This thesis is an application of surrealism to architecture. Surrealism is an art & literary movement started in Europe between the world wars. After the chaos of the first world war the surrealist group was disillusioned with the devotion to rationalism that they believed produced the war. The group determined that an opposing philosophy would produce the opposite result. They began to develop an art based on the irrational. Their creativity was derived from chance, group activities, dreams, and other undirected actions. They promoted this as a new way to discover beauty and a foundation for a new way of thinking. The surrealists were prevalent in art and literature, but never integrated themselves into the world of architectural design. This thesis explores the possibilities of using surreal concepts and techniques as an inspiration for design.

The site for this exploration is a fifty foot wide infill lot in an urbanizing Washington, D.C. suburb, Falls Church, Virginia. The art school's program was selected by a Wikipedia random article search and a deck of cards.