Retrospect 2016 – Re:Arrange

Every year, NorthPark Center and the Dallas AIA invite the Dallas architecture community to create art installations to be placed in the shopping center for two weeks. At this year’s Retrospect exhibit on display at NorthPark Center, the theme was Re:Arrange – Architecture Demarest created an installation meant to inspire the public to engage with and manipulate their environment.

Our entry featured a 6’ x 6’ cubic structure with four themed walls; the Collage, Word Cloud, Presentation and Logo walls.

The Collage wall features a collage composed of our team’s sketches. The public is invited to sketch on the blank tiles and rearrange them as they imagine. By sketching and rearranging the tiles of the collage, the community becomes a part of a larger metaphor by manipulating the morphology of the built environment. The community, in effect, visualizes the influence that many small adjustments can have on the larger urban form.

As one explores the other side of the installation, they learn how we describe our roles as architects through the phrases in the Word Cloud. This narrates our daily lives and our multifaceted roles as professionals.

The Presentation wall showcases our projects that introduce our work to the community – inspiring everyone with the things we create and our philosophy as an architecture firm.

Through the process of sketching, rearranging, and learning, the community gets a better understanding about our creative process in the field of architecture.

Special thanks to everyone who contributed time, energy and creativity to this project including:

Design Team:

Ernesto Gonzales, Mabel Loh, Matt Stratmann

Construction Volunteers led by Matt Stratmann: 

Brendan Cooper, Joe Engelhardt, Adolfo Flores, Ernesto Gonzales, Priya Iyer, Franky Lee, Mabel Loh, Bianca Salas, Matt Stratmann, Tyler Thompson

Video created and edited by: 

Scott Roberson

Sketches contributed by: 

Brendan Cooper, Dian Darmawi, David Demarest, Joe Engelhardt, Adolfo Flores, Ernesto Gonzales, Priya Iyer, Franky Lee, Mike Lerner, Mabel Loh, Jerry Lowrey, Scott Roberson, Matt Stratmann, Tyler Thompson, David Willet

Collage edited and created by: 

Mabel Loh