Apartment MR, Rijeka
Two ways of conceptualizing the design of a bourgeois apartment:
Theoretical discourse is dominated by the Marxist interpretation which perceives it (and with it connected culture) to be a fetishization of commoditiesBut people are more than just class categories. Bourgeois culture and with it connected design can be interpreted in a more positive and romantic manner: as a melancholic and self-aware attempt at preserving one’s family history and identity. In both of these interpretations the main stress is on collecting and exhibiting. Within the first theoretical framework these actions serve as a display of richness. The other framework focuses on the depiction of tradition and the intimate connection to family history.
The archetype of a bourgeois apartment is best demonstrated in movies and other reality simulations, such as doll houses.
movies – examples of bourgeois culture
Luis Bunuel; Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Belle de jour
Michael Haneke; La pianiste, Cache
Ingmar Bergman; Cries and Whispers, Touch
identified design features exhibiting
verticality
symmetry
wood, moldings
fuscous colors, heavy curtains
creative interpretation of historic design – examples
Hild und K Architekten; Berlin, Belzigerstrasse – façade reconstruction, instead of applying lost but documented stucco moldings, they are carved into the façade as a linear pattern
Munich, Technical University – façade redesign. Within the old division of façade, pilaster strips receive a new sculptural treatment, thus giving voluminosity to an originally flat composition.
/ author with Zvonimir Kontrec, realization, 2013. /
