Another Primitive Hut

Another Primitive Hut is an indoor treehouse by Jimenez Lai of Bureau Spectacular. It is a structure that considers Marc-Antoine Laugier’s 18th century idea of The Primitive Hut, a house after nature that uses the trees for columns and the forest top as a canopy.

It also considers its historical counterparts, “primitive huts” that followed similar structures, albeit with different materials: the Parthenon, for example, a triangle atop columns with a pediment describing the story arc of the gods, or more recently, Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, a transparent ribbon window atop orientation-less pilotis allowing an observer to see the story of the people inside.

Another Primitive Hut is a welcome chamber for friends and family to a domestic environment. It is a location of social gathering, whether or not anyone wants to gather anymore. It is a project that asks us to consider what it means to be a human at this stage in history, and how we imagine the next chapters ahead.

Another Primitive Hut, Seattle
Program: installation
Architect: Jimenez Lai – Bureau Spectacular
Completion: 2016