolism.

I do not believe that we succumb to symbolism when we choose to see that it serves little personal value, while simultaneously understanding that symbolism is a global tool used to inspire, motivate, normalize, stabilize, and oppress. I try to see beyond these elements that many see as real. Like many, I focus on the work.

This site however, has a bit of symbolism that is undeniable to me. The site sits well on a North/South grid. A simple shift of two or three degrees puts a structure centered perfectly on the compass. The site fronts a street to the south and has official jurisdictional access there. The site also has a street on the north side on the rear of the lot. Building regulations now provide the opportunity to connect these two streets, thus providing a connection between the North and South. I see this build out as a symbolic form of unity; a connection of circulatory elements or the communication of ideas through form and architecture. A unity of ideas that communicate verticality from north to south. Every site wields a certain architectural responsibility. This does not mean a responsibility to fit within the will of the community. The responsibility is to provide the vision and spark of creativity to render and unify the topographic conditions with architecture to formalize a new reality driven by dynamics of design and spatial forces.

Additionally, when we look at the contextual arraignment of the site, the existing conditions show that there is a small one story house bordered by two story homes on the east and west.

When viewed through the lens of scale, the symbolism is clear. The new architectural response would clearly be to increase the scale to equalize the formal uniformity of the built environment.

With the correct architectural responses, this site will be a powerful element to impose positive change and provide key housing for the right tenants.