Private sphere

The term 'private sphere' is an attempt to translate the German word 'Intimsphäre' into English. While 'personal space' might be more accurate, it does not communicate the relationship that this concept has to atmosphere (Atmosphäre) in German. How are the spheres of intimacy and of the space around us related? In the Private Sphere course, we invited students to address their designs to a point somewhere along the continuity between these two spheres, where architecture may address the scale of the body and its gestures, while also shaping an overall quality of space. Eighteen students from around the world (China, Taiwan, Jordan, Poland, Armenia, Australia, USA, Germany) attended the program of the Bauhaus Summer School in Weimar. The course was essentially a design-build studio; students and instructors worked together to create a small cabin fit for temporary occupation by two people.