Performing Poché: A Day in the Life of a House
Ana Escobar
Rice Architecture
From the Jury:
This project addresses both the world of ideas and the world of building those ideas. It’s quite robust, but also appealing and poetic in its experience. Simultaneously historic and contemporary, it feels very much of our time — and very much of these last few months, as well. In terms of methodology, it presents to draw the whole house based on the reflected ceiling plan. To take this secondary, pragmatic plan and make that become the driver of an architectural tectonic project is very powerful. It’s very complete.
Performing Poché fundamentally explores the notion of an alternative domestic ontology that questions the spatial relationship between people and their objects. The design utilizes a number of architectural systems, including a set of curtains, to create an environment that moves the interior organization beyond the understood binary of poché as “in” or “out.” In this instance, the potential of the ceiling plane breaks the notion of the house as a static space, creating an interior with a range of possibilities that react to a range of lifestyles across multiple generations.
Through the designed system, the thesis expands the perspective of residential typologies with its ability to accommodate multiple subjects and living situations, from single family to multifamily to co-living. The narrative lays bare an imagined series of scenarios that bring forth ideas on total adaptability, ideas that, in essence, demonstrate the capacity for one to “perform poché.” Through the lens of time, the house is presented as a dynamic interior that responds to the fluidity of contemporary life.