Responding to this year’s theme ‘Emotional States’, the Istanbul-based practice, Tabanlıoğlu Architects will represent Turkey at this year’s London Design Biennale 2018 with housEmotion. Open from 4 – 23 September, the installation explores the ambiguous question of where we belong and the emotional meaning of the home in an age of increasingly transient living.

The pavilion starts with the most elemental idea of a house: a cubic form. Created using a series of white rods as a simple border demarcating the limits of the home. Gaps between the rods will lend a semi-transparency to the structure, drawing visitors in but also allowing the space to dissolve into the wider environment.

İnside, a comforting environment will be created for visitors to spend time and relax. A divan will be placed within the heart of the space, which Tabanlıoğlu describe as “like a mother’s lap”. At night, lights embedded in the rods will turn the structure into a glowing lantern.

Tabanlıoğlu also references the psychoanalyst DW Winnicott and his groundbreaking work on childhood development, Home is Where We Start From as an inspiration for housEmotion.

“There is a variety of perceptions of what home really is today. The question ‘Where are you from?’ prompts myriad answers. The meaning of home for a person may simply be a smartphone with a full memory, or it may be something more fundamental to our sense of self.”  – Tabanlıoğlu Architects.

HousEmotion is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey. The installation will be realized with the contributions of NURUS and TEPTA.

Tabanlıoğlu have previously participated in the London Design Festival. Tn 2015, the practice exhibited Transition, Hot / Wet  in collaboration with Arik Levy at Somerset House. The installation combined different disciplines, creativities and materials. In 2016, Tabanlıoğlu presented their Beloved an installation at the Victoria & Albert Museum inspired by Sabahattin Ali’s novel ” Madonna in a Fur Coat”.

HousEmotion, located within the courtyard of Somerset House, will be open to visitors during the London Design Biennale, 4 – 23 September 2018.