PM: Like receiving signals through a lot of interference? AM: You know when you go into a cave, and you have a string you unravel behind you so you can find a way back out?
DA: You start with something you know, and from there, you measure out. It just may take longer.
RM: Kind of frustrating in our traditional thinking about architecture, as this freestanding structure you want to trust. At the same time what differentiates Dig is its experiential element. With Richard Chai there wasn’t the same option for participation, right?
DA: Right. [The public] entered when it was completed.  
AM: We built [the Richard Chai project] in this room, and it took about a week. Then we took about 3 days installing it on-site. It was closed off.
DA: [The Dig project] is in a way the opposite.
The other thing we’ve talked about is that architecture is normally additive…you start with an empty space. You add materials to define a form. For Dig we’re starting with a solid, and space is excavated from that: subtractive.
PM: An inversion of our conception of the standard architectural model. Did you set out to flip this convention?
DA: Definitely that was one of the driving factors, after learning from [the Chai project].