‘The Dreaming Pool’ was a drawing comission for the Aarhus School of Architecture as part of their annual public exhibition; ‘The first drawing of the year’. The work was created live, over 5 days, on a 12 metre stretch of wall at the shool. A public talk was held at the opening to take the audience through the making of the drawing and the exploration into how we occupy our architectural imagination and asks the questions; where is the space for dreaming in architecture today?
The act of drawing as a way of seeing creates a freedom to wonder and daydream as the life of the drawing, and the imagined possibilities of a projected space, overlap with the life of the waking mind. Through this exploration of dreaming and drawing, the relationship between the dreaming of a line and the line of a dream is investigated, simultaneously on paper, on the wall and within the imagination. The perspective from which The Dreaming Pool is drawn sits on both sides of the projection. The goldfish, the viewer and the architect looks both into and out of The Dreaming Pool.
The common practice of separating the imaginary idea from the reality of the drawing becomes irrelevant and instead the drawing and the dreaming are inseparable, thus translating the imaginary into the real.
The brickwork of the interior together with some of the remnants of former services and finishes were left exposed, creating a richly textured and raw backdrop to the space. Existing structural steel posts and beams, new window frames, front door and hanging planter cases were all treated in the same warm red brown tone. The new rear wall, housing services and toilets is clad with stained plywood panels, the same material used for the dining tables and the bar. The pattern and grain of the timber is celebrated and expressed, in the same manner as the natural patterns inside the vegetables are revealed and enjoyed on the diners’ plates. The offcuts from the tables cut-outs are re-imagined and re-used to create a suspended ‘stomach’ that greets guests on entering. The ‘stomach’ is lined on one side with the fermented, pickled and preserved goods, forage by the chefs, with a hanging rail for guests coats and jackets on the reverse.
On a dark, wet evening in the depths of a Norwegian winter, the interior of Bellies restaurant emits a warm, soft glowing light, welcoming diners in off the rain drenched streets of Stavanger.
Project was carried out at Helen & Hard Arkiteker.
Stages:
Client brief definition, Concept Design, Detailed technical design and on-site realistion
Photography:
Sindre Ellingsen
An architectural design studio exploring the process of designing and making spaces.
eastcottSTUDIO operates throughout the UK and abroad. Established in 2015 in the Tamar Valley in Cornwall the practice is currently based in the Eden Valley in Cumbria.
Isobel Taylor // Architect, MA(Arch)
Studied at Oxford Brookes University, UK and Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark. Worked at Helen & Hard Architects in Stavanger while living in Norway. Originally from Cornwall in the South West, now living in Cumbria in the North West of England.
isobel@eastcottstudio.co.uk
07596 151 709
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eastcott house
st.dominick
cornwall
PL12 6TB
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2 milburn road
newbiggin
cumbria
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