By Mark McConville

 

STUNNING pictures and video footage have revealed the remarkable seesaw house that moves depending on where the weight is distributed.


ichard Barnes / mediadrumimages.com

 

The incredible images and video show the house tilting from one side to the other as the two inhabitants move about inside.

Dora Somosi / mediadrumimages.com

 

Other striking shots show people relaxing on the porch, the interior of the house as the occupants go about their daily business and the pair walking about inside as seen through the large glass windows.

Dora Somosi / mediadrumimages.com

 

ReActor is the newest work in an experimental, performative series of “social relationship architecture” designed and built by internationally renowned architect-artist duo Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley.

Dora Somosi / mediadrumimages.com

 

The project, called ReActor, is a 42 by eight-foot rotating home that balances on a single 14-foot tall concrete column located at the outdoor sculpture park Art Omi in upstate New York.

Dora Somosi / mediadrumimages.com

 

Movements inside the dwelling, as well as outside forces like gusts of wind, cause the structure to gently tilt and rotate.

Ward shaving.
Richard Barnes / mediadrumimages.com

 

Schweder and Shelley inhabited the home for five days and their movements towards or away from the house’s fulcrum caused constant motion. Because the home is constructed with Philip Johnson-esque levels of floor-to-ceiling windows, the artists’ interior activities were visible to Omi attendees.

Alex in the kitchen.
Richard Barnes / mediadrumimages.com

 

Schweder and Shelley have collaborated since 2007, focusing on “performance architecture,” a practice of designing, building, and living in structures for the purpose of public observation and dialogue.

 

Richard Barnes / mediadrumimages.com