Project Description
The project, a 16′ x 24′ painting studio, is situated on a small residential lot between two primary structures: the residence to the rear, and an architectural office near the street entrance. The long North-South axis of the studio parallels the side lot line, and marks the edge between dense natural vegetation along the lot’s border and an informal landscaped garden space that unites all three structures. The project is a meditation on the relationship between painting and architecture, playing on the inherent tension in paintings wherein three-dimensional space is represented on a two-dimensional surface. The studio is in a sense a reversal of this condition, in that its simple volumetric configuration is contradicted by the treatment of each elevation as an autonomous composition or “canvas”. At the same time, some of the painted concrete sheathing panels appear to wrap around corners, suggesting a set of smaller sub-volumes nested within the studio’s overall cubic structure. Thus, as in some paintings, the notion of volumetric presence is expressed at the same time as the two-dimensionality of surface is affirmed. In the nearly 12-foot high interior, clerestory windows are set along the top of the short north wall, while the long east wall is unbroken by openings, providing wall space for working and display. A large sliding glass door to one end of the west wall provides access to a small deck and the landscape. Like the treatment of the exterior panels, the simple interior finishes are intended to subvert a simple reading of the studio’s volume. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all painted the same color – yellow at the south end, reflecting the primary source of daylight; and linen white elsewhere. The diagonals marking the edges between these color fields are intended to disrupt the static quality of the volume, creating a dynamic spatial condition as one moves into and through the space.