“Therefore it was the discovery of fire that originally gave rise to the coming together of men, to the deliberative assembly, and to social intercourse.” R. D. Dripps

The Box is an attempt to understand the role intimacy once played in architecture. Before electricity, we used the power of fire and candles to light our way. Once the sun had fallen below the horizon, the world would flicker to the same rhythm of the candles lit in everyone’s houses. People slowly moved through their houses, navigating from memory and the faint light given be a candle in hand. This dim light forced people to be more aware of their surroundings and the architecture that they inhabited. We had a more intimate understanding of the space around us as we purposely moved around. Our world was slowly revealed to us as the candles light washed the area around us. Now, as we flip a switch the world is revealed to us all at once. There is a sensory overload as all suddenly becomes visible. We no longer have the chance to slowly understand the world around us as we are forced to see it all at once.

The Box also serves as an homage to the process and ritual that was seen in architecture of the past. In a world where things change so quickly, architecture is forced to do the same. Much of architecture has evolved into glorified, multi-use spaces. Architecture is just as much shaped by what happened within the space as the actions of those using the space itself. In the past, action and architecture coincided to create a deep sense of place. Spaces were not designed so that anything could happen, but so that a specific, important action could take place.