Farnsworth Museum Homestead Project

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Farnsworth Museum Homestead Project

Firm

Type

Residential › Private House Multi Unit Housing
Commercial › Retail Exhibition Center
Cultural › Gallery Cultural Center Museum
Government + Health › Community Center
Landscape + Planning › Public Park

Click here for a video of the project inflating/deflating!Our response to the Fansworth
Museum’s request to re-imagine its Homestead for a nuclear family is a daring
examination of residential space as the interface between the patron, the
community, and local artists. As a means to construct a certain friction
and specificity for the exhibition, our proposal questions both the nature
and dynamics of the client family, as well as the nature and dynamic of a 21st
Century Homestead and its relation to the larger constructs including its
complicit relationship with the current museum. A magazine sets up the
scenario for the understanding of the family dynamics and complementary issues
of domesticity vis a vis modes of building. A model and a film
articulate our vision for the Homestead. The homestead proposal consists of a
thin bar of permeable program and a related public gathering space. An
inflatable surface creates an indoor/outdoor public space in relation to the
new homestead. This mutable surface changes to accommodate functions regardless
of weather or season. The ground floor orchestrates different degrees of public
activity and private use to include the community in their new home. There are
public and private entrances to allow the community to pass through to the
activities in the park beyond. The second floor allows Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth
to loosely accommodate their private life as well as providing rooms for guests
and artists. There are bedrooms for the children and several stairs to
facilitate access and flexibility. The façade of the new homestead
inflates and deflates along with the enclosure surface, allowing the interior
to grow and deal with the changing climate.
The larger site also expands and
contracts to accommodate the change in season. In the winter the surface
inflates to create a protected, semi-enclosed space for gathering and artistic
work. The translucent surface offers protection from the elements and sunlight,
both much needed in the harsh Maine winters. This naturally-lit space for
artists and local merchants contains several artist studios and a large
exhibition space where local artisans and farmers can sell their goods. In the
summer the surface deflates to the ground, leaving the occupiable topography
adjacent to the homestead available for farmers markets and public gatherings.
The softly sloped outdoor space will be an ideal place for warm-weather
community events.