A renovation project that is a clear and profound reflection on standardization, not only of spaces, but also and above all of their users. MARIA is a space that seeks an alternative to "memojization"
Limitations to the way we live houses
Just as we may wonder, when we entrust a virtual avatar with the expression of our emotions, whether it is us expressing ourselves through it or if it is rather the avatar that, at some point, imposes limits on our expression, we can also ask ourselves the same question in the context of designing living spaces. The Swiss-Portuguese studio BUREAU questions the type of family that the designer refers to when drawing a living room, a bedroom, and so on
Right or wrong? Avatar
The architects at BUREAU observe that in a generic housing project, where it is not yet possible to know the future inhabitant, the family being referred to is typically composed of a heterosexual couple with one or more children. The spaces are designed accordingly, following a level of intimacy that ranges from the most "public," such as the dining room, to the most private, such as the bathroom in the parents' bedroom. Cultural habits dictate the conventions according to which a family is supposed to be and how they should occupy the spaces of the house. The vast majority of existing apartments belong to this model, which is difficult to question, an avatar of a home that certainly influences the way of living and, perhaps, even conceiving oneself
The contemporary family
We will never know who commands, whether the inhabitant or the designed habitat for a certain type of family, but it is clear that design conventions do not consider diversity. The architects at BUREAU question what underlying values are implied and imposed on housing typologies. They wonder if there is a space designed for the species of "companions," if a home for a single person should have the same spatial organization as one for a family of four, if the needs of a contemporary family are the same as those of the past
A response is MARIA
And they respond with the renovation project that gives rise to MARIA: a physical space that awaits to be inhabited in the most diverse and rich way possible, without prejudices. A place with an undefined sexual identity where the inhabitant can potentially always sleep on the couch, live with a dog, cook on the balcony, eat on the floor, read in the bathroom, stand on the kitchen counter, and decide that they don't need to categorize their multiple, rich, and diverse living space with daily gestures and usage standards that would only create an unnatural and rigid avatar of a home
