Atlas of Remoteness: Midwest USA stems from the Institute for Linear Research’s extensive exploration along a unique path known as the LINE. The LINE originated from a connection between Liechtenstein and Venice, where it was exhibited in 2018. THE LINE now continues all around the world. The latest volume traces the LINE through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. The authors documented those experiences through photographs, maps, sketches, and essays.

The journey through the Midwest along the LINE is an attempt to understand not just the physical surroundings, but also the concept of ‘remoteness’ as it is constructed in the built environment. The LINE is a tool to link diverse regions and invite a fresh perspective on local areas. Due to the arbitrary angle of the LINE, intersections and adjacencies come into sharp focus through linear research. The LINE intersects at odd angles with spiderwebbed systems of pipelines, private property lines in stark Jeffersonian grid, violently breached and reconstructed treaty lines, interstate highways, rivers and watersheds, and complex networks of historic and contemporary space.

In the Midwest USA, the LINE brings questions of remoteness into conversation with ideas of settler colonialism, anthropogenic climate change, and territorial conventions. Each point of intersection becomes an opportunity to bring focus to things outside of the usual gaze — anywhere the LINE touches is a connection to a planetary gesture, larger than the sum of its segments.


 



The Amazon Archive- a Collaboration with Hana Bushyhead & Mary Begley

August 2019 saw more fires in the Amazon rainforest than any other month on record.

The Amazon became less a physical place than the territoriality of global sustainability, performing a new agenda of care.


The trans amazonian highway network presents itself in satellite imagery in what is known as fishbone development. At this scale, the terrain matters less than it’s connectedness to the rest of the world. 

Biomes and anthromes are a navigation metric that identify the convergence of anthropogenic, biological, riparian, and geographic boundaries.



Cyclical, anthopogenic activity is tied to climate. Burning in the dry season, growing in the rain, avoiding travel in monsoon.








Our proposal oscillates between acting earnestly, being utopian, and offering critique. The Amazonian Archive pauses the cycle of anthropogenic and ecologic changes. It saves the Amazon, not for re-generating later, but to share knowledge.











The Amazon Archive- a Collaboration with Hana Bushyhead & Mary Begley
Fall 2019 -Design Studio with Vahan Misakyan

Modular Passive House

Prefabricated modules are assembled on a raised platform. Land leased from the Bureau of Land Management allows homeowners to own their home and lease their land. 

Climate adaptive strategies like cooling towers, sun-adjusted roof angles, integrated rainwater collection, and raised piers make this home suitable for the desert.






Modular Passive House
Spring 2019 -  Passive Design Studio with Christine Albertsson