Designed by OK-RM, the book is printed on fine art stocks including Munken White, Burano Stone Grey and Gardagloss
The foil-blocked cover of Home Economics features one of four debossed A6 images by OK-RM and Matthieu Lavanchy
The book accompanies the exhibition of the same name at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, for which the curators asked artists, designers and architects to create proposals for the home based on the time people would spend in them
Home Economics proposes alternative futures for the home, asking us to re-examine how we live through the lens of time.
The book is the first print publication from The Spaces, produced to accompany the British Pavilion’s exhibition at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, commissioned by the British Council. Edited by the curators Shumi Bose, Jack Self and Finn Williams, it re-writes the brief for contemporary living.
‘When we design with time, we prioritise universal human needs,’ they say in their introduction.
Artists, architects and designers were asked to produce architectural proposals for the home based on how long people will spend in them – hours, days, months, years and decades – all featured in the book.
‘New technologies have displaced how, where and when we work and play,’ the curators add. As a result, a brave new world of possibility for the frontline of British architecture has emerged, posing questions such as, ‘can sharing be a form of luxury rather than a compromise?’
This book, like the exhibition itself, is a truly collaborative work that engages with the world beyond architecture – including contributions by artists, fashion designers, photographers and critical writers – to inspire us to reconsider the spaces we spend time in, and our lives, anew.
Designed by London studio OK-RM and co-published by REAL foundation, it features photography by Matthieu Lavanchy and Verity-Jane Keefe, and essays by Eddie Blake, Tom Dyckhoff and Mark Cousins, among other luminaries.
The Spaces shares a common vision with the trio of curators behind Home Economics: that life is changing, and we must design for it.
Home Economics: five new models for domestic life, is published by The Spaces, £25.
