The Homestead Unit is just a room; a unit of space, divided space,
closed off space, private space. That’s what it does. It creates a boundary
between things. But boundaries can sometimes be invisible to the eye. Invisible
boundaries although unseen, are still boundaries, limitations nonetheless. The
personal space or personal bubble some call is an invisible boundary. It is the
space around a person he or she needs to feel comfortable. This volume of
space cannot be seen or even touched. Its boundaries can grow or shrink yet
whatever changes to it is still hidden to us. The personal space or personal
bubble is a boundary; an invisible one conjured by the mind.
In the case of The Homestead Unit, there are walls, a door, and a
ceiling. All of it is tangible yet there is still a sense of openness. The
occupant is enclosed but what’s the difference?
Wall may be walls, but what happens when they are
transparent? The majority of the front and left façade of The Homestead
Unit is made up of glass walls. Looking back at De Certeau’s “Spatial Stories”,
place is seen as the partition of space. That is what gives it structure. Only
when there is something to refer back to is place possible. The openness one
might feel from being in The Homestead Unite is created from most of the
so-called walls being mostly transparent. Or rather is it the sense of place
not being created from the boundaries set by The Homestead Unit? Glass is
transparent aside from the glare it might give off from reflecting light. But
something that cannot be easily spotted could just be counted as invisible.
It’s different from being camouflaged though. The sense that the walls of The
Homestead Unit may not be there is different from them blending into the
background. Something invisible can also be seen as nonexistent. After all you
have to see it to believe it right?
The
Homestead Unit also has the ability to be placed almost anywhere; it was
probably designed that way. As you can see from the pictures, in one it is
placed in the comfort of the indoors and in the other it is placed in the harsh
environment of the dry land. It can be counted as the reference point of space.
In the gigantic openness of such outdoor regions, The Homestead Unit makes
judgment of space just a little bit more true to reality.