A hostel designed for shared and private experiences between its inhabitants and the threshold between the interior/exterior.
Direction // No window faces in the same direction, but are all focused on the ground and sky. This causes the location and orientation of each window’s view to be regulated as equal amongst each other, decontextualizing the interior.
Parti // One window type (periscope) separates the bedrooms into two semi-private spaces. Turning the perspective view of a viewer, on the first floor, into a volume extending through the floor and wall to the exterior on the second floor.
Another type requires an enclosed room with an aperture to create a camera obscura effect, a projection of the sky on to the wall or floor. The form of this type is an inverse of the periscope type.
The third type skews the path of the view from the interior to the exterior where the inhabitant can only view the exterior from a certain spot in the room.
Boundary // For each type of window, there is an extended space between the perimitter of the exterior and the opening of the window on the exterior. The main purpose is to create a fixed view, extending the focal length. The dividing line between the exterior becomes more central to the interior of the home.
View // Each room only allows a specific view at a time according to where you are in the space. All views focus on the ground or sky the subject of the view is the same, but the view obtains variation by the way it is used and where the inhabitant is in the space; focusing on the space you occupy and the experience in that space. All the while offering a source of light and a connection to the exterior.
Individual/Group // The periscope type window is an individual experience in terms of view, but shared in how it provides light. The camera obscura window is a shared view that projects an image of the exterior into a room that multiple people can gather into, but serves a limited purpose in providing light. The skewed windows can be seen as the middle ground between the three types, as it’s light source is shared as well as the view, although the viewing is more realistically reserved for a pair rather than a group.
Thesis // The distance from the opening on the exterior and viewpoint on the interior are all extended regardless of type. Essentially this is extending the focal length, bringing in the exterior while focusing on the interior. The views of the ground or sky can be experienced at any location, this experience is made unique by the inhabitants location in the interior. No room has greater favor in terms of view, you are to experience the room(camera obscura), the person next to you(skewed), or yourself(periscope). The focus is inward, because of the fixed view, you do not explore the exterior from the inside, you explore the interior with an experience of the exterior and those inside, with equal favor.