Memory House/Desire House

University of Maryland, 2010

This winter-term project is inspired by the Chinese “Desire Houses” made from bamboo and paper – which are created as thankful offerings to previous generations that tied together the past, present and future – and the Yin Yu Tang (Hall of Plentiful Shelter) courtyard house, a 300-year-old house from southeastern Chinese village that was dismantled and rebuilt in the Peabody Essex Museum. The project explored the value of "home".

The project was made a reality by a collaboration of architecture and performance students and involved two courses, an installation, exhibition, and dance performance in the Grand Pavilion of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

Partners: Harold Burgess II, director of the College Park Scholars Arts Program; Sharon Mansur, assistant professor of dance; and University of Maryland Architecture and Dance students; Michael Fischer and John Kucia, Design Assistants; Mike Starghill and Stan Barouh, photographers