Aesthetic of the Incomplete: 7 Projects Exposing Their Structural Skeletons

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Many of the following projects may be described as “incomplete,” but that is actually a misnomer. For one thing, each structure is fully realized and built according to its plan, and the concepts behind them are fully fleshed out and articulated. Rather, these structures are intentionally designed to appear incomplete, at least by conventional standards or expectations.

Yet the term is also misleading because it sets each project on a linear trajectory from nothingness to completion. To describe a structure as incomplete is to imply that it is awaiting fulfillment or purpose, to suggest that its current form has little worth. These projects are explicitly subverting this conceptual paradigm by investigating states of change, exploring the constructive, the deconstructive and the destructive. Along the way, the projects demonstrate that processes of architecture are neither linear nor unidirectional, and that no space can be considered empty, vacant, without meaning or memory.

The projects vary in their interpretations of an “incomplete” aesthetic, but all are revealing critiques of the architectural discipline. Yet these are not simply conceptual games or architectural follies. True to their mission, they are fully functional spaces, and represent very real and practical design possibilities. Though the ideas behind each project may seem abstract and, perhaps, even incomplete, the physical structures complement these ideas, making them tangible, coherent and sound.

HOUSE CG by Architecten De Vylder Vinck Taillieu, Belgium

HOUSE CG, a home fashioned out of a preexisting farm, creates the appearance of unfinished architecture to deconstruct the processes of design and construction. Exposed wooden beams and added steel support make parts of the home look like cross-sections found in architectural drawings, revealing all of the individual elements that make up a building’s fabric. The ostensibly unfinished design also alludes to the transformation of the structure from farm to home, and suggests a state of perpetual transition.

Casa MMMMMS by Anna & Eugeni Bach, Camallera, Spain

Although the cladding of Casa MMMMMS is conventional for Catalan architecture, the project is more inspired by warehouse design, an influence evident in the metal-framed patio adjacent to the house. Here the structure takes the form of an incomplete industrial building, and seems incompatible with the more traditional house beside it. Yet the two constructions offer mirror images of each other, bearing the same pitched roof and large windows built into the framework. While the patio seems to be a fragmented version of the house, or a section that was left unbuilt, the architects use this appearance of incompletion to reveal the project’s inner workings and architectural heritage.

Club Náutico Lo Pagán, San Pedro del Pinatar by XPIRAL, San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain

The Club Náutico Lo Pagán visualizes architectural processes, but even more prominently, the processes of ship-building. The marina and restaurant not only features the curves and geometry of a ship’s hull, but includes a timber framework suggestive of a ship’s internal supports. This framework is visible from within the structure, which takes the appearance of a capsized cabin interior, as well as from the outside, where the frame extends beyond the main structure like a boat still being assembled on shore.

B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio in Beijing by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio, Jian Guo Lu, Chaoyang Qu, Beijing, China

The renovated offices of the B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio conflate the incomplete aesthetic with the architectural motif of ruins. The space features a doorway and window gouged out of a preexisting brick wall that divides the office. While the design suggests an ambivalence between the construction of an entrance and the destruction of a wall, it also complicates conventional definitions of incomplete forms. Ruins may be considered unfinished, though they have already realized completion, whereas supposedly completed forms are still subject to future transformations and entropic conditions.

House Sanderswal by Architecten De Vylder Vinck Taillieu, Belgium

House Sanderswal also evokes the motif of ruins in the form of a dilapidated structure abandoned between a house and a brick wall. The structure includes a bare-bones frame for a roof which is only partially covered by corrugated metal sheets, and a barren brick façade which seems to stand alone as one enters the building. Yet as with the B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio, the project uses the idea of deconstruction to present alternative possibilities for otherwise conventional architecture. In this case, the wholesale removal of walls opens up interior spaces and leads to the creation of new spaces, such as an outdoor terrace beneath the suspended roof.

Pavilion of Incremental Formby Ant Hill Design, Ahmedabad, India

The scaffolding-like metal exoskeleton on the Pavilion of Incremental Form makes the structure appear like an active construction site. This assumption is not completely inaccurate, either. The artist’s studio, built alongside a preexisting house, appears incomplete thanks to its exposed structural supports, but is also intended to be a work in constant progress. Although the structure is fully functional in its current state, it was designed with the expectation that future structures would be added on to its initial form.

Eco-Sustainable Antony House by Djuric Tardio Architectes, Antony, France

Eco-Sustainable Antony House is also designed to encourage future transformations, but not through architectural annexations. Instead, the project embraces the inevitable and inexorable influence that the natural environment will have on the structure. The building is topped by a roof that appears to be an exposed timber frame, but which is actually intended as a pergola for growing plants. As a living structure, the project will never be “complete,” but that is not the only reason the house represents a work of unfinished architecture: the project is conceived as a template for many other prefabricated homes, thus making it the first installment in a work of perpetual progress.

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