Art House on the Edge Makes a Statement About ‘Place’
Gravity-defying installation in San Diego features a cottage dangling from a university roof, challenging the notion of home
Artist Do Ho Suh is making people think about the precarious idea of home. His latest work is a powder blue gable roof cottage, the 18th permanent sculpture commissioned by the Stuart Collection at the University of California, San Diego.
Suh, who came to the United States from Seoul in 1991, had to physically and mentally readjust to his new surroundings. The feeling of being plucked out of the comfortable and familiar and lodged into a dizzying unfamiliar environment is what this installation-sculpture, “Fallen Star,” is all about.
Suh, who came to the United States from Seoul in 1991, had to physically and mentally readjust to his new surroundings. The feeling of being plucked out of the comfortable and familiar and lodged into a dizzying unfamiliar environment is what this installation-sculpture, “Fallen Star,” is all about.
The house hangs half-lodged, half-perched on the rooftop of UC San Diego’s engineering building.
From afar, the house almost looks like a toy house, but its foundation is sound: The cottage conforms to California earthquake building codes and is made to withstand winds of up to 100 miles per hour.
Suh, who wanted a New England garden for the cottage’s exterior grounds, worked closely with landscaping firm Spurlock Poirier. African boxwood, Golden Nuggets, snapdragons, creeping thyme and wisteria vines accent the garden.
“Like in most homes, we’ve added a cherry tomato here, a few sunflowers there,” says Stuart Collection Director Mary Beebe.
“Like in most homes, we’ve added a cherry tomato here, a few sunflowers there,” says Stuart Collection Director Mary Beebe.
Simulated smoke in the form of steam rises from the chimney throughout the day. Inside, on the fireplace mantel, the picture frames even show photos of people from the engineering school. Only the large bookcase and desk are bolted to the floor, while the eclectic mix of other furnishings sometimes slip toward the door, but very slowly.
This image lets us appreciate the house’s tilt; it’s cantilevered at a 10 degree angle, while the interior wood floor is tilted by 4 degrees.
A look at the home’s foundation from below can make any pedestrian walk a little bit faster for fear of it falling. But there’s no need to panic — the house is permanently fastened to the building structure and will likely make an impact on generations of students to come.
Suh (right), lives in London and now feels right at home in the cosmopolitan and diverse city. He’s foregone “Fallen Star’s” cottage look for a simpler modern space that he shares with his wife and daughter.
For more information on “Fallen Star,” visit the Stuart Collection website.
For more information on “Fallen Star,” visit the Stuart Collection website.
