Villa in the Sky, Plan

Martin Lockwood-Bean conceived his Villa in the Sky project as an allegorical reference to the African rift valley that cuts from the Red Sea to Zimbabwe. Through a series of watercolor renderings, the motif of the cut forms a diagonal axis of corridors and structural beams transecting a structure that is “grafted” onto an International Style high-rise building in Chicago. Blending the spatial complexity of Constructivist architecture and the high-tech structures of the 1980s, this ambitious project transformed the geometric clarity of such plans into a complex living space that suggests both an amphitheater and a bridge. Martin Lockwood-Bean is a former director of Healthcare Interiors at VOA Associates in Chicago.