551 Laboratory
551 is the laboratory of Andrew Maynard—a space for thoughts, experiments, and play. Andrew treats this room much like he treats his sketchbooks: unencumbered by linear thought, with no purpose other than to exercise the vital connection between hand and mind. For Andrew, a sketchbook is a safe haven to draw and write anything, without rules and without an audience. The 551 Laboratory operates on the same premise. There are no rules, only exploration.
Sometimes the outcomes relate directly to his architectural practice, but mostly, they do not. Ideas often emerge subconsciously across the page, sometimes resulting in something delightfully juvenile. This space represents the hidden, inner workings of the mind. The key difference? People can peer right in. This public gaze creates a beautifully uneasy tension. Thoughts, explorations, and play that were once safely hidden within the closed pages of a sketchbook are now fully visible to the outside world. Does knowing there is a transient audience change the way the work is created? Andrew hopes not.
Currently you will see….
The Sketch Roll - Andrew has spent much of his life squirrelling away thoughts and ideas in sketchbooks. These explorations have often felt lost, as they hide within their pages. Andrew sought a way of having his thoughts spilled out in the open where they could be as grand or as small as he wanted. More importantly they interact with each other rather than disappearing from view.
Legacy sketchbooks - Andrew revisits sketchbooks from as early as 1994, the year that he began studying architecture at the University of Tasmania. At the time he spent much of his time skateboarding, drawing and reading comics. His sketchbooks reflect his studies and interests. Recently Andrew has been revisiting his sketchbooks and selecting one sketch to replicate as a small sculpture.