Hejduk explores the notions of deviation depicted by a 45° rotation in his diamond houses. These qualities allowed the intervention to rethink rooms and functionalities when designing for a father and his daughter. Common spaces dictated by walls were created, and contrasted with Hejduk’s playfulness, to create private spaces exposed to the deviated circulation.
Project 2: Karm-el-Zeitoun, a city in steps
Do citizens shape the city or does the city shape the citizens? The stairs redefined the area, merging the steep topography with its grid, acquired a social meaning. The stairs allow one to explore the city vertically and eventually birth new social spaces and link private and public ones. These characteristics of the area are translated when building housing units that are grouped to link the elderly to young architects, rejuvenating the area and stimulating the poetic function of the staircases. They become reflective segments of the city, and of the people.