Leonard Wertgen

The feeling of spaces is a central quality of architecture. This feeling is triggered by all properties of the space and is generally called atmosphere. In my master thesis ‘Ein Haus’ I examined the relationship between atmosphere and the built form.

As a basis for the analysis I chose architectures that I have experienced; canonical as well as trivial ones. The memory of experienced spaces is like a personal library. To analyze the preconditions for atmospheres I drew sketches of interior and exterior spaces from my memory and selected photographs I took in the past six years. Afterwards I sorted the sketches and photographs into categories to reflect on them. The collection is a reworking of experienced spaces, leading to a set of personal references.

With these references in mind I designed a holiday home for myself. It is located on the coast of the Netherlands at a place where I spent several summers of my childhood. The house is designed in reference to the description of Pliny's villa written in the 1st century AD (To Gallus, II 17: Pliny The Younger). I interpreted Pliny’s description of his large villa into a small house. Distinct spatial situations like reading on the veranda on a warm rainy day, walking barefoot on floorboards or having breakfast in the morning sun determine the house. The situations invite you to immerse into a narrative about leisure in summer. They talk about spending time at the sea, enjoying the weather, landscape and simple things.

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