Program:  Initially conceived in 1987, the project proposes the placement of living quarters within the confines of a typical roof-top advertisement billboard to include living, kitchen, dining, bedroom, studio/workshop spaces, and rooftop horticultural/living area.  Structure must incorporate active and passive solar energy, passive water conservation, and natural cooling and heating systems.

Social Polemic - Identity in Architecture, Consumerism, Gender in Architecture:  The project deals with the notions of acceptance, inclusion, and abstraction. 

As a commentary on Architectural Identity, the billboard is a unique urban artifact in that it is neither infrastructure nor building - its signage.  If treated as a ‘found urban object’ and occupied, does this (re)define it as architecture?  As with most of the building in Times Square (NYC) where its status as architecture is irrelevant to its status as signage, does this (re)define it as well?  In this regard, the Billboard seeks acceptance as both and neither - simultaneously.

As a commentary on Consumerism, the Billboard House asks if ‘commerce is the current medium of exchange between humans’ if our homes are simply representations of status?  To this end, are our  current homes (and their addresses) simply ‘billboards’ for our own social and economic status?  In this regard, the Billboard seeks acceptance as both and neither - simultaneously.

As a commentary on Gender in Architecture, the Billboard House proposes an ‘introverted’ and ‘extroverted’ representation - one categorized as the feminine and the other categorized as the masculine.  How far can the introverted life be safely exposed in an extroverted manner? Is exposure of the introverted ‘self’ safe to be represented externally, or does it have to be hidden for lack of acceptance?  In this regard, the Billboard seeks acceptance as both and neither - simultaneously.

Architectural Abstract:  The idea of habitable space within the confines of an advertisement billboard brings to mind several notions about the rituals of seclusion and the narratives between architecture, landscape, applied use, and alternative atmospheres.  The billboard stands as a reclusive urban object and is seen in and of itself as a solitary figure - seemingly as both object and background.  By its own nature, the billboard is less a 'natural' setting for living, and therefore gives itself much more readily to the contemplative setting of de-familiarization.  Although the billboard does not de-'familiarize the spaces and events that take place within, it does, nevertheless, de-familiarize our normal behavior and call to attention our own need to abstract what might otherwise be ‘natural’ activities.

In context to its' seclusive setting, the notions of sequence and passage between physical and mental atmospheres become pictorial if not also programmatic.  The uses, activities, and incidents, used as parameters for program, can be superimposed on the spatial sequences and therefore suggest a fictitious collection of mental environments.  The replacement of existing mental conventions and transfer of ideas and images dilate the correspondences between normative sequences and formative symbols.

The narrative between pictorial and programatic sequences, as well as the dialogue between architecture and urban landscape become, therefore, a forum for investigation into the intersections where function as imperative is transformed to fit a new set of meaning.