MARTINS STARKS 2019-20 YEAR 2
Where the Spirits Come to Play
A mixed-use community centre on the fringes of Chicago’s L-train line offers a space to reignite the unity and intergenerational ties within the Algonquian people, previously exiled from their native lands. Through the shared practice of woodcarving, all ages come together in the ritual of chronicling – and reasserting – their place in the world.
Through the seasonal acts of timber ‘roughing’ and ‘finishing’, the building adjusts to accommodate the shifting ceremonies of the Algonquin Year. Varying in scale between vast carved rooms and detailed engravings, these architectural acts manifest as shifts in resolution, translating an age-old analogue craft through contemporary digital fabrication tools. The hybridisation is part re-invention, part showcase, bringing the traditional vernacular of the Great Lakes back to the land it once defined.
Tutors: Greg Storrar, Farlie Reynolds
