Sam Jones - Design 5

This Project achieved First in Course Award ARCHDES300.

D5: A House for an Artist - Marcel Duchamp, Tutor: Matt Liggins. Semester One, 2020

Design 5 was my largest-scale project yet, and I think it's fair to say that a lot of the ridiculous workload may have been my own doing! Tasked with designing a house within NZ for the visionary conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp, it was never going to be *that* easy. A seemingly simple, yet incredibly complex mind; the intellect of this man simply cannot be understated. Attempting to tap into the mind of a speaker of several languages, a writer, sculptor, professional chess player, cross-dresser, atheist, introvert, comedian, painter, philosopher and blatantly-controversial genius was a challenge to say the least: This man could do it all, and my architecture needed to somehow facilitate all of that. To summarise:

I built two sites for him: An Urban site that was deeply embedded in the conceptual art scene of K-Road, and a rural site in Horopito that gave isolation, resources and space.

The rural site split his needs into four individual structures upon a large plot of land facing Mt Ruapehu: Living, Making, Guest-Space and Isolation. The Horopito site, chosen for its' close proximity to 'Smash Palace' - a Junkyard where Duchamp could collect all his readymade material needs for his art - allowed absolute isolation from the public art scene, and anyone else for that matter. For further isolation and respect to the landscape, three of the four structures are subterranean, ensuring that Duchamp can go on making in peace.

For the rest of this project, including Initial Models and an Urban Site, click below.

Models

Urban

Rural to Urban Site Map: Graphic showing the relationship between Auckland and Horopito.

Horopito Site Map: Displaying the relationship of the four structures in their rural context, detached from any neighbouring properties with views out to Mount Ruapehu.

The Guest Bedroom: Accessible via the Western Wing of Duchamp's home, the triangle-plan space is accentuated by a central strip-skylight that runs directly towards the toilet.

The Junkfactory: The phrase 'Controlled Chaos' seems like a bit of a stretch, so lets just call it chaos. Grid planning derived from Duchamp's obsession with three's delineates workshops from making, storage and presentation spaces.

Collage: Using Duchamp's patchy and readymade style, this collage shows how his mad making space, coined 'The Junkfactory', would facilitate all his spontaneous wants and needs when it comes to creating his work.

Silent Chapel: Absolute isolation in the blissful landscape. Accessible only through a secret tunnel leading from Duchamp's walk-in wardrobe and oriented directly towards Ruapehu, the space provides Duchamp's comforts: Chess, Smoking & Reading all within one intimate space. Anyone who manages to find this pavilion tucked around a corner of site will be utterly confused at the sight of a door-less pavilion that appears to float in the landscape. A pair of glasses are cast into a concrete wall on the rear of the structure, allowing a peephole into his space - inspired by early conceptual models.

The mass/void relationships of the four structures; Using the inverse of the other to generate the form or spatial planning