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Two directives were posed by the clients’ brief: House their collection of late 20th century artworks and design objects in spaces that compliment, but do not detract from their presence; accomplish this on a primary single continuous floor plane that allows for a graceful aging in place. Additionally, the client expressed a strong mistrust for open plans. Finally, site the project on a shallow, tightly constrained, and steeply sloping site.
The result is a set of geometric rules that generate the plan, curate the collection, and resonate with the patterns of daily life. Routine activities are contained in nine rooms that are arranged on a continuous ground plane (the upper level). To integrate the space for living and display while maintaining the desire for spatial separation, a slightly curved street wall acts as a datum for rooms defined by incomplete geometries. Each successive room is relational and adjacent rooms contribute to each other’s definition. Incomplete boundaries promote spatial continuity and well-defined geometries protect programmatic divisions. In these ways, this project attempts to resolve the complicated figure ground relationship through the tension between programmatic containment and spatial overlap.
Project Details
Project Location | Ann Arbor, Michigan
Status | Completed, 2019
Principals in Charge | Craig Borum, FAIA
PLY+ Project Team | Yibo Jiao, Yusi Zha, Annabelle Guan, Jiashi Yu
Structural Engineering | SDI Structures
Photography | Jeffrey Kilmer, Yusi Zha, Jason Keen