Houses in planned communities often occupy narrow lots, to maximize profit, and include only a handful of architectural plans and design choices. By removing the client from the design process, these communities champion their cohesion through repetition and predetermined and nominal options that give the inhabitants a false sense of customization. Due to the lack of a natural evolution and the suppression of the individual, the planned development disregards the strength of a community that promotes unique ideas and diversity. When the architecture is molded to the user, and not vice versa, is when the architecture gains richness and is both aesthetically and socially successful.
The juxtaposition between the organic and the linear within this work exemplifies the dichotomy between the individual and the planned community. The overlapping architectural plans, illustrated with clear and rigid lines, depict the limited number of designs offered and their recurrence throughout the development. The watercolor, as a fluid and expressive medium, signifies the individual residents and the uniqueness of various household structures, despite inhabiting a community of banal replications.
The mediums used were specifically chosen to elevate the artwork and to reference traditional architectural methods. The watercolors, painted in various hues of blue, reflect conventional blueprints and acknowledge the use of watercolors in pre-digital architectural renderings. The laser cutter, a tool for model building, is used atypically to etch the plans into the painting. The implementation and combination of these architectural devices allows for a more evident and substantial contrast between the organic and the rectilinear, as well as the individual and the planned community.
