Contract - January/February 2016 - 120

INTERIORS AWARDS

Student
Dace Sūna

Escape Folly

By Hayley Arsenault
Renderings by
Dace Sūna

School
Fashion Institute
of Technology
Proposed Location
Brooklyn, New York
120

Emphasizing frivolity, Fashion Institute of Technology graduate
Dace Sūna explored folly in architecture in her senior thesis project.
Sūna focused on the concept as a useful aspect of design, allowing
meaning to be determined in the eyes of the beholder. Imagining
an environment that celebrates the value of purposelessness, Sūna
created conceptual renderings of a space that provides a refuge
from the confinements and consumerist sensibilities of everyday
life in New York.
"It's a dream in the city of dreams," Sūna says. "Every day,
we are surrounded by consumerism. Escape Folly is a reaction to
how we lead our lives." Originally from Latvia, Sūna moved to New
York to pursue a bachelor's degree in interior design, and she credits
the captive feeling that can dominate life in the city as the inspiration
behind her thesis project. "For a New Yorker to get out of the city, you
need to make a real effort," Sūna says. "The getaway becomes another
thing to do, another thing to buy. Escape Folly is accessible and free.
It's not advertised, so only New Yorkers would know about it."
Sūna selected an abandoned grain elevator in Red Hook,
Brooklyn, near the mouth of the Gowanus Canal, as the site of her
proposed project. Built in 1922 and abandoned in 1965, the grain
elevator is a massive structure with 54 silos. Referencing the
structure's long history along Brooklyn's industrial waterfront, Sūna
chose the "useless monster of a structure," as she puts it, because
its prominent profile is highly visible from multiple points.
From outside, a visual slice runs down the center, dividing
the structure and creating a gap to enter through. Escape Folly
consists of a succession of interior spaces that are punctured
by 5-foot-wide silos. Fashioning a new purpose for the grain elevator,
Sūna finds value in its futility. Each space within the sequence
is intended to offer a retreat from the routine stressors of the city.
Once inside, the first space encountered is Pond, a room
flooded by cleansing salt water dispensed from the collection
of silos above. This space is designed to wash away the city's cover
of dust and allow visitors to float in the water. The exploration of
Escape Folly continues with Woods, where visitors can wander; Foam,

to activate their sense of touch; Pit, a place to gather; and Pillow,
for sleep. Finally, the last room in the sequence is BI, a heavenlike
environment that embodies the ultimate intent of the project.
Providing refuge from the everyday tensions of city life, Escape
Folly narrates a series of interiors, each one embodying Sūna's values
as a designer and resident of New York. Beautifully crafted, expressive
renderings depict the project's imaginative concepts, articulating
the activation of the senses that it ambitiously proposes to achieve.
Since graduating, Sūna continues to explore the design of
interiors in her current pursuits, working in New York as a freelance
rendering and modeling designer, assisting with exhibition and
parametric sculpture installations, and fabricating lighting fixtures
for the Brooklyn-based design shop Workstead. Adjusting her
approach to life in the city, she says, "I'm trying to find things I love
to do so I don't feel confined and I would not feel the urge to escape.
I'm still exploring and figuring out what space means to me and
what approach I want to take." c

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Contract - January/February 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - January/February 2016

Contract - January/February 2016
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Columnist: Rethinking Practice Through Business Model Innovation
Product Focus: New Year's Resolution
Designer of the Year: Todd Heiser
Legend Award: Stanley Felderman & Nancy Keatinge
Annual Interiors Awards
Adaptive Reuse
Education
Entertainment
Exhibition
Healthcare
Historic Restoration
Hotel
Office: Large
Office: Small
Public/Civic
Restaurant
Retail
Student
Sustainable
Sources
Ad Index
Installation: Given the Chance to Dream, Legend Stanley Felderman Launched his Career with the Fabergé Headquarters
Contract - January/February 2016 - Intro
Contract - January/February 2016 - Contract - January/February 2016
Contract - January/February 2016 - Cover2
Contract - January/February 2016 - 1
Contract - January/February 2016 - 2
Contract - January/February 2016 - 3
Contract - January/February 2016 - 4
Contract - January/February 2016 - 5
Contract - January/February 2016 - Contents
Contract - January/February 2016 - 7
Contract - January/February 2016 - 8
Contract - January/February 2016 - 9
Contract - January/February 2016 - 10
Contract - January/February 2016 - 11
Contract - January/February 2016 - 12
Contract - January/February 2016 - 13
Contract - January/February 2016 - 14
Contract - January/February 2016 - 15
Contract - January/February 2016 - 16
Contract - January/February 2016 - 17
Contract - January/February 2016 - Editorial
Contract - January/February 2016 - 19
Contract - January/February 2016 - 20
Contract - January/February 2016 - 21
Contract - January/February 2016 - Industry News
Contract - January/February 2016 - 23
Contract - January/February 2016 - 24
Contract - January/February 2016 - 25
Contract - January/February 2016 - 26
Contract - January/February 2016 - 27
Contract - January/February 2016 - 28
Contract - January/February 2016 - 29
Contract - January/February 2016 - Columnist: Rethinking Practice Through Business Model Innovation
Contract - January/February 2016 - 31
Contract - January/February 2016 - 32
Contract - January/February 2016 - 33
Contract - January/February 2016 - Product Focus: New Year's Resolution
Contract - January/February 2016 - 35
Contract - January/February 2016 - 36
Contract - January/February 2016 - 37
Contract - January/February 2016 - 38
Contract - January/February 2016 - 39
Contract - January/February 2016 - 40
Contract - January/February 2016 - Designer of the Year: Todd Heiser
Contract - January/February 2016 - 42
Contract - January/February 2016 - 43
Contract - January/February 2016 - 44
Contract - January/February 2016 - 45
Contract - January/February 2016 - 46
Contract - January/February 2016 - 47
Contract - January/February 2016 - 48
Contract - January/February 2016 - 49
Contract - January/February 2016 - 50
Contract - January/February 2016 - 51
Contract - January/February 2016 - 52
Contract - January/February 2016 - 53
Contract - January/February 2016 - Legend Award: Stanley Felderman & Nancy Keatinge
Contract - January/February 2016 - 55
Contract - January/February 2016 - 56
Contract - January/February 2016 - 57
Contract - January/February 2016 - 58
Contract - January/February 2016 - 59
Contract - January/February 2016 - 60
Contract - January/February 2016 - 61
Contract - January/February 2016 - 62
Contract - January/February 2016 - 63
Contract - January/February 2016 - 64
Contract - January/February 2016 - 65
Contract - January/February 2016 - 66
Contract - January/February 2016 - 67
Contract - January/February 2016 - 68
Contract - January/February 2016 - 69
Contract - January/February 2016 - Annual Interiors Awards
Contract - January/February 2016 - 71
Contract - January/February 2016 - Adaptive Reuse
Contract - January/February 2016 - 73
Contract - January/February 2016 - 74
Contract - January/February 2016 - 75
Contract - January/February 2016 - Education
Contract - January/February 2016 - 77
Contract - January/February 2016 - 78
Contract - January/February 2016 - 79
Contract - January/February 2016 - Entertainment
Contract - January/February 2016 - 81
Contract - January/February 2016 - 82
Contract - January/February 2016 - 83
Contract - January/February 2016 - Exhibition
Contract - January/February 2016 - 85
Contract - January/February 2016 - 86
Contract - January/February 2016 - 87
Contract - January/February 2016 - Healthcare
Contract - January/February 2016 - 89
Contract - January/February 2016 - 90
Contract - January/February 2016 - 91
Contract - January/February 2016 - Historic Restoration
Contract - January/February 2016 - 93
Contract - January/February 2016 - 94
Contract - January/February 2016 - 95
Contract - January/February 2016 - Hotel
Contract - January/February 2016 - 97
Contract - January/February 2016 - 98
Contract - January/February 2016 - 99
Contract - January/February 2016 - Office: Large
Contract - January/February 2016 - 101
Contract - January/February 2016 - 102
Contract - January/February 2016 - 103
Contract - January/February 2016 - Office: Small
Contract - January/February 2016 - 105
Contract - January/February 2016 - 106
Contract - January/February 2016 - 107
Contract - January/February 2016 - Public/Civic
Contract - January/February 2016 - 109
Contract - January/February 2016 - 110
Contract - January/February 2016 - 111
Contract - January/February 2016 - Restaurant
Contract - January/February 2016 - 113
Contract - January/February 2016 - 114
Contract - January/February 2016 - 115
Contract - January/February 2016 - Retail
Contract - January/February 2016 - 117
Contract - January/February 2016 - 118
Contract - January/February 2016 - 119
Contract - January/February 2016 - Student
Contract - January/February 2016 - 121
Contract - January/February 2016 - 122
Contract - January/February 2016 - 123
Contract - January/February 2016 - Sustainable
Contract - January/February 2016 - 125
Contract - January/February 2016 - 126
Contract - January/February 2016 - 127
Contract - January/February 2016 - Sources
Contract - January/February 2016 - 129
Contract - January/February 2016 - 130
Contract - January/February 2016 - 131
Contract - January/February 2016 - 132
Contract - January/February 2016 - 133
Contract - January/February 2016 - Ad Index
Contract - January/February 2016 - 135
Contract - January/February 2016 - Installation: Given the Chance to Dream, Legend Stanley Felderman Launched his Career with the Fabergé Headquarters
Contract - January/February 2016 - Cover3
Contract - January/February 2016 - Cover4
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