This fit out of apartment No. 24 in the Courtville building on Waterloo Quadrant is inspired by a film by Jean Luc Godard, from 1967 ‘Two or Three Things I know About Her’.
In this film-essay Godard comments on the ‘modern’ way of life, the consumerist society that has emerged since the 1950’s. It was incited by the housing developments springing up in Paris, which were built for profit rather than purpose. Sadly unconsidered and soulless buildings largely still remain the norm. To call a place ‘home’ one has to acknowledge its relationship to ones self, an interdependency. This film makes a link between the built environment and the integrity of one’s character, it is the reason I chose the Courtville apartments. They are a spectacular example of intelligent architecture sure of its character.
The heroine of the film is Juliette, a mother of two and wife to a mechanic; she casually prostitutes to supplement her husband’s income, in order to be able to afford small luxuries expected of a middle class family. Throughout the film Juliette lets us in on her inner thoughts, while she considers the nature of her existence, dissects her own feeling and exposes what are potentially the affects of the environment she inhabits. The wealth of philosophical ideas in the film eclipses its visuals as hardly the surface of these can be seen.
The floor plan reflects one’s instinct to follow expectations put upon oneself but at once, the desire to escape these restrictions and to take a short cut. The clusters of cabinetry, which sometimes looks like mountains of furniture, keep their secrets but when investigated those can be uncovered one by one as the true potential begins to be realised. Openings become apparent and what is commonly covered or neglected (in terms of construction as well as psyche) is able to be explored and rooms begin to interact, with new paths between them, the boundaries undermined.
