Over time, most buildings stray from their original programs and develop lives of their own. While the role of the initial designer or user is reduced in the process, the role of a building by contrast becomes more generous, offering up unexpected uses and formal reinterpretations. Even in the timespan of a single year spaces can offer changing and distinct qualities that require that users engage with their lived spaces in different ways. The project, Big space, Little space, takes this transformative nature of space as its premise. Rather than dictating specific uses for designated spaces, a variety of spaces that can trigger unexpected uses are on offer. These encourage formal re-interpretations and continuous construction engagement by the inhabitants, over time. Big space, Little space is an adaptive re-use of a masonry garage built in the 1920s transformed into an apartment dwelling and workshop, tucked away in the middle of a residential block in Buffalo, New York.
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Recognition: Emerging Voices Award 2018 (The Architectural League of New York), AZ Jury Award 2018 and People’s Choice Award (Azure Magazine-Canada)
