The Revolving House: A Paradoxical Intersect of Kinetic Architecture and Kinetic Sculpture

Abstract

Where does a structure that is designed for the specific purpose of movement and freedom from the constraints of the site, yet is also so rooted within that site by its own supporting mechanisms, fit into the spectrum of the kinetic, and what does this reveal about the very nature of houses and even architectural discourse as a whole? How is the kinetic spectrum defined? Or rather – how does the kinetic occupy a spectrum at all? The revolving house presents itself as a unique paradigm through which the answers to these questions, and indeed what they mean for the architectural discipline, can be explored. The revolving house also implicitly rebels against and challenges the traditional notion of residential architecture and the basic logic of buildings in general – that is, that buildings are expected to resist movement, be grounded in their foundations, exude stability, embed themselves within the context of their site, and otherwise serve as unchanging and immutable constants. Together, all of these factors combine within the underlying structures and foundation of the revolving house to give an outward appearance that portrays a radical break from the embedded and the stationary, but in fact implicitly relies upon those very same qualities to achieve this break. This inherent paradox of the revolving house is what makes it so integral to the discussion surrounding kinetic architecture and kinetic sculpture. This thesis will explore not only this paradoxical relationship between the revolving house and traditional stationary architecture, but use it as a specific focus to deconstruct the differences between and characteristics of kinetic architecture and kinetic sculpture.