"The cumulative effect of architecture during the last two centuries has been like that of a general lobotomy performed on society at large, obliterating vast areas of social experience. It is employed more and more as a preventive measure; an agency for peace, security and segregation which, by its very nature, limits the horizon of social experience - reducing noise-transmission, differentiating movement patterns, suppressing smells, stemming vandalism, cutting down the accumulation of dirt, impeding the spread of disease, veiling embarrassment, closeting indecency and abolishing the unnecessary; incidentally reducing daily life to a private shadow-play. But on the other side of this definition, there is surely another kind of architecture that would seek to give full play to the things that have been so carefully masked by its anti-type; an architecture arising out of the deep fascination that draws people towards others; an architecture that recognizes passion, carnality and sociality."
'Figures, Doors and Passages' by Robin Evans. A full copy of the essay can be read here
In updating the ubiquitous and outmoded Victorian house plan, typically the front and rear rooms are 'knocked through' and a new rear extension is added to accommodate a kitchen and dining room, designed to provide a connection with the rear garden. The resulting spaces respond to the more intimate and less rigid contemporary lifestyle of the occupants.
EOT confronts the traditional spatial relationships of the Victorian house plan and attempts to create conditions for new ones. The corridor continues to be the backbone of the proposal but it is morphed to create a sequential journey from the entrance hall and to the living room. The corridor expands and contracts along its journey to offer spaces for retreat, utility, cooking, eating and studying. There ensues a more ambiguous spatial layout, absent of doors and rigid boundaries. A small courtyard, partially open to the elements, interrupts the journey providing a vestibule between spaces and allowing natural light, ventilation and weather to penetrate the plan. A sense of anticipation and distance is evoked along the journey from entrance to living space.
EOT1 is derived from the EOT project but provides a continuous communication space that connects without disconnection. There are no cellular rooms accessed from a corridor and the resultant plan could be viewed as 'open plan' with walls. A single spine wall is folded to form recessed spaces of various dimensions loosely interconnected with one-another to provide permeable yet separate rooms that encourage latent social behaviours and presents new opportunities.
