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DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ART, DESIGN & HUMANITIES
LEICESTER SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
ARCH3413
Architectural Space and behavioural patterns:
Mobius House by UN Studio as an architectural
investigation of the relationship between Space
and Organism.
Anna Maria Bourli
P11285032
Session 2015-2016

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I confirm by submitting this work for assessment that I am its sole author, and
that all quotations, summaries or extracts from published sources have been
correctly referenced. I confirm that this work, in whole or in part, has not been
previously submitted for any other award at this or any other institution.

Title
Architectural Space and behavioural patterns:
Mobius House by UN Studio as an architectural
investigation of the relationship between Space
and Organism.

By
Anna Maria Bourli

Leicester School of Architecture

De Montfort University

Abstract
This essay discusses the role of spatial elements as a dynamic
phenomenon, one that engages and enhances the individual experiences
within a building. A case study is presented, one that is analysed and
evaluated on whether it meets the requirements of the client, how have
the architects approached the notion of space and what is the significance
of such approach. The research will attempt to evaluate what theories and
methodologies emerge from the particular architectural methodology and
what are the connecting philosophies and concepts that sufficiently
explain and support the idea of creating spaces that exist as a
consequence of the behavioural patterns within them.

Introduction

For years, design professionals like architects, have been trying to

overcome the notion of structures being solely built to offer people
protection and comfort. Space and spatial perception are now considered
to be important concepts that arise as a vital part in the process of
producing buildings. In other words, for the last decades, there has been
an expropriation of the value of space and space experiences as perceived
mainly by the user. On top of that, the current age, the one of continuous
progression, has encouraged a new methodology and design approach
that seek to change views concerning how people may interact with
buildings and buildings with their environment. Contemporary
professionals are now requested to redefine basic standards in relation to
what is established as space and what this means to the audience. This
has as a result the creation of contemporary architectural developments
such as structures that can react to external and inner stimuli, or respond
to human requests, fabric faades that behave in a certain way in order
to elicit a certain behaviour that provides the kind of environment or
protection desired. All these have emerged from the innovative thinking of
professionals that identified the need to treat space and spatial
experiences within structures as a direct consequence of the clients way
of life. In these new theories we identify key notions and ideas that are
vital parts of their formation; behaviour of the organism-in-itsenvironment, space perception and interaction, emergent spaces and selforganisation are some of the concepts that are linked with these new
theoretical fields.
To begin with, it is vital to clarify how the new theories for interactive
design are differentiated from the traditional spatial and visual
perceptions we carry as architects. As we study the writing of Sanford
Kwinter, Emergence: or the Artificial Life of Space, it is observable that
we are turning towards a new type of structural perception, fundamentally
distant from the typical linear organisation of spatial elements. In his
work, Kwinter establishes a clear description of the types of thinking
around space and the transformations that occur based on these
philosophies; he exhibits an understanding of the typical reductionist and
numerical definitions that have prevailed for spatial understanding until
now; however he insists that the new spatial environment in architecture
is already partially installed around us. In other words, through Kwinter we
begin to understand the qualities that are relevant to the establishment of
new perceptual conditions and transformations of space experiences.
These transformative qualities include spontaneous and dynamic
behaviours, fluid and unfolding spatial elements and gradual
transformations in time. All the above are easily described now, however
it is very difficult to plunge fully into these concepts and reach a rigid
explanation that links all of them in a unified, sufficient case study.
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It is then, perhaps, arguable to present and evaluate an example of

architecture that was created based on similar analysis and program
development to the ideas that are closest to the above. The proposed
case study is an early, innovative example of spatial and structural
organisation on the basis of human behaviour and relationship interaction
(whether it is between the users or between the users and the building).
The project presented here will be analysed from the scope of space
acting a dynamic, unfolding phenomenon, one that is designed in such a
way that provides the best possible outcome for the activities involved
within it. The case study establishes an understanding regarding the
qualities and notions that are important in order to understand how space
acts/reacts based on the needs of the organism it hosts and then becomes
transformative to something more than just a shelter. It is therefore, vital
to analyse, evaluate and explain how the designers approach the
concepts of space perception and user/space interaction and, to a certain
degree, self-organisation within a structure.

Case Study: Mobius House by UN Studio

Fig.1 Exterior
view of the
House

Back in 1993, a young couple hired the Dutch architect Ben van Berkel
and his colleague Caroline Bos - both leaders of the firm UN Studio - and
instructed them to design "a house that will be recognized as a reference
in terms of renewal of the architectural language." Almost six years later,
the architect responded to the wishes of the customers delivering a house
that was based on the studies of a German mathematician of the
nineteenth century.
Ben van Berkel realized that the new architectural language he was
required to introduce would be a direct consequence of the type of life the
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inhabitants of the house would follow. The main idea consisted of two
people going through their own paths but share certain moments, possibly
by exchanging their roles at certain points. Consequently, the house
should be a dynamic and consistent vessel that would include and
enhance the various stages of the individual activities of each family
member within the same structure: work, sleep, socializing, family life,
and even the time of loneliness that is needed for an individual. Therefore,
the key ideas behind the successful development of the project were time
and duration. These were very important concepts to be considered
during the design development and, later, influence the way of perceiving
the house and its entities from different points of view.
Considering the above, the architect developed a bold, architectural
interpretation of the Mobius strip, the diagram studied by the astrologer
and mathematician August Ferdinand Mbius (1790-1868). Berkel
expanded the idea of the Mobius strip into an integrated design
methodology that would include and provide for the program of the
inhabitants. By giving the Mobius band a spatial quality, the architect
eventually provided a house that incorporates the programme seamlessly,
both in terms of circulation and structure. Furthermore, the movement
through this concrete loop follows the pattern of one's day activities.
Organised in three levels, the loop includes two studios (one on either side
of the house for the respective professions), three bedrooms, a meeting
room and kitchen, storage and living room and a greenhouse on the top,
all intertwined during a complex voyage in time. This is a house that
spatially enhances the program, the movement and structure, releasing
the idea of space from the restricted, simplified concept of a place to
exist.
All the above are materialized through concrete and glass (Fig. 2-3). These
are the basic materials that are distributing the qualities (light, views) that
are necessary to enhance the user experience and realise the concept
idea. More specifically, the fluid use of concrete and glass throughout the
building has created a series of spaces that flow into one another and are
linked by ramps and steps. Concrete is also used for furniture and fittings,
which emerge from walls and floors, but are detailed as well so they give
the impression that they are floating in space. Equally important is the
relationship established with the surrounding landscape. The spatial and
structural description of the house is interesting as a new type of design
approach to the private viewpoints and experiences of the inhabitant.
With its low and elongated outlines, the house provides a link between the
different features of its surroundings. Structurally, the buildings form
appears to be stretched in an extreme way and through an extensive use
of glass walls, the house is able to incorporate aspects of the landscape.
From inside the house, it is as if the inhabitant is taking a walk in the
countryside. The crystalline, angular forms of the house reach out into the
natural setting. This enhances the experience of the user, blurring the
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limits between the internal circulation and the penetrating feeling of

exterior space. The consistent and carefully thought material selection
enhances the overall sense of the design being calm, suffused with a
latent dynamism (Croft, 2004).

Fig.2
Interior
lounge

Fig.3 Interior
corridor

Analysis, evaluation and the architectural approach.

The case study of Mobius House is a distinctive, early example of a new

design methodology and conceptual approach that seeks to reach beyond
the notion of the enclosure of space. The architect carefully considered
the standard programme but did not rely solely on his role as an absolute
decision maker. As designers, the architectural team connected what
was to them an emblem of the kind of continuous and autonomous space
they wished to unfold out of the world around them with the clients desire
for a house that would respond to the 24-hour rhythms of their lives.
(Betsky, 2007). What we get from this fundamental approach is the
innovative effort to adjust the structural formations and the spatially
perceived experiences with the vivid patterns of the inner activities.
What van Berkel ultimately does, through this work, is to propose a unified
formation that coordinates two basic ideas; form and function. We tend to
think of the form and function of space as two quite independent things.
Space is a shape and function is what we do in it. (Hillier, 1996). However
it is obvious in Mobius House that the conscious development of spatial
experience around an organism presupposes the reversed apprehension
of how space and function blend, interact and co-exist. The diagram
presented by UN Studio (Fig. 4) regarding the organisational approach
towards the organised spatial activities and relations provides a closer
analytical view over a new architectural approach; the methodology to
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treat space as a living consequence of two separate and interlocking

paths is illustrated in a simple but also comprehensive manner. The spatial
planning consisted of two studios at opposite ends of the house, three
bedrooms, a meeting room, kitchen, storage, living rooms and a terrace
on the top. All these areas of the house were organised for a cycle of 24
hours of living, intertwining individual needs as well (UNStudio, 2009).
Based on the clients request for free interlocking pathways of the
families lives, the formal organisation within the building required critical
diagrammatic architecture to successfully fulfil this feeling of liberation in
the final design. The exploration of the second diagram (Fig.5) is the key
to taking a deep look into the methodical analysis the architect used for
this project. His diagram of the double locked torus conveys the
organization of two intertwining paths, which trace how two people can
live together, yet apart, meeting at certain points that transform into
common spaces. So, the philosophy that could be driving the whole
diagrammatic structure is that space is purely characterized of the way
people occupy it and use it based on their private or common routes. It is
safe then to assume that according to the architects approach, space is
the function. The two interlocking lines and the separated routes that
dynamically shape the structure are just the beginning; the architect
through his design offers the concept of a new spatial interaction and
perception, based on a diagrammatic type of architecture which is a
process of unfolding and ultimately of liberation. Through this diagram,
architecture is liberated from language, interpretation and implication.
Overall, the spatial need inside a structure seems to be highly emotional
and bound with real time. As van Berkel highlighted in an interview in

Fig.
4.

2002 (BOMB Magazine) about the process he engaged himself into for
Mobius house; Its as if time was seamless, where you can walk into the
landscape through morning into the afternoon and then into the evening,
and the sound and the light walks with you, or against you. And where you
always have what we call the kaleidoscopic fusion of the landscape into
the house, which generates the feeling less of living in a house than of
living in an environment.

Fig.5

UN Studio, Mobius House and the Rhythm of life in Space.

It is often mentioned how UN Studio follows and maintains a constantly

developing process for more than fifteen years, the process of treating the
occupation of space with meaning and emotion. Through their work and
especially Mobius House as a highlight, their vision of buildings as
placeholders as well as containers of spatial labyrinths, and as iconic
forms along with enigmatic shapes is unfolded (Betsky, 2007).
Undoubtedly, van Berkel and Bos managed to redefine the spatiality of
these forms and as a result of that, space itself. More specifically, the
architects are approaching space and its elements as an unfolding reality
which is then safe to assume that it is activated through real time and
duration. These are essential observations as they allow us to obtain a
specific perspective on the unfolding of space in real time. In the case
study of Mobius House, we observe that the spatial elements gain
meaning and functionality when the inhabitants make them part of their
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routine. The constant, 24-hour cycle of this routine is coherently

diagrammatic and mirrored in the function and circulation diagram (Fig. 45). For van Berkel and Bos, this 3 dimensional adaptation of the
diagrammatic, endless form, symbolized the ways in which continuous
flow, when isolated in a given situation, could develop a singular logic
(Betsky, 2007). Ultimately, even in a diagrammatic form, Mobius House
emerged as a new architectural language for the clients way of life
particularly innovative for the notions of time and duration.
So, what we establish from these highlighted concepts of time and routine
is the importance and the tension of rhythm in a constructed system. This
key idea is vital to form a base, where the study and the emergence of
new design systems and patterns can prove more empathic and social
in relation to their inhabitants and their cycle of the routine. The
importance of rhythm and how it affects the way humans perceive their
private reality (Umwelt), is a notion tested and presented both in early
writings of Jakob von Uexkoll and in more contemporary theories
presented by Henri Lefebvre. Lefebvre was the first to propose a method
(rhythmanalysis) to study the impact of the disentanglement interactions
between cyclic rhythms and linear (continuous or discontinuous)
timescales in everyday life. More specifically, Lefebvre wrote in his 1940
Dialectical materialism:
Mans worldappears as made up of emergences, of forms (in the
plastic sense of the word) and of rhythms which are born in Nature
and consolidated there relatively, even as they presuppose a
becoming in Nature. There is a human space and a human time, one
side of which is in Nature and the other side independent of it. It is
obvious for example that the Human rhythms (biological,
psychological and social timescales the timescale of our own
organism and the one of the clock) determine the way in which we
perceive and conceive the world and even the laws we discover in
it.
It is, therefore, an unquestionable vital step forward to engage the rhythm
of the organism living in its environment and approach the design
methodology treating space as a direct consequence of that. Thus, it is
provided that the organism in its environment is in a constant
interaction with what surrounds it and it ends up as what it perceives as
space. Mobius House is a case study that is dependent on the
consequences of rhythm and routine. Inside its spatial organisation, one
can trace multiple instinctive effects that come from and shape the
behavioural patterns of its inhabitants. Therefore, it can be assumed that
the structural loop the architects designed, can be transformed in a
private and metaphorical loop as well between the organism and its
surroundings inside the house; while the inhabitant uses his/her private
world and life rhythm to experience space, he/she also creates the space
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that is occupied. This kind of interaction is constant, bidirectional and

simultaneous.

Fig.
6
Fig.6 (above), demonstrates the constant loop and interlocking pathways
in Mobius House deriving from the mathematical model of the Mobius
strip. The constant flow, the main characteristic around which the whole
concept and structure were developed, is evident in diagrams (Fig.4-5, 7),
plans (Fig.8) and sections (Fig.6).

Fig.
8
Fig.
Conclusion
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UN Studios success for the Mobius House lies initially in the adaptation of
a loop that is representative of eternal movement and circulation in real
time and its adjustment in a coherent architectural language. This project
is an important symbol for architectural innovative methodology regarding
the approach of spatial perception by the user. The experience of real time
as being a rhythmic and flowing ideal has been achieved by fluid spaces.
The house ultimately and sufficiently ensures that each occupant
experiences each space differently over time and that is a groundbreaking success for the new perception of architectural space. Equally
important is the idyllic surrounding Arcadian forest which enhances the
individual inner activity and rhythm of the user.
In a deeper level, Mobius House is a case study that certainly provides a
theoretical platform to consider the role of the designer; how architecture
can be developed from the inside rather than from the outside.
Additionally, this could lead to a new generation of empathic spaces.
These spaces not only in terms of materials but more importantly in terms
of spatiality and function, support the user as he/she would be in a
constant dialogue and interaction with them. Not only that, but it helps us
as designers to develop an understanding on the qualitative relationship
between space and human.
Finally, the Mobius House has been a provocative response which met the
clients needs, program and site requirements to form a complex and
fragmented house. As an architectural response, it embraces and
introduces new forms of living and designing, closer to the occupant
private world and ideals. Today, almost 18 years after its completion, UN
Studio and their projects still remain relevant to the architecture that
focuses on the behavioural patterns of the inhabitant and their structural
facilitation.

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UN studio: architects design by Ji-seong Jeong, Seoul, CA Press, 2009
http://bombmagazine.org/article/2483/ben-van-berkel - BOMB 80
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Instinctive Behaviour: The development of a modern concept by Jacob
von Uexkull, Translated and edited by Claire H. Schiller, International

Universities Press, Inc. New York (originally published in 1934) page 6

Dialectical materialism by Henri Lefebvre, U of Minnesota Press, 2009
(originally published in 1940) page 130

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