Spatial Model: De Stijl
NW Perspective
SE Perspective
Rationale:
Inspired by the work of Theo van Doesburg and Cor van Esteren, I strove to create a house design that appeared “blocky” and contained from the exterior but open and spacious from the interior – an emphasis on the notion of contrasts throughout. Keeping with the design characteristics of the De Stijl movement, I highlighted important elements of the house with primary colours and/or grey. Additionally, the balcony/porch areas are supported by thin black columns reminiscent of Mondrian’s rectilinear lines in his famous De Stijl paintings. These small accents of black also break up the overall composition of planes. The deliberate lack of symmetry also emphasises the notion of overlapping and intersecting planes prominent in the De Stijl.
The ground floor remains relatively open and spacious from the exterior to encourage movement through a public, communal space. To contrast this, the first and second floors are more defined, boxed spaces that seem to be stuck together haphazardly. The closed-off nature of the upper floor’s exterior supports the notion of privacy within these spaces - the movement within is relatively hidden from the public’s eye. Despite this idea of containment, within the upper floors there is a similar level of open plan, versatile living space. This emphasises how there is still cohesion in the design of these different instances of intersecting planes.
