Positive Negative

Last year left an indelible mark on our perception of shelter. By March, a global pandemic had forced much of the planet's population into lockdown. In late May, curfews were imposed across US cities after protests erupted, ignited by the senseless killing of George Floyd. At the start of June, commercial windows in Seattle's downtown area were shuttered due to burglaries, looting, and property destruction. By September, a massive plume of smoke blanketed the Pacific Northwest with some of the worst air quality on earth. The events that transpired left our office feeling confined to the indoors, contemplating the world beyond.

Positive/ Negative, produced for the 2020 Seattle Design Festival, explores space at the threshold between inside and out. One hundred and twenty-six, one-inch thick honeycomb cardboard pallets, 40 x 48 inches in dimension, were stacked vertically to fill out a storefront window bay in the International District. This pillar of paper obstructed any connection to the outside. Afterwards, the column was dismantled and transported to a local fabrication shop.

Using a laser cutting bed, sequential cuts rotating about two constant vertical axes divide each of the 126 panels into three unique slabs. Drop from the separated sheets were carefully re-stacked back in the window bay but spread five inches apart. Through accretion of the cut panels, two voids of twisting right and left-handed helixes emerge. Dynamic apertures curated views both into and out of the space while emphasizing the separation between.