The Seven Deadly Sinful Houses
Typology: Illustrative Research
Organiser: OHPD, One House Per Day
Year: 2021
The House of Lust
Lust is the human abandonment to passions and feelings, without the control of reason and morals. Dante describes lust as a form of divine love, perverted into obsession.
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The design of the house of lust employs carnal motifs and materials to highlight the senses of smell and touch (loam) and sight (gold, marble and glass). The house is accessed from the ground floor where a panoramic staircase leads to the master gold bedroom and six smaller bedrooms.
The House of Gluttony
Gluttony is the human incommensurate indulging in the pleasures of food and drink. Dante describes gluttony as a form of love and obsession for food, perverted to the point of waste.
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The house of gluttony is an engineered barn, employing straw, loam and timber. The ‘belly’ of the house is a big food storage room connected to an anaerobic digester for the collection of waste. Below the storage is the cellar while above are the living rooms.
The House of Greed
Greed is the human low availability to spend or donate his own goods. A man affected by greed is a man who doesn’t give. Dante describes greed as a form of love for items, perverted into an obsession for material goods.
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The house of greed is a luxurious stone mansion hiding its contained treasures from the public. Six of its seven floors are hidden underground, while the ground floor is hidden by a wooden fence.
The House of Sloth
Sloth is the human aversion to work mixed with boredom, indifference, sadness and melancholy, bringing the man to live a contemplative life. According to Dante, where previous vices address distorted and obsessive love, in this case, the very presence of love is too weak.
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The house of sloth employs materials that will allow for low maintenance over time, such as concrete. The design develops on the ground floor, in ‘lazy’ curves defining a minimal number of rooms and a central glass room for the contemplation of the outside world.
The House of Wrath
Wrath is the human profound and tormented aversion against something or someone. In Dante’s inferno, the wrathful are extremely violent, angry and ferocious souls.
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The house of wrath is cladded in cold steel and sharp buttons, the design employs extreme angles, inclined walls and sharp edges. The rooms follow an irregular corridor dictating the tempo of the circulation inside the house.
The House of Envy
Envy is the human feeling of grief in relation to a quality or goods possessed by another. According to Dante, envy is disordered hate consumed with the idea that everyone and everything outside the self is threatening or diminishing it.
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The house of envy develops in two blocks facing each other. Each block is closed on three edges and only opens up on the edge facing the twin block. A glass wall, a balcony and a telescope aid the ‘spying’ and contemplation of the mirrored block.
The House of Pride
Pride is the human claim to deserve for themselves a position of ever greater privilege when compared to others. According to Dante, pride is an assumption that one is greater than his divine authority, distributed by arrogance, self-gain and vanity.
The house of pride is a luxurious marble villa built atop a tall pedestal employing poorer materials, such as concrete. The pedestal hosts ancillary rooms while the villa develops on two floors and opens up to a roof terrace offering a privileged view of the outside world.