Architects: Roundhouse Platform, i/thee
Area: 400 ft²
Year: 2020
Photographs: Neal Lucas Hitch
Manufacturers: Deer Busters, McNeel, Ram Board, Trimaco, Trimble
Category: Other Structures
Design Team: Neal Lucas Hitch, Noémie Despland-Lichtert, Brendan Sullivan Shea, Martin Hitch, Kristina Fisher, Maxime Lefebvre, Julia Manaças, John Robert Craft, Charlotte Craft
Clients: Built for the 2020 Oakes Creek Residency
City: Clarendon
Country: United States
The Agg Hab, short for Aggregate Habitat, is an experimental eco-dwelling designed by i/thee and Roundhouse Platform. Measuring 400 square feet, the structure reimagines architectural construction through the use of papier-mâché as a primary building medium. Over 270 pounds of recycled paper and nearly 200 liters of non-toxic glue were cast into excavated earth molds to create two large shells, which were then inverted and joined to form a semi-subterranean dwelling. The resulting habitat embraces its organic origins, with domed contours that replicate the geometry of the soil from which they were shaped. Light filters through irregular apertures, animating the earthen-toned interior with shifting reflections. More than a shelter, the Agg Hab serves as a prototype exploring alternative, low-impact construction techniques, questioning the permanence of architecture while foregrounding ecological materiality.
The Agg Hab Prototypal Eco-Dwelling challenges conventional assumptions about durability, form, and material in architecture. Conceived as both an installation and a dwelling, the project arose from an interest in working directly with the earth as a mold, allowing the site itself to determine the geometry of the structure. Rather than relying on prefabricated components or industrial processes, the architects excavated mirrored cavities in the ground, into which layers of paper pulp and glue were cast to produce thin, curved shells. Once removed, flipped, and repositioned, the shells transformed the voids into a series of habitable volumes that are simultaneously of the earth and apart from it.
The tactile qualities of the habitat emphasize its organic genesis. Surfaces retain the striations and imperfections of soil, while the natural pigments absorbed by the paper lend the project an earthy patina. Light enters through irregularly placed openings, scattering across the glossy interior and generating an atmosphere at once cavernous and luminous. The dwelling’s modest proportions intensify this spatial effect, producing a sense of enclosure that is both protective and otherworldly.
While ephemeral in material terms, the Agg Hab poses enduring questions about architecture’s role in shaping ecological futures. Its experimental use of recycled and biodegradable materials underscores a commitment to sustainability, while its process-oriented design methodology foregrounds impermanence as an aesthetic and philosophical stance. By collapsing distinctions between earth, form, and shelter, the project proposes a radical rethinking of what it means to build sustainably in a time of environmental urgency.
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Project Location
Address: Clarendon, United States
The location specified is intended for general reference and may denote a city or country, but it does not identify a precise address.
