Ham Close

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WEEK 5
44
RESEARCH ON LOUIS KAHN’S PRINCIPLE OF SERVANT AND SERVED SPACES
AND AIRES MATEUS REVERSE APPROACH
- Servant space is not only the habitable space but it
is also perceived and experienced to be part of a solid
wall or construction (a habitable thickwall).
- There is a hierarchial relationship between spaces
- Served spaces such as living room, bedroom, dining
room, study, etc.
- Servant spaces include kitchens, storage, closets,
bathrooms, area of circulation such as stairs and hallways
- The idea of boundary: positive and negative boundaries
can be dynamic through using grids on plans
and sections.
- Grids: walls as rooms
“Cacciatore describes the work of Aires Mateus as reversing
the traditional relation between served and
servant spaces, where the main and auxiliary spaces
can be flipped. Cacciatore, in his discussion of the
House in the Serra de Mira de Aire, writes, “the traditional
relation between main and auxiliary areas is so
clearly reversed that the former are conceived as a sort
of huge and pervasive servant space inside which the
basic geometric shape prevails”
This reversal of Kahn’s hierarchical distinction, where
served and servant spaces, main and auxiliary spaces,
solid and void, positive and negative, figure and
ground are reversible and reciprocal interchangeable
integers or entities, seemingly able to go back and
forth between their dialectic conditions.”
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Proposal: Design concept
Whilst taking precedents from the existing estates and maisonettes,
the explored concept was Louis Kahn’s spatial principle of
‘served and servant spaces’. It involved splitting a single volume
into many, categorising them into two types of spaces - served
(perceived and experienced as a habitable wall e.g. living room,
bedroom, dining room, study, etc.) and servant (kitchen, storage,
closets, bathrooms, area of circulation such as stairs and hallways).
Meanwhile, the idea of boundary was taken - positive and negative
boundaries can be dynamic through the use of grids on plans and
sections (Grids: walls as rooms) to simplify the concept.
Strategy
The entire width was split into an equal grid of three where the
two-thirds define the living space and the remaining third act as
an area of circulation - exterior stairs. The habitable space denotes
density with its program consisting of two flats with living, kitchen,
dining, bathroom and double bedrooms. Meanwhile, the stairs
act as both the connection and the gap. Whilst it links the units
vertically and horizontally, it also breaks the collective proposal’s
continuous facade. Its only aim was provide another access route
for the residents into the building but the “5th elevation” emerged
as a part of the design.
The stacking method of flats was used in the existing Ham Close
estate which was considered when designing the vertical relationship
of the flats. MEP, drainage, ventilation, daylight and communal
building services were also considered when designing the flat
layouts and exterior openings.