I almost missed this article in the November 2002 issue of ARCHIT magazine. It mentions Hedjuk and the Suicide Boxes but manages to leave out Georgia Tech, Professor Jim Williamson or any indication of who built these things. Ah, Architectural Fame, just like good old whats-his-name who engineered the pyramids….
Wow! long time since I saw anything on the boxes.
I had a large hand on the engineering and fabrication of the boxes along with Frank Pollacia- a college and co-graduate student at Georgia Tech from 1987-1990 when the boxes where completed. We worked with Jim W. at fabricating and designing the details of the boxes and shards for both the House of the Suicide and the Mother of the House of the Suicide, including the dimensions for cutting and bending the metals at the proper angles of the ‘shards’ and the details for fabrication and placement of the ‘shards’ on top of the cedar timber frames, the bolted connections, etc. There are actually CAD drawings of how these were assembled.
Jim Williamson was my thesis professor and director for the project as you are probably aware. There were many people both students and local area businesses that contributed to the project.
In the end it was an extremely rewarding experience. I actually have a signed book from John Hejduk commending our efforts on the project when he visited Tech for a lecture upon the completion of the project.
Any idea where they are?—Probably some storage room collecting dust. I still have a reject ‘stair’ for the Mother of the House of the suicide in my garage that my wife would love for me to throw away- NO WAY!
Anyway, If someone gets this email and knows how to get in touch with Jim. Send my best. If you would like more detailed information on the many sponsors and assistants that made this 4 year project possible contact Frank Pollacia at pollacia (@) architettura-inc.com. I’m sure he would be glad to speak with you.
That’s awesome Marshall!! I didn’t appreciate the theory behind the Hejduk project during its stay in the new building at Tech. When David Shapiro stood to speak at the special event for the boxes I thought it was claptrap because I didn’t know any of the story behind the boxes (which is stupid since they’d been there for so long). Regardless, I never stopped appreciating the craftsmanship that went into the construction of Hejduk’s ‘House of the Suicide’ and ‘House of the Mother of the Suicide’. Serious collectors of architectural history might be interested in that reject ‘stair’ clogging your garage… when the time is right you could stop stacking groceries on it and start buying a new car – now THAT might impress your wife! Thanks for adding to the information on this project. I wonder where Jim Williamson is today…
hey –
i am here at jpw28 @ cornell . edu