Projects

Pavilosta Poet Huts Competition, 2019

This competition called for designs of temporary housing for visiting poets to a site near the sea in Pavilosta, Latvia.

The Poet Huts are designed as metaphorical boats; the site as a sea; and the auxiliary buildings as a dock.  This is in part because of Latvia’s seagoing history, and in part because the metaphor of a boat at sea provides a kind of isolation ideal for the creation of poetry.

The Huts

The huts are built of cold-molded plywood.  Cold molding is a boatbuilding construction method where layers of plywood are laminated together with epoxy.  When the expoxy sets, the plywood will hold the curve and no internal frames are necessary.

The huts sit on skis, which allow them to be moved about the site as the poet wishes.

The huts contain batteries which enable them to be self-sufficient when away from the dock for up to a week at a time.  Eventually they need to return to the dock to recharge from the solar panel array at each berth. 

The Site 

The site is maintained as a meadow filled with native grasses, and is bush-hogged once a year in early spring to control for trees.  The huts are mobile, and are pulled by a tractor from their home position at the “dock” out to wherever the poet chooses.  They can remain at the dock, they can raft up with another hut, or they can get as far removed from other huts as possible.

When a hut is pulled through the meadow, it leaves a track in the grass.  The track gradually fades over time.

The Auxiliary Buildings

The Host Accomodations, Dining Room & Kitchen, and Multifunctional Space all share construction with the huts, but are permanently located at the dock.