Exemplar Sketch

The Wall House was designed in 1972 by John Hejduk for Ed Bye.  The house was originally designed for a site in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  Hejduk essentially designed the house as a concept, but it was actually built on a lakeside site in Groningen, near the Netherlands.  The wall part of the house symbolizes the physical movement from the past into the future, through the vehicle of the present time.  Hejduk also explored the theme of past and present through other motifs such as closed vs. open, and back vs. front.  The wall itself, which is 1 ½ meters thick, symbolizes the present.  It is also the visual backbone of the house, as the abstract spaces seem to hang from it.  In reality, there is a small space between the wall and the spaces.  In The Wall House, Hejduk sought to explore what elements make a house into a home.  He also designed it with the belief that the house could be read as an autobiography of the architect.