‘Stories of contemporary domesticity or HOMEland’, a series curated by Archt. for Archisearch, poses questions about the concept of home through an open dialogue with contemporary architectural practices in housing.
The fifth episode envisions home as a psychic state by following pensi pascual architecture studio reimagining two different existing homes as if performing two acts of acupuncture.
“We are in a constant exchange with our settings; simultaneously we internalize the setting and project our own bodies, or aspects of our body schemes, on the setting”, argues architect Juhani Pallasmaa in his essay “Space, place, memory and imagination” and what else is a home, in the form of a house, if not a spatial pair of our psychic state – a concrete manifestation of who we truly are?
Wanting to change your house, meaning wanting to change your home, resonates with wanting to alter the way you are feeling, thinking, and moving around. A larger window sill indicates more sitting around, a cat looking out, and a flower pot – maybe two.
Home architecture is more often uncovered than it is invented, more often experienced than it is designed, created rather than built, more of a film than a photo – a place that facilitates the being.
Following a design approach that sees architecture as a set of meaningful gestures instead of majestic moves, pensi pascual reimagined two different existing homes as if performing two acts of acupuncture.
Stair Core
If stairs could speak they would rattle, if they could move they would shiver and twirl. For Staircore project, pensi pascual explored the role of a staircase as a space-producing tool in a Barcelonian house. “The family’s request was simple: to connect two floors. However, this need opened up the opportunity to conceive the staircase as more than just a functional element, transforming it into the heart of the house,” state the architects.
Making this daily up-and-down movement a theatrical act for two little girls, and thus the staircase the core of the house, this total-white poetic design turned into a driving force for the surrounding space to shape up in a dynamic rhythm.
New shelving, one signature circular opening, and unexpected splashes of color stem from the Staircore project giving this home a brand-new pulse to breathe in: on the first steps slightly solid, light and floating in the middle, and directional as you approach the peak.
House for a painter
In La Floresta village in Spain two pre-existing self-built volumes are reassembled into a painter’s house as if decluttering is the cure to all dissimilar things.
All blind, non-structural walls were removed, allowing an architecture of light to shape the form of the house along with some pinches of concrete and wood.
Stainless steel kitchen cabinets, a new convex fireplace, cactus-green bathroom tiles, light wood sliding doors, and perforated steel shutters speak the heart of a home that lights up at night, emitting the calmness of unconscious joy and the refined roughness of handmade things.
Home as a psychic state confirms architecture is not always made of stones; it’s a song or a whistle animating the body, fascinating the mind, stimulating the feelings while climbing the stairs or enjoying an oak forest view.
Facts & Credits
Project title Stories of Contemporary Domesticity
Typology Feature Series, Housing
Episode 5 House as a psychic state >> House for a painter & Staircore by pensi pascual
Location La Floresta village & Barcelona, Spain
Status Completed, August & October 2024
Still Photography Simone Marcolin
Video Credits
Actor Selma
Camera & Direction Oli
Concept, Sound, and Editing Nina Films by Nina Amat
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