Joachim Daetz - WS 08 - The Flower That Can Grow Anywhere

the flower that can grow anywhere

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Master European Architecture Workshop 8 - Lisbon Duration: 03.10.2017 - 18.12.2017 Location: Portugal Professor: Fancisco Aires Mateus Student:

Joachim Daetz

Title:

the flower that can grow anywhere

A House for No Place the flower that can grow anywehre

Content Introduction . .................................................................................... 07 Artworks........................................................................................... 11 Jon van Eyck - Man in a Red Turban.............................................. 13 Gerhard Richter - Betty. ................................................................ 15 Masaccio - Saints Jerome and John the Baptist............................... 17 Mark Rothko - Four Darks of Red................................................. 19 Richard Serra - Fernando Pessoa................................................... 21 Studies................................................................................................ 23 Light Studies. ................................................................................. 27 Volumetric Studies......................................................................... 29 Project First Proposal............................................................................... 39 5 Levels of Enlightenment............................................................... 45 The Flower that can Grow anywhere.............................................. 59 Idea, Sketches and Models. ................................................................. 67

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Introduction

This workshop is a 6 weeks exercise integrated in the studio work from Francisco Aires Mateus. The title “A House for no Place� describes very well what our task is. The aim of the workshop is to create spaces for 5 selected art works: Jon von Eyck - Man in Red Turban Gerhard Richter - Betty Mark Rothko - Four Darks in Red Masaccio - Saints Jerome and John the baptist Richard Serra - Fernando Pessoa The spaces are suppose to be created solemnly for the art works, whereas one peace fits into one room. The scales of the paintings vary immensely, therefore the rooms will have different scales as well.

The task reminded me alot of the studio work I did with Gu Daqing at the University Liechtenstein, in which we also had to create space for no particular place, even with no program at all. This workshop at least has a program to follow: private house. This means there are different rooms to be covered: Bathroom, Bedroom, Kitchen, Living Room and maybe a room for work.

The tricky part is still to figure out dimensions of the different spaces, where do I begin at a place that belongs to nowhere, thus everywhere?

I chose Zumthors Kunst Museum in Bregenz as a reference work, in which I believe he also worked with the method of block creation.

The first task was to create two postcards with spaces that impress us the most, I chose Zumthors Kunst Museum in Bregenz and a Space that I only encounter very recently in Pina Park in Sintra. The contrast of the two is magnificent and provoke interesting feelings of connection.

The questions start to begin, which are looking for answers, thus I am looking very much forward to this exercise and am curious to which new experimental spaces it will lead me!

Pena Park, Sintra

Peter Zumthor - Kunsthaus, Bregenz

Paintings in Scale 1:50

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Art Works

The art works are from the timespan 1428-2008 covering up Renaissance, Abstract Expressionism and Post Modernism. Almost 600 years difference between Masaccio and Serra. Can an architect cover up 600 years in 1 buildings? If so, how? Is it wise to deal with each painting individually?

Each room will then therefore look immensely different. The building would become a big eclectic mix of spaces.

I need to find common ground between the spaces to bring in a certain harmony.

On the left I compiled the artworks in proportion (1:50 scale), Serras one I abstracted into a fill, since it was difficult to find a suitable picture.

Old Roman paintings tell stories about the time and characters, attributes on them are very important.

Whilst modern pieces are more about interpretation, feeling, sensation.

It could even be a stories about yourself.

Many questions arose, which I am now trying to find answers to: Will the building be a walk through history? Or how should we sort them by? Scale, size, year, style?

Divide spaces in different epoch/eras? Renaissance /Modern Room?

What is the Key relationship of the space and painting?

Geometry? Special outlines? Meaning? Interpretation? History?

5 separate spaces? Or 5 spaces in 1 big space?

Put the 9m piece from Serra vertical? Very provocative.

Which painting will be in what room?

Living Room, Bed Room, Bath Room, Kitchen, Work space Girl (Betty) looking away maybe in the next room in her viewing direction a window or an opening?

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Jon van Eyck - Man in a Red Turban

1433 | 25.5 x 19cm | Oil on wood panel National Gallery, London, Great Britain This famous Flemish painting, known officially as Portrait of a Man, but commonly referred to as Man in a Red Turban, or Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban, is one of several famous panel paintings by the Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck (1390-1441), one of the foremost pioneers of the early Netherlandish Renaissance. Supposedly a self-portrait, it is believed to have been purchased by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, during his period of exile in Antwerp around 1644, before being acquired by the National Gallery in London, in 1851. Along with Van Eyck’s other masterpieces - such as The Ghent Altarpiece (1432, Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent), The Arnolfini Portrait (1434, National Gallery, London), and The Madonna/Virgin of Chancellor Rolin (1435, Louvre, Paris) - Portrait of a Man in Red Turban is one of the most famous examples of Northern Renaissance art of the 15th century.

The realism of Van Eyck‘s portrait art gives the artist a distinctly modern look, when compared with other Renaissance paintings. His selective naturalism superceded the stylized forms of Gothic art - including the latest International Gothic style - and compared most favourably with the new Renaissance art appearing in Italy. In fact, in the use of oil paint, he - along with his contemporary Roger van der Weyden (1399-1464) was clearly ahead of anyone in Italy, and his colours seemed to shine like no one else‘s.

Jan Van Eyck‘s Man in Red Turban was first described as a self-portrait in 1655, although this view was not unanimous and the identification remains tentative. The inscription at the top of the frame has been cited as strong evidence in favour. It reads „Als Ich Can“ (as I/Eyck can) which is a pun on the painter‘s name. Van Eyck apparently depicted himself in two other works; he seems to be reflected in the mirror in the Arnolfini Marriage (1434, National Gallery, London) and in the shield of St George in The Madonna Of Cannon Van Der Paele (1436, Musee Communal Des Beaux-Arts, Bruges).

Whether it is a self-portrait or not, the man - whoever he is - is not actually wearing a turban, but a chaperon - with its ends tied across the top. Similar headgear can be seen in the background of Van Eyck‘s Madonna of Chancellor Rolin - another alleged self-portrait. source http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/portrait-of-man-in-red-turban.htm

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Gerhard Richter - Betty

1988 | 102 cm x 72 cm | Oil on canvas Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, USA The canvas is a portrait of Gerhard Richter’s daughter Betty from a photo taken 10 years before the artist painted it. It is part of a series of oil paintings of his children, Isa Genzken second wife and the canvas ‘Lesende’/Reading (1994) portraying Sabine Moritz, who became his third wife in 1995. Evidently in this Vermeer quality rendition and direct reference back in time, there is no attempt here to hide the fact that a photo has acted as the modern-age sketch either. Invariably, one of the questions asked about these works is why were they not enlarged photos in the first place? And now that they are paintings, why do they not have those smeared dry brush or squeegee strokes to suggest the ephemeral in so many of other figurative representations from the artist?

On balance and in terms of popularity at least, the pose in Betty is breaking conventions in portraiture. The daughter turns away from the camera and the viewer looks into one of Richter’s monochrome works from the mid 70s. For this painting it would be tempting to whip up some psycho-babble about the inherent isolation in that disenfranchised stance. Alternatively, you could draw on Edward Hopper or Caspar David Friedrich to say something along the same lines. Similarly, some might suggest a narrative of an adolescent going through the rite of first turning independent from her parents in order to become an interdependent individual in society.

But what we do know is that it draws us into the painting and its beauty.

We instantly, want to know more about the sitter, and we realise that a portrait really is a contradiction in own terms. It never really tells us exactly who a person is. You just see a fraction of it all and in a fleeting moment. (source: https://www.xamou-art.com/gerhard-richter-betty/)

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Masaccio - St. Jerome&John the Baptist

1428-9 | 125 x 58.9 cm | Egg Tempera on poplar National Gallery of London This picture and‚ Pope Gregory the Great (?) and Matthias‘ are two sides of a single panel that was divided in two. The panel had been one part of a double-sided triptych in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.

Saint John‘s cross is unusual in that it is attached to a column. This may be a reference to the Colonna arms (‚colonna‘ meaning column in Italian). Pope Martin V, who died in 1431, was a member of the Colonna family and he may have been involved in the commission of this work.

Masolino probably completed the altarpiece after Masaccio‘s death in Rome in 1428. source: baptist

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/masaccio-saints-jerome-and-john-the-

St Jerome is represented in a cardinal‘s attire, holding a book (his Vulgate open on Genesis) and the model of a church (he is in fact a „Father of the Church“), while at his feet is a very small lion, from whose paw he would have removed a thorn (according to some hagiographies). St John the Baptist is also shown with some typical attributes, such as the fur vest, the stick with the cross and a scroll with the words „Ecce Agnus Dei“ (Behold the Lamb of God). To a careful observer, the stick is revealed as a slender Corinthian column, the emblem of the Colonna family, from which came Pope Martin V of Masaccio‘s times.

Both figures have a very expressive physiognomy, far from the traditional „soft“ expressions of International Gothic: Jerome appears stern and grim, while John looks scruffy and also slightly sad. It is the wealth of observations taken from the ordinary that revelas Masaccio‘s hand, such as John‘s bony foot so firmly planted on the ground and shortened to perfection. These details he shared with his friend Donatello, and it was Vasari who pointed out how Masaccio put an end to the „barbarian“ habit of the Gothic to put its figures as on tiptoes. There are some errors, such as Jerome‘s arm being too short, or at least badly foreshortened.

Remarkable are the studies in realistic light, which affects the figures from the top-left corner: it hits the Baptist on the shoulder, amplifying, due to the chromatic contrast, the distance between him and Jerome, who stands before John; half of Jerome‘s face is in the shadow, as a result of the large hat; part of John‘s left leg is exposed and beautifully lit up; and light draws the shadows on the carpet of wild flowers. The roundness of John‘s sculptoreal limbs achieves a realistic peak previously unknown in painting. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_major_paintings_by_Masaccio

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Mark Rothko - Four Darks in Red

1958 | 259,1x294,6 | Oil on canvas Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Four Darks in Red exemplifies Mark Rothko’s darker palette of the late 1950s, when he increasingly used red, maroon, and saturated black paints. Four dark rectangular areas of different proportions dominate the composition, simultaneously emerging from and receding into a luminous red ground. Rothko’s method of layering many coats of paint, along with the special reflective qualities of his color mixtures, gives his paintings an inimitable depth and incandescence. When this nearly tenfoot wide canvas is seen close up (as the artist intended), the viewer is engulfed in an atmosphere of color and intense visual sensations. The weightiest dark color is at the top of the canvas while a softer roseate glow emanates from below, creating a reversal of visual gravity. Rothko believed that such abstract perceptual forces had the ability to summon what he called “the basic emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, and doom.” source: http://collection.whitney.org/object/897

Rothko’s work brought movement to the flat two-dimensional canvas.

The canvas remains stationary but as the observer stares at the areas of color, they seem to move and vibrate. The perception of motion is an optical illusion because it is happening in the eyes and mind of the observer, not on the canvas itself. This motion imparts a pleasant feeling, much like light meditation might.

The red field against which the four dark forms float is first tinged with crimson, then with orange, then with brown. The lozenge shapes complement these shifts. The one closest to the lower edge of the canvas is a slightly blackened crimson. Moving vertically upwards, the next is more violet. The large area of black is first shaded with blue and then with green. And finally, squeezed in at the top of the canvas there is a thin strip of a rather nondescript, umberish brown which seems to be holding all the rest in place.

This is characteristic of Rothko’s signature “multiform” style of blurred, lozenge shapes, moving horizontally across the surface of the canvas.

Its meaning is difficult to comprehend, however it could be that, like Jackson Pollock, another Abstract Expressionist and contemporary of Rothko, the piece has no “meaning” in the normal sense of the word, but rather the painting is itself its own meaning. These paintings are not meant to be dissected and understood with the intellect, but focused on and joined with, enjoyed in a visual experience that can capture one’s usually erratic attention and thereby uplift one’s mood.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Darks_in_Red

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Richard Serra - Fernando Pessoa 2008

2007-2008 | 900.4x300x20.3cm | Weatherproof Steel Currently moving around the world The monumental sculptures of Richard Serra, one of the preeminent sculptors of the 20th century, emphasize or alter viewers’ perceptions of space and proportion. “It’s all about centralizing the space in different ways. How people move in relation to space, that’s essentially what I’m up to,” he has said. Inspired early in his career by modern dance— notably through his relationship with members of New York City’s influential Judson Church dancers—and Japanese Zen gardens, the artist sought to create works that engage viewers in movement, taking in his large-scale sheet-metal pieces by navigating the space around them. Serra, who was schooled at Yale with classmates Frank Stella, Chuck Close, and Nancy Graves, has been called “cerebral, singleminded, austere, as steely and uncompromising as his work.” “I have a certain obstinacy, a certain willfulness that has got me in trouble but it has also got me through,” he has quipped. source; https://www.artsy.net/artwork/richard-serra-fernando-pessoa

“Serra’s work does not deny our troubles; it doesn’t tell us to cheer up.

It tells us that sorrow is written in the contract of life. The large scale and overtly monumental character of the work constitute a declaration of the normality of sorrow.” Art, de Botton wants to demonstrate, helps prove the universality of emotions. It’s not so much that there’s a wrong or right way to suffer, but that when you’re deep in it, it’s useful to be reminded that what you’re feeling isn’t unique. Misery loves company, sure, but misery also loves representations of sadness sublimated in a way that gives dignity to the strangeness of the feeling. There’s certainly something somber and resolute about Serra’s sculptures, and about Fernando Pessoa in particular, which is composed of a single rectangular rigid steel plate. It makes sense that his work could be a visual stand-in for the towering, engulfing feelings of sorrow. source: http://therumpus.net/2014/05/shift-on-richard-serra-and-art-as-therapy/

There is something almost Orwellian about this piece, though he has named in it in honour of Fernando Pessoa, the elusive Portuguese author of a meandering, semi-mystical novel called The Book of Disquiet. He says the connection is tangential: he was reading the book while making the piece, and cautions that ‘one should not read too much into my titles’.

The Pessoa piece is powerful; it brings to mind foundries and shipyards as well as the Berlin Wall and the Israeli-built security fence that snakes though Palestine. You can see why it might cause consternation to those who prefer art to be in some way uplifting. source: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/oct/05/serra.art

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Studies

The space in nothing. To create architecture without context seemed difficult to me, no colours, shapes or nature to adapt, to get inspired by.

But then I realized: nothing means nothing. A quite space.

Each room acts as an own instrument, it lets sound travel depending on the surface of the material, materials itself, size of the room and how the materials are fixed. If the room is already creating sounds by its own, how will I be able to enjoy the simple sound of running water in the sink or the noise that is created whilst cooking, loud metallic sounds of pots clinging on the stove and the frying noises my chicken creates in the pan. These sounds, the daily, normal sounds, made in a space, make it to a home.

Architecture is the art of space and it is art of transformation over time, meaning thinking about how we can move (circulate) within a space.

Architecture is not perceived and experienced in just one second, complex details and beautiful perspectives will stir your curiosity and imagination. Music is also an art over time, Beethoven symphonies did not only last for 1 second. Music changes, every bar can be different, bring a new character. As every step through a space can bring new views, both are about movement trough a complex wire or moments.

Just like music seeks harmony, architecture seeks harmony: harmony of materials. Only one single material has thousands of possibilities due to light, scale, proportion and the way of the material was produces.

To create light in my spaces I of course need to create openings. The question is, do I want to create openings to look outside (meaning that also people from outside can look inside) or do I create openings for the pure pleasure of enlightening the room in a way that supports the function? Because architects do not create space to then call the electrician in the end to tell him to make light inside. No, the thought, the beautiful thought of light needs to be there right from the beginning.

Since I am working with art, indirect and defused light will be key in my building. Rothkos painting “Four darks in Red� inspired me the most.

The reversed visual grammar, meaning the darkest colour on top and the lightest colour on the bottom, is in a way making me nervous but it also fascinates me. Thus I want to create a place for a music and art enthusiast, in which the way we normally think of light is reversed.

By stacking floors which will turn darker and darker the further you go up, I want to create 5 spaces with 5 noticeable different levels of enlightenment. ric self perfection it is the perfect form for any space that has no context in which it can be interrupted. (Inspired and cited by Zumthors book Atmospheres)

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Light Studies

To understand the nature of diffused light, we must first answer the question, “What is light?” Physicists define light as electromagnetic radiation. Traditional theory holds that light is a wave. Its amplitude gives the brightness, and the differing wavelengths make the different colors.

Modern quantum theory says that particles of energy called photons make up light. The number of photons gives the brightness, and the energy in the photons creates its color. Both theories are correct. Light acts as both particle and wave. Simply put, light is that which enables us to see.

How Do We See? We see an object because it emits light (for example, the sun, fire, a light bulb), or we see objects that reflect light.

What Is Diffused Light?

Diffused light is a soft light with neither the intensity nor the glare of direct light. It is scattered and comes from all directions. Thus, it seems to wrap around objects. It is softer and does not cast harsh shadows.

What Causes Light Diffusion?

When a light beam strikes a smooth surface, most of it reflects back in the same concentration. This is specular reflection, which gives us direct, bright light. A mirror is a common example of a smooth surface that causes specular reflection. What happens on a rough surface? Even microscopic irregularities create roughness. The law of reflection is not broken. Each ray reflects back at the same angle at which it struck the object but in a different direction. So diffuse light is scattered light. This scattering is what causes the diffusion and softness of the light beam.

Application of Diffuse Light Photographers use the principle of diffuse light to create pictures with vivid details because there are no sharp shadows to distract attention.

On a sunny day, they use light diffusers to create soft shadows.

Horticulturists are now discovering that diffused light creates a better growing environment in greenhouses. It allows for a greater horizontal spread of light and exposes the middle leaf layers to light. Drivers find that wet roads have a greater glare than dry roads. That is because the cracks and crevices on the road’s surface fill up with water, creating a smooth surface. This results in specular reflection that creates the annoying glare. Fog lamps try to make use of the principle of diffused light to provide a safer beam.

Fun Fact The human eye cannot see all the rays on the light spectrum. Infrared rays, for example, are too long for the human eye to perceive, and ultraviolet rays are too short. So, direct (spectral) light seems stronger than diffuse light. However, the total light transmission is the same. (source:

https://sciencing.com/diffused-light-5470956.html)

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Volumetric Studies

In the first phase of a design project - be it the planning of a new section of a city or the design of single object - massing models are often used to create volumetric studies. Such studies involve the placement of blocks on a site plan or in imagined space. These constellations of blocks represent complex arrangements of spatial elements. When the elements of a massing model are placed during a design process, the exterior space of a project are simultaneously delineated. Exterior spaces can also be considered architectural spaces, as they are defined by the existence of architectural elements. By shifting, exchanging and regrouping the elements of a composition, students can observe the effects of these decisions on their design as a whole. Students can learn to recognise the spatial components of their designs by carefully studying such models, photographs and video tapes; which ideally enables them to design more consciously.

These conceptual studies are used to master a given design problem and prepare for the refinement of the design and the accompanying shift in dimension and detail. To be able to develop a design effectively, students must be able to imagine the spatial consequences that their ideas might have. A physical model is often used to efficiently test and express an idea at this stage. Naturally, perspective drawings can also be used for the same purpose. Although it has been seen that perspectives are more often used for presentation purposes and are rarely an effective part of the design process. It is very difficult to work with a drawn perspective. However, the possibility to directly and constantly test the spatial consequences of design decisions remains crucial. This capability can strengthen a persons ability to imagine a proposed space, particularly in the case of students who do not yet have actual building experience. They can learn to judge more effectively whether or not the spaces that they have proposed actually fit the conceptual goals of their design. (source: http://old.arch.ethz.ch/caad/info/97/cf97/index.html)

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5 Seperate Ingredients

How to prepare the Dish?

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2,000m

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2,000m

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First Proposal

My first proposal obviously consists of 5 different spaces with 5 completely different kinds of enlightenment.

The idea was to enter the space with a high an narrow space which in dark in the beginning but ends up with a flash of light, in the entire process of this walk you can already see a bright space upfront with the painting from Masaccio in you perfect viewing axis. Once you enter the courtyard you are in a space almost entirely flooded by sunlight.

The light here is very direct so the shadows are linear and dramatic.

You walk through the courtyard, which is a garden, on the left you can already see the inside of the living room due to a long and exaggerated window. Once you come inside you are next to the Masaccio painting - St. Jerome and John the Baptist. You continue into the next perceived space in which you are suddenly walking 1.2 meters higher then the rest of the space. The aisle leads to the kitchen, on your way you can already see Betty by Gerhard Richter, hanging on a wall in front of the large window, which allows the painting to be supported by back lightening.

The common area spaces consists of the kitchen and the living room, both are exposed to direct lightening, like the courtyard (garden), yet a little bit less of sunlight is able to find its way into this space.

The path leads either down a few stairs into the living room or through the kitchen up the stairs into the bathroom. The idea for the bathroom was to create a space which is flooded by diffused and indirect light.

With the help of milky windows or a second layer of windows the room should seem like a cloud, light and soft. This should make the bathroom a comfortable space. At the same time the cloud is interrupted by Fernando Pessoa, the artwork by Richard Serra. Pessoa is roughly 9 meters long, 3 meters hight and 20 cm wide. It is a perfect wall to separate the space of the bathroom into two areas, one in which you are dressed, basically only toilet and sink and one in which you are naked: shower, bathtub and a sauna.

Either I create a second staircase and a second door or you leave the same way you entered. The stairs will lead you up into the sound studio and music room. This room is enlightened by two overhead openings which create spatial indirect light. The walls left and right are flooded by light, yet the center part of the room is rather dark. At the end of this space the painting from Rothko is located. No direct sunlight will be able to reach the painting, yet the room is beautifully covered with light. A perfect atmosphere for a place to create music.

The last and smallest room will be the bedroom, located at the end of the staircase. This room is almost completely dark, only one opening allows selected light to enter the space. A light that acts as a wall washer to enlighten the beautiful painting of Jon van Eyck. A peaceful place to rest and sleep.

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Elevations

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Views

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Plans

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Sections

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5 Levels of Enlightenment

The space in nothing. To create architecture without context seemed difficult to me, no colours, shapes or nature to adapt, to get inspired by.

But then I realized: nothing means nothing. A quite space.

Each room acts as an own instrument, it lets sound travel depending on the surface of the material, materials itself, size of the room and how the materials are fixed. If the room is already creating sounds by its own, how will I be able to enjoy the simple sound of running water in the sink or the noise that is created whilst cooking, loud metallic sounds of pots clinging on the stove and the frying noises my chicken creates in the pan. These sounds, the daily, normal sounds, made in a space, make it to a home.

Architecture is the art of space and it is art of transformation over time, meaning thinking about how we can move (circulate) within a space.

Architecture is not perceived and experienced in just one second, complex details and beautiful perspectives will stir your curiosity and imagination. Music is also an art over time, Beethoven symphonies did not only last for 1 second. Music changes, every bar can be different, bring a new character. As every step through a space can bring new views, both are about movement trough a complex wire or moments.

Just like music seeks harmony, architecture seeks harmony: harmony of materials. Only one single material has thousands of possibilities due to light, scale, proportion and the way of the material was produces.

To create light in my spaces I of course need to create openings. The question is, do I want to create openings to look outside (meaning that also people from outside can look inside) or do I create openings for the pure pleasure of enlightening the room in a way that supports the function? Because architects do not create space to then call the electrician in the end to tell him to make light inside. No, the thought, the beautiful thought of light needs to be there right from the beginning.

Since I am working with art, indirect and defused light will be key in my building. Rothkos painting “Four darks in Red� inspired me the most.

The reversed visual grammar, meaning the darkest colour on top and the lightest colour on the bottom, is in a way making me nervous but it also fascinates me. Thus I want to create a place for a music and art enthusiast, in which the way we normally think of light is reversed. By arranging 5 spaces in along a pentagonic courtyard and connecting them by a corridor, I want to create 5 spaces with 5 noticeable different levels of enlightenment. ric self perfection it is the perfect form for any space that has no context in which it can be interrupted. (Inspired and cited by Zumthors book Atmospheres)

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Floorplan

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Music Room

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Bathroom

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Entrance, Bedroom and Kitchen

Cardboard Models

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Concrete Models

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the flower that can grow anywhere

The idea for this project started with the interest in different ways of enlightening the inside spaces. From intense direct light to indirect and defused light, the spaces form different levels of enlightenment. With 5 separate spaces the journey to a successful connection was intriguing.

Forming a pentatonic patio to arrange the spaces, facing the smallest sides to the middle and outside, proved to be the best solution.

The very long entrance is the beginning of the circulation throughout the house, it begins in a dark space with almost no light but the opening at the end, where Masaccio is placed in the center of the viewpoint.

Arriving to the kitchen, which is higher to your left, you are faced with very direct light and openings. The following bathroom space is dropped back to the entrance hight and is a box in a box. In the middle a glassbox is paced in which all the wet activities of a bathroom take place, like showering and bathing. The rest of the bathroom needs are placed around the translucent glassbox alongside the walls, where the painting form Van Eyck is placed next to the mirror. This translucent box has a translucent ceiling which leads to an effect as if the middle of the bathroom is on a cloud. In the bedroom the hight remains the same, the space is endowed by indirect and defused lightening, which allows a comfortable sleep. The last and biggest space is the music room, in which Rothko is placed underneath an overhang that introduces light to the sidewalls which act as wall-washers. This way the painting is never to be in contact with direct light, just as in all the other rooms.

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Floorplan

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Music Room

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Bathroom

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Entrance, Bedroom and Kitchen

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Concrete Models

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Ideas, Sketches and Models

Here are some scans from my sketch book as well as some theories and concepts I had previously in this exercise. Disorganised and just put in the end of the booklet for some reference and memory sake.

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Entrance

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Sound Studio

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Bed Room

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Kitchen, Dining Room

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Bathroom

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European Architecture 11 Workshops at 6 Universities +1 Master’s Thesis The two-year training is structured around a series of 8 project workshops + 1 reflective workshops at 6 different higher education institutions: Urban planning as well as architectural and artistic issues – open questions virulent to the cities & regions of the participating universities – will be examined at all scales; multidimensional planning processes, design and communication strategies constitute integral parts of a democratic culture of building to transform existing buildings and urban quarters with regard to ecological sustainability. Problems will be resolved in the context of cultural heritage and pre-existing structures.

The postgraduate programme is a unique and innovative approach to international architectural education: it combines the idea of the classical artist journey with the intensive, interdisciplinary and project-oriented workshop tradition and teamwork, focusing on acute topics generating architectural knowledge and dialogue across greater Europe between cities as Tallinn, Lisbon, Helsinki, Dessau, Ljubljana, Innsbruck and Haifa.