los angeles CALIFORNIA

suckerPUNCH: describe your project.

karsten t. HUITFELDT: Meant as a somewhat ironic reaction to the green building crusade, this project for a self-sufficient veterinary hospital on the roof of the Los Angeles public library is exploring the formal possibilities of a building powered by live animals. As an interface between nature and technology, the building acts as a bizarre technological/biological device that adopts the habits and functions of the animal it connects with as a means to create energy. Integrating structural elements, mechanical elements, electronics and parts of biological organisms, the building becomes an extension of the animal body. Blood, nerves and muscles are supplying the building with energy, distributing it through artificial, reproduced, alive or grown muscles, veins, nerves and organs.

sP: what or who influenced this project?

kH: Anatomical drawings, 1st Ave Machine, History/philosophy of animal cruelty, Gargoyles and grotesques, Biomechatronics/prosthetics

sP: what were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?

kH: reading: Musicophilia, Freakonomics
listening to: Chopin, Royksopp, Lou Reed
watching: Human and animal autopsies, Zombie movies

sP: whose work is currently on your radar?

kH: Hernan Diaz Alonso, R & Sie