T3XTURE No. 5

T3XTURE is an annual, international publication for architects, artists, writers, and designers interested in the haptic in architecture and art. Texture in architecture is the layering of geography, structure, space, constructions, materiality, digital fabrications, passages, ideas, and the movements of human activity in a composition thus determining the overall qualities of a form or place. T3xture seeks to elevate the discourse on texture to the level currently paid to space and tectonics. Each issue collects architectural projects, drawings, poems, and photographs from contributors from all over the world.

In this issue we explore this diad of repose and motion via an interview, several original essays, and real and speculative projects.

“Capturing a Moment,” our interview with novelist, essayist, physicist, and educator, Alan Paige Lightman, covers a broad range of topics in his career and touches on the experiential aspects of repose. To Lightman, renowned physicist and author of Einstein’s Dream” and more recently, Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine, and more, repose is a state of mind.

In “The Ornamentor Within” Ioana Barac discusses how to create an ecosystem of meaningful experiences in an existing lobby space.

“Terra Turrita Felix,” a project by architect, Beniamino Servino architectural practice based in Caserta, Italy, is the focus of our essay on his geological repose to volcanoes, “Vesuvius in Repose.”

“Rising Unity” describes a Traveling Memorial Sculpture for Victims of Opioid Overdose. It was commissioned by Demand Zero & For Cameron and realized by Atelier Cue in 2020.

Nicole Cullinan, who writes on architecture and the arts in Melbourne, Australia asks, “Has Our Love Affair with Open-Plan Living Finally Ended?” After extended lockdowns in Melbourne and with many in the world working from home, is the open-plan becoming obsolete? The lingering question is: can one find repose in a house with no corners?

Miriam Gusevich, of GM2 Architects reflects on the value of repose in times of crisis in a piece titled ”Urban Pentimento: stories of repose, repentance, and repair. ”

“Plug-In Bridge: From Hermes to Hestia.” A project by Vincent Peu Duvallon, DESA Architect, RIBA, Assoc. AIA, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China, transforms an infrastructure into a series of public and resting spaces in their proposal for the valley of Caocun, in the south of China.

In “A Place for Peace: Taming an Urban Mèlange,” architect Khashayar Shahkolahy brings a tranquil respite to the hustle and bustle of city life. His proposal for a nondenominational sanctuary offers harried students refuge in a chaotic urban intersection; instead of disrupting nature on an existing campus lawn, he proposes a calming oasis amidst the chaos.

In response to this issue’s topic, Craig Purcell diagrams a framework for repose and motion in the flat plane of a painting in process. Guidelines forming the framework that carries repose move through time and space.

For Antoine Predock, the body in motion—choreographed in the landscape—is a theme throughout his body of work.

Janet Little Jeffers photographs, appearing in the interview with Alan Lightman, are part of her ongoing body of work that emerged from many hours of hiking in the woods during the months of the COVID-19 pandemic.