Diplomprosjekt
Høst 2024
Institutt for arkitektur
Design as a physical embodiment of the urges and needs of a depressed person.
My project is for people who need a buffer space between their mental illness and ordinary life. The disease is shocking for the body and you may stay fragile even after receiving the medication. In this dwellings, people can spend a couple of weeks in a small community of three, which offers, but not imposes, situations of communication and cross-supervision.
The dwellings are situated on a bank of a mountain river, around 600 masl, near Austbygdi village. The rock under the huts is pure red gneiss, which I suggest using for building the walls. In the 20th century, this stone was extracted manually for local use, such as building bridges and fences.
The design is a physical embodiment of the urges and needs of a depressed person. I studied these urges and needs by experiencing them myself. The building aims to give the required support and bodily comfort, at the same time, gently offering more at each step you make — through the spatial organization which makes you desire something and makes it easy to get.
How do I imagine being there? In the beginning, you may spend the most time in enclosed stone parts, following the intention to be lower on the ground. Later you may become more active and spend more time in a central timber part. At this point you may want to go to the garden, and later maybe even to visit your neighbor. In the end, you may want to make a fire in an outdoor fireplace, invite your neighbors, and make a dinner. Once you feel you are able to use all the spaces — it means you are social and active enough to get back home.
Stone and air is a response to the two main frailties we have when depressed: lack of support and protection, and lack of desires and connetions. These are the basics we need also in an ordinary, stable condition, even though when we’re healthy we don’t pay much attention to them. This is another reason why I believe my project is worth a discussion.
Making a specific architectural proposal out of this research, I without a doubt put my work into a larger context: both architectural and social. I believe the proposed program is a critique of how do we live now, how isolated we are — from simple things, from the environment, and from each other. I criticize how the way we live leads us to depressive conditions and other mental health issues: through the loss of connection and lack of feeling of solid ground under the feet. In an architectural sense, it’s also a critique of how we build — we tend to ignore rich sensual qualities of materials and, in an attempt to build economically, neglect small human actions in space.
Anna Dyakonova
The dwellings are situated on a bank of a mountain river, around 600 masl, near Austbygdi village. The rock under the huts is pure red gneiss, which I suggest using for building the walls. In the 20th century, this stone was extracted manually for local use, such as building bridges and fences.
The design is a physical embodiment of the urges and needs of a depressed person. I studied these urges and needs by experiencing them myself. The building aims to give the required support and bodily comfort, at the same time, gently offering more at each step you make — through the spatial organization which makes you desire something and makes it easy to get.
How do I imagine being there? In the beginning, you may spend the most time in enclosed stone parts, following the intention to be lower on the ground. Later you may become more active and spend more time in a central timber part. At this point you may want to go to the garden, and later maybe even to visit your neighbor. In the end, you may want to make a fire in an outdoor fireplace, invite your neighbors, and make a dinner. Once you feel you are able to use all the spaces — it means you are social and active enough to get back home.
Stone and air is a response to the two main frailties we have when depressed: lack of support and protection, and lack of desires and connetions. These are the basics we need also in an ordinary, stable condition, even though when we’re healthy we don’t pay much attention to them. This is another reason why I believe my project is worth a discussion.
Making a specific architectural proposal out of this research, I without a doubt put my work into a larger context: both architectural and social. I believe the proposed program is a critique of how do we live now, how isolated we are — from simple things, from the environment, and from each other. I criticize how the way we live leads us to depressive conditions and other mental health issues: through the loss of connection and lack of feeling of solid ground under the feet. In an architectural sense, it’s also a critique of how we build — we tend to ignore rich sensual qualities of materials and, in an attempt to build economically, neglect small human actions in space.
Anna Dyakonova
