louise campbell envisions das haus for IMM cologne 2014

louise campbell: das haus for IMM cologne 2014
image courtesy of IMM cologne
photo by constantin meyer

each year, IMM cologne invites an international designer to conceive a domestic space / housing typology for their ‘das haus’ – living interiors program. the nominee is summoned to develop a home interior that while not only expressing a sense of practicality and forward thinking, should be authentic in its vision.

envisions two housing structures in which one extends out from the other
image courtesy of IMM cologne / photo by constantin meyer

for 2014, louise campbell from denmark envisions a house with two sides. the 240 m2 construction is made from a framework of two timber-framed, prototypical homes that are positioned so that one sits half inside of the other – off-center, as if it has been pushed into the other that extends outwards. the structures are separated through color – the posts of the inner construction have been painted white, while those of the external one are painted in light grey; their individual arrangements mirrored onto the floor through lines that correspond in color.

a glimpse into the living room
image courtesy of IMM cologne / photo by constantin meyer

campbell’s scheme brings forth a space that creates harmony between its inhabitants offering an open, sprawling interior for ‘him and her, for slow and fast, soft and hard, light and dark, color and material (…)‘.

at its heart, the danish designer’s ‘das haus’ features a 16-meter-wide piece of furniture for lounging and sleeping on; while a bathtub stands in the middle of the living area and the kitchen at the far end of this space. none of the zones are concretely defined, with the organization of furniture and accessories implying particular rooms of the home instead. the theme of openness is further expressed through the exclusion of walls which are replaced by soft textiles that can be easily rolled up or down depending on the amount of transparency or privacy one desires.

the 16-meter-long piece of furniture for lounging and sleeping lines one ‘wall’
image © designboom

a major highlight of campbell’s plan is a wall that features 573 tools that visually establishes the ‘kitchen’ and ‘workshop’. this area is equipped with a large table for the various activities that would be conducted here: hammering, mixing, painting, sawing, sewing and stirring; and while technology is noted only because of its absence, the house is well furnished with all of the instruments required for conceiving various types of handicrafts.

general view into the sprawling interior
image courtesy of IMM cologne / photo by constantin meyer

‘personally I feel very much at home here,’ says louise campbell of her ‘haus’. ‘so where floral wallpaper in a kitchen would not naturally present itself at the top of my list, plenty of fine tools do. even so, I’d much rather sleep in an imaginatively decorated space than in a bare white bedroom.’ – louise campbell