Land Use Apparatus
OCTOBER 2016
Wood, dirt, surveyor tape​
Hayes Valley Artworks, San Francisco, CA

On February 2, 2012, a hearing date was proposed by the San Francisco Planning Department to discuss changing the definition of an efficiency unit in Section 1208.4 of the San Francisco Building Code to define the total area of the unit to be no less than 220 square feet—which includes closet, bathroom, kitchen, living, and sleeping areas. The temporary installation, Land Use Apparatus , deploys surveying stakes every 14 feet 10 inches to form a square grid whereby each square unit is equals to 220 square feet. In doing so, both the ground characteristics of the site and the object set within the modular field impart a new spatial scale and relative dimension to an otherwise unstructured terrain. By plotting the smallest measure of a dwelling unit onto the existing community space, the installation challenges the visitor to examine one’s own unit of measure as defined by history, circumstance, power, and politics.
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