The theme of our second year design studio 4 was communication. Known as the Horse studio we were all assigned a character from John Hejduk’s Berlin Night. This character underpinned our studio becoming a client that we were asked to research and give an identity by creating a story about the client that gave an indication of their age, gender, likes and dislikes, needs, wants without it turning into a list of personality characteristics. The creation of this character and client enabled us to incorporate the personality traits of the client into the design, creating a house taoilor made for the client, making it a more personal experience.
I was assigned ‘the anesthesiologist’ and invested the character with a rich story and personality that helped me develop and shape a brief. The withdrawn solitary nature of the client was juxtaposed by his profession, which being an integral member of a surgical team demands participation in interaction with others. Thus part of my developed brief was to design a house that will challenge him to increase his interactivity with other people, with a focus on designing for social interaction, but not so much as to make him feel uncomfortable in his own home. It should also be designed in such a way as to encourage and help improve his individual pursuits, but in a way that will encourage the inclusion of not just himself but encourage others to join.
The design recognises the need for the client to expand his social skills, so It was my task as the architect to develop spatial and programmatic arrangements that challenged the client to retreat out of his shell.
The planning arrangement of the house is divided in two by a courtyard, where one half focuses on privacy and the other social interaction. Two long hallways penetrate either side of the plan, directing movement to the central circulation core of the courtyard with ramps that wrap around the large central tree that thrusts up through the centre. The path of the ramps inadvertently directs the user straight into a social dining setting with a split-level roof terrace. While there are technically three occupiable stories to this house, both the inside and outside areas are laden with changes in levels and size to form transition zones between private and social areas for the client to acclimatise to.
As we were each assigned lots of houses bordering side by side on one another we were restricted on what we could achieve formally which made it an interesting project that gave focus to spatial dynamics. I explored this in section through a layering of spaces such as cavernous double voids that leaves the user with no space to hide which are contrasted by smaller interlocking spaces that allow moments of respite and seclusion.
