R27.CREATIVELAB / Blogspot

by guest writer Piktografika

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In my first post for this blog I wrote about my contribution to Sandra Dieckmann's "If I was you"- project . That's not the only collaborative illustration experiment Sandra has created and she was kind enough to talk to me about her Haus Stories.

Hello Sandra! Can you tell us what Haus Stories is?
Haus Stories is an illustration project/game open to everyone. Fellow illustrators and really everyone that wants to give drawing a go can join to try and draw the tallest house in the whole wide world together! You just submit a rectangular shaped level of a house to the project and there we are ... a little taller!

Just like a Jenga tower we will be placing block upon block to create a beautiful structure that will leave the tower of Babel feeling envious.

The levels are insides and outsides of the house and show all sorts of funny stories. Stories in a storey you might say. Characters, animals, holes in the floor and dog poo on the carpet. Anything is allowed.
I'm also planning to publish the project in a special format, probably even as wallpaper once it's all wrapped up and ready. I think it would make wonderful wall decoration for any house.

The ground floor is by Sandra Dieckmann, floor 1 by Anna Denise, 2 by Oscar A. Galceran and 3 by koodles

How will you decide when this building is finished? Will you keep building forever if people keep submitting levels?

I think the project will be open for some time yet. There is no official deadline and I'd love to see at least a hundred levels. So come join us and we might approach the publishing point a little earlier.

Of course it can't go on forever. I don't want it to touch the Ozone layer. We might disturb something up there or make the hole bigger or something!

Level 6 of the building is by Mohan Ballard

You have created both this and "If I was you...", do you have any other collaborative projects you want to do?
Oh yes! There is always ideas floating round my head. My mind just won't quit. I'm constantly making notes and getting excited about new thoughts but you really have too pace yourself sometimes. To be honest I have so many projects ongoing and lined up I fear there might not be enough time in the world to everything. There is one project though that I can not wait to start. If you read my interview for the Culture Vulture - there we collected peoples ideas for hybrid creatures. I promised to turn those amazing ideas into drawings and finally a flip book and I think the way forward here is to get other talented illustrators on board to make it that little bit more special. Well it's an exciting prospect anyways.

Level 14 of the building by Octavi Navarro

What is your favourite real world building?
Oh my. I really love the New Jewish museum in Berlin that was designed by Daniel Libeskind in 1998. Not just because of the futuristic look but also for the thought behind it and the atmosphere. I believe it has a void in it where the building runs into a point of nothing and the way ends. You have to walk back and around to get to where you want to go. A very powerful idea. Can I put in a quote here to sound more intelligent?

"The design is based on a rather involved process of connecting lines between locations of historic events and locations of Jewish culture in Berlin. These lines form a basic outline and structure for the building. Libeskind also has used the concepts of absence, emptiness, and the invisible—expressions of the disappearance of Jewish culture in the city—to design the building."

What kind of building would you want to design if you were an architect?
This would be a hard one. As much as I like clean and contemporary I like old and cozy. I think it would be a building with a massive contrast in the sizes of the spaces. Rooms that you can retreat to and be warm and light large rooms that wake you up. Dark and light. Secluded and open. Hidden but open with glass fronts that let the surrounding nature enter.

Thank you, Sandra!

Look at all the levels of the house at www.hausstories.com
See what else Sandra Dieckmann is up to on: www.sandradieckmann.com