Tiered Realm

Project Name: Tiered Realm
Authors: Fictional Project

CITATION

On a compact urban plot, this residence-studio proposes new relationships between the ideas of life and work. In cities, the realms of work and living are defined through rigid and sharp separations, typologically and spatially. In contrast, this small project merges the domains of domesticity and industry, where a house and a workshop are combined in a single, seamless volume.

The plan of the structure is controlled and frugal. However, in the section, the structure opens up to light, volume and connections, prompting a continuity between an artist’s process that involves, in equal measure, the act of making and living. The craftspeople who access the space to work in collaboration are not separated from the domestic functions, enabling a more personal, visceral connection between the residents and the people who are employed for work. The space does not see these functions in binary.

The building is carefully made. The facade, composed of brick, is articulated as a ‘tapestry’; weaving and encoding the many possible textures of the material and enabling the makers an agency in choosing their code. The motif arises from the process, emblematic of the work being accomplished within the building.

The articulating dimension of the structure is revealed in the section where one observes a continuous, uninterrupted flow of space connected through a staircase, leaving the possibility of cross-connections open and encouraged. For a small house-studio-workspace building, the project argues for looser definitions and boundaries between living and creating, all the while expressing the ambition and joy of design through the making, and therefore, Tiered Realm by Fictional Project is awarded a Citation in The Merit List.