Fire Island Pines’ Pop-Up Civic Architecture Installation, "The Place Where You Belong"

The latest artistic intervention in Fire Island Pines, the LGBTQIA+ summer sanctuary on a car-free barrier island along Long Island’s southern coast, finds architects Francis Aguillard and Davis Owen tasking the community with reflections on future civic development. Known as “The Place Where You Belong,” and located at the corner of Pine Walk and Fire Island Boulevard, the pop-up architectural installation centers a prototype of a public shower system, devised by the pair, as well as cyanotype renderings of eight innovative spatial projects.

These projects, named “possibilities,” range from a geometric lookout tower in the sky, designed for stargazing and intimate moments while doubling as a communications beacon, to an outdoor amphitheater with fountains for both planned and spontaneous performance. Another highlight—a communal outdoor kitchen—acknowledges the shared culinary nature of Fire Island Pines summer residences, where owners, renters, and guests parse out the preparation of meals for the entire stay. Installation attendees have been asked to weigh in on these options and vote for one that they hope could grace the enclave.

As with other artistic expressions on the island, this installation was rooted in an appreciation for the community, as well as the natural and built environments.  “Whenever I am in The Pines, I marvel at the imagination, ingenuity, and fortitude it took to create the place—a hamlet built on an island, in an avant-garde architectural style, rejecting the car at a time when deference to the vehicle determined much, if not all, of urban and infrastructural planning,” Aguillard, the founder of One With_Architecture, tells Surface. “To me, the best way to honor its legacy is to continue pondering how that creativity might manifest itself today.”

While swimming in a pool one afternoon, Aguillard daydreamed of designing a dance floor on the beach from Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer (FRP)—so that he could “be one with the dunes and beachgrass.” It sparked a desire to host an architectural project that involved his peers. “I brought the idea to my friends and collaborators Davis Owen and Nate Pinsley, and we began to cook up how we could bring this conversation to a larger audience.” Aguillard, Pinsley, and Owen, the founder of O-N, applied for funding from The Architectural League of New York and New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)—and received it. Together, they erected the project alongside Pinsley’s Fire Island Pines home.

“The Place Where You Belong” opened on July 27 and will run through August 9. Over the last two weeks, Aguillard has been able to observe community engagement and make assessments. “People have different ways of conceptualizing The Pines,” he says. “Many draw analogies to summer camp, while I tend to view it more as an ancient village of sorts. Others, I learned, think about it more as a neighborhood. Some see it as a place for preservation, and some a place for experimentation.” Through the lens of personal interpretation, people see so many possibilities for the location’s future.

Regarding his practice, as well as Owen’s, Aguillard adds, “we are committed to belonging and exploration. We value collaboration and conceptualized the exhibit not only as a physical event, but as an ongoing dialogue, inviting everyone [with a connection to The Pines or interest in public space] to share their thoughts over the coming months [on ‘The Place Where You Belong‘ website].” For now, the installation can still be experienced in person, but what Aguillard and Owen have created will live on afterward through conversation and continued community consideration.