PROGRAM: guest house

CLIENT: Richard Tuttle / Mei Mei Berssenbrugge

SIZE: 900

STATUS: completed

Adjacent to adobe houses built by the artist Richard Tuttle, this small construction sits atop a windy desert mesa. It is imagined like the tip of an iceberg indicating a much larger mass below. The form allows turbulent wind to blow through its center. The stressed skin and aluminum rib construction is digitally prefabricated in Kansas City then bolted together on site. A total of 31 metal panels, each with a unique shape are fabricated to form the "shell" of the house. The second Turbulence House, made for an exhibition in Vicenza, Italy, is in a private sculpture park in Italy. The metal fabricator utilizes digital definition combined with craftsmanship to produce intricate shapes. By means of parametric logic, materials can be converted into engineered assemblies with an accuracy once considered impossible.