Para: Haffenden House

Para-Project completed in Syracuse, New York, a writing studio for two poets referencing Gianni Pettena’s installation Ice House from 1972: a blank spot within the repetitive image of “house”.

The Haffenden House, designed by Para-Project, is a writing studio for two poets in upstate New York and includes a garage/breezeway at ground level, a library and writing space on the second level, and a curved/soft reading room on the third level. The project finds itself within the suburban realm, referencing Gianni Pettena’s Ice House from 1972, as a blank spot within the repetitive image of “house.”

The poet’s studio uses a translucent silicon-impregnated fabric skin for a lightfilled writing room without the visual distraction of the suburbs. Inside the blank box (between the second and third levels) the section produces a bowl-shaped division, maximizing indirect light for the second level and avoiding any association with the landscape on the third.

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Para-Project, Haffenden House, Syracuse, New York © PARA

Para-Project, Haffenden House, Syracuse, New York © PARA

On the left: Para Project, Haffenden House, Syracuse, New York © PARA. On the right: Para Project, Haffenden House, Syracuse, New York. Photo Nathan Radar © PARA

Haffenden House, Syracuse, New York
Program: Writing studio, reading room
Architects: Para-Project
Project Team: Jon Lott, Hilary Pinnington, Paul Kneeply
Client: private
Area: 105 sqm
Completion: 2014