The projects, including interior and exterior environments, seek to mine marginal or overlooked situations for transformative programs. Just as there is freedom in the margins of text for note taking or scribbling, there is freedom in the margins of our built environment. Margins exist at the fringes of urban public space, just outside of political or economic boundaries, or beyond standardized domestic space. The work engages a variety of site conditions in order to question assumptions about territory, authorship, and day-to-day prescribed lifestyles.
More Doors is a series of six transformable “doors” that fit into doorways, and also disengage to become freestanding screens. As folded compact structures, they may function as doors. As expanded structures, they become ensembles of furniture. They work to envision domestic activities as a series of furniture/rooms. The construction of a prototype has been funded by Woodbury University. More Doors received an award from Metropolis Magazine. (by Jeanine Centuori & Russell Rock)
Site Portals are neighborhood markers, oculi through which to focus the pedestrian’s attention on particular moments of the urban fabric. Framing essential features of the locale, they are of interest to the resident and traveler alike. Modular site portals and horizontal information plates are attached to the vertical members of parking meters, street light poles, or street tree guards. Portal categories are color-coded: Artifacts are orange, Urban Stories are yellow, and Natural Features are blue. Concrete discs placed in the ground and inscribed with the name of the framed element establish the point of view. This project is part of FindingPublic Space in the Margins. It was funded by The Graham Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and others; and received several awards including a Best of Category in Environments from ID Magazine, and a PA Citation from Architecture Magazine. (by Jeanine Centuori & Russell Rock)
African Burial Ground Memorial is a proposed project in response to an international design competition. It received a first place award in the competition, as well as an award from Landscape Architecture Magazine, and was published widely. This project provides a living memorial to the rediscovered burial ground in lower Manhattan. By casting objects, artifacts, and textual elements into panels in the sidewalks, a quilt of many artworks provides a new layer to this blank surface. Metal curb trim pieces name the artists in lieu of the unknownnames of the dead beneath. Manhole covers throughout the site bear the project name. (by Jeanine Centuori & Karen Bermann) |
