Maximising the minimal

Spatial organisation becomes a game of visual juxposition in the architects’ hands. We can see their intention to make familiar elements unfamiliar in the face of common sense: the ceiling is made of glass like a curtain wall and the ground is paved with air-bricks like a screen wall. The intention is to create perceptual confusion: the old structure is finished like a new one, while the new elements are made as old (brick walls, concrete ceilings and stairs are not plastered or painted); the bedroom, which should be private and discreet, is open; the kitchen, which should be lightfilled and ventilated, is shielded.

The intention is to create dramatic situations: backgrounding the sophisticated forms (of furnishings and fittings) and orienting views from spacious areas to cramped ones, creating shadows to draw attention to the light sources, and the use of white paint to emphasise the prominence of dark holes.

Glass and bricks are used – because they make sense. Not only does transparency help to expand views and draw in light, but being allowed to see something behind glass also creates the effect of photo-collage because of the reflected images. Bricks on the internal wall seem separated from each other and create the sense that this wall is broken by being ‘bent’ or overloaded by the stairs. The convex surface has a tendency to push everything away from it, but two walls bending in, in opposite directions, create a conflict and squeeze the stairs between them.

Two walls bending in – in opposite directions – squeeze the stairs between them.