Naomi Darling Architecture

Petit Container Studio

Branford, CT

Completed 2024

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Project Team:

Naomi Darling - Principal 
Maya Gamble
Aaron Pillay

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Photography: Sean Kernan

 

Sculptor Darrell Petit works in the Stony Creek granite quarry in a collaborative process with the industrial operation.  He needs a place on site to eat and sleep, to plan and draw, when not actively engaged in the physical making process.  As the quarry is subject to frequent vandalism, the studio needs to have two states – an open or occupied state and a closed state that is indestructible.  In addition, Darrell wants the ability to transport his studio to other quarries enabling him to work with other granites.   

A standard shipping container is designed to be portable on a truck bed and can readily be moved within the quarry as the ground shifts with the quarrying process.  A twenty-foot living container is placed on top of a forty-foot container used to store tools.  Internally, a connecting ladder and hatch allow Darrell to access the more private upper container that has been adapted with a custom skylight.  The skylight brings light into the interior while preserving the integrity of the container on all elevations to deter vandalism.  

Enroute to the quarry, the container was part of the XTCA exhibition at the University of Massachusetts as “Solar Time.”  The milled clock interface from “Solar Time” is reused as one of the walls of the living space as a marker of the container’s journey but no longer functional as a clock interface.  

The Built-ins are on one wall to maximize circulation space while curved transitions and corners between the counter/shelf and seating/sleeping area allows for smooth flow, both physically and visually. The project was completed as a design-build project in 2020-21. A hatch beneath the bench allows for storage in a small space.