I felt it was critical that the house embody the "feminine mystic", focusing on the idea of spiritual development and transcendence through the path of relationships, nurturing, an organic connection to mother earth and sensuality. I use the ter "mystic" rather than "mystique", because I wanted to focus on the search for enlightenment through the path of the "feminine mystic " and not the attributes or characteristics of the "feminine mystique". My wife asked me if there was a masculine mystic . My answerer is Yes, there is the masculine mystic. This is one who seeks enlightenment primarily through reason and rational thought. Neither way is better or more effective , they are just slightly different.
The work of Georgia O'Keeffe was very influential in the imagery and form of the house. The imagery of O'Keeffe's paintings of the land, flowers and skulls represent to me the above concept of the feminine mystic.
The images below were taken from different web sites, which are linked to the images.
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These are the first "napkin" concept sketches I developed of the design.
| This section shows an early idea of the
shell of the house being a hinged arch with the center of shell as a sky-lite.
The floor plan concept was to place the kitchen at the center of the house. The kitchen is the center of deep relationships in most homes. It is where the "kitchen cabinet" meets to make decisions, where the extended family come for fellowship and nurturing. I wanted the kitchen to be connected to the public and semi-private areas of the house as the "heart" and "hearth" of the home. |
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| These were more studies of the scale and
form of the exterior shell.
The upper left hand corner was an early study of entrance doorway. The bottom sketch is an elevation showing the folds of the exterior skin and window openings. These were intended to have the effect of the folds of the brow and eyelid of the human face. |
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