EDGE. The SuitCase House

EDGE. The SuitCase House

This is not exactly the 1945 dream of portable housing that the original suitcase house was. But, it brings a lot of the language of kinetic architecture to the table. Designed by Gary Chang of EDGE Design Institute, this simple box conceals an array of clever modifications that transform it to meet the task at hand. This site has some better pictures some of which were shown in this month's Residential Architect Magazine ("Masters of the Art"). Several of the hidden transformations possible are shown here. Essentially the rooms are under the floors. Panels in the floors tilt up to become partitions revealing the hidden essences of sunken rooms.

Gary Chang has written about the project in his own words outlining the philosophy behind the design. The house is part of the Commune By The Great Wall Hotel project which Gary Chang talks about in his writing above. This is a built project not a fantasy, and as such you can actually go there and spend a few nights...

Mr. Chang's design makes some great leaps into the philosophy of kinetic architecture. He assumes a great level of flexibility is required by the inhabitants. He has looked at the problem and asked himself, in a building in which everything moves, what must stay the same? The answer to that question has been plaguing fanciful architects for centuries... it is as obvious as gravity. No matter how soaring or intricate or whimsical a building becomes one thing will always brings it down to earth. What is it, you ask? It's the floor. In every section of every building whether it's by Frank Ghery or Antonio Gaudi, there is that ubiquitous horizontal line cutting through it at about every ten feet. Ceilings can soar, and walls can curve or lean... but a floor is the reminder of our humanity. It is the architectural element that ties your physical body to the earth while your mind explores.

So, it is no random act that places Gary Chang's constant below your feet. The floor is architecture's hinge... the still point in our design vocabulary. It is useless to fight it, so make it the focal point and it disappears. In the Suitcase house the floor disolves through use. One descends into it to perform any function. Thus an undeniable barrier becomes the entire project. The architecture inhabits its own limits. The meditation room is an interesting acknowledgement of that fact as you descend to the very bottom of the floor and stand on what? A glass floor. You've reached the bottom of the house, and the floor has been disolved as much as possible until it becomes simply a horizontal line... transparent... but still there.

It's an interesting embodiment of Heidegger's view of man... caught between the earth and heaven. The main floor level of the house is the demi-space inhabitted by the occupants. It is ideal space... an empty stage... a sort of Samuel Beckett performance waiting to happen. To do anything in this space you must dip into that floor plane... open it up into the ideal space. The sculpter Alberto was often frustrated by his inability to grasp what he refered to as the true nature of his subjects. The surfaces were always in motion, changing... to grasp the nature of his subjects he said he had to make a little hole in nature and pass through it to reach the true essence of his subjects. Giacometti and Beckett collaborated on the play Waiting for Godot (Giacometti sculpting the lone tree which adorns the set.) The two were friends and shared a unique view of reality. The Suitcase house contains much of that early modern psychology. The austere space with all the panels closed is a blank stage. A kind of insurmountable living condition which a Samuel Beckett or Alberto Giacometti would be familiar with. How do you begin to inhabit such a space? You follow Giacometti's creative process and make a hole... opening a panel into the floor and passing through it.

It's a great metaphor for modern life. We live in an age when so much is possible, that we tend to live our lives according to the limits we have before us rather than the possibilities open to us. It's an odd sensation to be placed in an environment with no apparent limitations or rules. What can you do with boundless space? Fortunately humans on Earth always have gravity and the ground to fight against... our first technological challenge is the mastery of those forces... within the first year of our lives, we learn to subvert nature and stand on two legs. From that moment on we work against the limits of our existence... But without this force to press against us... what would we do? The suitcase house offers us endless possibilities at first glance. When everything is possible we must first locate what is impossible... or what is immovable and focus our attention there. Make a hole and pass through it. If you fail to transcend the limitations in life, you may find yourself sitting on an empty stage lamenting your life rather than living it.