Victoria Meyers : Invisible Buildings

hMa Archive : Academy of American Poets

PHOTO BY PETER AARON FOR ESTO

Academy of American Poets is a project that hMa completed in 2000.  Poets and poetry mean a great deal to us as architects.  hMa considers architectural space-making as poetry that is made in solid form. 

hMa started the design process for this project with a poem:  SUR cen SURE -  a poem by Marcel Duchamp.  We started the project with this poem, and taking Duchamp’s method of using found objects and random selection as a means of designed the space for the Academy of American Poets.

 "SUR cen SURE" A POEM BY MARCEL DUCHAMP; MODEL PHOTO

hMa’s final design was a ‘musical arrangement’ of book shelves and cases that define the edge of offices, and a library and performance space for poetry readings.  hMa attempted to create an architectural alphabet of spatial poetry for the Poets, and a new center for poetry reading.

The Academy of American Poets was constructed from book walls:  walls of windows; walls of books;  a wall of simultaneity.

PHOTO BY PETER AARON FOR ESTO

Click here to see more of the Academy of American Poets on hanrahanMeyers.com.

White Space / Ash 4 Ways featured in New Publicationminimalist architecture

White Space / Ash 4 Ways

hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) are pleased to announce that their project 'White Space apartment' is featured in a new book published by Loft Publications.  The 204-page book feature 30 different projects of contemporary residential designs.  The book is written by Ethel Baraona and Lilliana Bollini.

White Space (Ash 4 Ways) is a Manhattan apartment where ash is used in four different states of finish within a minimalist white envelope.

The original space was an apartment that was chopped into many spaces.  hMa emptied the space to create a maximum infiltration of light and views of Central Park.  The intention was to create a space that replicates the complex beauty of Nature in Central Park.  The views extend one’s experience of the natural materials within the apartment into the Park beyond.

The goal was to create space that flows and accommodates the needs for living with a great sense of comfort.  Although the space is completely ‘white’, the various textures, tones and materials create and overall sense of warmth.  The free-form pieces of ash bring a sense of ‘Nature’ from the Park into the space. 

Read more about hMa's 'White Space' apartment here.

View the book at Amazon.com.

White Space / Ash 4 Ways spread