Description

Reading about the dress reform movement during the Victorian period, there exists body shaping clothes that uses tightlacing to achieve a fashionable silhouette. The hourglass effect comes at a price to the body though, the art of being squeezed, laced up in a shocking contraption. Strap me in and lace me up. Reformers critiqued against tight lacing and spread as an anti-fashion movement called the Artistic Dress in the 1860s and reemerged as the Aesthetic Dress in 1880s. In the end it required all people to be dressed healthily,comfortably and beautifully.   Body shaping clothes inspired the concept for the form of this building. Being a house that is built in a tropical climate, it requires large overhangs to prevent rain water from leaking through the windows.This results in a mass that becomes bulky and looks un-proportional to the surrounding houses, but by ‘tightlacing’ the form by trimming some edges and implementing a flat roof design using PVC material made this house conform to the existing ‘slim’ trend of the context. Other than cutting costs and the added benefi¬ts of the material, the height of the two story house compliments the surrounding single story houses and becomes a fitting accent at the end of the row.   With a contemporary language which still holds the properties of tropical architecture and new materials, this design has fashioned a new architectural typology. The limitation of budget has caused the built space to be modest, whereas the un-built land is utilized as an extended space towards the outdoors. A regional law that restricts the construction of fence becomes an issue for safety and privacy, to overcome this issue the design solution resulted in the façade of the ground floor to become a barrier wall with little openings, but during certain events the wall can transform and function into a large massive door that allows a dramatic opening.

Reading about the dress reform movement during the Victorian period, there exists body shaping clothes that uses tightlacing to achieve a fashionable silhouette. The hourglass effect comes at a price to the body though, the art of being squeezed, laced up in a shocking contraption. Strap me in and lace me up. Reformers critiqued against tight lacing and spread as an anti-fashion movement called the Artistic Dress in ...