MIESunderstood
Andi Arifaj
2020
When Miss Farnsworth was asked about what is it like to live at her weekend house, she answered: "Do I feel implacable calm?...The truth is that in this house with its four walls of glass I feel like a prowling animal, always on the alert. I am always restless. Even in the evening. I feel like a sentinel on guard day and night. I can rarely stretch out and relax…" Perhaps the only place where she could escape the wandering eyes of casual intruders, was the core of the house. Isolated inside her bathroom.
Some say it was Mies's intention to make you feel on the edge. Or rather become one with nature. Exposed, always on the alert. He deliberately positioned the house close to the river, where flooding is inevitable. "Mies thought the water would flow under the house" - imagine the excitement, like in a river boat, water rushing underneath. - "For a while , it did. Then conditions changed, and much bigger and more frequent floods became common." Once, they thought to move the house in a different location or more recently, they considered installing a hydraulic lift.
But what if we make the inverse of Mies's idea?
The glass, now is a wall.
The core is transformed into a transparent inner courtyard.
It's the only way in, in the house.
The nakedness of the view is swapped with a single opening.
Now the house is about framing the view.
The core is transformed into a transparent inner courtyard.
It's the only way in, in the house.
The nakedness of the view is swapped with a single opening.
Now the house is about framing the view.
The deeper you go, the more intimate you feel.
As the final incision,
the house is transposed in the cliffs of Capri,
looking out at the Mediterranean Sea.
