Xinran Huang

House of Delight

“The city appears to you as a whole where no desire is lost and of which you are a part, and since it enjoys everything, you do not enjoy, you can do nothing but inhabit this desire and be content...”

With the rise of technologies, it is possible to work anytime, anywhere, in any way we like. Workplace is finally freed from its chains; every restriction is prevented.

Our four instinctive desires, as the custodian of the body, now enjoy their own everyday Odyssey - the most fulfilling world behind the facade continues to entrap our mind and body.

The building explores the dialectic relationship between capitalism’s pseudo humanity of labour in order to maintain constant profit and production and the worker’s voluntary will to be fulfilled and kept in the building.

The design addresses the notion of “reality is an illusion”, where the homogeneous façade does not reflect the plurality of the interior. The translucency of the façade offers a glimpse into the building, yet everything is obscure. Through the schism between the exterior and interior, the building acts as a reflection of pseudo reality in the spectacular society.