Quonset Tent, 2016

‘The Quonset Hut is a base utilitarian structure, with all of the intelligent economy of military design. Used in numerous ways: in temporary housing, public works, and on Antarctica, the Quonset form is efficient, designed to withstand extreme weather and winds, and simple to manufacture. It evokes a classic American west coast design. I want to design a tent platform as a structure with two states: as a skeleton, an open-air framework – a roof would have been too oppressive and would have broken the space – which can be ‘permanently’ installed as a space, a stage, a sculpture, and, occasionally, as an enclosed space, a tent large enough to sleep a family. Not quite architecture, it is a hybrid structure, with different things at different times. In a permanent installation it could include pier footings, a second, fixed awning roof, a wood stove in the place where the tree trunk is now. The modular system suggests different scenarios and interpretations: it is an ephemeral habitat and a temporary space to sleep.’
– Oscar Tuazon

Oscar Tuazon (born 1975 in Seattle) works with architectural and social experiments, particularly relevant to our current climate crisis, with his do-it-yourself, nomadic approach. His hand-built sculptures are often quasi-functional objects or models of other spaces. The construction process can often be seen as a performative part of Tuazon’s work, as he applies the techniques of Land Art and Minimalism in improvised collaborations with designers, engineers, and builders to produce large-scale installations and public projects. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

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