Conclusive Thoughts

I found the overall parti of the house to be a hybrid of two elemental partis described by Xing. The third (main) floor is a corridor parti, where the owners would take their guests from room to room. On the fifth floor, however, where the master bedroom is, the parti is a matrix. This suggests that the entire floor is private, and guests would not usually go up to that floor.

Our Final Model

We decided to place an identical sectional cut on the overall house too and then attach that to the building.

We had begun modelling by constructing the exterior walls and then "extruding the floor elements from them and eventually building the interior partitions.

At first we had spent a long time deciphering the plans and sections, determining the layout of the rooms and different ceiling heights... Very confusing.

Our initial approach to this assignment was to determine where to place the sectional cut of the model. As this sectional cut is vital, its positioning is dire, so that the maximum amount of information could be gathered. Hence we decided to place it down the middle, to show an equal amount of the two halves.

Poche

Through my poche drawing i aimed to illustrate the play of light on the interior of the Villa Muller.

My Parti Diagrams

Enclosure & Structure

Enclosure
I saw enclosure as more than just the dividing elements within Villa Muller which create the rooms. I looked at the overall enclosing elements of the Villa Muller, i.e being the exterior walls, as well as one interior wall which divides the house in 2 halves. However, i also saw some of the exterior walls which made up the fence, as enclosing elements which enclose exterior space. Hence, the overall entity of space could be questioned, by considering space within the building, and space surrounding the building.

Structure
I saw the structure of the Muller house to be rather simple (although i could only guess). I included the exterior walls as i saw them as load bearing. However i also recognized the interior walls as structural elements which ultimately brace the house and define its interior.

Circulation & Geometry

Circulation
The circulation diagrams are self-explanatory, although there is one thing that needs to be accentuated. Although on the diagrams there is one circulation pattern, at a more closer level it is apparent that there are 2 circulation patterns. The first being that of the masters and their guests, and the second to the servants of this house. The servant circulation can be witnessed because they possess a separate set of stairs.

Geometry
The overall geometry of the Villa Muller, essentially is not all that complex. Its basic structure is a set of interlocking cubes and rectangular prisms, combined to create a large cube. On a slightly larger scale, it is apparent that Loos, divided the building both horizontal and vertically into 3 rectangular prisms, and then manipulated them to turn them into the complex matrix that is Villa Muller.

Program

The program parti diagrams are based around the uses of the house. I devised four main areas: private, semi-private, public and service.

The private areas are those only accesible to the masters (maybe the servants), and inlcude all the level 5 rooms, the level 6 breakfast room and the level 2 garage and storage areas. The semi-private areas are those which would require an invitation from the master to enter. These could potentially include rooms like the Boudoir and also the library. Thirdly, the service areas, are self explanatory, but would include areas in the basement, the kitchen, preparation room, etc. Finally the public areas (although this is a misconception, public areas do not exist in a private dwelling) would include rooms like the dining room and the main double story lounge area.

Parti

To begin with I had started a diary to document my work throughout this semester. In it are all my ideas and thoughts about all the aspects of our Assignments. This is a scan of it showing my experimentation with the parti diagrams.

Villa Muller

Villa Muller can only be described as a masterpiece of deception, in the way how this apparently simple exterior bears a juxtaposing, multi-layered and complex interior. Villa Muller was heralded as "the most synthetic expression of the architect's (Loos') creative ability, the culmination of a lifetime of architectural and theoretical activity". The building's mystical nature is yet again reinforced by the lack of communication between interior and exterior. The walls have no interior cavity, their thicknesses are virtually unknown and the small windows barely convey transparency.