This book originally took form as an undergraduate thesis project at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the 2012-2013 school year.

The work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically those of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machines or similiar means, and storage in data banks.

©2013

Printed in the USA

Designer: Karen Glass

A RETREAT FOR THREE CREATORS

Karen Anne Glass

CONTENTS Prologue

Introduction

Movement and Stillness

Retreat for Three Creators

Cast of Characters: The Creators The Writer The Musician The Artist

A Story in Moments Arrival An Evening Meal On Waking Made to Create Steeping The Retreat: Whole Picture Plans Model Section

Supporting Explorations Structural Analysis of Tower First Watercolors Abundant Space Precedents The First Retreat Eight Early Schemes

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

PROLOGUE

As a child I spent a week or so every summer on the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Some of my fondest memories are from those times - playing cards on the back deck late into the night, hanging clothes on the line, waking up early for bike rides with my dad to nowhere in particular. It was the only time of year that I got to spend with my cousins on my mom’s side, and even though we were only together a week each year, as adults they seem close, comfortable, and familiar to me because of our time at the Cape. There was a sacredness to the calm that came from time away retreat.

In youth group in middle and high school, my summer routine included a week at Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, North Carolina at a camp called Centrifuge. It was there that I fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains. Outside of our normal routines and the distractions of day to day life, my friendships grew exponentially, the thoughts swirling in my brain and heart finally had time to settle, and I felt closer to God than anywhere else in the world.

These two places, Cape Cod and the Blue Ridge Mountains, have been instrumental in my understanding of retreat and the richness that comes from time away from our usual lives. My hope through this project has been that the spirit of these collective memories would be reflected and that I would be able to provide a sacred place for those who spend time at the Retreat for Three Creators.

INTRODUCTION

This book is a collection of work mostly completed between August 2012 and May 2013 during my undergraduate thesis year at Virginia Tech. The exploration has been a labor of blood, sweat, tears, prayers, and love.

I have been generating a body of work that explores the multidimensional spectrum of movement and stillness - work and rest - as complementary, mutually strengthening elements in the context of the creative process.

MOVEMENT AND STILLNESS

RETREAT FOR THREE CREATORS

An artist, a writer, and a musician. United by passion for their craft and a desire to retreat from the day to day routine. The site is a place for undivided attention to the whispering desire for clarity of thought and mind. A place to make and make and make, until the dust settles and wisdom and discernment can be trusted to measure purity and quality. Is it good? Is it beautiful? Beyond the first impression or rushed acceptance, is it really good?

This is a place for the creators to let go of distractions in exchange for contemplation, practice, and passionate conversations over shared meals. It is a place to collaborate and learn from one another, to talk and argue and agree about art and music and writing. A place for growing vegetables and cooking with them, waking early to watch the fog settle on the mountains, and staying up late to hear the crickets chirp songs to the stars. A place to dwell in what is.

The retreat is a place for restoration and inspiration. Looking at the world close-up and zoomed-out at the same time - like staring at the palm of your hand long enough that the familiar lines and creases become foreign and fascinating, like well-paved roads to exotic cities.

what should go here??

CAST OF CHARACTERS:THE CREATORS

PERFECTIONISTUNORGANIZEDPERSISTENTIMAGINATIVE

The retreat is a place for the writer to read books and to write. To craft narratives and poems and songs and lists. To imagine entire new worlds and make them come to be. To write until the right words are on the right pages.

THE WRITER

THOROUGH RATIONALDEFIES CONVENTIONSSUBLIMELY TALENTED

The retreat a place for the musician to play guitar and piano, harmonica and violin - to record and produce and perform to the trees late into the night. To sing and write and make a joyful noise.

THE MUSICIAN

PATIENTTHRIVES IN NATUREVALUES FRIENDSHIPSTRANSLATES NATURE TO ART

The retreat is a place for the artist to paint, to sketch, to draw, to measure time as it passes through artistic expression. To listen to the still small voice inside and to unabashedly turn ideas into image.

THE ARTIST

A STORY IN MOMENTS

First, roll down the windows and open the sunroof. Put a good song on the radio and turn left on Tom’s Creek Road. One stoplight, two, three, and then over the highway.

Let the lead in your foot settle on the gas peddle and follow the road to the base of Brush Mountain. Pass the cow pastures and the horse barn and slow down when you reach the split rail fence on your right.

Gently turn onto the gravel path that signifies the start of the Gateway Trail. From here you will see - up and in the distance - the creators’ retreat. Wait for the song that is on to finish playing then take the key out of the ignition, shut the door, and head north on foot.

After a hundred yards or so the path will split - the left heading to Pandapas Pond, the right to your destination. Walk up the Eastern edge of the hill and arrive at the “front door” - an opening between the writer’s studio and the kitchen that leads to a large central courtyard.

ARRIVAL

AN EVENING MEAL

Gas•tron•o•my: /ga’stränəme / (n) “The knowledge and understanding of all that relates to man as he eats.” - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

Preparation. Taking time. He cuts vegetables while she sears meat, and three pots are tended to on the stove. The waiting and the tasting-as-you-go build the anticipation until finally each element of the meal is ready.

Breaking Bread. “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.” Acts 2:46-47

Dwelling. The relationships grow most when the meal is finished. The creators and their friends move from the courtyard to the gathering room, where the musician takes a seat at the piano and begins to play. They sing together, engage in passionate discussions about religion and politics and life and relationships. They talk music, art, literature, and more. They smoke cigars. Play guitar. They nod off as the clock ticks and one by one make their way upstairs to their bedrooms for the night.

The essence of dwelling.

Fontana LakeBryson City, North CarolinaSeptember 2010

ON WAKING

photo of bedrooms of modelA PARTY

The forest floor at sunrise. As the navy sky grows warm with purples and pinks in the east, the artist wakes. His eyes are level with the ground plane and he sleepily gazes at the trunks of the trees as they meet the earth and sprawl into a system of roots. He wakes slowly and curls his body slowly to climb out of his bed(room). From his small nook he makes his way outside and down a wide stair into an intimate, quiet garden. Immediately across the garden is the kitchen, where he boils water for a hot cup of tea. In the great room - across the garden from the kitchen - he pulls a book off the shelf and lounges in the garden to read. There is nothing more peaceful than a morning in the mountains.

Watercolor SectionTransition to Sleeping RoomSpring 2013

MADE TO CREATE

He doesn’t remember when he fell in love with music. He only knows that it has always been a part of him. In his studio he records and composes, writes lyrics and melodies.

View of Plaza from Tower

STEEPING

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THE RETREAT: WHOLE PICTURE

1. Steeping Room2. Steeping Room Hall3. Gathering Room4. Library Hall5. Courtyard6. Tower7. Observation Deck8. Musician’s Studio

1. Steeping Room2. Library Hall

3. Artist Studio; lower level4. Tower; lower level

5. Musician’s Recording Studio

1

2

3

4

5

1. Steeping Room Hall2. Bathroom

3. Gathering Room4. Morning Courtyard

5. Kitchen6. Courtyard/Lawn

7. Artist Studio; upper level8. Tower; mid level

9. Writer’s Studio

12

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1. Courtyard Mezzanine2. Gathering Room Mezzanine

3. Room for Sleeping and Waking4. Tower; mid level

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3 3 3

4

SUPPORTING EXPLORATIONS

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF TOWER

Structural Framing ModelObservation Tower

Spring 2013

Approach PerspectiveFall 2012

Library Bridge PerspectiveFall 2012

Front PerspectiveFall 2012

First RetreatFall 2012

Early space planning exploration:What is a container? What is circulation? What, then, is the tertiary space caused by the overlapping?

Early space planning exploration:the overlapping of containment spaces forms the transition spaces (shaded).

1040’

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topography dips down - view

of sunset

from here, topography startsdownhill towards entrance ofsite

existing gazebo

existing bench

flat, sunny during the daytrees along side, cow

field

existing fire pit

trees

, ste

ep s

lope

to

trailh

ead

meadow andwildflowers ondownwardslope

downw

ard slope

downw

ard slope

downw

ard slope

downw

ard slope

downw

ard slope

trees and cowfield, drivewayto farmhouseto thenortheast

trees and gateway =trail

gateway trailhead at bottomof steep slope

entrance to site frommeadbrook drive

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EIGHT EARLY SCHEMES

Concept One:

Ascend hill through a winding path in a meadow of tall grasses and wildflowers. On the first level of the building, enter into a sunroom with adjacent screened porch. To the right, work your way back on the site through a living room and kitchen - both open to sunny patio with herb + vegetable garden. An outdoor covered walkway joins the shared building from the three studios - for the artist, the writer, and the musician. Adjacent to the studios is a shaded patio with fire pit. On the second level is a rooftop patio with southern view, a narrow library and bedrooms above each studio.

Concept Two:

Ascend hill through straight path, with a meadow of tall grasses and wildflowers on each side. Enter into a shared kitchen and living room with a second story sleeping loft. By leaving the entrance building, take a (covered? Enclosed? Open?) Path to each creator’s workspace and studio to the left or use shared room on the right as a library, recording space, gallery, etc. The outdoor spaces created by the built environment serve purposes related to their adjacent buildings - including a garden, a sunny and shaded patio, and a grassy lawn with small amphitheater.

Concept Three:

Ascend hill through meadow of tall grasses and wildflowers. Studios and shared spaces are divided by a series of narrow outdoor hallways. Large doors on most sides of the buildings can be opened for cross-ventilation and to create unity among the spaces. Above the library and living building is a rooftop patio with a panoramic southern view of the mountains and northern view of the back of the site. Beyond the kitchen/dining building is a patio, garden, and grassy lawn. At the very back of the site are three modest sleeping rooms for the creators, away from their work spaces and living spaces, under the trees.

Concept Four:

Ascend the hill to a cluster of trees hiding the retreat from view. Enter into a shared kitchen and living space, and walk through it to a courtyard patio shared by the three creators. Each wing of the building has different lighting conditions for the creators based on their craft and practice. The three spaces include a small sleeping area, a bathroom, and a space for working and creating. Beyond the main building is a winding path through the woods that ends at a quiet, secluded place for contemplation.

Concept Five:

At the bottom of the hill find a covered pavilion for parking vehicles. (Maybe wood?) To the right you can park your car and walk up the hill to the retreat building, or to the left you can drive through the pavilion onto a driveway that leads up the hill. As you reach the top of the hill, a garage is placed within the hill, so the roof is level with the ground above it. Parking at the top of the hill gives the creators a way of easily transporting instruments, paintings, equipment, materials, and more. It also creates a second context for the approach - very different from walking up the hill.

Concept Six:

May include a driveway to a garage (like concept five) or may just have a walking path to approach. Walk up a long, natural trail lined with trees (ginko? Weeping willow? Oak? Cherry? Pine? Variety?) At the top of the hill find three buildings positioned on the site with a courtyard patio in the middle that is shared by the creators. In this concept, each creator has his or her own modest kitchen, working, and sleeping rooms. The various shared spaces (library, recording room, storage room) are in the dominant/primary user’s space, and the other creators can use the spaces as needed, encouraging interaction.

Concept Seven:

All studio spaces are on the western edge of the site following the line of the natural edge of the hill. Each room receives afternoon light and has sunset views. On the eastern half of the site is an outdoor space that would be partly shady with some paved areas and some grassy areas. The front of the site is made up of a shared kitchen and living space as well as a second story library loft and second story screened porch with southwestern views.

Concept Eight:

As you ascend the hill, encounter the creators’ separate working and sleeping spaces at various points in the topography. These buildings would be protruding from the hillside with portions built and submerged into the earth. Midway on the site (near existing gazebo) would be a shared kitchen and living space. In this concept the creators would work mostly alone but may meet in the shared building for meals and meetings.

Sources:

Boy playing guitar: Sophia Ehrlich