Architectural Beasts: The Photobooth

A seasonal installation for the Wassaic Project Summer Festival, the Architectural Beasts Photo Booth is both frivolous and functional. Replacing an existing make-shift wheelchair access ramp with a ten foot wide spectacle of circulatory pleasure, the ramp and screen draw attention to an accessible element that was once an afterthought.

The new screen and ramp complete the composition of Maxon Mill’s western elevation, filling a space previously neglected by everyone but the pigeons. The shape of the screen takes elements from architectural forms found around the Wassaic hamlet, but re-composed with an anthropomorphic form. On the festival weekend, the ramp and screen hosted a gathering of Architectural Beast masks that students made in a Cosmo Design Factory workshop at Webatuck HIgh School. Festival-goers were invited to don the masks and pose with friends, or alone, to experience life as a character in a new story.