Domestic. What does it mean, having a home? How do you take possession of a place? A house of a stranger was a starting point. Â
Every house stores patterns, superficial patterns of object surfaces, but also deeper patterns. Life patterns. Habit patterns. Patterns of order and patterns of chaos, they give comfort or cause irritation. Some of these patterns change, others stay.
The architectural patterns(1)Â form a grid, which roughly defines possible movements in the space. The subtle human movements within form the Movement pattern. Being invisible outside the moment of happening it leaves traces. Our movements are often intended for placing things and replacing them again. This action creates its own pattern. Thus, the invisible movement pattern leaves visible traces, which form the Traces of Movement pattern.
We constantly rearrange our things, grouping and ordering them, assigning them a place according to their function, or colour, or easy access or some emotion they trigger in us. Thus we constantly define and redefine our Living pattern. This pattern is superficial; it may look like orderly or chaotic decoration. Yet it has a deeper meaning and effect: it stores the memory of the action that originated it and a potential of further actions. The house of L. and R. is a typical Dutch family row house with a patch of a garden. A curious Dutch habit struck my eye there, the habit of using the staircase as practical memory storage: there were things on the stairs. As I was explained before, anyone going upstairs is supposed to take the stuff up as well(2). The objects on the stairs form curious still lives, not meant to be there, but suspended in the In-between pattern. Sometimes the objects become forgotten and a new pattern roots down into the domestic structure and becomes a part of it. As the object on the stair stands for a memory note, here is the Lost Memory pattern. R.’s father was a painter and his paintings are very much present in the house. They are memories and emotions suppressed in a piece of linen. Their presence forms a decisive pattern – a network of memories spread throughout the house, it becomes the Memory Web pattern.
The shapes and colours of the paintings give origin to a new pattern; matching the interior details, altering the hard and solid (as tiles or concrete) with soft and pliable (as paper and textiles) L. playfully connects the compressed memories to the present. Here we encounter the Past Meets the Present pattern.
The house is free of any orderly pretentions; it is far from this typical “designy” air of perfect order. A careless eye might call it full or messy. Yet, the patterns of objects reveal a carefully intended system brought about by a gentle yet decisive hand. This system creates the lively Orderly Chaos pattern.
Talking to R. on my second visit I discovered a pattern, which I could not have perceived by myself. Arranging and combining things one creates not only an interior, but due to personal links between the mind and the objects a whole universe, existing in the interaction field between the mind and the space. Thus it becomes possible to enjoy one’s “little Florida”(3) on the attic of an old house next to a highway, despite the ambulance sirens and rising emergency helicopters. Thus, looking at old family photographs, a whole range of emotions and memories is brought about, creating this elusive and intangible Home pattern(4).
PS Many thanks to the family who kindly allowed me to explore their domestic patterns: House on Amstelveenseweg, Amsterdam, neighbourhood of VUMC
R. (m) and L.(v), a lovely couple in their 60-s
who happen to be the parents of a good friend.
1 Technical drawings for building a house present a pattern by itself, their realisation becomes a physical structure, which I call the architectural pattern here.
2 The source of my knowledge is a Dutch lady, born in 1940-s, this was a sacred rule in the house with nine children.
3 Yellow floor (sand) and blue ceiling (sky) and the paintings on the ceiling – R. called this space his little Florida.
4 The patterns mentioned here form neither strict categorization nor hierarchy. They may overlap and contain each other. Every aspect contains multiple facets, which allows multiple points of view and multiple pattern definitions.Â
ellievsbear
izzy806
janainaart
blakekathryn