Grainne Hassett
This is a generous and memorable work. An inhabited cliff that is loose and lyrical. Formed of grids, it is high and narrow, more tower than slab, though it lacks the domineering presence of some towers. The mix of masculine/feminine is equally weighted. All elegant verticals, like Mies van der Rohe’s glass skyscraper drawings (1922), it can be read as a set of slim volumes. It does not exert its weight when it lands on the earth, it sits gently down, disappearing in an arrangement of worked-out accommodations around the street and park edge.
Then in another reading it becomes human again, with a remarkably light, facade grid, scaled to a person size, tall again, elegant, with shadows and fluting and timber, like a beautiful, resonant burnished piece of furniture. Behind all of this well worked out modelling, this urbane and generous character, living spaces are arrayed and splayed in a cranked grid. They seem full of possibility and nuance, big and small moments.
We have combined the interpretative pieces of this building into one object. It is the exact dimensions and shape of the building at 1:25, set on a plinth. We wanted it to look like a building but also like an abstract object.
By explaining the great entrance sequence and ground relationship, it becomes more legible. Materials are those common to Italian design of the 1950s and 60s; shiny opaque black and a small amount of semi-sheen white plexiglass, steel and walnut. We are using the sculptural fluted towers of Mangiarotti’s concept. Parts are cut away.
An abstracted version of the wardrobe wall device, which is a key enabling element in the plan’s looseness is revealed. It is a device here to convey human occupation and scale.
Hassett Ducatez Architects