Fissure House

The courtyard represents an opportunity for exterior conditions to be more closely integrated into the interior. In the favorable climate of Los Angeles, the envelope can be dramatically minimized and replaced by a more flexible system. This project investigates the variable spatial outcomes that result from a design process privileging the fluid conditions of the courtyard over fully enclosed volumes. This process began with a series of operations that subsequently distorted a normal rectilinear grid. Each distortion produced a set of abstract associations represented through clusters of line and void (white space). These relationships were used diagrammatically to organize the spatial system. In this proposal, the courtyard fully penetrates the residence and functions synchronously with the circulation. All routes of movement from one semi-enclosed space to the next require the occupant to be fully exposed to external conditions before re-entering enclosed space. Thus, the courtyard performs as the primary mode of circulation within the house.