Andrew Reach – Page 49 – Abstract Artist Working in the Realm of Digital Media

February 9, 2016June 21, 2024

Finding Freedom Through Architecture – HOUSE THAT WANTS TO FLY

Looking Back

I thought hard about the project my Pratt studio professor Hanford Yang handed me, to design a house that when completed felt like it belonged on a chosen imaginary site. But I wanted to do more than just that. I wanted the house to tell a story of why it belonged where it was placed.

I find a kind of freedom in my art that helps me escape pain. As I look back on this project I realize that I was doing the same thing with my architecture. The curvature of my spine in my twenties caused many episodes of pain. The conception of this house, about the desire to escape gravity, TO FLY, TO BE FREE, but not being able to, always tethered to earth, was the story I was telling and a metaphor for the human condition. But perhaps subliminally, it was a metaphor for my deformed spine, wishing I could escape it. Below is the house’s story. Scroll down further to see the drawings and model.

HOUSE THAT WANTS TO FLY

Along a sheer cliff where the pale between earth and sky is sharply delineated, the house precariously hangs by tenuous cords. Perched with the inflection of motion, it patiently waits to take flight.

The body of the house is dispositioned in a symmetrical arrangement as a pretense of stability. The long staircase descending through the earth, leads to the entry of the house, continues again, and is culminated by a bridge cantilevered out in space. Secondary staircases lead to a wing-like observation deck. This assemblage of parts is a clever trick. They construct a “flying machine” imagery so that flyers overhead may be fooled. However, from a more earthly perspective, the house is a mere building.

Like gravity, freedom is a constant endeavor to be maintained. Never will the house be able to escape this earth binding force, but the essence of its form is the quintessential emotion of freedom: FLYlNG.

I was honored when this project was selected among only four student projects to be in the book published by Rizzoli FORM; BEING; ABSENCE, Pratt Journal of Architecture, 1988
Click here to see the book on Pratt’s website

click on images to enlarge (except mobile devices)

Site Plan & Floor Plans

Axonometric, Section & Elevation

Model

From the Book “Form; Being; Absence – Pratt Journal of Architecture
Published by Rizzoli 1988

Front Cover of “Form; Being; Absence – Pratt Journal of Architecture
Published by Rizzoli 1988

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January 22, 2016April 1, 2018

Four, 2016

Four, 2016
Epson Ultrachrome Print on Cotton Rag
edition of 3, 44 x 44 inches

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January 10, 2016April 1, 2018

Diamonds in the Rough, 2016

Diamonds in the Rough, 2016
Epson Ultrachrome GS Print on Canvas
edition of 3, 54 x 54 inches

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December 19, 2015December 29, 2015

Citizens Artbox – Downtown Cleveland Public Art Installation

I’m so proud that my art was selected for a public art installation located at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Cleveland at the North East corner of Euclid Avenue and East 9th Street. My work and the work of 5 other Cleveland area artists were chosen as part of the competition Citizens Artbox, held by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance in partnership with Citizens Bank. The DCA’s website says:

In connection with Step Up Downtown, DCA’s five-year vision and tactical plan to create a more connected, walkable Downtown, the goal of the Citizens ArtBox project is to enliven Downtown Cleveland by bringing local art to the street. Winning designs will decorate the utility boxes that line Euclid Avenue from Public Square to PlayhouseSquare. Up to 11 boxes will be wrapped with printed art designs from Cleveland-area artists.

Above: One side my utility box titled Model Citizens of Downtown, located at the north east corner of East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue. The domed building in the back ground is the historic Cleveland Trust Rotunda Building. The building has been restored and is now a very cool Heinen’s market. click here to see 360 degree views of the incredible domed space, a fine example of early 20th century neoclassical architecture.

Narrative for “Model Citizens of Downtown”ArtBox design:

For the Citizens ArtBox, I reflect the citizens of downtown Cleveland as abstract personas called “Model Citizens” beaming with civic pride for the downtown we love. The Citizens of downtown live in a beautiful, bustling robust urban environment, with a grid of streets and avenues in which open spaces connect to and lined with the buildings that house our arts, public and civic institutions, businesses, professional offices, merchants, hospitality, restaurants and more. Rows of dotted lines running horizontally behind the Model Citizens represent the streets. A grid of tick marks are an abstract reference to the downtown grid. The Model Citizens are embedded and aligned within this grid representing the connection to the urban environment we inhabit. Each model citizen is unique yet at the same time, much the same, representing that while we are all unique individuals; we all respect our differences and care for the common good. Model Citizens each have a wi-fi antenna representing that we live in a new age of modernity, connected to each other through technology in a way unprecedented in history and that with this connectivity comes responsibility; to use this new ability to connect to help one another reach our highest potential.