Crissy Field Residence - Earth Canopy House

Last crawled date: 1 year, 7 months ago

This house design imparts the feeling of being at home in the modern world through its many layered response to the site. Currently Crissy Field is dedicated to public community and public recreation however its complex history as a site of military utility leaves an imprint to this day. In short, Crissy Field is in a process of transformation leading to a return to a more natural environment. It is the effort of this design to respect this history while at the same time assisting in the efforts of reclaiming the land. The great arc of the Earth Canopy thrusts foward from the ground and soars towards the western sea like a wing or a wave. This movement is countered and balanced by several vertical axes; firstly the vertical axis of the tree and oculus - a gesture the natural environment, and secondly by the wind power generator towers - a gesture to the harmony between man and the environment. A water feature flows from the knife edge of the Earth Canopy - an honest symbol of what it means to cut into the earth to build. The water falls into a tidal reflecting pool, a symbol of the past as well as the future. Between ground and water and sky lies the house. A simple box constructed primarily with natural and reclaimed materials that supports the unity of all of these elements without being referential to the surrounding building forms which remain in flux. #crissy_field #designyourdwelling2008 #dwell_magazine_competition #modern_residence #presidio