Framing Through The Abstract

This six week design exploration challenged conventional notions of housing by “breaking down walls” and working abstractly with space through a three dimensional collage. The project began with the essential first step in residential design: understanding the client, their routines, desires, and aspirations for a home. From this foundation, the planning stage unfolded as an exercise in abstraction, breaking the home into parts to liberate spatial organization and open new opportunities.

Once a general programmatic plan was established, a prescribed mass of 52' × 52' × 34' was introduced to test how it might accommodate myself and my co-designer, Kimber Stewart, in a duplex scenario. This speculative duplex was envisioned as a representation of our design approaches for one another ten years into the future. The mass was carved into, generating spaces tailored to our imagined “client.”

Through iterative development, we produced perspective floor plans, diagrams, renderings, and a physical scale model at ½" = 1'. The physical model served as a study in stick wood framing, engaging both standard and advanced techniques. While the abstract mass initially suspended gravity, the act of building demanded a reconciliation with structural logic, forcing us to consider how framing could make sense within unconventional geometries.

Adding complexity, the project incorporated the constraint of material scarcity. With a limited supply of resources, each iteration required careful refinement to minimize waste and sharpen design decisions. This challenge reinforced the importance of efficiency, adaptability, and precision in architectural practice, while maintaining the freedom of abstract exploration.

Co-Designer: Kimber Stewart
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kilastw/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimber-stewart-22b463192/