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ARCH 505B: Graduate Architecture Design I - Elements, Principles and Phenomena Gallery: The Inside and the Outside

Domesticity and the Public Realm

My project, Domesticity and the Public Realm, is the study between interior and exterior space and their relationship to public and private spaces. According to Robert Venturi’s writings in Complexity and Contradiction, his interest in elements that are both “good and awkward, big and little, closed and open, continuous and articulated, round and square, or structural and spatial” were my point of departure and inspiration for the design concept. The private space for domesticity, which is solid and closed, is expressed as a figural tower, in the middle of the project, and is a counterpoint to public space of the stepping roof, which is opened and in direct contact with its surroundings. The semi-public space of the open court and the glass enclosed living space below the stepping roof can be opened so that the living room and court are connected as a continuous semi-public gathering space. Sunlight infiltrates the interior of the space in various ways. A large skylight in the tall space for domesticity, allow direct light to enter the space from above, while the glass façade of the living area lets indirect natural light to enter while providing a direct physical and visual connection to the exterior court.