The American House 08
Designed by the architect William E Massie as part of an exhibition for the Cranbrook Academy of Arts in Michigan. Massie is the current head of the school of architectue and after three years in residence he was invited to exhibit his own personal works. Massie decided to create a piece with would form an exhibition outside. The concept for the house was to use the same material available from any home DIY store and use technology to develop a more sophistic design, in an attempt to challenge the existing American house developers methods.
The key aspiration for this project was to use light to create space. The main design can be described as a rectilinear box with a major feature cut into the structure to form a dimple or recess within the external facade which starts at the roof level. This feature does not only dramatically transform the design, but internally the surface is used to project light on to. The majority of the lighting is built within the floor to diffuse onto this particular surface to create the main design aspirations of Massies. This also generates a connecting between the interior and exterior of this house.
Massie has used a wide range of techniques in order to produce this prefabricated house including laser cutting and CNC, all from his very own studio. Each component was towed from the studio 5 miles to the lawn outside the art museum next to a sculpture by Mark Di Suvero. The material use varies from a white vinyl rain screen to cherry plywood, cork and rubber. The final site location is yet to be determined as Massie is considering selling the house on ebay. Massie is aware that in the final transportation of the house some interior surface maybe damaged and therefore will incur additional cost to redo some of the floors and ceilings.
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