HOUSTON & SLABS

ENTROPISM [2007]

[WITH ETHAN FEUER]

The objective of this project is to re-strategize the slab as a spatial interface between architecture, infrastructure, and urbanism. Utilizing contemporary concepts of morphogenesis, physical computation, and digital modeling, the project transforms the “slab” into an affective surface for a medium-high residential resort community on the edge of urban Houston. 

The site consists of two primary manmade gradients: the standard module gradient and the mini module gradient. The standard gradient is densest at the far south side of the site, while the mini gradient is densest at the north side. Three standard modules—two wall-connecting modules plus one hall-connecting module—share a retention pond which follows the geometric logic of their aggregation. As the three-module aggregations begin to break apart in the middle latitudes of the site, the retention ponds gradually become smaller and eventually disappear. On the north side of the site, mini modules attach to the concrete facades of standard modules, thus creating a second manmade gradient in response to the standard gradient on the opposite end of the site. The mini gradient essentially becomes a continuation of the forests on the far north side of the site. When aggregated, the mini modules form sectional canopies which mimic the weaving of overhead tree branches.