Thom Mayne, Andrew Zago

Mayne's design for his own home began with the insertion of eleven disused mechanical objects into the existing structure of a conventional frame house. These alien fragments are positioned to activate and redefine the regular spaces of the original house, and Mayne creates subtle connections between them. Each piece is reprogrammed as a functional element—a stair or fireplace, for example—and remains in the altered space as an artifact of the design process.
In order to represent the complex configuration of elements within the house's interior effectively, Mayne and Zago developed two graphic innovations. First, all sections and elevations are taken at an oblique angle to the primary axes of the building, slicing across the house diagonally to expose new relationships not prescribed by the rectilinear geometry of the existing structure. Second, two representations are included on each drawing—a plan, section, or elevation of the house and an isometric study of one of the eleven inserted objects. Each detailed study of an object is positioned on the page relative to its location in the house, to expose the spatial ramifications. The drawing becomes a palimpsest in which layers of information unfold, creating a spatial experience on the page.