Unlocking the Urban Box: A Multi-Use Building for Asheville, NC

Abstract

The city block may be seen as the fabric of the urban environment. It is often a compacted form, divided only by changing facades and party walls. Boxes all in rows. There is an inescapable sense of enclosure. Architecture has the potential to unlock the box, allowing interaction between inside and out.

The opening, be it a window, skylight, or void, becomes the way that the interior and exterior inform one another. The opening must not only relate to the street and city, but also to the sky and sun. It is an intangible element, created by the form and material that reside in proximity to it. Experiencing the intangible allows a connection to be made with the nature of the site. The opening, generated by form, mass, and material, in turn generates, through visual interaction and the play of light, space that informs and transcends.