FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2 Coate Street, London, 2012 Model of living room at 1:20    This is a model of my housing scheme in East London, taking inspiration from Josef Frank's Villa Carlsten.  Villa Carlsten has a relaxed plan extending out into the landscape giving this small house a greater sense of space, light and freedom. This is created by merging and offsetting the entrance space, dining, sitting and living rooms, into a single flowing space but with clearly defined 'zones'. Using this as a starting point I created a complex building of four interlocking apartments   which allow each other that same sense of space beyond space.

VILLA CARLSTEN

VILLA CARLSTEN Josef Frank, Falsterbo, Sweden, 1927 Model of living room at 1:10           Photos of the villa here        “I am of the opinion that anyone who has the desire to rest his posterior on a rectangle is in the depth of his soul filled with totalitarian tendencies”                 Josef Frank believed that the architect can offer nothing more than a skeleton or frame for a home. The belongings which fill out that frame he said are of two kinds: the ones which belong to the old world of the arts and crafts that are inherited: carpets, pictures and the like. The others belong to the new world of the machine: lamps, photographs, books and other ‘industrial’ products. He justified his relaxed aesthetic by explaining that these two types of belongings cannot be united into a single whole, because their mode of origin, and consequently, their expression is fundamentally different.       “The living room is never unfinished and never finished, it lives with the people who live in it.”

WELCOME TO...

WELCOME TO... New Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb

DEPARTURE: 'ENGLISH COOKING' BY MUTHESIUS

DEPARTURE: In a brief departure from postcards I rather enjoyed this passage from Hermann Muthesius' Das Englische Haus (The English House) entitled 'English Cooking': "But an open fire is still indispensable for several activities at the English stove. First among these is the toasting of bread that forms so important an element of the English breakfast; toast entirely replaces our continental breakfast bread and rolls. The English are also still very fond of roasting meat at an open fire, a method of preparation that undoubtedly has great advantages; for the juices remain in the meat and meat prepared in this way is tastier and more easily digested. It would not occur to the English to add any kind of sauce to roast meat; and indeed it needs none. At most they use one of the piquant sauces that can be bought ready-made, such as the famous Worcester sauce. Consequently an important aspect of the higher culinary art, the preparation of sauces, is practically non-existent in the English kitchen. If one adds to this fact that vegetables are also simply boiled in water with nothing added and that all the dishes consisting of several ingredients combined and cooked together, in which our German cooking is so rich, are entirely unknown, it becomes obvious that English cooking is extremely simple, almost primitive. English cooking is the most artless, most uncultivated cooking in the world. Any refinement in the way food is prepared is alien to it, and is largely unwanted, for in eating, as in other matters, they endure, and indeed desire, the greatest monotony. They are content to east roast beef and roast mutton alternately for their main meal throughout the year. Yet sweets with a farinaceous basis play a large part and no meal is complete without them; but they too are prepared very simply and in this respect differ greatly from out sweet dishes; they are content to empty raw materials into a pan and to consign the whole thing to the stove. But all English dishes are made from the best raw materials. Nowhere will you find a leg of mutton to equal that in England and their beef and vegetables are also excellent. Good materials make up the lack of style; indeed, once one has become used to the artless English cooking, one has the feeling that embellishments would not find favour there; and once one has made acquaintance, the sophisticated French cuisine seems rather spineless, almost insipid. Nevertheless it is customary in English houses of standing to employ French chefs. They do not reject the food aspects of English cooking (nor would their employers want them to do that) but simple add a style that is indispensable, especially on festive occasions. England has always depended on France for these higher refinements. The culture of their neighbours has for centuries met the few needs of the most exalted sections of the English population for higher outward culture; yet they have not permanently influenced the English cultural scene, which has essentially always remained that of a countrified, rustic people.

ASMUNS PLACE, H.G.S

HAMPSTEAD GARDEN SUBURB Section of Asmuns Place in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Unit 12 at the CASS will be working on housing there after Christmas, aiming to increase the density. Click to go large or medium

FIGURE

FIGURE Elevation.

MARKET SQUARE

MARKET SQUARE I might draw this scheme up properly one day...

JOSEF FRANK

JOSEF FRANK “The living room, where one can live and think freely, is neither attractive nor harmonic nor photogenic; it came about as the result of accidental events, which will never be finished, and by itself can absorb anything whatsoever to satisfy the owner’s varying expectations” Josef Frank was ridiculed at CIAM's Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart in 1927. He built two houses much like Mies' or Corbu's or Gropius' externally. But he filled them with kitsch, over-stuffed furniture covered in 'feminine' texiles and overtly sentimental furniture.  His unique take on Modernism drew on tradition, comfort and variety and his theory of Accidentalism promoted the use of both high and low culture in the same space, resulting in a sense of the house being a back-drop to life and its collection and composition of objects.  This is one of around 200 beautifully vibrant textiles designs he produced.

NELSON STAIR

NELSON STAIR I also managed to photograph this stair in Somerset House this week. Its an absolutely bonkers staircase which combines a symmetrical pair of curving flights at the bottom, a bridge-like arch gracefully spanning the cylindrical space and then part of a spiral staircase. Dark and gloomy at the bottom but naturally top-lit as you ascend, it reflects the schizophrenic nature of the stair, where you have chefs, office workers, contractors and tourists enjoying this beautiful early 19th century stair simultaneously.

FACING THE OTHER WAY

FACING THE OTHER WAY  I found these cute offices in docklands the other day (on the way to the lovely Gun pub) by virtue of facing the 'wrong' way; ignoring the brash, bling, attention seeking epitome of the popular culture in this country which is the Canary Wharf gated enclave.