Design and architecture inspiration for modern homes from Dwell.

At Home in the Modern World

Dwell › Ideas

Q&A with Adam Kalkin

In the In the Modern World section of our June 2009 issue, I reviewed artist-architect Adam Kalkin’s new monograph, Quik Build: Adam Kalkin's ABC of Container Architecture. The book is a compilation of built and unbuilt projects, all based on using shipping containers as the fundamental building block, with essays by Barry Bergdoll, Will McLean, and Alastair Gordon. I recently spoke with Kalkin about Quik Build, architecture as a perfomative art, and the longevity of building with containers.

Quik Build Book CoverSlideshow

What prompted you to create this book?

At a certain point, all this container stuff built up into a serious body of work. I was in the MoMA Home Delivery show last summer about prefab housing, and the idea was to get the book out in concert with that—I often do a catalogue or book with exhibitions—that would summarize all the work I’ve done.

What was the original idea for the book?

I was going to do a Dr. Suesslike ABC, an A to Z and beyond: A is for Adriance House, B is for something else, R is for Refugee Village, and so on. I was going to do a crazier book than I did but my publisher made an argument for narrowing it down. So in Quik Build, A is the section with the text and essays by Barry Bergdoll, Will McLean, et cetera; B is the projects; and C is the photos that relate to the projects.

QuikBuildAdrianceHouse.jpslideshow

Adriance House by Adam Kalkin. Photo from Quik Build: Adam Kalkin's ABC of Container Architecture. Courtesy of Adam Kalkin.

You’re often described as a performance artist as much as an architect. Do you agree?

I do, because architecture is performance. I record all my client interviews, which are, in a way, a performative interaction. The act of living in architecture is itself performative, too.

What do you like about building with containers?

What I try to prove in this book is that the container is a conceit, something that has manifold meanings. It’s a unit in global exchange; it can be a performance piece; or it can be used to make affordable housing, million-dollar homes; or commercial structures. The thing that’s amazing about all these things is that the spirit is so different in every project. You’re using the same thing but can create so many results—like how a painter uses paint but can paint like Rembrandt or like Jasper Johns.

Do you think building with containers just a fad or does the concept have longevity?

I don’t really know. I think there could be long-term applicability in terms of affordable housing or disaster-relief housing because containers have the unique characteristic of being incredibly mobile. New Orleans could do a ton of stuff with containers. It could also have an urban infill application. Let’s say in Philadelphia or Newark, there are 25-foot-wide lots that are abandoned. You stack three containers together, slam them in there, and you get a three-story unit. Plus, you can construct them off site and therefore don’t have to tie up the area.

On the other hand, I did this suburban house that was proposed almost with a certain amount of irony. I don’t think you’re going to drive into a housing development and see a cul-de-sac full of container homes. The people using containers in building are mostly very sophisticated clients; they’re not, at this point, for every man. If you were able to figure out the manufacturing methods and scale them, you could make containers inexpensive, though right now they’re not.

What’s your favorite project in the book?

The Boite En Valise since I’m actually building it right now. The idea was derived from Marcel Duchamp’s Boite-en-valise, the little museum he made of all his work; It’s very funny. Mine is a little museum of 100 of my works and visitors lie supine and go through the boite on a conveyor belt. I am building it myself, and it should be done by summer.

QuikBuildBoiteEnValiseSpread2.jpgslideshow

Boite en Valise by Adam Kalkin. Page from Quik Build: Adam Kalkin's ABC of Container Architecture. Courtesy of Adam Kalkin.

On your website, Quik Build is listed as available for purchase in its regular form, signed, or scented. Can you really buy a scented edition?

Yes! I’ve also done DNA editions of other books where I have some of my blog, tears, or anything with DNA traces on the book. The scented books have coffee scents, cigar scents, mushroom scents. I do multiple-scent books, which are similar to the way my work is a mixture of incongruous things. These cargo containers are totally redolent with whatever was in them before—pepper, spices—and so you can have the book scented like that, too. I find scent unbelievable rich—and I like the idea that then my book ruins all the other books on your bookcase because it smells.

Click the "View Slideshow" button at the upper right-hand corner of this post to view photos, illustrations, and pages from Quik Build: Adam Kalkin's ABC of Container Architecture.

Related Items

See All

Dwell Cover
Advertising
Advertising
Advertising

Related Products

See More

Latest

See More

Follow

Dwell

Subscribe Today Don't Miss a Word of Dwell
Dwell Cover

$19.95
10 Issues / a Year

Copyright ©2004-2012 Dwell Media LLC. All rights reserved. Dwell, the Dwell logo, Dwell Homes and At Home in the Modern World are registered trademarks of Dwell Media LLC