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Work Samples

ZooMorph House

ZooMorph House
A house daydreaming about becoming a cat.

Tower House

"I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace." Gaston Bachelard [The Poetics of Space]

Sovich Ornament-Pattern

One of the patterns created for Issue #3: Pattern is Maddening!

Holiday House for Hegel

My obsession with "Hegel's Holiday" led to the design of this house—a house both wanting and not-wanting water. The contradiction would amuse Hegel and lead him to take a Holiday. Hegel might enjoy taking his holiday in this house. The large roof shelters the dwelling, while a funnel above it collects water into an internal cistern where it is stored and filtered for use.

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About Randy

Baltimore County

Randy Sovich's picture
“I stepped out of my own existence and found myself.” ---Fernando Pessoa in The Book of Disquiet ________________________________________ I find myself stepping out of my professional existence and sketching and thinking about dwellings, some based on ideas, others stream-of-consciousness expressions. These are my oneiric houses—my houses of daydreams. They are houses where my daydreams dwell.  I draw with a fountain pen in sketchbooks. But I also sketch with commercial modeling software... more

Towers

... and found myself—imagining towers. To paraphrase Gaston Bachelard, A [sketch] is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while [drawing]? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.
These sketches are six inches by six inches in size, drawn in a Fabriano Quadrato Artist's Journal with Birmingham Bourbon ink and Prismacolor highlights.

Magritte's Holiday Cancelled!

... and found myself—obsessed with a painting by Rene Magritte. The iconic painting  depicts a water glass on an umbrella. Magritte thought of the combination as a new object that  simultaneously "wants and doesn't want water." An amused Hegel might take a holiday just considering it. Thus the name, "Hegel's Holiday." This series explores inverting the two elements—effectively canceling the intended use of each—placing the glass upside down to prevent it from collecting water and flipping the umbrella to collect water rather than shed it. These representations, place the canceled object in an ambiguous relationship with its context. Is the umbrella balancing on the moon or sitting on the horizon? Might this amuse Magritte? Hegel's Holiday would certainly be cancelled, too! 

My obsession with "Hegel's Holiday" led to the design of the Hegel's Holiday House. A house that wants and does not want water. 

Who knows, he may even Praise the Dialectic?

  • Hegel's Holiday House

    Hegel's Holiday House
    My obsession with "Hegel's Holiday" led to the design of this house—a house both wanting and not-wanting water. The contradiction would amuse Hegel and lead him to take a Holiday. Hegel might enjoy taking his holiday in this house. The large roof shelters the dwelling, while a funnel above it collects water into an internal cistern where it is stored and filtered for use.
  • Hegel's Vacation House

    Diagram of Elements: Roof-Rainwater Collector-Cistern-Enclosure
  • Holiday House for Hegel

    My obsession with "Hegel's Holiday" led to the design of this house—a house both wanting and not-wanting water. The contradiction would amuse Hegel and lead him to take a Holiday. Hegel might enjoy taking his holiday in this house. The large roof shelters the dwelling, while a funnel above it collects water into an internal cistern where it is stored and filtered for use.

T3XTURE: architectural journal

...  and found myself —along with Craig Purcell and Lynda Burke, co-founding and co-editing the experimental, independent architectural journal T3XTURE. The journal creates  literary connections with forty-five architects, artists, researchers, and others from the US, South America, Europe, Africa, India, and Asia. The “archizine” explores how aspects of architecture – texture, ornament, and pattern – missing from modern architecture of the past century–connect architecture to people, place, and time. The original concept is inspired by  the 1960s periodicals, Archigram, AD, Casabella, and Domus—launched in response to social, political, and artistic changes. 

The first four issues were: T3XTURE #1,  #2 "Ornament is Splendid",  #3 "Pattern is Maddening, " #4 "The Edge of Edge." and Issue #5, "Repose and Motion." Issue #6, Oranementing Kosmos through Mythic Eyes" is fortcoming from Hapticity Press.

In addition to editing and publishing, Randy was responsible for the publication's graphic design and layout. He also contributes critques, think pieces, and illustrations to coincide with the theme.

  • T3XTURE #1 cover

    T3XTURE #1 "Texture in Architecture and Design." Cover concept and design by Randy Sovich. Cover art by Kostas Manolidis.
  • T3XTURE #2 cover

    T3XTURE #2 "Ornament is Splendid!" Cover concept and design by Randy Sovich. Cover photo by Joseph Mullan, Photographer.
  • T3XTURE #3 cover

    T3XTURE #3 "Pattern is Maddening." Cover art, concept, and design by Randy Sovich.
  • T3XTURE #4 cover

    T3XTURE #4 "The Edge of Edge" Cover concept and design by Randy Sovich.
  • T3XTURE #5 cover

    T3XTURE #5: "Repose and Motion" Cover concept and design by Randy Sovich. Photograph by Joseph Mullan, Photographer.
  • T3XTURE 1 spread

    In this think piece and illustrations by Randy, he imagines a new Baltimore housing model rising from repurposed rubble of tens of thousands of vacant brick row houses.
  • From "One Liners"

    From the piece "One Liners" in "T3XTURE 2, Ornament is Splendid!," this spread is a portion of a critique of trendy late-twenty-first century architectural treatments–by generations of architects ignorant of the role of ornament in architecture.
  • T3XTURE 4 Coming to the Edge of Edge

    Spread from Edward S. Casey’s piece,,"Coming to the Edge of Edge." in T3XTURE 4. Accompanying illustration by Randy Sovich.
  • HACKED! a satirical critique by Randy Sovich

    “HACKED!” from T3XTURE #3 Pattern is Maddening”—In this satire, Randy Sovich imagines patterns that were rejected in the editing process of the book, “A Pattern Language” and then lifted from the office trashcan and leaked by a disgruntled employee. Mimicking the language and layout of “A Pattern Language,” Sovich casts a gimlet eye on contemporary architects’ infatuation with formal and stylistic trends which bear no relation to the needs of the client, user, or occupant in these “scrapped” patterns.
  • House of Repose Amid Celestial Motion

    Collage: Dwelling and Repose
    Collage: "Repose and Motion of the Cosmos." Oneiric houses are dwelling places for daydreams and repose amidst the motion of the cosmos. Figures from Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's painting, "The Repose." In the forthcoming issue of T3XTURE #5, "Repose and Motion."

Connect with Randy

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Randy's Curated Collection

This artist has not yet created a curated collection.