The Home
We spend increasingly more time on display. Modern transport and communication have allowed us to be closer, more often and for longer- and always, we are in the public view. The home is our escape from this, indeed our only refuge, but even this most sacred object we are increasingly treating as just another showcase, a badge and status symbol. The houses we build or buy and furnish are primarily intended to be seen- a demonstration of our success or a statement of our personality.
I declare we return the house to what it should be; a home. A home that is not for your neighbour’s envy, your guest’s intimidation or your girlfriend’s arousal, but for you alone.
The purpose of the home is solace and comfort- this is your keep, your last bastion, your refuge and shelter from this fast-spinning and ever-shifting world. Leave the nameless and faceless at the door, here, you alone define the space and judge your actions. Here- if nowhere else- you are the main character.
Introspection – The Courtyard
Traditionally the house looks outward- as much for sunlight as it is for keeping the neighbours in sight, and so conversely, invites looks inwards. You are again on display, but here you are seen at your most vulnerable. We must reverse this aspect- turn your views in upon yourself as the focus of the home- upon those things that define you, your activities, your belongings, your loved ones that you have invited inside. The house is concerned with you; it is not simply a platform from which to watch the outside world.
If we collapse the ‘convex’ perspective, and pull space from the outside to the inside, we can enclose it within the house and create an intimately defined, ‘concave’ space for ourselves. This is the courtyard which is too scarcely borrowed in the west, but serves masterfully as the private and enclosed heart of your home.
Shelter – The Cave
The home must provide security and protection from the world that is beyond your control. To replicate this, take heed of the primal responses of man- his instinctive gravitation to solidity and strength- look to the cave. Construction should express in concrete and stone the same characteristics of the earth itself. Lower the building, let its horizontal aspect reflect the ground plain not defy it- lower the floors further throughout the depth of the building. The heart of the building should be its lowest point, protected on all sides by the internal faces of the house and open to the sky (though overhung by the house) and completely protected from the exterior ground plane. This space is secured and secluded- nestled snugly into the earth.
Truth – The Machine
At all times the house serves man and this function should be celebrated. It facilities cannot be reduced by adherence to an ill-fitting aesthetic- rather its own aesthetic must be incorporated into the whole. The house is a machine and the truth of this is its beauty. Also- as a servant- it must be well equipped- so look to new technology to improve it- incorporation does not mean hide- express the hard and cool mechanical elements and you will express the defining nature of the building itself. Always allow for the future- technology will change- but the function of the building will not and it will need modification- it is truly a machine, one that must be readily upgraded.
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