cambridge MASSACHUSETTS
Harvard GSD
Critic: Jennifer BONNER
suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.
Madelyn WILLEY: OOPS… is the result of a series of observations made during walks around different suburban landscapes, that reveal the moments when the idealized image of suburbia confronts its practical everyday use in a slightly awkward way.
- Madelyn WILLEY, “OOPS…Architecture as a Collection of Happy Accidents.”, Model Photo
- Madelyn WILLEY, “OOPS…Architecture as a Collection of Happy Accidents.”, Model Photo
- Madelyn WILLEY, “OOPS…Architecture as a Collection of Happy Accidents.”, Model Photo
- Madelyn WILLEY, “OOPS…Architecture as a Collection of Happy Accidents.”, Model Photo
- Madelyn WILLEY, “OOPS…Architecture as a Collection of Happy Accidents.”, Worms Eye Render
- Madelyn WILLEY, “OOPS…Architecture as a Collection of Happy Accidents.”, Worms Eye Render
One can find atypical, yet persistent conditions such as: a flat window doing its best to squeeze into a round wall, a skinny metal column holding up a porch roof trying not to overshadow the original and its classical order, or a partial wall of faux siding aiming at a visual separation between two units. This thesis operationalizes these “happy accidents” starting at the scale of furniture (tables) and architectural elements (windows), through methods including folding, stamping, wrapping and jiggling.
These methods jump in scale in the formation multi-family suburban housing where the clashing of the idyllic suburban house and a modernist apartment block create an architecture filled with misalignments between surfaces, architectural elements, rooms, and the intended use of those rooms. The result not only challenges the image of the suburban home but attempts to generate new types of communal living and spatial adjacencies that are perpetuated through embracing an aesthetic of the accidental.
