Alex Vatavu

Make space interesting, don't be afraid of weirdness

The biggest mistake in building a house is to get a space inside as separate boxes with a window and a door, just like an apartment, only bigger. Life in these boxes is in itself dull, joyless, and not unlike a manufactured home in the city.

In these "containers" designers create niches of drywall, hang "beams" and multilevel ceilings, play with mirrors, and do everything to break up the confinement space. But decorating and furnishings don't completely solve the problem of boring, walled-off rectangular space.

The simple rectangle, the cube are the most artificial, man-made forms, and man wants a natural environment. Nature is blurry, complex, multifaceted, changeable, imperfect.

There is no need to strive for geometric logic, symmetry (unless you have an addiction). What looks beautiful on the plan will rub off on the soul. Suffice it to recall the Soviet districts built according to the geometric principle. I remember how dreary it was, despite the grandeur of the architects' designs. It's better when home architecture, not dominating, but dissolving.

Build a house, try to make the space interesting: connected volumes of rooms, lots of different windows, visual bridges, corners, turns, nooks, elevations and depressions (remembering about ergonomics), second light, breaks, visible roofs. Do not be afraid of oddities and irregularities - they will become native, they will be loved by children and grandchildren.

Practical issues of "The Secrets of Beautiful Facades"