THE SENSE OF MATERIALITY
Background and Context
This case study focuses on the interior reconstruction of a two storey house in Singapore. The house is a modern version of the traditional shophouse introduced during the colonial era, and originally designed to combine work and living spaces within a building. (Jane, Jane, 1985) The ground level shop opens out to a five foot wide covered walkway that links the units together to form a continuous block facing a common street. It also shelters one from rain and the intense heat and glare of the tropical sun. An air well located at mid point of the interior facilitates natural ventilation in the warm and humid climate and direct light into its deep interiors. The context of the shophouse is an important consideration in this project as the specificity of culture and climate moderated our subsequent design decisions.
Design Intent and Direction
Our design avoids the cliché and superficial representation of a Chinese identity through the use of recognisable shapes, forms or symbols. The primary focus is centred on the silent dialogue between the body and material reality, to find appropriate opportunities where quotidian experiences can be heightened and made extraordinary. Materials are investigated and their innate materiality amplified, overlaid and combined to provoke desired ambience and atmosphere. We explore the use of light and shadows, the aural, tactile and visual qualities of materials and how their juxtapositions can draw out emotional responses that engender a multi-sensory poetic experience. For example, the sense of mystery and depth evoked by the withholding and concealing nature of shadows, or one of intensity and focus by combining light with strong colours. These strategies are employed to orchestrate a rich and experiential spatial narrative throughout the interior space.
Threshold
The design conceives of the interior and the exterior as permeable social and experiential thresholds. The sheltered five foot walkway commonly serves as a social space where neighbours can meet and talk. It is not unusual to find this space personalized with outdoor plants or benches,expanding the interior out to the exterior space. The first set of wooden sliding grilles is retained to continue this social permeability between the public walkway and the private interior. The actual set of doors is set deeper into the house and designed as full height, pivoted and in unfinished steel. By setting back the entrance, we transformed this space into a semi dark interior, in contrast with the bright exterior. The visual acclimatisation is deliberately designed to mark an experiential threshold between the exterior and the interior of the house, one that is characteristic of spaces in the tropics.
Materiality of light and shadow
We explore how the manipulation of natural and artificial light and its effect on a material’s surface can transform our perception of materiality and spaces. A continual feature in the house is the full height pivot timber screen doors strategically repeated throughout different parts of the interior. At a cultural level, the screens are abstracted forms used in traditional Chinese architecture. However, its materiality is altered by locating a row of lights on the ceiling along the length of the timber screen doors, which turn its mass and weight into one of delicacy and lightness at night. Visually, the screen doors appear to float off the surface of the wall due to the masking of the timber’s materiality as thin, vertical silhouettes. Furthermore, through careful placement and contrast of the reflectivity of materials and furniture, as well as their proximity to windows and light fixtures, we are able to achieve affective means of conveying a dramatic sense of focus, depth, mystery and extending visual connectivity between the interior and exterior. In the bed chamber, we deliberately directed the overhead light on the Chinese antique bed to bring this artifact into focus and keep the surrounding spaces dim to further enhance the dramatic and mysterious quality. Two layers of translucent curtains position around the bed offer an additional sense of depth when viewed against the rich colour and luster of the bed’s fabric. In other areas, polished stainless steel fittings either amplify the level of reflectivity in more public spaces or allow the exterior to be reflected into the interior. The sense of a gentle breeze is reinforced visually in the kitchen through the overlapping, moving patterns of leaves reflected off the steel surfaces of the kitchen cabinets. Similarly, the use of highly polished granite surface for the Jacuzzi visually draws the trees and bamboos outside the house into its interior, evoking an experience of visual expansiveness as one emerges from the dark and narrow staircase.
Tactility of stone and wood
The sense of hardness and firmness as one walks on stone, contrasted with the feeling of coolness and dampness when in contact with water is an experience we have in mind in the design of the bathroom. We imagine this to be a special place, where the ritual of cleansing can potentially be a pleasurable one. We choose a charcoal gray stone cut into large modular panels to contrast with the intimacy of the contoured body. The panels are used as both floor and wall finishes, creating a continuity of surface and a sense of the body being enclosed all around. We deliberately set up a dialectical relationship between body and material to activate the innate sensibilities of the body when contrasted with a surface or material possessing a very different quality than itself. The softness of flesh becomes intensified when in contact with the hardness of stone. The texture and colour of the stone wall also presented a natural background to bring out the delicate lines and details of the antique and the contemporary furniture. In our choice of wood for the pivot screen doors, we avoided the design of a door handle as we intend the act of opening the door to be an intimate, direct encounter between body and object. The timber poles are therefore dimensioned so that they fit comfortably within the grasp of one’s hand.
Water and reflectivity
Water and its associated impressions of coolness and dampness mediate between the sensing body and the enduring firmness of stone in the bathroom. The stone floor is left unpolished to allow water to leave traces, marking the passage of time and offer surfaces that the overhead lights can reflect off. The reflective nature of still water is taken advantage of in other areas where it can be manifested against glass surfaces while contained. During the day, light from the pool reflects off the ceiling and walls that are left unpainted, creating moving and changing patterns that can rouse a dreamlike state of mind. While at night, the reflectivity of glass and water combine to create an illusionistic space beyond the physical boundary of the house.
The aural and springing sensation of steel
The staircase is constructed of unfinished steel bent to form into steps. As one walks on these steps, a low, reverberating sound is experienced. The sound is magnified softly between the timber screen and the masonry wall, which enables one to intuitively sense the difference in scale and volume along this transitional space between the two floors. One also senses a slight bounce when walking on the steps as the steel resisted the weight of the body, thereby allowing the body to be aware of its own presence.
The silent witness of objects
Our strategy for the placement of furniture aims at highlighting their displacement from the original place and time. We wish to bring out a sense of uncanny and quiet tension through their presence, rather than integrating them seamlessly into the interior landscape. Moreover, given the client’s persistent absence from the house, the furniture assume the role of solitary, silent witnesses in space. We recalled Aldo Rossi’s project, the Domestic Theatre, designed for the XVII Milan Triennale in 1986 and featured in Lotus Documents 8 (Teyssot, 1987). In this theoretical work, everyday household appliances took on a larger than life presence in the house. Time seemed to stand still, while the reflective vessels visually captured and extended the surrounding environment on their surfaces, albeit in a distorted fashion.
Theoretical Foundation
Our project is based on the theoretical foundation that there is continuity between our body and the built environment. This continuity implies that what we experience external to our body are not mute objects or spaces; but that they possessed meanings we can sense, recognise and associate our emotions with. Our project also assumes that experiences are ‘lived similarities’ to borrow a term from Walter Benjamin (Bullock, Eiland, Jennings, Smith, Eds., 2005). This commonality and continuity is what makes communication of poetic meanings through materials, spaces and forms possible. It is a silent dialogue; one that takes place at both the conscious and sub-conscious level through our everyday encounter with the built and natural world. Robert Vischer, a German philosopher at the turn of the eighteen century and several of his contemporaries speculated on the possibility of an empathic relationship between forms and the physiology of the body and emotions (Vischer, 1873). Their philosophical speculations attempted to give meanings to and establish a bridge between the private imagination and creation of the artist with the larger world around him. For Vischer, we can read and feel the subjective play and manipulation of ornaments and mass of an architect because we associate them with our own body. He wrote:
"Total regularity occurs only in certain parts of the human body (the eye), and accordingly we like to see it in part of the object…Again, we find that horizontal symmetry always presents a better effect than vertical symmetry because of its analogy with our body" (1873: 97-98).
However, Vischer also reminded us that our perception of the external world is not solely dependent on sight but one which involves the entire active sensing body, and that the transference of sensations is possible across senses. He elaborated, “Similarly, we speak of ‘loud colours’ because their shrillness does indeed induce an offensive sensation in our auditory nerves. In rooms with low ceilings our whole body feels the sensation of weight and pressure.” (1873: 98) In the section on feeling and emotion, Vischer celebrated an emotional existence that gives thoughtful consideration to others, beyond the confines of one’s own. He wrote:
"Only by considering our fellow beings do we ascend true emotional life. This natural love for my species is the only thing that makes it possible for me to project myself mentally; with it, I feel not only myself but at the same time the feeling of another being." (1873: 103).
Implications
Robert Vischer’s theory of empathic relationship between the outer world and our inner life as well as the value of a shared and considered emotional existence has significant implications for design. It re-orientates design away from a purely conceptual laden approach, towards one that requires designers to be sensitive to the inflections and nuances of living and to see design as a configuration and intensification of the everyday through care, empathy and generosity. No longer is design concerned with just the endless invention of the new, the uncritical application of technology for visualization and production or the self promotional interests of designers. In the context of designing an interior space or a building, this mode of thinking and working is particularly refreshing and revealing. Whether an architect or interior designer uses the computer, pencil or his/her own bare hands in shaping and forming a work into existence, it is an invitation to participation and to action, both in the private and the collective realm. Architectural and interior design becomes one that is situated in the world and a search for shared aspirations, meanings, emotions and the common good. In the process, it can only deepen our comprehension of the world of things, phenomenon, and human relationships while renewing the pleasure of inquiry and design.
References
Beamish, Jane., Ferguson, Jane. (1985). A History of Singapore Architecture: The Making of a City. Singapore: Graham Brash (Pte) Ltd.
Bullock, Marcus., Eiland, Howard., Jennings, Michael W., Smith, Gary. (Eds). (2005). Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 2, Part 2, 1931-1934. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press.
Vischer, Robert. (1873). On the Optical Sense of Form: A Contribution to Aesthetics. In Ikonomou, Eleftherios., Mallgrave, Harry Francis (Trans.), Empathy, Form and Space: Problems in German Aesthetics, 1873-1893. (pp. 89-123). Santa Monica, CA: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities.
Teyssot, Georges. (1987). Interior Landscape. Lotus Documents 8, 35-38. Italy: Electra Spa.
Background and Context
This case study focuses on the interior reconstruction of a two storey house in Singapore. The house is a modern version of the traditional shophouse introduced during the colonial era, and originally designed to combine work and living spaces within a building. (Jane, Jane, 1985) The ground level shop opens out to a five foot wide covered walkway that links the units together to form a continuous block facing a common street. It also shelters one from rain and the intense heat and glare of the tropical sun. An air well located at mid point of the interior facilitates natural ventilation in the warm and humid climate and direct light into its deep interiors. The context of the shophouse is an important consideration in this project as the specificity of culture and climate moderated our subsequent design decisions.
Design Intent and Direction
Our design avoids the cliché and superficial representation of a Chinese identity through the use of recognisable shapes, forms or symbols. The primary focus is centred on the silent dialogue between the body and material reality, to find appropriate opportunities where quotidian experiences can be heightened and made extraordinary. Materials are investigated and their innate materiality amplified, overlaid and combined to provoke desired ambience and atmosphere. We explore the use of light and shadows, the aural, tactile and visual qualities of materials and how their juxtapositions can draw out emotional responses that engender a multi-sensory poetic experience. For example, the sense of mystery and depth evoked by the withholding and concealing nature of shadows, or one of intensity and focus by combining light with strong colours. These strategies are employed to orchestrate a rich and experiential spatial narrative throughout the interior space.
Threshold
The design conceives of the interior and the exterior as permeable social and experiential thresholds. The sheltered five foot walkway commonly serves as a social space where neighbours can meet and talk. It is not unusual to find this space personalized with outdoor plants or benches,expanding the interior out to the exterior space. The first set of wooden sliding grilles is retained to continue this social permeability between the public walkway and the private interior. The actual set of doors is set deeper into the house and designed as full height, pivoted and in unfinished steel. By setting back the entrance, we transformed this space into a semi dark interior, in contrast with the bright exterior. The visual acclimatisation is deliberately designed to mark an experiential threshold between the exterior and the interior of the house, one that is characteristic of spaces in the tropics.
Materiality of light and shadow
We explore how the manipulation of natural and artificial light and its effect on a material’s surface can transform our perception of materiality and spaces. A continual feature in the house is the full height pivot timber screen doors strategically repeated throughout different parts of the interior. At a cultural level, the screens are abstracted forms used in traditional Chinese architecture. However, its materiality is altered by locating a row of lights on the ceiling along the length of the timber screen doors, which turn its mass and weight into one of delicacy and lightness at night. Visually, the screen doors appear to float off the surface of the wall due to the masking of the timber’s materiality as thin, vertical silhouettes. Furthermore, through careful placement and contrast of the reflectivity of materials and furniture, as well as their proximity to windows and light fixtures, we are able to achieve affective means of conveying a dramatic sense of focus, depth, mystery and extending visual connectivity between the interior and exterior. In the bed chamber, we deliberately directed the overhead light on the Chinese antique bed to bring this artifact into focus and keep the surrounding spaces dim to further enhance the dramatic and mysterious quality. Two layers of translucent curtains position around the bed offer an additional sense of depth when viewed against the rich colour and luster of the bed’s fabric. In other areas, polished stainless steel fittings either amplify the level of reflectivity in more public spaces or allow the exterior to be reflected into the interior. The sense of a gentle breeze is reinforced visually in the kitchen through the overlapping, moving patterns of leaves reflected off the steel surfaces of the kitchen cabinets. Similarly, the use of highly polished granite surface for the Jacuzzi visually draws the trees and bamboos outside the house into its interior, evoking an experience of visual expansiveness as one emerges from the dark and narrow staircase.
Tactility of stone and wood
The sense of hardness and firmness as one walks on stone, contrasted with the feeling of coolness and dampness when in contact with water is an experience we have in mind in the design of the bathroom. We imagine this to be a special place, where the ritual of cleansing can potentially be a pleasurable one. We choose a charcoal gray stone cut into large modular panels to contrast with the intimacy of the contoured body. The panels are used as both floor and wall finishes, creating a continuity of surface and a sense of the body being enclosed all around. We deliberately set up a dialectical relationship between body and material to activate the innate sensibilities of the body when contrasted with a surface or material possessing a very different quality than itself. The softness of flesh becomes intensified when in contact with the hardness of stone. The texture and colour of the stone wall also presented a natural background to bring out the delicate lines and details of the antique and the contemporary furniture. In our choice of wood for the pivot screen doors, we avoided the design of a door handle as we intend the act of opening the door to be an intimate, direct encounter between body and object. The timber poles are therefore dimensioned so that they fit comfortably within the grasp of one’s hand.
Water and reflectivity
Water and its associated impressions of coolness and dampness mediate between the sensing body and the enduring firmness of stone in the bathroom. The stone floor is left unpolished to allow water to leave traces, marking the passage of time and offer surfaces that the overhead lights can reflect off. The reflective nature of still water is taken advantage of in other areas where it can be manifested against glass surfaces while contained. During the day, light from the pool reflects off the ceiling and walls that are left unpainted, creating moving and changing patterns that can rouse a dreamlike state of mind. While at night, the reflectivity of glass and water combine to create an illusionistic space beyond the physical boundary of the house.
The aural and springing sensation of steel
The staircase is constructed of unfinished steel bent to form into steps. As one walks on these steps, a low, reverberating sound is experienced. The sound is magnified softly between the timber screen and the masonry wall, which enables one to intuitively sense the difference in scale and volume along this transitional space between the two floors. One also senses a slight bounce when walking on the steps as the steel resisted the weight of the body, thereby allowing the body to be aware of its own presence.
The silent witness of objects
Our strategy for the placement of furniture aims at highlighting their displacement from the original place and time. We wish to bring out a sense of uncanny and quiet tension through their presence, rather than integrating them seamlessly into the interior landscape. Moreover, given the client’s persistent absence from the house, the furniture assume the role of solitary, silent witnesses in space. We recalled Aldo Rossi’s project, the Domestic Theatre, designed for the XVII Milan Triennale in 1986 and featured in Lotus Documents 8 (Teyssot, 1987). In this theoretical work, everyday household appliances took on a larger than life presence in the house. Time seemed to stand still, while the reflective vessels visually captured and extended the surrounding environment on their surfaces, albeit in a distorted fashion.
Theoretical Foundation
Our project is based on the theoretical foundation that there is continuity between our body and the built environment. This continuity implies that what we experience external to our body are not mute objects or spaces; but that they possessed meanings we can sense, recognise and associate our emotions with. Our project also assumes that experiences are ‘lived similarities’ to borrow a term from Walter Benjamin (Bullock, Eiland, Jennings, Smith, Eds., 2005). This commonality and continuity is what makes communication of poetic meanings through materials, spaces and forms possible. It is a silent dialogue; one that takes place at both the conscious and sub-conscious level through our everyday encounter with the built and natural world. Robert Vischer, a German philosopher at the turn of the eighteen century and several of his contemporaries speculated on the possibility of an empathic relationship between forms and the physiology of the body and emotions (Vischer, 1873). Their philosophical speculations attempted to give meanings to and establish a bridge between the private imagination and creation of the artist with the larger world around him. For Vischer, we can read and feel the subjective play and manipulation of ornaments and mass of an architect because we associate them with our own body. He wrote:
"Total regularity occurs only in certain parts of the human body (the eye), and accordingly we like to see it in part of the object…Again, we find that horizontal symmetry always presents a better effect than vertical symmetry because of its analogy with our body" (1873: 97-98).
However, Vischer also reminded us that our perception of the external world is not solely dependent on sight but one which involves the entire active sensing body, and that the transference of sensations is possible across senses. He elaborated, “Similarly, we speak of ‘loud colours’ because their shrillness does indeed induce an offensive sensation in our auditory nerves. In rooms with low ceilings our whole body feels the sensation of weight and pressure.” (1873: 98) In the section on feeling and emotion, Vischer celebrated an emotional existence that gives thoughtful consideration to others, beyond the confines of one’s own. He wrote:
"Only by considering our fellow beings do we ascend true emotional life. This natural love for my species is the only thing that makes it possible for me to project myself mentally; with it, I feel not only myself but at the same time the feeling of another being." (1873: 103).
Implications
Robert Vischer’s theory of empathic relationship between the outer world and our inner life as well as the value of a shared and considered emotional existence has significant implications for design. It re-orientates design away from a purely conceptual laden approach, towards one that requires designers to be sensitive to the inflections and nuances of living and to see design as a configuration and intensification of the everyday through care, empathy and generosity. No longer is design concerned with just the endless invention of the new, the uncritical application of technology for visualization and production or the self promotional interests of designers. In the context of designing an interior space or a building, this mode of thinking and working is particularly refreshing and revealing. Whether an architect or interior designer uses the computer, pencil or his/her own bare hands in shaping and forming a work into existence, it is an invitation to participation and to action, both in the private and the collective realm. Architectural and interior design becomes one that is situated in the world and a search for shared aspirations, meanings, emotions and the common good. In the process, it can only deepen our comprehension of the world of things, phenomenon, and human relationships while renewing the pleasure of inquiry and design.
References
Beamish, Jane., Ferguson, Jane. (1985). A History of Singapore Architecture: The Making of a City. Singapore: Graham Brash (Pte) Ltd.
Bullock, Marcus., Eiland, Howard., Jennings, Michael W., Smith, Gary. (Eds). (2005). Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 2, Part 2, 1931-1934. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press.
Vischer, Robert. (1873). On the Optical Sense of Form: A Contribution to Aesthetics. In Ikonomou, Eleftherios., Mallgrave, Harry Francis (Trans.), Empathy, Form and Space: Problems in German Aesthetics, 1873-1893. (pp. 89-123). Santa Monica, CA: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities.
Teyssot, Georges. (1987). Interior Landscape. Lotus Documents 8, 35-38. Italy: Electra Spa.