Form_Holder

Re-presenting an urban research program.

Detail view of open box.

Competitions engage an audience otherwise beyond the normal reach of many practices. For architects teaching in university programs, they present an opportunity to post ideas, test research and share discoveries with a professional and public audience.
DateSpring, 2004
CollaboratorRegin Schwaen
AffiliationVirginia Tech

Research began with four speculative entries to competitions sited along city edges. Each set of competition boards was designed to meet project-specific requirements. After working on proposals for each city, we wondered if our “findings” could be lifted out of the specificity of each project.

A competition board is a great tool in distilling an idea, and this inspired us to find a tool to re-represent the set of proposals. Visions of tactile-urban space were collected from each of the projects, and became a set of laminated playing cards. Each project also got a colored “board” or menu, with which the suits (brooklyn, chicago, oslo & montréal) could be played. All of these were contained in an off-the-shelf aluminum box, which came with the name form_holder.

The findings were extracted yet again to create a room-sized installation in the school to mark the end of classes. Visit the grass room.

Watering the room.