Involute House
The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Los Angeles, CA
The involute house creates a disturbed threshold across the site in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The house has two fronts, thus passage through the building does not bring one from front to back, but from front to front. The passage is a confusion of space. Vertical spaces are angled, so the viewer gets a distorted view of the house. One can see a few floors up through vertical slits or across a barricade, leading to confusion for the viewer. The involute house is constantly placing and replacing the user.
The house blurs the interior and the exterior. The form was created with angled intrusions, defining the entrances on both sides of the house. The intrusions were then carved to create space, blurring the distinction between intrusion and basic box. Glazing is then used at certain points to distinguish the intrusion area from the exterior space. The glazing adds a level of complexity. When one thinks they are inside the building, they can still see to the outside.
Advisor:
Completed:
Margaret Griffin
May 2012