A House Precariously Perched 100 Feet in the Air

The University of California San Diego recently got an astounding and mind bending addition… a small cottage perched precariously on the edge of Jacobs Hall many stories in the air (fittingly on Engineering Building 1). The custom-built installation was the brain child of artist Do Ho Suh, who said after conceptualizing the highly complex project that he “never thought it would be realized.” Happily he was mistaken: the building is now a reality, jutting out 100 feet in the air from the corner of its cement host buildings rooftop at a disconcertingly canted angle.

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The installation, called Fallen Star, is more than just a hollow installation to wow viewers from below. Having a very solid structure mounted to its host building, it has now been fully furnished inside with seating, a persian rug, fireplace, chandelier and a television and lights that brighten its interior at night. The fireplace even belches smoke into the air from time to time. The details give the place a cozy home-like feel that easily obscures the reality of its strange location. The piece also includes a neatly planted rooftop garden leading to its entrance, complete with lawn, outdoor furniture, tomato plants and a quickly growing peach tree. If it weren’t for these organic elements, the installation might have a distinctly Oz like feeling, as if it randomly blew in from the distant prairies of Kansas. For more on Do Ho Suh’s sculptural work, see lehmannmaupin.com or see another installation in person at the Tate Modern in London.

The building was installed as part of UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection. See the process below:

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