A Cast of Things (Bulthaup)


Location: Chicago, IL
Year: 2017
Status: Complete


Images and ornamentation decorate the niches and alcoves of Bavarian rococo churches. Termed “micromegalithic” by the German art historian Hans Sedlmayr, these dense arrangements of paintings and sculpture imply towns or even entire worlds teeming with familiar objects and characters – their outer surfaces visible to the naked eye, but their deeper reaches and folds are impossible to discern, implying yet more extraordinary and fantastical architecture just outside of our immediate purview.





A Cast of Things was a series of models and drawings that investigated the agglomerations of decorative stucco at an existing rococo church in Osterhofen, Germany. Through various models and drawings of the church’s adornments, the LADG attempted to reveal the architectural possibilities beneath the surface, expanding the surface decoration into proposals for occupiable space.





At Bulthaup Chicago, the LADG presented three models, built like totems from 3D prints and stock materials from building supply catalogs (acrylic tubes, nylon blocks, brass fittings, wood blocks), and four drawings printed on aluminum panels. A large-scale model investigating the same rococo church was concurrently on view at the Chicago Architecture Biennial.





Project Team: William Adams, Jeff Burgess, Mad Lenburg, Evan Orf, Madelyn Willey

"A Cast of Things (bulthaup)" was presented by THIS X THAT and bulthaup Chicago. Photos courtesy of Brian Griffin.