Philip Junaeus: April 2012

Materiality - Solid/Void

The choice of materiality governs the way the entire house is perceived. I have chosen to focus in the ground floor, where the majority of walls are made up by glass panels. This feature gives this floor an open and airy feel. To add to this feel, the structural elements are separated from the floor level and hidden close to the ceiling with exception of three columns, leaving only a void covered in glass. The third and largest structural column connecting the children’s two floors are given a polished steel finish, creating an optical illusion that the column is not there. This feature and the choice of giving the first floor a very heavy feel, creates an interesting situation where the two different floors are juxtaposed and the first floor to appears to be hovering above the ground floor.

To control the void created by this situation, Koolhaas implemented a system of curtains that run, both on the outside and inside of the glass panels. The exterior curtain is of a thick and heavy material and given a gold finish. When in place, this curtain effectively creates a barrier much like the palisade walls of the medieval times, and transforms the open glass void into s solid.

Window Detail - Garden View

Windows are designed and aligned so that the viewer can stand or sit at key spaces such as the as the work desk, top of staircase or bathroom and have multiple views at the same time. The alignment of these windows helps subconsciously guide the inhabitants through the different compartments by allure of selected views to the outside. The cone-shaped windows are designed to work vertically, accommodating to the different heights of the inhabitants with the wife being the tallest, the kids the shortest and the husband in wheelchair somewhere in between. By having a larger interior window, the angle created towards the exterior windows allows for a wilder field of view from the interior.

Psychological Relationships - Compartmentalization

"Compartmentalization is an unconscious psychological defense used to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves. Compartmentalization allows these conflicting ideas to co-exist by inhibiting direct or explicit acknowledgement and interaction between separate compartmentalized self states."

Like the psychological diagnosis, the house is a vessel containing multiple forms of people with different values, activities and patterns of movement. The house is therefore designed with one thing in mind, control. The husband in wheelchair controls the different compartments by successively unlocking and locking them by raising and lowering his platform which is distinguished with a gold color in the model, symbolizing its dominant position over the children’s staircase represented in a silvery color. The function of the house is heavily dependent by him participating in the activities. Without him, key spaces as the bookshelf and wine cellar cannot be accessed. The house is not only divided up into horizontal, but also vertical compartments. The children are given two floors to themselves separated by a void where the polished steel column housing the staircase connecting the two floors is housed. Like the rest of the hose, the void takes inspiration from a medieval castle. The void acts like a moat, protecting the children from the possible threat of intruders coming from below.