Rowhouse On Center

POINT BREEZE

Rowhouse On Center reflects on the desire for independence while grappling with the reality that we are fundamentally interdependent. The thought emerged while my grandmother’s house was essentially being destroyed by a developer, a moment that provoked both grief and fantasy. In response, I imagined a rowhouse supported entirely through a single central load-bearing structure, like the pedestal of a tulip table, free from reliance on adjoining walls or neighboring buildings.

The fantasy was one of total autonomy: a structure that could stand alone, untouched by the actions or failures of others. Yet the idea is architecturally implausible. Rowhouses are defined by shared walls, distributed loads, and mutual dependence. Realizing the impossibility of the design became a way of confronting a larger social truth: no one exists entirely independently. Communities, families, and cities are sustained through systems of support, even when those systems include conflict, compromise, or harmful actors.

The piece holds tension between resistance and acceptance. It mourns the violence of speculative development and displacement while acknowledging that survival requires forms of cooperation and coexistence. The impossible structure becomes a metaphor for the seductive but unattainable fantasy of complete self-sufficiency, a concept which comes in tension with our upcoming 250th anniversary of independence.