Lucid stead, a project made by Phillip Smith, is meant to showcase its environment of Joshua Tree in California where it is situated. This house dissolves within a desert focusing the attention on the surroundings. Different sources of light illuminate the pace of time and highlight the difference in perception through colour in order to directly transform the exterior of the building as the day goes by; it is a visual representation of time and space in one single chameleon-like structure. Spatial and optic illusions are combined for the audience to become fascinated again with their surroundings and pay attention to it; unlike during the busy hectic days, where we spend most of our days, living inside of our minds oblivious to the environment around us.

The stead is awakening the awareness of the desert and its transformations (pace of change) during the day. The structure is focusing viewers' attention on the outside by using mirror as a medium and its reflection on the surroundings, forcing its audience to look not at the building but at the desert and how they are situated within it. Gazing at the building and seeing the reflection of themselves in the desert inspires the viewers to think about the spatial relationship between the building, the viewer, and the desert; as well as other possibly more spiritual interpretations of humans and their environment (humans and nature to be more specific). Perhaps gaining a comprehension of where the viewer fits in the grand scheme of things by emotionally detaching themselves as though examining yourself as a different person.

LUCID STEAD - PHILLIP K SMITH III

ARBUZINA EKATERINA

The location of the project is no accident -- a desert is a great choice in order to obtain the desired effect of accentuating nature by taking people away from the crammed cities as well as from its over stimulating atmosphere; desert's emptiness, quietness, and isolation allows for people to concentrate on the project's main idea without any distractions while producing a bigger impact using lights, where in the city they do not have any significance at all due to the countless amount of them.Mirrors make an illusion of immateriality of the building (house dissolving within a desert), thus creating a spatial conflict between the viewer and the object, which in turn heightens the perception of spatial geometry.

Mirrors are interacting with the sunlight, and the stead visually changes according to the sun's movement during the day, accentuating time through the visual change by changing colour. Light on the windows further promote the change that is happening during at night by slowly shifting colours and the intensity in order to exhibit the darkness of the sky (the darker the sky -- the brighter the colours).

According to the author, this project forces the people to truly see and feel the pace of change and interact with the desert through the stead while observing it; interaction with the environment through the building as a reference point. This project was meant to be looked at only from the outside and the interior of this dwelling is not available to the viewer, promoting the idea of focusing on the outside (desert) and not the interior of the house -- by fully eliminating access to it.

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The building is reflecting on its surroundings, urging people to do the same

References

Baldwin, Eric. "Lucid Stead: A “Disappearing” Cabin of Mirrors" 07 Dec 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed 24 Mar 2014. <http://www.archdaily.com/?p=455212>

King, Steven. Lucid Stead. 2013. Royale projects: contemporary art. JPEG. <http://royaleprojects.com/lucid-stead>