a home exploded,

Our project, A Home Exploded, communicates that a home bears identity with what its inhabitants chose to fill it with:  memories, traumas, possessions, people, etc. The same house can be virtually unrecognizable when occupied by different families, as the house merely acts as an empty vessel. A house cannot be a home without its host. 

Our project challenges the traditional exploded axonometric drawing--instead of separating the layers of building materials that make up assemblies (see Morphosis 2-4-6-8 House Parts drawing), our project series explores ways in which memory, identity, and time can be dissected. 

We enter the competition with 4 variations of the same concept. All of them begin with an identical house whose representations vary based on the family who resides in it. 

Each family has their own unique way of portraying themselves. Some are methodical and orderly, others like to shake it up. With that, they all left memoirs to help guide you through their drawings:

"Recently retired, Wanda and Davis have been happily married for 50 years and were high school sweethearts, they love to be outside with family and in their free time do yoga in the park and socialize with their neighborhood friends. Wanda went to school to be a nurse and had a fulfilling career, where her nurturing and patient qualities emerged and made her well regarded in her field. Davis was a handyman and contractor in the city, doing more private practice and getting most business by word of mouth. Due to his labor-intensive job, he endured a couple injuries which limit his motion and strength but Wanda has been the perfect helper to still live his normal life. 

    They had two sons, the oldest was named Adam who as a child was always very eager to play sports and displayed his ability to be a role model for his younger brother Gary. Adam married his wife soon after graduating college and had their first daughter Scarlet, however the stress of maintaining a steady income and caring for a child proved difficult on their marriage, they felt they had successfully balanced their livelihood to accommodate both so a few years later they had their second child, Carter and loved the idea of growing their family further and had their youngest child, Roddie. But with three children, the burdens seemed to escalate and Adam unfortunately resorted to alcohol which he saw his grandfather succumb to in his childhood. This pushed his wife away until she ultimately found love with another man and started another family, leaving Adam with three children and a serious lack of knowledge on how to properly take care of them while still paying the bills. His addiction worsened until his colleagues and brother forced him into rehab. This left three children without an immediate parent in the picture and in the hands of the courts. However, Wanda and Davis knew what they had to do and let these children into their home.

    The home of the recently retired Davis and Wanda was a small 2 bedroom, 1 bath house perfect for a couple but not intended for a family. Davis went into the shed and found his tools and started work immediately after he saw the three children struggling to share the spare bedroom. His carpentry experience allowed him to add an addition to the home that allowed for space for another bedroom, another bathroom, direct access to the outdoors and attempted to create privacy while still keeping a budget with the intention that the two younger boys would be able to share the space. All the photo albums that were previously in the spare bedroom resurfaced and found new homes in the main living room. While the few objects the children brought with them were symbols of memories of their past life and their parents, a comfort and emptiness that affect them each greatly. The home acts as a place of memories, not only of those that occur within the property but also the items within and the journey of each, having a unique story that ensures the owner does not lose sight of the past."