Journal / Objects · 02 min
When furniture becomes architecture
Some pieces stop behaving like furniture and start behaving like part of the building. A bench that continues into a wall, or a shelf that becomes a step, belongs to the architecture as much as to the room.
Built, not placed
Built-in pieces let us use the thickness of walls and the edges of floors. They can organise a space without adding walls, and they remove the visual noise of freestanding objects. They also commit a room to one arrangement, which is the trade-off.
The best built-ins feel as if the room could not have been drawn without them.
We keep them for places where the plan itself benefits, and leave loose furniture where a room needs to change over time.