Home sweet home

British architect John Pawson, famed for Wagamama’s minimalistic interior, introduced a strikingly simple installation to this year’s Milan Design Week

The brief for the Interni Think Tank exhibition at Milan Design Week was that classic blend of philosophy and artistry. It called for reflection on “the changing values in design in the new millennium”, with familiar themes cropping up like “reinvention” and “sustainable design”. As with architectural projects in general, a strikingly simple high impact installation can always convey more by way of experience than words on a page.

Keeping it simple
Enter John Pawson’s House of Stone: “Seen from the colonnade, the installation was a simple house-shaped architectural structure,” says Pawson. To emphasise the careful combination of precision and stark simplicity, slits were cut into the ridge and central section for natural light to shine through during the day. Then at night, a linear MoMo LED light source inside the structure turns each slit into a beam of light.

Pawson, an architect famed for his minimalist approach, wanted to create a feeling of shelter using an archetypal house structure while at the same time disrupting the concept with large gaps cut across the frame. And light gleaming through these spaces emphasises breaks in the traditional structure, encouraging visitors to consider something recognisable from a different point of view.

Let there be light
The MoMo lighting product was designed by KKDC - another Asian manufacturer making the obligatory leap into lighting with high output LEDs. Its range of linear LED strips are designed for architectural lighting, specifically those requiring a bright, long lasting light source fitted into a small space.

“Seen from the colonnade, the installation was a simple house-shaped architectural structure”

Crucially for House of Stone, KKDC’s slim line product could be concealed in recesses to provide a seamless linear light source with no visible lighting system.

A consistent 2800K colour temperature evenly lights the vertical and horizontal planes of Pawson’s structure, highlighting both the texture of the stone and the minimal architecture. In keeping with the brief, which emphasised sustainability in contemporary design, the LED light is energy efficient.

Even the material used to build the house was environmentally friendly, made entirely from 99 per cent stone scrap - a new innovation by Salvatori.

Since leaving the Interni Think Tank exhibition, House of Stone has been given a permanent home in the park of the Milan Triennale, where it will be re-erected in 2011.

Project details

Project: House of Stone, Interni Think Tank Event exhibition, Milan Design Week
Architect: John Pawson
Lighting supplier: KKDC

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