Terroir House
- Publisher:
- Fargfabriken
- Publication Type:
- Exhibition
- Citation:
- Building Blocks
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'Building Blocks', an exhibition curated by Karin England, investigated accepted roles in the design process, speciï¬ cally the relationship between architect and client through the pairing of children as clients with architects. The premise was that a child's limited architectural reference and relative freedom of choice might reveal new solutions for living, and from this adults might also be challenged to think about their chosen environments in a new way by looking beyond conventions of taste, fashion and tradition. In our case the project also presented an opportunity for exploring the spatial intelligence of children. Paired with a child who lived in the city of Aarhus as a client, we asked the question, how does spatial intelligence (van Schaik) travel? How do we export our spatial intelligence in a meaningful way? Our 'client' lived in an apartment, but with dreams of attics and basements (Bachelard) and castles and princesses. Thus, the project became something of an exercise in translation and transformation, as a spatial sensibility borne in the mountains of Tasmania was put to service for a 6-year old who lives in the flat landscape of Jylland. These conversations with the child led to the creation of a 'castle' with a distinctly mute 'outer' and a rich and unexpected 'inner' (Stamm). The castle and its inner were designed according to a dimensional system based on the child so only she and those younger could comfortably occupy the space, thus inviting play and exploration out of reach of adults. The project also extends the idea of the toy (Timms; van Schaik) in our work. Significance exists in the way that the translation of spatial sensibility which are so critical in the contemporary practice environment are explored.
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