Yesterday was a quiet sunny day in my studio in the west of Oslo in the early autumn. I enjoy moments of serene reflection when the opportunity for them arises. There is nothing better than stepping outside here after several hours of deep work in which the sense of time has disappeared. I will perhaps not be in this space forever, but I enjoy it in the meantime. It find it to be a perfect combination of privacy and exposure.
This space is in itself a beautiful example of a positive pattern in the built environment that Christopher Alexander identifies as an "entrance transition". In the fantastic book "A Pattern Language", Alexander observes that "the experience of entering a building influences the way you feel inside the building. If the transition is too abrupt there is no feeling of arrival, and the inside of the building fails to be an inner sanctum." In my studio there is a delightful transitional space between the street and the front door: you enter from the street, walk along the external wall of the house for a few steps and around a corner, and then you go down through a small gate. The entrance door only becomes visible once you are through the gate, where you find yourself in a small outdoor room framed by a tall hedge on one side. The house itself is an older elegant building made of wood, beautifully maintained with white external wood cladding and a tile roof with green details. Houses like this give Norway its charm.
In this entrance transition there is a change of sound, a change of direction, a change of level, and a change of surface. Most importantly there is a change of view, for as you come around the corner you can get a slight glimpse of the Oslo fjord in the distance through a small gap in the trees that surround the larger garden in front of the house. All of these subtle qualities serve to create a pleasant daily experience that I always appreciate whenever I arrive home.
"Komorebi" is a Japanese word that describes the phenomenon of sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees. It refers to the dappled light or the visual effect created by the interplay of sunlight and foliage. On sunny days here, this quality can be noticed on full display on the external wall of the entrance area.
It is in this space that many of my best ideas have come to me in recent times. I look forward to coming up with many more over the coming winter.
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