Arakawa + Gins Architecture

Happy Friday everyone! I’ve been working hard putting together a series of posts for next week concerning recent intersections between architecture and the fine arts. So I hope you will all come back on Monday. Should be an exciting week!

But in the meantime, the NYT has a fantastic piece on the philosophy of Architects Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins. The images below are their most recent work, the Bioscleave House in East Hampton.

They believe that their architecture can actually extend life by helping us “cradle tentativeness.” The concept is quite abstract, but from what I understand, the objective is to challenge the conventional notion of home = comfort. For example, the artists explain that in this house you can see a different horizon everywhere you stand, thereby not allowing you to become comfortable. Comfort does not last forever, and is therefore linked to anxiety. By learning to live in such an environment, you are actually “practicing how not to die.”

I was intrigued… I highly recommend watching the feature (it’s only a few minutes long).

Photos by Eric Striffler for the nyt.

Related posts

Popular this week