We all want shelter, in fact as mere-mortals we do not simply want it, but need it. Shelter is at the conventional center of a home (something to keep the elements at bay), what comes next is entirely up to the inhabitant, landscape, and society. The personal and social aspects of a home coupled with a dwellers aesthetic elevate a shelter to the status of a home. Just as there are millions of people on the Earth, there are countless aesthetic and design possibilities when it comes to the home--think about all the interesting, strange, eclectic, beautiful, individual personalities and characters you pass on the street everyday--there is no limit, but there is once true common denominator: shelter.
Praça Cantão, Communidade Da Santa Marta, Rio De Janeiro
Above is the entrance to the Santa Marta housing development in Rio. The colors span over 34 houses and cover about 7000 square meters of the housing project. The inhabitants of these domiciles have embraced an idea that is beyond shelter and instead is centered around community and the social aspects of a home.
CERNIN, Czech Republic: "Marshmallow House"
Many times landscape aids in the dictation of a home. This home, located in the countryside outside of Prague, is built on a slat--thus all of the floors are at a slanted angle. Though most people can understand the everyday function of each room, it takes a special kind of person to be able to craft it and then live in it. Personally I enjoy the vision of this home and the nontraditional functionality of the space, but I could also see myself dropping my wine glass and watching it role to the bottom of the home. . .this would exhaust me.
Herzog & de Meuron-VitraHaus
Ask a child to draw a house and what do you get--a square with a triangular top. What is so interesting about this project by the famed firm Herzog and de Meuron is that it takes what we normalize about the home and transforms it and creates a repetitive form that both confuses and delights. There is an odd and playful since of community in this design--the interior and exterior spaces blend seamlessly together in harmony while functioning in a rather open floor plan. I think its absolutely beautiful and challenges the idea of the traditional domicile.
