Rain Harvest Home
(La Casa que Cosecha Lluvia)
The Pop-out Studio by Robert Hutchison
Over ten years ago, Robert Hutchison designed and built a studio for his architecture firm in the backyard behind his house in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. From the early arrival of his employees to the gathering over drinks in the evening, the video accompanies the office's activities on an ordinary weekday.
The Pop-Out Studio
Wye Landing Memory Houses by Robert Hutchison
Robert Hutchison’s Memory Houses is a speculative project that investigates mortality and memory through the lens of architecture. Situated along the banks of the Wye River on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, architectural typologies such as dwelling, chapel, lighthouse, and memorial weave together spatial narrative about loss and recollection. Distant as well as more recent architectural memories make cameo appearances in the Memory Houses: the stave churches of Norway and the Great Mosque of Córdoba that Hutchison experienced as a child; the lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay; the timber grain elevators of the Palouse; the Colosseum and the Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome. The project was significantly impacted by Hutchison’s experiences while a Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome from January through July 2017.
Wye Landing, Memory Houses
This small residence located on the banks of the White River five miles from Mt. Rainier quietly blends into the surrounding forest. An entry courtyard serves as a transition space from outdoors to indoors, while keeping the ubiquitous elk herds at bay.
a film by Juan Benavides
music by Gerardo Orozco
http://www.filmatica.mx
http://robhutcharch.com/
Courtyard House on a River
Rain Harvest Home, Temascaltepec
MEM(ento): Something to make one remember
MEM(oir): A record of a thing to remember
MEM(orandum): A reminder
MEM(orable): Worth remembering
MEM(orabilia): Things worth remembering
MEM(ory): The ability to recall
This project started in early 2015 when I realized how quickly dementia was taking over my father’s mind. Since then, before and after his death in February 2016, I’ve found myself regularly thinking about and researching the topic of memory, bringing it into my practice as an architect and artist. This exhibition is the result of that exploration.
I am told that, seconds before his heart stopped beating, my father yelled out two final words: “I’M READY!” The certainty and clarity of this statement made me realize that, in the last moments of his life, his lucidity was restored. I like to imagine all the memories I thought he had lost suddenly came flooding back into his consciousness.
A friend recently confided that he is afraid of losing his memory. I wonder if perhaps that is what the work in this exhibition is about... a desire to document my own memories before I lose them, through the medium I know best—architecture. Distant as well as more recent architectural memories make cameo appearances in the Memory Houses: the chapel adjacent to an unbuilt winery I designed with my father; the stave churches of Norway and the Great Mosque of Córdoba I experienced as a child; the lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay; the timber grain elevators of the Palouse; the Colosseum and the Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome. Inherent within these diverse structures are the narratives shared with the friends and family who accompanied me.
Robert Hutchison, May 2018
http://www.robhutcharch.com
https://www.4culture.org/
http://www.seattle.gov/arts
a film by Juan Benavides
http://www.filmatica.mx
Memory Houses: Nine Allegorical Works of Architecture
The site for this challenging residence is a steeply sloped, 50’ wide by 400’ long site located along the western shore of Mercer Island. While specifically designed for a husband and wife and their two children, the Owner requested that the residence also be designed as a speculative development should they wish to sell the property in the foreseeable future.
film and music by Juan Benavides
http://www.filmatica.mx
Cantilever House
House with a Yoga Studio
MEM(ento): Something to make one remember
MEM(oir): A record of a thing to remember
MEM(orandum): A reminder
MEM(orable): Worth remembering
MEM(orabilia): Things worth remembering
MEM(ory): The ability to recall
This project started in early 2015 when I realized how quickly dementia was taking over my father’s mind. Since then, before and after his death in February 2016, I’ve found myself regularly thinking about and researching the topic of memory, bringing it into my practice as an architect and artist. This exhibition is the result of that exploration.
I am told that, seconds before his heart stopped beating, my father yelled out two final words: “I’M READY!” The certainty and clarity of this statement made me realize that, in the last moments of his life, his lucidity was restored. I like to imagine all the memories I thought he had lost suddenly came flooding back into his consciousness.
A friend recently confided that he is afraid of losing his memory. I wonder if perhaps that is what the work in this exhibition is about... a desire to document my own memories before I lose them, through the medium I know best—architecture. Distant as well as more recent architectural memories make cameo appearances in the Memory Houses: the chapel adjacent to an unbuilt winery I designed with my father; the stave churches of Norway and the Great Mosque of Córdoba I experienced as a child; the lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay; the timber grain elevators of the Palouse; the Colosseum and the Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome. Inherent within these diverse structures are the narratives shared with the friends and family who accompanied me.
Robert Hutchison, May 2018
http://www.robhutcharch.com
https://www.4culture.org/
http://www.seattle.gov/arts
a film by Juan Benavides
http://www.filmatica.mx
Courtyard House on a Steep Site