The Hockney House

01 X INFO

02 X INTRODUCTION

The Hockney House was designed in the framework of the course 06EE22 Interior Design of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and under the supervision of the university’s teachers: Kalfopoulos Apostolos, Papidou Dora and Fragkos Dimitris. The course’s exercise was to design three separate spaces, a workspace (atelie), a bath (loutro) and a memorial (mnimeio) that are meant to be used by an artist’s house. The chosen artist was the painter David Hockney.

03 X DESCRIPTION

Interpreting a possible artist’s house for David Hockney, we focus on the theme of the pool as the center of each one of the three different spaces. Thus, the three spaces are placed in succession vertically with the pool as a coherent element, which – through mechanism – elevates from one level to another. On each level, the functions are distributed in the perimeter of the pool and altogether are enclosed inside a rectangular box. The box is penetrated by embellished volumes and surfaces which define the transfer areas.

Each transfer from one floor to another is served only with separate staircases, resulting in the interdependence of the floors and the enhancement of movement inside the building. The whole building narrates and exhibits David Hockney’s life and work from its lower to its higher level.

Chapter 4: to atelie. David Hockney enters in his artist’s house and parks his Cadillac. Noticing his unfinished painting in the workspace – exactly nearby – he decides to get back to work. The pool, at the “atelie” level, serves as a source of inspiration and creativity.

Chapter 5: to loutro. David Hockney dives in the pool. Getting out of the water, he observes his guests. Two people undress in the changing rooms, behind the spectrum of the curtain, preparing themselves for their bath. Two others wash out the pool water in the showers. A little further he can distinguish a group of people sitting in the living room of the mezzanine, discussing in a symposium, while someone stands in the edge of the overpass, gazing at the Californian landscape. The pool, at the “loutro” level, serves as a source of pleasure and relax.

Chapter 6: to mnimeio. David Hockney unwinds on the sunbed, enjoying the warm sun of the summer. He feels like this is the happiest moment of his life. He gets up, steps on the diving board and… SPLASH! The pool, at the “mnimeio” level, serves as a source of rest and peace.

04 X GALLERY

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05 X ABOUT

Vicky (Vasiliki) Topriska and Evangelia Kasapi are both 3rd year architecture students in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece.

Vicky Topriska was born in Thessaloniki where she continues her studies in architecture at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 2019. During 2022 she is travelling to South Korea as a foreign exchange student to upgrade her knowledges on Asian architecture and find her inclinations through this journey. On her 4th year of her studies Vicky finds an inclination towards digital and utopian architecture using renderings and collages.

Evangelia Kasapi was born in Kavala and since 2019 she studies architecture at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Launching architecture school with an appeal to sketch and drawing, in combination with her music studies, she now finds herself very different. The viewpoint that architects must be directors of life, an inclination to cinematography and utopian architecture as well, depicted with collages and renderings, are of great interest for her 4th year of studies.

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