Deserts

A collaborative pavilion for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale The Poetics of Reason, supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, completed in 2019

Deserts examines the typology of monastic architecture as a reflection of collective living and our cultural condition of being together, alone. A 1:1 pavilion of a speculative cell prototype, or unit of living, is exhibited at the Cartuxa de Laveiras, an abandoned monastery in Lisbon. Daily actions are distilled as carvings above and below the cell’s terraced interior. Apertures relieve the cell’s confinement, defining visual passage beyond the solitary life. An article expanding on the research is issued on Nonsite and a forthcoming book will be published by Actar in 2025.

See related work A Certain Kind of Life.

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Image Credit: Ibai Rigby

Team: James Carter, Abigail Chang, Francesco Marullo, Agata Siemionow

Contributors: Nash Kennedy, Alexandra Madsen, Jacob Patnode, William Stauffer, Julia Turner, Andreina Yepez

Construction: Abel Alves, Sérgio Azevedo

Recognition: Awarded Associated Project, Awarded Graham Foundation Production Grant, Awarded UIC Research Grant