phenomenology | materiality | Dec 2021

Feeling at home

The sensory feeling of being at home in a storm

Phenomenologically, it is a unique task to design a building in a place that did not exist 50 years ago or at least was not accessible to humans and could be described as inhospitable, left to the brutal powers of wind and sea. But if we still intend to conquer such an environment, it is relevant to consider how we humans have settled in harsh, remote areas in the past. We have often done this by seeking refuge in the form of shelters, caves, and constructions that, despite not possessing high architectural quality or comfort, still rely on some primal human phenomena of safety and respite.

This search for safety has been the starting point of this project, along with investigations of how materiality and form can enable a subconscious state of privacy. Particularly, the phenomenon of the "threshold" to the cave, a transitional zone where many states shift to their opposite. From light to dark, public to private, open to closed, from the world to the home.

A building that appears as a monumental rock at the water's edge and contradicting its neighbouring buildings of slender, bright glass boxes. But it is also a building that contradicts its own appearance - by being constructed not of stone and minerals, but of wood, straw, and clay. Thus, the building challenges our perception of integral materials and proves that biogenic materials can compete with the conventional ones in the construction of this 9-storey block building.

The composition of the building’s interior also takes inspiration from the organic form of the "cave," making the ascent from the 5 stairwells a unique experience through the internal structure. The corridors bend internally on every third floor, and create small niches, zones and pauses in the communal space. Here are placed communal functions, storage and reading rooms, as well as access to service shafts.

The building's two facades are contrast-filled in form and belong to all apartments in the block. The outer facade consists of a modular system of protrusions and flats. At first glance, this looks random but is actually designed so that all apartments have at least one balcony, no matter which floor they’re accessed from. The internal facade has no protrusions but rather recessed niches and French balconies.

See more about the project in the Presentation.