On not drawing the furniture
Why our plans show empty rooms, and what that asks of the people who live in them...
Our drawings have no furniture on them. Clients notice, and some of them mind. Here is why we do it.
Furniture is a promise
A sofa drawn on a plan says: this is the sitting room, and this is where you will sit. It is a promise the architect has no right to make. The room might be a study in five years. The sofa might be a piano.
An empty room is a question
A room with nothing in it asks: what is this for? If the answer is obvious from the shape, the light and the door, the room is good. If the answer needs a sofa drawn in to be obvious, the room is not finished.
What we draw instead
- Where the light comes from.
- Where the doors are, and which way they open.
- Where you can put a table without blocking a door.
That is enough. The rest is the client's, and should be.
One building a month, by email
A photograph, the plan, and the reason. Nothing else.
Hana Sato
Architect and one of the four partners. Writes most of what appears here and draws the plans with no furniture on them.
Folio
An architecture and interiors journal: houses, rooms, materials, and the reasons behind them.
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