| The
A-Z Cellular Compartment Units are a series of interconnecting
box-like chambers which transform the interior of a standard
one or two room dwelling into a dense network of small rooms
facilitating a vast variety of functional and fanciful needs.
Although The Cellular Compartment Units serve as a functional
habitat, the emphasis of the project was about understanding
the psychological implications of the space. The original
Cellular Compartment Unit structure was fabricated as an
off-site exhibition at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham UK.
After it was built, I lived in the structure (along with
a few volunteers) for the period of a month. The unit had
a kitchen, three bedrooms, an office, a drawing room, an
entry room, a dressing room and a TV room. Although the
space was tight, it proved comfortable, and up to four people
could use a room at a time.
In addition to serving as an experimental living situation,
the project took on a significant level of social commentary
by pushing to an extreme a type of architectural formatting
that most of us experience every day. This stacking and
compacting of contemporary urban architecture contrasts
to historical models of domestic dwelling such as that in
the Middle Ages when a large household of both related and
unrelated occupants would live together in a single hall
eating, sleeping and working.
As our contemporary lives and our buildings are divided
into increasingly isolated compartments and categories,
even interiors of modest homes are now divided by function
into living rooms, dining rooms, family rooms, breakfast
rooms, kitchens, laundries and so on. This division by function
also reflects a modern way of conducting lives where we
organize our activities sequentially by time codes and by
task, much like the Taylorized division of labor implemented
by the factory system and mass production.
This morning I an article in the real estate section of
the LA Times which described the increasingly dense network
of rooms being installed in suburban mansions: gyms, hobby
rooms, libraries, bars, and entertainment rooms. Already
my own mental list grows as I imagine what sorts of chambers
I can construct in my new A-Z Compartment Units.
Andrea Zittel
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