Pierre d’Avoine
Saturday 21 March 2009, 1:00pm
Pierre d’Avoine of Pierre d’Avoine Architects presents
Suburbia – opportunity or prescription?
Part of the New Suburban Civic Series of lunchtime talks
An interest in the inter-war suburb led to a project, in the early 1990s for a site in Acton in West London, which I named the Invisible House. I see it as part of the renewed interest in typology in the 1960s.
‘Typology was an attempt to address simultaneously issues of repetition and of historical continuity in architecture. It was argued that the history of architecture resembled that of other useful crafts and instruments. Thus, like “a basket or plate or cup, the architectural object could not only be repeated, but also was meant to be repeatable.” The inherent logic of repeatability denied the uniqueness of the architectural object and linked the project with reproduction.’
The Invisible House does not aim for the tabula rasa of modernist space but was designed as a model for an approach to development in suburbs, based on the principle of densification. It is located in the back garden of an existing semi-detached house and is partially buried in the ground. As a type it is modest but has subversive intent – the infiltration of suburbia by stealth increasing density without loss of garden space. We intend it as a challenge to the suburban emphasis on the single family house – its potential as both dwelling and workplace is released by organising the internal plan as a series of loose-fit, interconnected spaces around a central courtyard.
