Narrative Home III
Type: Private Residence
Status: Design Completed 2019
Size: 2,500 sf
Narrative Homes is an ongoing research project exploring home design through the lens of literature. The creative exploration focuses on the relationship of narratives to the architecture design process. The design of each home in the series is based on a different selected portion of literature. The Narrative Homes series was the recipient of a Faculty Research Grant the Syracuse University School of Architecture and was selected for the International Artists-In-Residence program at the I-Park Foundation.
Narrative Home III is based on a critical scene from the 1980 novel Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee. The novel centers around a small colonial town that exists on the territorial frontier of “the empire”. The barbarians are a metaphor for the unknown other who live beyond the confines of the walled in town.
The design of the home mimics the walled in metaphor of the town, from the exterior the home reads as a monumental solid. The interior is surprisingly different with all rooms containing large windows that face an open shared courtyard. The square rooms are all exactly the same size, but each offer their own complex three-dimensional interior experience.
