Exploring the gap between a mass
Experimentation with sky lights
Diagram of the house as casting on top of materials and removing it to live in the resulted in between space.
Thermae
The In between is a house for a geologist located on top of a mountain in Ithaca, NY. The idea is to live in between sky and earth. The earth has been excavated and the excavated mass has been lifted up to create a roof condition where the occupant occupies the “In between” space. The striation of the rock layers were brought into the house to create an ephemeral environment. It was to create a form of cave or quarry like structure. Working with the natural surroundings the rooms lay below the grass buried into the hillside. The house is built from layer upon layer of quarried Valser Quarzite slabs. I wanted to create a free standing model or a “solitary” structure. By treating the whole model as volume of one object, which was then hollowed out to create spaces in between, I was able to create fragments of different spatial conditions but remaining monolithic in appearance and endeavours to assert itself as a singular block of object. The final model, aimed to design negative spaces between the blocks and connect everything as it flows throughout the entire model, creating a peacefully pulsating rhythm. A restorative experience was created through the combinations of light and shade, open and enclosed spaces and the linearity of the vertical elements. Moving around in this space meant making discoveries, starting of a new beginning or getting lost in the realm of the blocks. The underlying informal layout of the internal space is a carefully modeled path of circulation which leads the explorer to discover interesting areas by themselves. The walls are cut with precision and always controlled that either ensures or denies certain experiences.