Architectonic Ambiguity

The beauty and mystery of architectural illusions

Mixed media accordion book, two-sided, 12 panels
Folded: 7" H x 5.5" W x 1.5" D
Unfolded: 7" H x 30" W 

This book was inspired by a stack of architectural images I had collected over the years. All played with perspective and illusion, causing me to pause and ponder exactly what I was looking at.

As I began creating the book, I found myself taking the images apart and reconstituting them in unexpected ways to push the confusion, illusion and play even further. 

I also found myself trolling through websites related to architecture and design, even geometry. There I was delighted to discover just how beautiful and poetic some of the terminology (and concepts) could be. Such "finds" populate the book. Here are just a few:

• A line is a one-dimensional row of closely spaced dots that extends infinitely in two directions.
• Good architecture is like a good therapy session, a good marriage, a good poem –  gently and almost invisibly allowing you to be you, as flawed and as beautiful as you are. – Robert Sullivan
• Form begins with the point that sets itself in motion. 
• The most common patterns in nature are symmetry, spirals, fractals and tessellations.
• One of the great beauties of architecture is that each time it is like life starting all over again. - Renzo Piano