Brief - Part Two

ARCH1390

Assignment Two

House Brief

Client: Steven Holl

Designer: Dominique Heraud

Bedrooms: One + One guest room

bathrooms: One

Toilets: Two

Gallery: One public, one private

  

Water Feature: One

Studio Spaces: Three

Kitchen: One

Living Room: One

Dining Room: One

Garage Space: Three

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In each project we begin with information and disorder, confusion of purpose, program ambiguity, an infinity of materials and forms. All of these elements, like obfuscating smoke, swirl in a nervous atmosphere. Architecture is a result of acting on this indeterminacy.

To open architecture to questions of perception, we must suspend disbelief, disengage the rational half of the mind, and simply play and explore. Reason and skepticism must yield to a horizon of discovery. Doctrines cannot be trusted in this laboratory. Intuition is our muse. The creative spirit must be followed with happy abandon. A time of research precedes synthesis.

Phenomena & Idea, Steven Holl

House Design

MASTER BEDROOM
Feature/Parameter	Why
a minimum of 20m2, plus an ensuite and a small studio space	Minimum space to ensure the room is of a reasonable size, in which the client and his partner can feel comfortable in
Studio space in the bedroom must be separated, whilst connected to the bedroom, whether it be physically or metaphoric	The client does most of his work in the morning, 'when his mind is the most subjective', therefore it essential to have a space that is 60% acoustically and visually detached from the main room itself, whether this separation is created through walls, shadows or glass.
The bedroom and studio space must interact in some way with the exterior shallow body of water (pond)	A request of the client to have the body of water incorporated throughout the entire building, therefore the presence of the water must be felt and seen in the bedroom
Must not be visible from the gallery or any public areas of the house, it is to be strictly a private area	This room is strictly private as any bedroom should be, but it is also to nurture the clients purposes of the room, to be used as a private space for the client to be uninterrupted, undisturbed at the most subjective

GUEST BEDROOM
The guest room is to serve the purposes of temporary residence	It is only a temporary residence to serve the purpose of the client and his partner to be able to entertain and have guest stay for small amounts of time

Must fully self contained	To ensure the privacy of the guest, but most importantly the client and his partner. It must contain a sleeping, sitting and dining area as well as a small kitchen and bathroom
Must exemplify and continue the theme and design of the client	As this will be an area for visitants to stay, the area must still exemplify the design desires of the client, to showcase and promote the clients works

THE PUBLIC GALLERY
The public gallery must be constructed of plain materials and composition	Plain materials must be used in the composition of the public to ensure that the entire focus is placed upon the clients work
The public gallery must explore the idea of scale	Scale is a very important aspect of the clients work, therefore the gallery should explore an abundance of diverse and evocative scale
The public gallery is to be the bigger of the two galleries	This is to ensure that the public gallery showcases a large amount of the clients work
The public gallery must have no artificial lighting, its only source of light is to be natural	The house must be specially designed so that there in no need for artificial lighting, as the natural light should be effortlessly carried into the public space

THE PRIVATE GALLERY
The private gallery is for the purposes of private viewing and admiration	To allow the client to view his own work in a private, informal setting to encourage the subjectivity of his mind
The gallery is only for the use of the house occupants – client and partner	To increase the intimacy and emotion felt with the space and the clients works
The private gallery is to have no specific order, layout or presentation	Having no order is important to ensure that there is no disarray and encourage creativity

STUDIO SPACE ONE - BEDROOM
The studio space in the bedroom, should be metaphorically separated from the room, but may not be physically detached	This is to allow for the subjectivity of the clients' mind in early morning and to encourage clear thoughts
The bedroom studio space must have full view of the body of water, and a distinction between the two must be blurred	To encourage the creativity and to allow the client to focus on the calmness, purity and scope of his work, making him feel apart of the body of water
The actual space is to be of a small scale, but due to its close proximity to the body of water it is to be visually perceived as bigger	To be of small scale as it is not intended to be used as the primary studio space, but it must be close to body of water to increase the amount of natural light and perception of size