HOM(m)E
Nathalie Bruyère and Pierre Duffau, designer and architect, have deliberately abandoned European standards and conventional interior architecture principles that favour the container over the content
which lead to a delimitation of spaces and a predefinition of uses.
As its name suggests, HOM(m)E places the individual at the centre of the overall design of the home. The aim here is to propose a 'different culture' of domesticity, as described by Reyner Banham in The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment, based on a re-qualification of services, particularly the water, gas and electricity supply network. These conduits, usually hidden from view, act like a backbone. They give structure to the flat, shaping the circulation and function of each room with a minimum of logic.
Communiqué de presse
The inhabitants of HOM(m)E have the possibility of metamorphosing the configuration of their private space at will, not only according to their needs but also according to their desires and moods. In this way, they become the true inventors of their domesticity and consequently of their lives. In practical terms, the design of the space is based on the flexibility and manoeuvrability of the elements, which literally 'plug in' to the spinal column. This process could be compared to that of construction games such as Meccano. All the elements, present and future, are part of this same plug-in process, whether they be furniture (italic hooks, hanging lamps, etc.), equipment (household appliances, etc.) or decorative elements. Because they are the result of industrialised production while favouring flexibility and modularity, they can be assembled à la carte according to the moment, and moreover offer a choice from a vast range, or even make it possible to create a made-to-measure décor for your environment.
In so doing, HOM(m)E goes beyond the hypotheses of modular housing put forward at the end of the 60s to determine a new elementary principle. This principle does not set out restrictive instructions for use, nor the definitive spatialisation of functions, but subjects the home to future developments, and takes into account variables such as the major changes in life. HOM(m)E offers a different scenario in which space is transformed into a place that is indeterminate, shifting, inconstant and above all human.
Alexandra Midal is a historian and theorist of design and architecture. A graduate of the Sorbonne (Paris-IV) and the School of Architecture at Princeton University, she was director of the FRAC de Haute-Normandie. She is currently a professor at the Geneva University of Art and Design.