Kuindzhi Art Museum. Mariupol, Ukraine. A digital reconstruction project with Dmytro Kifuliak, Lviv, Ukraine. Completion date: March 21, 2023 — the 1 year anniversary of the Russian airstrike.

In March 2022, the Ukranian cultural site dedicated to the life and career of artist Arkhip Kuindzhi (1842–1910) was destroyed in a Russian airstrike. In response, House Museum hosts a collaboration, between Ukranian designer Dmytro Kifuliak and Evan Curtis Charles Hall, that memorializes the historic site and legacy of Kuindzhi. During this time of war, the project has functioned as a virtual platform for communicating across cultures and geopolitical boundaries.

Known for his light-filled canvases, Arkhip Kuindzhi was a part of the 19th-century Russian Realist art movement known as the Wanderers. He is referred to by some historians as the "Master of Light." In a contemporary age, where light emits from a multiplicity of screens, the project utilizes digitally rendered glass to reflect, refract, and amplify this techno-light. Using only .jpg images as a reference to the original structure, the work rebuilds a photogrammetric likeness of its former glory. The haunting presence of the glass Kuindzhi Museum façade invokes questions about historical erasure, fragility and visibility, and looks to a future where cultural assets exist solely in a digital domain.

Henry O. Tanner House. 2908 West Diamond St. Philadelphia, PA 19121

"In August 2021, the Department of Licenses and Inspection (L&I) deemed the Henry O. Tanner House at 2908 W. Diamond Street in North Philadelphia as an unsafe structure with a potential to be salvaged. Though listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, the house's condition had greatly deteriorated due to years of neglect. Recognizing the importance of the Henry O. Tanner House in not only art history, but also Philadelphia history, an all-volunteer group of local African-American preservation advocates came together to spearhead preservation efforts for the house." - Center For the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites, University of Pennsylvania School of Design 

Introduced by the historic preservation agency, Save Our Sites, House Museum works to support the mission of Friends of the Tanner House by envisioning a multi-story installation to activate the former dwelling place of the acclaimed African American painter, Henry Ossawa Tanner. Forthcoming architectural proposals include an interior amphitheater, family archive, social parlor, and "works by Tanner" viewing room.

Donate directly to Friends of the Tanner House: https://savethetannerhouse.org

Builders: Marcos Hering, Austin Mayer, AIA, and Evan Curtis Charles Hall. Additional architectural renderings by House Museum available upon request.

House Museum's panoramic view playground. A proposed installation, for the Philadelphia Housing Authority and Seybert Foundation, that seeks to provide Philadelphia youth with access to a safe and elevated line of sight.  

"The psychic space of a young person can be limited by what they see and the environments that they traverse. Something as simple as watching the sun set behind the horizon is not a public spectacle, but rather something that has become a luxury afforded to those of privilege and power. None of the 300+ parks or playgrounds, offered by Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, provide youth with the ability to see beyond their neighborhood or beyond the city lines. Developers have denied youth from the rooftops, reserving this real estate for bars, restaurants, and private residences. Yet, we believe that House Museum’s panoramic view playground will stand as a sanctuary and a monument of hope. Its visibility will remind the city that the children are here. In this new and transportive environment, youth will play in the heights—elevated to an imaginative place where they can see a new future." Reference site: Vaux Big Picture High School

Blue World Gallery with Kaja Silverman. An online platform where artworks are reconfigurable and group conversations, lectures, and performances can take place. Modeled in part after the Museo Nacional del Prado, Spain. 

Builders: Austin Mayer, Marcos Hering, Nathan Gassaway, Dingaloo, and Evan Curtis Charles Hall.

"Virtual stone by virtual stone, this project builds something that does not yet exist: a venue for looking at art together and in so doing, remembering what it means to Be together."

- Kaja Silverman, 2022 

The former Chinese Cultural and Community Center and Chinatown YMCA. 125 North 10th St. Philadelphia, PA.

The address of 125 North Tenth Street has long been the site of cultural significance, as first the Chinatown YMCA and later the Chinese Cultural and Community Center [CCCC]. These organizations were established to empower and preserve Philadelphia’s Chinatown community, and the building quickly became recognized as a city-wide icon. From the YMCA’s opening in 1955 until the CCCC’s closing in 2006, the site developed programs to celebrate and continue Chinese traditions, assist the local Chinese community, and encourage a cultural exchange within Philadelphia. The building was closed in 2006, and has lost over a decade’s worth of community engagement—a generation of Chinatown youth.

House Museum proposes a series of interactive experiences within the restricted landmark. A 4k drone takes us on a soaring interior site survey. Imperial-style architectural elements, original masonry work, and historic uses are explained by a local audio guide. No longer are we restricted to human eye-level, but we adopt the perspective of the drone, providing access to cornice and baseboard details. The narration oscillates between English and Cantonese, to connect the explanation of the site's history to both Chinatown residents and non-locals.

1801 Vine Street: the former Juvenile Court Building, and now the new African American Museum of Philadelphia. A proposed public installation, for the opening day of Derrick Adams: Sanctuary exhibit.

"Derrick Adams' Sanctuary installation reimagines safe destinations for the black American traveler during the mid-twentieth century. His body of work was inspired by The Negro Motorist Green Book, an annual guidebook for black American road-trippers published by New York postal worker Victor Hugo Green from 1936 to 1967, during the Jim Crow era in America. The publication served as a guide to finding businesses that were welcoming to black Americans, including hotels and restaurants, during an era when open and often legally prescribed discrimination against nonwhites was widespread. These designated safe spaces were places of refuge and leisure, where one could spend quality time with friends and family." - Museum of Arts and Design, MAD

In response, House Museum proposes to install classic cars, driven by African Americans from 1936-1966, to activate the 400 foot long facade of 1801 Vine Street. "In addition to trains and buses, 20th century cars furthered the African diaspora and enabled the Great Migration by transporting thousands of Blacks from the South. Philadelphia’s Black population grew by over 500% in part due to motor vehicles."  

Parked in a linear procession, classic cars invite guests to experience the physical spaces that transported African Americans and Green Books throughout the nation. Classic cars are time capsules that can bridge generational gaps through storytelling, resurfacing the memories—both joyous and traumatic–of previous generations.