Project 2 - Room and Narrative

About the Artist - Jan Vermeer

Jan Vermeer was born and raised in Delft, which was an active and prosperous Dutch town. This town thrived on its Delftware factories, tapestry weaving ateliers and breweries. There is an indication that Vermeer was higly influenced by the happenings and the domestic life of this town, and also that he hardly ventured out.
His father was an innkeeper and also had a passion for collecting paintings. However his real profession was that of a silk-worker (caffawercker), caffa was a kind of fine satin that was widely used for the clothing, curtains and furniture coverings. It is believed that Vermeer was strongly influenced by this exposure in his childhood, as in most of his paintings rich fabrics and textures played a significant role.
This particular painting was the first of its kind of new kind of paintings he developed, known as genre paintings. These depicted elements of everyday life, and establish a firm relationship between the characters.

A MAID ASLEEP

Interpretation of the Painting

This painting titled 'A Maid Asleep' intrigued me for the mere fact that, it is clearly obvious from the image that the main character in the image isn't quite a 'maid' as the title suggests. My interpretation of the painting enabled me to develop the design. The different components of the painting put together led me to structure it out and represent it as an architectural element.

1. The lady in the Painting forms the central character for whom I designed my space. She is adorned in rich fabric and jewellery which leads on to believe that she has been gifted all of these. However, there is a look of sadness or dejection on her face, which is very clearly obvious and only shows that what she probably has at that moment is not what she really wants. Thus I came to the conclusion that she is proabably expecting someone's presence and is perhaps lonely, just as a mistress is.
2. The table cloth in the painting seems to be ruffled as well, which indicates the presence of a second character, who left in a hurry. She is the mistress on this man in question, and he doesn't let her meet other people, hence she waits in her chambers all alone. The architectural interpretation of this led me to design a tower with a chamber for her as it represented confinement to me.
3. The lighting in the room is very dull, and isn't quite uniform. There is no source of direct natural light in this room. My objective was to design the chamber for this mistress that had plenty of light streaming in, however in a way that she shouldn't be seen but could be able to see outside.
4. The key in the lock of the door also futher contributed to the confinement idea.
5. The expression on the ladies face led me to believe that she wasn't in the least bit interested in material objects and all she wanted to do it to be able to have some kind of connection to the real world and the people in it.

In conclusion, the narrative that I have developed is;

A chamber in a tower for a mistress who longs for visual connection with the outside world, by the canal, in Venice, Italy.


SITE AND JUSTIFICATION

The site that I have chosen is along the canal in Venice as I believe that the water will provide a sense of calming to the lady in the image. She will also be connected to the everyday activities of the people visually and be able to see them. Also keeping in mind the social standing of the character in the image, the site has been chosen and placed among other palatial mansions along one side of the canal.

The approixamate location of the site is shown here on the map.

POCHE DRAWINGS

Plan at the Room Level (1:100)

Plan at the Entrance Level (1:100)

Cross section (1:100)

Longitudinal Section (1:100)

Axonometric View (1:100)

MODEL PHOTOGRAPHS

I have depcited the slight curve on the site to show the flow of the canal.

This tower consists of staircases winding its way upto the main chambers, which in a way defines unapproachability. At every landing or break in the staircase, one can get a view of whats happening outside in order to break the montony of the climb.

The fins in the exterior wall provide the lady with a sense of being connected to the outside but not quite. She has a 180 degree view which is broken up by interlacing of solid and void.

I have aligned the fins in a way to bring about more light both from the top as well as front and also this enables the person to feel more connected as it slants outwards.

The sense of the tower has been brought about in order to show that the building is meant for someone kept in confinement.