Studio tutor : Ana Luisa Soares - Fala Atelier
Assistant : Joséphine Devaud
When developing a project there is a continuous need to include external references, either from the parameters that make up an exercise, a conscious search for references or the moments that are recorded in the subconscious of our memory. When studying a group of architects, their houses, spatial structures and interior spaces, by questioning their goals and achievements, we expand our mental library. Understanding what we are interested in and why, will contribute to the definition of a collective and individual discourse. An initial selection of names was given. Half-Japanese, half something else. These names were a pretext to initiate discussion. First studying the architect, then selecting six houses, followed by interpretive drawings of three spaces/moments from this selection.
From this “case-study” research, houses were designed from the interior perspective, while integrating the principles of one of those selected spaces/moments. More than functionalism, we discussed architectural concepts and intentions, spaces and interactions. here is no creation out of nothing, and everything relates to something else: all projects, ideas, concepts feed from external references. The larger such a mental library is, the more material it will have to produce new content and new projects through imagination. Fostering the exploration of different concepts of spatial structures and living spaces, houses are a perfect programme for architectural discussion and experimentation. For the last century architects have turned the idea of a house into a typology for continuous research.