THE CONCEPT

This project attempts to respond to the tripartite sectional relationship evident in both the context of the existing landscape as well as the indigenous barn typology through the built form of living and working spaces.  It was intended to discover and reveal a building that already existed in the landscape.

The site has two distinct edges that define an articulate the horizontal boundaries: the undulating topography covered with dense sedimentation is mimicked by the underside of the foliage canopy floating high above.  The residual zone between, or the space of the site, contains the slender tree trunks that link the two.  Similarly, the barn, a dominant icon in the indigenous rural landscape, is comprised of similar horizontal boundaries of roof structure and ground plane with a residual zone containing the posts that link the two.

The inherent site axis defined by the eroded crevice along with the curving topography lines defining the south-facing bowl created a natural siting for the building.  Rising foundation walls and the horizontal carving of the ground plane occur as extensions and expressions of the existing topography.  Subsequently, the shape of the roof was investigated as an attempt to re-cover the site with a new floating landscape.  The roof forms allude to the fallen leaves on the ground as well as the forms created by the underside of the canopy of trees.  The space created by these newly discovered horizontal boundaries is a residual space within which programmatic components can be placed.

The image of the Kanawa-Tsugi joint became a symbol of not only a programmatic linking of the two distinct spaces for living and working, but a figurative representation of the spatial linking of the horizontal boundaries of the project.