Inspired by Dante Alighieri’ s “The Divine Comedy”, the timeless Christian allegory, Transverse/ Convergence House is destined to be not only a living shelter but also as the reminiscent piece of architecture reminding of a journey to salvation.
Through the ups and downs of one’s life experience that leads to true faith and the search for spiritual enlightenment. Our life’s journey is compared here to a series of paths as Dante’s Divine Comedy takes us through the three realms of the afterlife; Inferno (hell), Purgatoio (earth), and Paradiso (heaven), in which Inferno represents the worst of the earth, Purgatorio represents the best of the earth, and Paradiso represents the best of all worlds, the perfection of God.
Thomas G. Bergin, Yale’s ex-professor of the Roman language department analyzed the poem and proved that Dante has given us the numerology rule of number three as a triadomania such as three realms of the afterlife. Each of them has 33 cantos with three kinds of landscapes, these three run concurrently with the triple parallel universe. This analysis has finally become the key relevant to the narrative structure of the house. Through a series of immersion, exploration and discovery of Dante’s poem, the paths are recreated from a number of collected documents, writings, and sketches. Combined with the study of the Bible, cantos in Dante’s and gospels in the Bible are synthesized into the path of revelation (truth), the path of transformation (change, reborn), and the path of tranquility (peace).
These paths are emerged externally as seen from the cast-in-place concrete forms traversing and converging on different levels. “The path of revelation” is represented via the circulation from the entry foyer through the transparent floor-to-ceiling long glass wall that envelops the hallway and multi-purpose/ living room space. As the path is clearly seen and used as public space, it is the characteristic of the glass wall that also acts as the linkage between inside and outside.
The second of literature-to-architecture path, “the path of transformation” is metaphorically expressed via the circulation between various functions; residential, working, and shared spaces. It is translated into a series of space interactions and different spatiality. The entry hall that is connected to the residential inner room reveals the ambiguity as a result of open-plan, when two circulations cross each other between the living room and the sculptural concrete staircase. Transformation is not only reflected through the spatial arrangement but also the conversion of material use as wooden ceiling in the living space is flipped into wooden floor in the family and dining rooms. The Double brushed-steel door operates a hinged space between family room and dining room. It becomes the security door for the master bedroom’s staircase, giving the full connection of two big rooms when it closes. At opening stage, it can separate the two rooms when privacy is needed. The path of transformation continues to second floor working studio where the paths are intersected and shifted in different levels of floors and ceilings along the corridor towards the ramp. The dynamic form of wooden reception seat appears raising from epoxy floor and it is evolved to be wooden shelves that lead to the east wing studio via the concrete ramp. The meeting room and the guest room that sandwich the corridor are perceived from exterior as a set of soaring concrete boxes in the air.
“The path of tranquility” is finally the most private path that leads from the internal staircase into the master bedroom. Furthermore, tranquility can be found roaming around the house such as the fence garden, outdoor patio, the front pond, and specially the isolated one-story building at the end of east wing next to the garage that is dedicated to the memorial of the grand relative.
