Post for group blog..

My presentation model (see earlier video in this blog or this link for background) suggested a path running through or past a series of rooms ending at a separate studio. So I ran with that….using a domestic dwelling in Auckland CBD (Airedale Street) with the challenge of recreating my rural sky in a very urban setting…

The path is both internal & external to mimic ‘my own sky’ experience.

Key things = path, scent, sky

The scent of the materials used will be more important than visual considerations for key areas, and the layout will favour smells to provide cues about activity within the house:

• cooking smells can circulate if desired, rather than being quickly chased out of the building
• the smells of music - metal polish and oils used for the instruments, the smell of old vinyl & old paper music sheets
• books & leather reading chairs
• fireplace using wood not gas
• fragrances used in the bathroom/bedrooms
• cedar wood linings in cupboards and wardrobes

The main design iterations so far have involved:

• general layout to ensure the experience of the path is prominent, with connections to the garden and sky
• path slope – straight up from street versus a more gentle incline
• path connections with the rooms (up/down/around), and between rooms

Research to date:

• materials & smell - mixing rose water into plaster (Islamic mosques), cedar wall linings; Juhani Pallasma and Peter Zumthor on the topic of building aromas
• fragrant plants to line the path, and to walk on
• Japanese design elements including the teahouses, and the traditional Japanese outside toilet (see Tanizaki Junichiro's 'In Praise of Shadows' and also http://rooflessfloorless.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/the-poetics-of-japanese-space.html)
• architectural amnesia wrt smell (see http://rooflessfloorless.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/architectural-amnesia-and-architectural.html)
• nostalgic smells (see http://rooflessfloorless.blogspot.co.nz/2013/09/nostalgia-odors-of-childhood-and-society.html)

NB. Client  - it was important to me to have someone to design for...  the "DiSouza family": mum is a writer and wants a garden; dad works in the CBD and has a passion for any kind of music; the 9-year-old daughter loves birds and plays the flute; the 11-year-old daughter plays the cello; they're all keen cyclists; and previous homes have been in suburban Auckland and urban Singapore. They wanted places to play or practice music that wouldn't disturb the rest of the family.

Things will change, but here’s version VI so far..