Hide and See

Hide and See creates a series of phenomenological instances, all stemming from cuts and incisions, punctures, and the burying of heavy mass. As the building conceals itself from the viewer, its true form remains experientially obscure. A traversable landmass rises steady from the earth, zig-zagging through the terrain. From a distance the volume appears fairly opaque as a mass. But as visitors make their way over its top they discover moments of translucency; instances in which the volume has been punctured. As the volume ascends to meet the Allen Expressway, it is severed by the flow of motorists, a dramatic incision that results in a window to the earth. 

Meanwhile, as cars perpetually race by, pedestrians are invited to enjoy the view. On the west side of the Allen, pedestrians find themselves suspended over the freeway, cradled in an observatory of glass. But the introverted space is measurably counter-balanced by the larger curtain wall staring back – a foreshadowing of the view available from inside the earth. From within an interstitial glass skin, visitors find moments of acoustic solace: the earth muffling the roar of the traffic; a meditation on the rush of the everyday. As walls slope both in and out of space, the faint sound of musical instruments can be heard reflecting off the folded walls. Moving east the building folds into the open lawn of community space.