Box Project Update
Catalyst - 03.25.06
Our 3rd annual apprentice fundraising even went just splendidly! We sold 80 tickets to the event which featured a culinary tour thru the desert and a silent auction of apprentice artwork. We raised almost $13,000! I was assigned to serve drinks at a beautiful shelter near my own entitled 'the hook.' Here are some images:
Life in the Sonoran...
Living in the desert is very, very different from life in wisconsin. First off, none of the plants here are my friends. Everything has either outright weaponry or is armed secretly in a way you might not notice until it's too late. Second, besides the obvious climate differences, the wildlife is more apparent here. This is likely due to the fact that Taliesin occupies a large portion of open desert space that is surrounded by encroaching development. I live way out in the desert in a small gazeebo like structure that is completely open to the elements except for a roof and fireplace. Not being the most outdoorsy of people I questioned how i would adjust to this lifestyle and I must say... I LOVE IT! Here are a few shots of my shelter, this is just one of over 70 sites!
Migrant Worker Pods
Developed more as humorous addition to the winery... These pod towers could house migratory workers who harvest the grapes. These structure could be flown in when needed and transported elsewhere once the work was completed. This design actually became an updated version of cooperage (wine aging barrels) that feature variable oak or steel 'stave' sections. The entire unit is helt tight together via a series of steel cables threaded throught the wood or metal, then tightened on one end. 
Plan & Interior Images
Below is the arial plan for the winery which sits on a Southern facing slope in Wisconsin, a growing viticultural area. The shape of the structure and the roof are drawn from the topography and abstractly echo the landscape while differentiating the structure from it. This dual lobed formation (one of which is mostly buried) arose from the two large areas needed in the winery, a large maceration/production area and an almost equal size aging cellar. The interior images are unfinished and appear cold compared to the desired effect. This should be considered and critiqued as a work in progress.
Enthusiasmos | A conceptual design for the Wagner Family Winery
Questions are for philosophers. Expressions are for artists. The built future will unfold with the architecture of statement; design transgression beyond the ordinary conceptions of possibility, straight from the realm of imagination. What functions as an industrial wine making facility will simultaneously offer multiple options of gathering, exploration and edutainment. In a world where ideas go from their inspired roots and become reality with so little time in between that they seem to be one process, this will be the future that we not only shape, but in turn, will continue to shape us. From ‘the home’ to ‘the factory,’ boundaries will be increasingly faded, and a blurring between functionality will become the norm. The flow of information will facilitate, as much as the ecological consideration dictates, that people live in the same place as they produce work. They will educate themselves in the same places they entertain. Zoning will become an archaic artifact reminiscent of a time when black smoke billowed next to neighborhoods. The frontier of the future isn’t space, but rather the internal expanses of our Mind, mapped upon the landscape. Part industry, part temple offering, part theater gallery, the building is a statement of enthusiasmos, the dream of an archilosophist.
Box Project 1.0 - Wagner Family Winery
Where is the line between architecture and art? Functionality and aesthetic? Sculpture and building? If the essense of Dionysus were to be expressed in a structure and ones experience within it, what shape and form would it take?
In this project I am seeking to interpret Dionysus while being guided by Apollo to develop a small micro winery located in Southern Wisconsin. Growing from the Southern facing serpentine slope, the vines and the Dieties that govern them have become my inspiration. Like the metaphor of water into wine, this project will seek to cultivate an enthusiasm for the mystique of the wine making process and celebrate this age old tradition within a contemporary setting.
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