Again and again the staircase has made its appearance in my projects, from the earliest, a park shelter, to the more recent courthouse, where one has the illusion of walking up into the open sky. Indeed, the staircase even doubled as seating for ad lib performances in the LePage Theater project. Elevators, ramps and circulation systems seemed to be the primary design generators of the majority of my buildings.

FRAME

This notion of movement is complimented by the notion of framing at points of departure and arrival, similar to the framing of a movie scene: setting, action, wrap

INVENTION

I have taken great pleasure in the past in the inventive and innovative use of standardized items to produce an extraordinary experiential quality in their final configuration. For example, in the Marine Museum project of second year standard panes of laminated glass converged to create a see-through elevator, providing the user with the illusion of ascension when seen from the water, an allegory of water-level changes in a river lock system.

SURREAL

I love juxtaposing disparate elements to create perceptual shifts in the user. This too probably stems from my work in the film industry, where I am privileged to experience set pieces in their Kafkaesque three dimensionality. For example, When entering into my proposed Marine Museum project, one is immediately confronted by the hull of a ship, with water where the floor should be. In my courthouse proposal, one’s anxieties are assuaged by an eye-level reflection of open sky.