BEN SOLL
The cavity home is named after the cavities formed between its rectangular slanted walls. It houses two artists who teach art classes to the community. At the ends, there are two elevated private residences, one for the artists, and the other for guest artists. Their elevation above the first level creates space for outdoor studios and galleries, and the private residences act seperately as more conventional architectural dwellings that exist outside of open and fluid spaces which contain equipment and studio space. They are braced by a walkway, and between them, at the second level, are sandwiched balcony spaces.
The slanting of the walls create a condition in which smaller, enclosed wedged spaces are formed between larger more open spaces. These wedges act as the programmatic driver for the use of the larger, studio spaces. The studio spaces are hybridized, and their function becomes dependent on which objects are pulled from the wedged storage spaces. The second level contains private residences, and the wedges of storage become balconies that allow users to view into the open studio space at the middle of the structure.
The elevation shows that elements are organized vertically in such a way to create ambiguity between levels. The balcony bracing the private residences rises above their floor level, creating an illusion that the residences are sunken into the second level.
The oblique layers both levels in an attempt to create a relationship between the objects wedged in storage and the objects wedged between private residences at their balcony level. The lines that cross through the drawing vertically and horizontally delineate zones of symmetry which create three apparent zones. At the ground level these zones act as delineations of the two studio spaces and the gallery space. On the second level these zones delineate the private residences and the balcony space between them.
