LIFE HOUSE

Architect | John Pawson

Location | Llanbister

Product | Sleeve by John Pawson

Year | 2020

Life House is a project by British designer and architect John Pawson. The house’s programme is arranged as a series of self-contained folds, opening off two corridors. Meeting at a right angle, these passageways generate extended internal vistas and a plan designed to allow groups living in proximity to spend time together and apart, in a spatial arrangement that shares certain characteristics with the monastic cloister. The corridors — one light, one dark — represent more than just the means to get between the different parts of the house, the key architectural experience, each charged with its distinctive character.

In the spirit of creating a contemporary Walden, communal and private quarters are shaped by the idea of supporting and enriching specific rituals and activities. Across the Life House, this translates into optimised inventories of equipment and functional conditions, but also a series of finely calibrated atmospheres.

In this project, the Sleeve light fixture mingles with the architecture, enriching it with elegance and subtle beauty.

 

Photographed by Gilbert McCarragher.