Wes McRae | Atlanta, GA – November 5, 2025

Bridging conventions of architecture and sculpture, Cedar Stack, a new work from 2024 Ventulett NEXT Fellow Michael Stradley, opened as a permanent installation at the Goat Farm during the recent SITE2025 contemporary art festival.

The dual conventions allow the piece to function in different roles depending on context. "On an evening where they have an opening, concert, or performance, Cedar Stack behaves a little bit like a sculpture; it participates in the event along with the other artworks installations at the Goat Farm," Stradley said. "Outside of the regular programming, the structure sits outside of an active apartment building (a lovely Niles Bolton Architects project) and in that context it becomes ordinary again, like it’s in someone’s backyard. It's part of people's domestic routine, where they can sit, take a phone call, or bring their dog.""

For Stradley, this dual nature was an opportunity to showcase part of what makes architecture distinctive as a creative discipline. "When the existing site is surrounded by work from other creative disciplines, there’s an obligation to show how architecture can function differently than something like painting or dance or music. In a basic sense, it can provide shade, shelter, and be comfortable. That's the kind of boring and elegant functionality of the thing: that it can last, that it can be ordinary, that you sit on it, and it gets rained on, and it will change colors. It’s out there in the world and will get messy, and it interacts as much with the elements as it can protect you from them."

“Cedar Stack really captures what we hope to foster in our students, that is, the ability to move fluidly between making, thinking, and engaging with the world around them," said Julie Kim, William H. Harrison Professor and School Chair. "Michael’s work shows how architecture can be both poetic and practical, something that lives comfortably between art and everyday life. It’s wonderful to see this piece come to life at the Goat Farm and connect our School of Architecture to Atlanta’s broader creative community.”

Stradley worked with Katie Soule, an artist and producer with a background in sculpture and furniture design and production, to realize Cedar Stack. A small team of students — Michael Chick, Johnny Parrack, and Mallory Justis — assisted with the multi-day site build. "As a teacher, that was an exciting moment to have people come along and show them what building something in the field looks like."

"I think a project where students are involved in the construction phase exposes them to facets of our industry that they might not see otherwise, particularly around labor" Stradley said. "When you design something or make a drawing, it's easy to forget that you're pointing to other people's time and effort and sweat. When it’s your own sweat going into it, you have to tangibly deal with the consequences of your design, for better or worse."

Projects like this that engage with the larger Atlanta arts community help to raise awareness of architecture in a larger context, according to Stradley.  "Working with the Goat Farm in particular is fantastic because they work with so many artists across a range of fields and disciplines. They are one of Atlanta’s most exciting centers for the arts and performance, and their programming is able to reach a broad audience. People from all around Atlanta who might not think about architecture get to see the piece in context alongside sculpture, dance, music, and other things they're excited about."

"The installation is a way to build a broad enthusiasm and appreciation for architecture beyond the Georgia Tech College of Design community."

Roughly eight feet by eight feet by fifteen feet tall, the entire piece is constructed of 2x4 dimensional lumber, cut from Western Red Cedar. Two benches built into the form offer sheltered places to sit. "It's a deceptively simple piece. You can't see the fasteners that hold it together. It's intentionally off the shelf, casual, familiar," Stradley said. "At a distance, it behaves like a sculpture, so it's a very simple form. You can almost think of it as a truncated pyramid sitting on top of a cube."

"It appears solid, but as you approach, you discover that the form is more complicated than it lets on. The joints overlap. It's empty inside. It's occupiable. It opens up to the sky. There’s a counterintuitive game happening with scale where the piece becomes fuzzier and more low resolution as you approach," he said.

Stradley's work brings fine art methods and processes into architectural practice, exploring ideas of composition, light and shadow, and visual and aesthetic phenomena. Cedar Stack builds on his previous work by working out consistent ideas and questions in a different artistic language. "When I make an abstract drawing, it has similar qualities of repetition, of alignment, of density, of the buildup of many repeated elements."

"Cedar Stack was an opportunity to work those questions out in a different material at a different scale, to explore the density of line, not with a ballpoint pen or a paint brush, but with a stack of 2x4's."

Special Thanks: Julie Kim, Chris Simon, Audrey Childs, Norcross Lumber Supply, and the team at the Goat Farm.