Art & Residential Architecture

This post on art and residential architecture starts with an example about accessibility.  Over ten years ago, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas (Office for Metropolitan Architecture)designed a house in France for a client who was confined to a wheelchair.  The three story house has an elevator platform, 10' x 10.75', that moves freely between the floors.  The 'room', with its permanent wall of shelves, travels up and down through the house transforming the architecture of the house, becoming part of the kitchen, living space or enclosed as an office. 

Thinking about rooms as elevators or even rooms on tracks that travel from one part of the house to another, how does one deal with artwork and furnishings?  Does each space the room enters have individual works of art or does the moving room contain the art?  It is not unusual to walk through a museum and see one panel from a triptych.  Occasionally museums work together to bring the three unique panels back together to once again see the artwork as a whole.  They can certainly stand alone but they are most often stronger and richer when the pieces are brought back together and displayed as originally intended.   Perhaps the arrival of the platform completes an art piece?  

Art can be interactive with design; it can act as a bridge from one style to another.  A piece of art is often the first thing that can be seen from an adjoining room or hall.  It offers a glimpse or preview into what might be in store for the visitor.  A collection can be spread from one room to another so that one only understands the full collection after having been through the entire home. 

Just as issues of accessibility can bring a fresh outlook to design, art can be the inspiration for design.  The artwork chosen, the way it is displayed, they way it can connect spaces helps create an environment that is unique and memorable.  Accessibility is a reality, an influential component in generating design ideas.  Art can also be contributing force.  There is an interconnectedness of art to the design process; imagination and integration are the keys to a successful project.