hou de sousa's raise/raze claims victory of dupont underground competition

hou de sousa’s raise/raze claims victory of dupont underground competition
all images courtesy of hou de sousa

new york based architecture studio hou de sousa has been announced as the winner for the international re-ball competition, hosted by dupont underground in collaboration with the national building museum and the phillips collection. their winning proposal, ‘raise/raze’ is scheduled to open to the public at dupont underground in washington DC on april 30th, 2016.

grove colonnade

drawing from the competition brief’s emphasis on re-purposing previously used materials, the design team focussed on creating a dynamic, reconfigurable system; as opposed to a specific, non-versatile form. ‘raise/raze’ is an assembly block system that is not only totally alterable, but exceptionally strong and light-weight as well. the project is based on a hexagonal configuration of plastic balls formed in 27-piece cubes. velcro placed on the corners of each cube allows for attachment and detachment from other units; in effect providing the building blocks for a real-life version of minecraft.

shell valley

the site itself — DC’s iconic but largely dormant dupont circle — is a long, slightly curved hallway. ‘raise/raze’ divides the space into a series of distinct zones that present visitors with various situations and scenarios. these include: a cave of text, a forest-esque colonnade of trunks and stumps, a valley of shells, and another of domes, and a group of scaled down versions of the city’s famous structures (including the white house and supreme court building). all of these, of course, can be further altered and played with by the public. ‘raise/raze’ opens april 30th, 2016 with a full-scale, live-action performance at dupont underground in washington DC.

text space

box sponges

mock-up studies

installation layout

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions  feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: nick brink | designboom