Understanding the Bioscleave House Concept

Benjamin Franklin famously said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." While many have tried to escape the latter, they often end up in prison. But the idea of avoiding death itself? That may sound absurd. Not to Arakawa and Madeline Gins, however. This husband-and-wife duo, known for their contributions to architecture, art, and poetry, have taken a bold stance. On their website, they declare: "We have decided not to die."

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You might be thinking, 'Good for them,' as you read those defiant words. Meanwhile, the rest of us continue to follow the usual path. But what if that path wasn’t set in stone? Since meeting in 1963, Arakawa and Gins have sought to use art as a means to "reverse the downhill course of human life" [source: Bernstein]. They call this vision "reversible destiny," suggesting that death doesn’t have to be the inevitable conclusion for humans.

Arakawa and Gins propose that we can transcend mortality by transforming how we see ourselves and the world around us. They believe the key to challenging our beliefs about life and death is to radically alter our living environments. That’s why these architects have created homes that demand a new way of interacting with space. The Bioscleave House in New York, for example, is designed to make its residents live forever—at least according to the architects. No magic potion or cryogenic freeze required—just a mortgage payment and you'll never die.

Curious? Well, immortality comes at a steep price—literally. Aside from the cost of the house, there’s a significant tradeoff: the Bioscleave House is anything but comfortable, and no agent will sugarcoat that. Forget about traditional home expectations, like flat floors or standard door placements. The layout is intentionally disorienting. And that's precisely the point. Arakawa and Gins argue that comfort breeds complacency, which in turn could lead to death. To live forever, you'll need to stay alert and engaged.

So, does this house actually hold the secret to avoiding death? What architectural features are designed to preserve life? We’ll take a closer look at the Bioscleave House in the next section.

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Inside the Bioscleave House

In the late 1990s, architects Arakawa and Gins were tasked with creating a small addition to a home in East Hampton, New York, centered around the concept of reversible destiny. However, the homeowner abandoned the project when expenses soared. Thankfully, a group of professors stepped in, funding the purchase of the house and allowing the project to continue. With the help of donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor and materials, the final cost of the build exceeded $2 million [source: Bernstein].

What does $2 million buy you, aside from immortality? At first glance, it seems like it buys a lot of paint. The house is drenched in bold colors, including hues like pink popsicle, tricycle red, and traffic light green. Altogether, around 40 different colors adorn the space.

The house includes a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a study. It sounds conventional at first, but the kitchen is sunken in the center of the home, surrounded by bumpy, undulating flooring. The other rooms are positioned around the kitchen but lack some of the usual comforts. None of the rooms have doors—yes, not even the bathroom. Plugging in a nightlight might prove tricky since the outlets are placed at unusual angles. And if you dreamed of a picturesque view for your eternity, be prepared for windows set at unconventional heights.

The placement of the windows in the Bioscleave House plays a significant role in Arakawa and Gins' vision. With windows positioned either very high or low, they disrupt your ability to locate the horizon, leaving you unsure of what's level and what's not. The roof is not fixed in its distance from the floor, and conventional navigation methods, like depth perception and distance, are no longer applicable.

Arakawa and Gins argue that by losing your balance and using your body in unexpected ways to regain stability, you can stimulate the immune system, which will ultimately halt aging and death [source: Bernstein]. There's also a mental aspect to consider. Picture a room with multiple levels that makes you feel as though you're in two places at once. This challenges your expectations of what a room should be. By altering your perception of architecture, Arakawa and Gins suggest that you might also shift your perspective on life itself. Rejecting traditional architecture might lead to rejecting traditional norms, including the inevitability of death, according to their theory.

As of April 2008, no one had lived in the house, and it remains unclear what the project's backers intend to do next. If the rest of us continue our usual path to death, we may never find out if a resident achieves immortality. But how do Arakawa and Gins envision the house working in practice? We’ll explore how the house is meant to prevent death on the following page.

Reversible Destiny: Achieving Immortality with Architecture

Throughout history, architecture has always aimed at preserving life, from the bunkers built to shield soldiers to the caves that protected early humans from the elements. Today, however, scientists focus on how technology and computers can help extend life. We're told to exercise and eat healthily, but Arakawa and Gins would likely argue that the true danger lies in the comfort and familiarity of living a sedentary life. The environments we live in shape us, and Arakawa and Gins believe they've designed spaces that have a much more profound effect on us.

When Arakawa met Madeline Gins, he described Helen Keller as an ideal way to think about art. Keller, being both blind and deaf, had to reframe her understanding of the world each time she moved. Just learning language opened up an entirely new reality for her [source: Delville]. This blank slate mentality may be exactly what Arakawa and Gins aim to create for their residents. The absence of pre-existing thoughts in the space could allow you to rethink your assumptions, including the inevitability of death. If you challenge yourself within this blankness, as Keller did, you might forget that death is an inevitability. If she had known that she didn’t have to die, Helen Keller could have been the perfect candidate for immortality.

Helen Keller, despite her disabilities, was more attuned to her surroundings than someone who can both see and hear, as the latter often takes their environment for granted. Arakawa and Gins push even the most able-bodied individuals to become deeply engaged with their surroundings, forcing the environment to shape them. For the pair, our surroundings and our bodies are inseparable; they call this concept the architectural body. The Bioscleave House takes its name from how the body cleaves—or clings—to its surroundings.

Instead of lounging on the couch and passively absorbing the view, Arakawa and Gins want you active—climbing over bumpy floors, navigating a house designed to throw you off balance. This approach may not only stimulate the immune system, but it also reshapes your concept of what a house should be. If architecture defines our relationship with the world, then altering the architecture also alters our theories about the world. It opens our minds to new possibilities, new ways of doing things. If your worldview doesn’t include the certainty of death, then perhaps it doesn't have to be an inevitable conclusion. Changing your perception to change your reality is hardly a new idea, as demonstrated by many philosophical works and films like "The Matrix."

It might sound a bit eccentric, and even some of Arakawa and Gins' closest friends question whether the duo actually believes in their own theories [source: Bernstein]. It could be just another art project where the viewer plays a significant role in shaping the experience. Yet, their website reminds us that at one time, the idea of humans flying seemed completely outlandish, until architecture solved the problem with the invention of the airplane.

A neuroscientist at MIT points out that while the house feels disorienting now, it will likely become familiar over time, counteracting the unsettling effect Arakawa and Gins have intentionally designed [source: Simon]. But are there any other examples of how Arakawa and Gins' work affects us? On the next page, we'll dive into other projects related to reversible destiny.

Other Reversible Destiny Projects

The Bioscleave House isn't the first project designed to alter destiny. In 1995, Arakawa and Gins completed the "Site of Reversible Destiny," a kind of theme park in Japan. This labyrinth was designed to disorient visitors, with the museum guide encouraging them to embrace being off-balance. Helmets are available at the entrance for those willing to navigate the steep, winding paths and intricate mazes [source: Howard]. Despite the occasional falls and even some broken bones, the site has become a popular tourist destination [sources: Bernstein, Newsweek].

In 1997, the Guggenheim Museum SoHo showcased an exhibition of Arakawa and Gins' creations. The first section of the exhibit featured an early collection of paintings called "The Mechanism of Meaning." These paintings were like puzzles, with instructions such as "Think One Say Two" [source: Smith]. The paintings offer a glimpse into how Arakawa and Gins might have sought to engage our brains, alter our perceptions, and challenge our understanding of art—had they not turned to architecture.

The second part of the exhibit, titled "Reversible Destiny Architecture," was the United States' first introduction to this unconventional type of housing. One example was the Critical Resemblances House, built as part of the Japanese park. The accompanying text revealed Arakawa and Gins' joy in the fact that "it could take hours to go from the living room to the kitchen" and that it might "take several days to discover every spot where the dining room appears" [sources: Smith, Kawash].

A critic reviewing the exhibit noted the difficulty of imagining what it would be like to live in such a disorienting environment. To explore this question further, Arakawa and Gins built the Reversible Destiny Lofts in 2007, located in a Tokyo suburb. Comprising nine apartment units, the lofts feature similar elements to the Bioscleave House, including a sunken kitchen and a floor that rises erratically. One of the glass doors is so small that you must crawl through it.

Nevertheless, the entire project passed building codes, and residents have been paying $763,000 for the privilege of living there, even though similar apartments in the area cost half as much [source: Newsweek]. Some have argued that while the price may be steep for an apartment, it’s a bargain for a work of art [source: Knight Ridder]. Each loft comes with a set of instructions, and living there is meant to help reframe what’s possible. Arakawa claims that elderly residents have expressed gratitude, saying that after just three or four months, they feel significantly healthier [source: Bernstein]. The lofts can also be preassembled, making it possible to export the concept globally.

If you’re fascinated by homes and the concept of death, don’t reverse your destiny—head to the next page.

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