Lindy Roy: Architecture Of Risk (Michigan Architecture Papers)

One of Lindy Roy's innovative projects may find you immersed in a floating pool surrounded by lingering crocodiles safely staged behind bars in an inland African river-delta. Or, in another, you might find yourself flying in by helicopter and dropped off at a summit to start a three-hour stimulating snowboarding descent in an Alaskan mountain range. Welcome to the architecture of Roy and her architecture of Risk. Another kind of risk apparent in the architecture of Roy is demonstrated in the research project that Lindy Roy conducted in collaboration with photographer Richard Misrach. In mapping political and socioeconomic structures along the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Roy found that the health-risks caused by pollutants from the pharmaceutical and oil companies along the river make up a site multiple layers of risk. Roy's architecture deals with risk. From pristine nature sites to polluted sites of danger, Roy's work engages us three-fold. Firstly, her design work broadens architecture's relationship with nature. Secondly, Roy defines architecture as a part of an experience economy with changing demands on the architectural profession. Lastly, Roy designs in response to research, offering a model of research-based architecture. In these three ways, Lindy Roy's architecture redefines existing boundaries in architecture practice when engaging risk.