Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

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Simplicity
John Pawson

1
TEMPLE OF DIANA, SOUNION, GREECE
©Monica Pidgeon

I think people are very surprised when they come to my lecture, having seen
some of the work as I think they have this idea that perhaps it all came out of
nowhere and that it's something very, very modern, this idea of simplicity. I
always say there's nothing new about my work. Of course it's my interpretation
of principles and ideas that really go back to the beginning and there's this
common thread throughout civilisation, the last five thousand years. Where
there have been these, perhaps, minorities who have been attracted by the
notion of travelling light, and by using simplicity as a means of living and
perhaps as a means of creating a kind of an artistic thing. And then I tend to
show work like Cistercian monastic architecture; or Shakers' buildings and
artefacts; or examples of Islamic architecture, Granada; or in fact classical
architecture, Rome and Greece, things like the Pantheon; and even Neolithic,
Stonehenge and things like that. Even though I spent four years in Japan
teaching and studying architecture, I really went there because I already was
fascinated by this notion of simplicity; and of course the Japanese, probably
around the sixteenth century, I think brought it to its absolute peak. But I think,
much more than Japan probably, is my background from Halifax. It's the
nineteenth century master-builders in Halifax that I think influenced me the

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most.

DEAN CLOUGH MILLS, HALIFAX

©Susan Crowe

I've only come to realise that since working on a project in Halifax, Dean
Clough Mills, where I was forced to examine the existing architecture which is
this wonderful kind of urban complex made out of York stone. And then all the
things that I really like in architecture, and I use in fact to create my
architecture, things like repetition, repetition of form like the very simple
fenestration, the ramps, the steps, the sort of massiveness and simplicity, and
the materials and just the whole kind of thing there has been a tremendous
influence. A lot of people use the word 'minimalism' to describe what I do,
which I suppose is an easy way for people to describe it. Of course it's far from
minimal. The work is highly complex, it's very difficult to achieve. My work
relies to a huge extent on material. And it's that choice of material. When I start
to work I do very little drawing, although I have a very clear idea of the space
that I want to achieve. And of course space, there is for me the prime thing, for
me architectures all about space. And I tend to do a few quick drawings on
paper, although I'm very reluctant to get drawn into plans, because I think plans
are very seductive and only two-dimensional, and what can look good on plan
doesn't necessarily look good in the round, and so I tend to build it up through
use of models and views and of course, lately, obviously using a computer. But
what interests me is using material and light and also obviously playing with
scale and proportion. I like pushing things to the limit. I like attenuated spaces
and compression. I think I deliberately make walls thick so that you can feel the
space when you go through them. And I like rooms that have views. I always try
to give a room, however small; a vista.

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PAWSON HOUSE, LONDON. FLOORBOARDS

©Todd Eberle

For example my own house. People are always surprised by the actual small
number of square feet it is. My house is only about twelve hundred square feet.
The materials that I like tend in the end to be natural although I'd like to
discover some new material for flooring or for walls or for furniture or
something. I always go back to natural materials. You can't get better than
granite or stone for floor, or wood for furniture. And you're limited in a sense
to using certain granites and certain marbles and stones. I like York stone
because it's a very even-coloured sandstone and it's a beautiful sand colour,
and it has a depth to it. I like white Carrara because it's very luminous and I like,
obviously, straight-grain woods like Japanese oak. But it is how you treat it; I
mean for example my house, although it's quite knotty. I've chosen Douglas fir -
you can get boards in that up to eighteen inches wide and fifty feet long. And by

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using them at that scale you completely change people's perception of space.

4
PAWSON HOUSE, LONDON. CARRARA MARBLE
WORKTOPS
©Todd Eberle

If you use white Carrara marble like I do, which is honed so that it's matt, I use
it four inches thick for the work-tops and about fourteen feet long. So although
you're only using the surface of it, you have this amazing feeling of standing
next to something that is massive. And it does change your feeling and your
appreciation. It's also that thing of taste and also, when people talk about
fashion, there is a slight pejorative term almost to fashion, I think, especially as

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architects are concerned. Because it's something that's fleeting and not
substantial, and things like that.

MIES CHAIR IN ROTHMAN APARTMENT

(EXECUTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLAUDIO
SILVESTRIN)
©Ian Dobbie

But I think it is important even in architecture. Because if you take something

like Mies' cantilevered furniture, in some ways it can't get more perfect, more
beautiful in form. And they're pretty comfortable too. But if you use them in a
space they, because they're so over- used and almost clichéd in this decade or
these last three decades, there is a sense that people's appreciation of them
changes their appreciation of the space. And I think the same is if you use
certain materials, people's associations with them can change their perception
of space, if you use them in the normal way. So if you use wood, it could remind
them of their school days, or marble could be hotel bathrooms in these modern
hotels, or things like that. So that it isn't the material itself, it's the way it's used,
and also it's the mix of materials. And I tend to have a very small palette only
because there are very few materials that satisfy me.

PAWSON HOUSE, LONDON. STAIRCASE

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©Todd Eberle

In my own house, again, it was a terrific challenge because it's a late Victorian
terrace house, not a very good one, and it had all these problems of narrow
small plan, and l think in a way, the principles that I use in my commercial
architecture and my residential architecture for other clients is brought into
being even on a much more modest budget. Things like the staircase, which I've
made deliberately narrow, makes you feel the compression as you move up
them, and they are because they're contained by full height walls. You have
that sense of being in a separate space which I always like. There's always the
feeling that there's some- thing beyond the stairs because, as you're climbing
there's a strong natural light at the top. People have very preconceived ideas of
what constitutes comfort and what constitutes sensible dimensions. They
always initially have a resistance to full height doors. I mean, I love full height
doors. Of course, if you make them pivot correctly there's no weight in moving
them. And narrow staircases and steep staircases, say, in Amsterdam are
absolutely the norm.

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PAWSON HOUSE, LONDON. BATHROOM

©Todd Eberle

In my house, when you get to the top of the stairs, I've put, which is perhaps
one of the most important rooms for me, and that's the bathroom. Partly to do
with my time in Japan, and communal bathing at school, and my love of Islamic
bathing - the Hammam in Morocco and things - I've made the bathroom out of
stone with a tub in the middle of the room which, because the whole floor is
drained you can allow to brim over. I tend to spend a good hour in the
bathroom every day which is not just about cleansing but about relaxing alter
work. And also it's a time to spend with the children, because both Caius who's
ten and Benedict who's five love splashing around in the tub. I've never realty
understood that English thing of wanting to wash in your own dirt. In Japan,
you tend to use the soap outside the tub. And by only having one bathroom you
get a lot more space, so several people can use it at once.

PAWSON HOUSE, LONDON. LIVING ROOM

©Todd Eberle

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And I think that - certainly from photographs - people do get an idea, who don't
really understand the work, that it's never been one of austerity. It's not an
architectural deprivation. In fact, my world think is extremely rich; and, of
course, everything you could possibly want, in terms of tools or comfort, is
there. It's just not necessarily on show. It's not necessarily visible all the time.
People who've experienced the architecture, refer to it as a kind of sensual
poetic minimalism. Comfort for me is not necessarily a club armchair. I think my
obsessional nature probably comes from my father who always had this
insistence on whatever you did; it had to be the best, both in what you
achieved, I think, and also what you strove for. And so, although I have this
belief in perfection. I mean achieving it is something completely different I
think the reason I turned to architecture was, in a sense, that I had a facility
with that, and I was moderately successful in fashion and in photography which
I did later. It wasn't until I started architecture that it seemed to go well; it was
something that was obviously going to last for me. I think that in the creative
process - without being obsequious of course - I think that obviously the
relationship with a client is absolutely crucial. In fact, you can't design in a
vacuum, you have to have a client and you have to have some brief. And of
course the best architecture comes out of the best relationship with clients.
Certainly, in my case, it is always a balance. You need just the right amount of
courage and funds and help from a client without them denting your
confidence too much, I think. With me of course all my clients tend to be
successful, aggressive, creative people in their own right, and of course very
unused to letting somebody else make decisions for them.

CALVIN KLEIN SHOP, NEW YORK. EXTERIOR

©Todd Eberle

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The most well-known of my clients, Calvin Klein, who asked me to do his first
shop on Madison Avenue - his first shop ever - was that kind of person. It was
quite strange to work with somebody who was a designer himself. There's so
much to learn from people like that. He's somebody of incredible energy and
drive. He would, even running such a huge business as he has, he would spend,
say, twelve hours, a twelve -hour day in meetings with you discussing details of
architecture, like the framing for the thirty four-foot window panes to the
shop. He was also a patient person, rather remarkably, and fairly generous. At
the end of it, he's also somebody who is used to getting his own way and
somebody who doesn't really take 'No' for an answer. And in contrast to, say,
some of the clients who would feel that planning permission, or huge structural
works, or closing a street for a day, would be a handicap or a hindrance or in
fact make the job impossible, and it would tire the client even to think of that,
Calvin Klein would think it quite normal to be able to close Madison Avenue or
get a giant crane or put in thirty four -foot pieces of glass, even though they're
not exactly standard.

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CALVIN KLEIN SHOP, NEW YORK. EXTERIOR

©Todd Eberle

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So in that sense he in fact pushed me, because I hadn't even thought of

changing the windows in the store. This was a neo-classical building put up in
about 1918 by J.P. Morgan, and so my idea was really to just concentrate on
the interior which had twenty foot ceilings. It had a lot going for it inside. I
mean I only had to make it a more dynamic space inside and one that was more
suitable for selling clothes, although the analogy of the Agora was obviously
evident. But I think that client-architect relationship is rather crucial, I think.
Actually, relationship with other architects too is quite strange, especially
perhaps in England and America. I don't know about the Continent But I'm
always surprised that architects don't stay together more. I know there's a
paucity of jobs. But, you know, it's not everything in life to constantly be
scrambling for work. I know you need some work, but there are other things to
do in architecture and of course people do teach and write, and a lot of other
interesting areas besides building. I'm always amazed when I'm halfway
through a job, or just started, or being interviewed, that other architects will
hear about it and actually send in their portfolio or even discuss the fact - that
they may be better or easier to work with than I am, and things like that. I
would never dream of doing that. I think they do themselves a disservice. It
allows clients to feel that they can trade in one architect for another at the
drop of a hat and I think it weakens the whole system, this kind of
competitiveness for its own sake. It seems to me a waste. The process of
building is a huge struggle in itself and, of course, what makes a good architect,
apart from obviously a creative talent and a sense of taste. Apart from the
talent and the taste, I think all successful architects have had energy, and it's
not energy just to do the work, it's the energy to, having created something or
having had an idea, is to be able to get that idea across, and that also entails
being charming, in a sense. I think there are these three things. I'm sure that all
creative people that one knows about, both artists and architects have had
these ingredients in abundance. The first job that I ever got was while I was still
at the Architectural Association, which was a job to do Leslie Waddington's
office at his first gallery in Cork Street.

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LESLIE WADDINGTON GALLERY, LONDON

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(EXECUTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLAUDIO

SILVESTRIN)
©John Pawson

From there I got to do the big new gallery for him at No. 11 and subsequent
things including his house. And obviously living with Hester van Royen for ten
years, who was a director of Waddingtons, I got to meet most of the
contemporary artists that either showed their work at Waddingtons or in some
way were associated. And one of those was Donald Judd who is one of the
people that obviously had an enormous influence on me. Having done one
gallery you get to do another, and I've done a few galleries in my time and in the
last ten years. But I do find them increasingly difficult because the whole
nature of where artists should show their work or how it should be shown or
what kind of work they do or whether it is showable or whether it is
collectable, is now so diverse that there isn't really one particular space or way
of showing work that suits everybody. And so of course in the last ten years
you've seen this popularity with converting industrial spaces because there is
this fall- back situation which makes everybody feel safe. You've got an already
existing structure, an architectural 'taste' I'll call it, into which you can put the
art. So there is this lack of conflict perhaps, and rather in contrast to, say,
something like James Stirling's museum in Stuttgart which most contemporary
artists find very, very difficult, and of course is enormously popular as a
museum.

12

RUNKEL HUE-WILLIAMS GALLERY, LONDON

(EXECUTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLAUDIO
SILVESTRIN)
©John Pawson

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So I have this terrible struggle with trying to produce spaces which are in
themselves neutral and therefore a fantastic back-drop to the art, make the art
more potent. By using my vocabulary and the means at my disposal, of course,
if you reduce the elements and you pare down the materials and the form and
everything to its absolute minimum you tend to just produce spaces which
become in themselves almost works of art. They look almost like installations.
They become too strong. And I think there is this balance, which is another
area which I think sorts out men from the boys in architecture in a sense. It's a
question of knowing when to stop. And you have to know when to stop in the
business of subtraction if you subtract too much, you get a space which is too
strong. One of my arguments is that a beautifully proportioned and beautifully
executed Georgian interior, even with its skirtings, its cornices, its architraves,
its window frames, and its fireplace surround, can be an extremely simple and
beautiful space. And by subtracting anything from it, you damage that -
seamlessness. That for me of course is the definition of minimum. And if you try
to do a gallery like that, if you get it seamless, and if you get it right, you're just
about OK. I think it will suit the art, the dealer, or whatever the museum is
showing. Of course, the temptation of artists, current artists, is they would like
to destroy anything that smacks of being perfect. So again, it's almost a no-win
situation. That's why it's a very difficult area, a gallery. I feel very inhibited and
self-conscious about doing galleries now because perfection and seamlessness
and a general feeling of well-being may not be what a particular artist is looking
for in a space. One of the most successful museums I've ever been to is Louis
Kahn's in Fort Worth, the Kimbell. But of course he had everything going for
him in a sense, apart from being brilliant. He was designing a museum for a
permanent collection of works, historical works, and they all were of a
reasonable size and needed lighting and displaying in very basic ways. And so
he could provide the most beautiful interior and the works could be hung in a
very conventional way and look great. He didn't have to cope with
tremendously diverse sizes or mixed mediums. I've been very fortunate that, I
mean I never started out to be an architect. I never sat down and said "I'll go

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through school and then I'll work for somebody and then I'll open my own
office". I went to the AA relatively late, and I didn't survive more than three
years there. But I've been fortunate that one job has led to another and, if not,
I've rather enjoyed the break.

13
HANS NEUENDORF HOUSE, MALLORCA
(EXECUTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLAUDIO
SILVESTRIN). EXTERIOR
©John Pawson

But through Leslie Waddington I met Hans Neuendorf, who is a German art
dealer, and he had always been talking about the land that he owned in
Majorca, in the south of Majorca. So one time while I was on holiday in the
north, in Deià, he rang up and said that he'd fly over and show Hester and me
the piece of land that he'd bought. And I think he rather wanted to encourage
other people to invest in the area and therefore build up the value as a whole.
Of course when we went there, it was the middle of the day, it was very, very
hot, but he was very keen to show me the drawings he had for the house, which
of course were a pastiche of a kind of Mexican 'hacienda' style, a thing he was
very proud of, and I of course tried to avoid having any conversation because I
thought I was on holiday. But I finally ended up, he finally said "what would you
build?" and I said "Oh well, give me £1000 and I'll do some sketches". And that
was my first introduction to my first new newly built house.

14

HANS NEUENDORF HOUSE, MALLORCA

(EXECUTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLAUDIO

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SILVESTRIN). PLAN
©John Pawson

Of course it was a long process, it took about four years of trips and dealing
with a Spanish builder and dealing with the cash flow and really dealing with
the requirements for a holiday villa which would seem simple but Hans was
somebody who didn't like swimming pools.

15
HANS NEUENDORF HOUSE, MALLORCA
(EXECUTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLAUDIO
SILVESTRIN). ATRIUM
©John Pawson

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But of course you have to have a swimming pool if you've got children and
family and friends. So we eventually built the swimming pool as the last thing. It
really should have been the first thing but it worked. That was a wonderful
experience because you were able to really put everything that you really
wanted into one building. Not in the sense that you would put every idea in,
because I think that's where a lot of architects go wrong. It's a question of what
you leave out, which is more important. There's no need to show that you've
got a good idea, you just have to solve the problems of the site and the
problems of the weather in the area in a way you think is consistent. And I was
very keen that the house shouldn't be a piece of sculpture in the landscape. I
researched all the local Majorcan architecture, the Italian Renaissance
architecture which was in Parma, and things like that. In the end it was the
distillation of course. I ended up using the traditional render which is used by
mixing the soil with the render which gives it this dark ochre colour. And so it
blended in, in that sense. Recently he's sown this terrible bright green grass
into the soil, so what used to be this wonderful platform for the house is now a
bright green, rather than a wonderful burnt ochre.

16

HANS NEUENDORF HOUSE, MALLORCA

(EXECUTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLAUDIO
SILVESTRIN). SWIMMING POOL
©John Pawson

Because it's very, very bright in Majorca I had very, very few windows breaking
the external walls but there is a huge internal atrium or open courtyard which
again is traditional in Majorca which gives shade and protection from the winds
which you get there. It opened up this thing which I talked about earlier in that,
if you have an idea it's not enough. You have to be able to convince somebody
that it is the right idea, and you have to have the confidence to carry that on.
And of course if the client puts up enough resistance, I think anybody in the
end will - all but the most obtuse people - will begin to listen to what the client's

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got to say in that sense. Of course that is the other problem with architecture,
is somehow knowing when the client's right and you're wrong, and you're right
and the client's wrong. Because you never know really till the end of the job.
And somebody like Calvin Klein who's proved himself so successful
commercially and in interpreting what people want in fashion, it's quite a
daunting prospect to stick up to him really. And you begin to wonder whether
you're wrong and he's right, and it's only afterwards you know. And the same
with the house in Majorca. In certain things I was right and he was wrong and
in certain things he probably was right and I was wrong. But you need to be
pretty strong. I suppose what I look for in architecture is the excitement of
empty space. And of course people say to me "that's fine in a gallery" or "your
work would be great for southern Mediterranean because of the weather" and
things like that. And "it's not warm" and "it's not this" and "it's not that" and "it's
not functional" and "how would it work as an office, say". But of course I've
done quite a few offices and I think in a way, having a feeling of space, and
having a clarity in the organisation, and not having unnecessary things, and
having the other qualities that my spaces bring which is natural materials, light,
use of scale and proportion and geometry, are very, very applicable to offices.

17

CALVIN KLEIN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK.

COMPUTER IMAGE
©John Pawson

And one office that I did, and that I'm involved with at the moment, is the
reorganisation of the headquarters of Calvin Klein I love doing something new
and I always like the challenge of different things and that's what I find exciting.
It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be new buildings, it doesn't have to
be public buildings; it can be an object, it can be solving the problem of an
exhibition, it can be writing. An office is another area where obviously there is a
lot to be said. There, of course, I tend to get very, very obsessed by research for
something like these headquarters and what constitutes the optimum office.
Today it's a kind of combination between the private cellular office and the

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open spaces which give people better means of communication, and it's
somewhere between utilitarian and work like and something which resembles
people's houses or homes. And of course I've always been attracted to library
reading-rooms and artists', traditional artists' studios, with north light and the
sculptors' studios and things like that. So I wanted to produce an office which
was really redolent of a library reading-room or an artist's studio, and I didn't
feel that these sort of spaces and these working conditions should really be
limited to the "creative" people in the organisation Calvin Klein, the fashion
designers and the home object designers and furniture designers and things
like that. I think it should extend obviously to the management, to the finance
section and the press and all the other elements that go into it. Because one
thing I've learned is that if you are in any meeting at all - you know, building
meetings - I mean the accountant, the quantity surveyor will all come up with
design ideas, and everyone is a designer. They tend to preface it by saying "I'm
not a creative person" which of course is rubbish because everyone is creative.
It just needs bringing out. Some may be more creative than others but I think
it's crazy to say "well, the accountants can live in a different kind of
environment than the designers". I think it's an insult. But obviously you need a
kind of balance. You need this balance of privacy as against the one of
communication which is what the open-plan office offers. Just as when I do
houses or shops or offices or galleries - well galleries less, actually - the work
never just stops with designing the architecture or the interior or the lighting. I
do design the furniture especially for each of these places and I think that the
spaces are spaces which come alive with people, and they are and I do them for
people. The success of architecture depends in a sense on how people use it.
You can give people inspiration and you can encourage them by the
architecture but what people bring into the spaces, and how they use them,
also affects the space. With a shop, for example, I would - even though it's
beyond my brief - I would tend to be very, very involved with the typology and
the graphic design, and I am involved very much with the display, with the
furniture and almost everything, including the quality of the sales staff,
everything probably except the product. It's so much a total thing and it's so
much a question of balance, and this thing that I go back to all the time which is
"taste", taste meaning really choice of things, choosing the balance.

18

JIGSAW SHOWROOM, BOND STREET, LONDON.

EXTERIOR AT DUSK
©John Pawson

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After the Calvin Klein shop, I was asked if I'd like to design the main shop for
Jigsaw who are a high street chain of women's and men's clothes shops. They
offered me a fantastic space on Bond Street and they are very professional
retailers. They have a sort of courage and also the ability to leave, to make the
choice of the designer and then leave him to it. And they have historically
chosen different architects, several different architects, well-known architects,
to do their stores, and I've been very lucky to do the one on Bond Street. This
has enabled me in a way to kind of experiment or try and look at all the various
different aspects of retail.

19

JIGSAW SHOWROOM, BOND STREET, LONDON.

GROUND LEVEL SHOWROOM
©John Pawson

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Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

It isn't just the hanging rail, the shelf, the table, the window, the fitting room,
the cash till. It's really how, what people want from shopping, what kind of thing
they're expecting. Of course they want to see the clothes in the best possible
light and in the most simply displayed way and looking their best and a sort of
clarity. On top of that, I think they want to feel good while they're shopping,
they want to feel comfortable. It is in a way the new kind of entertainment,
shopping: and I think in America it's now the number one leisure activity,
shopping, and that's after museums or sports events. And, I mean, this whole
thing is an enormous irony for me, because I, in a way, I am much happier
personally being seen less. And so for people to collect as they do in galleries,
from galleries, and shop, in a way is contrary to what I personally like. So there
is this sort of contradiction in terms with me. in a way: showing people that you
can live more simply, you can live with less things, and then putting a lot of
energy into designing a shop which is visually simple but in a way designed to
make people consume. So I have a personal problem with it but I put it aside.
There are two ways to shop these days. Either you shop from the catalogue
from the comfort of your home or the discomfort of your own home, or you
take a trip. And having made that trip, then the least you can do is provide
people with a pleasant experience. The slight difference between, say, Calvin
Klein and Jigsaw is that I've noticed that the Jigsaw shopper tends to be very
focused. It seems that the Jigsaw customer knows that they have to go out and
get a skirt or a dress or something. They can't leave the shop without getting it.
Whereas in Calvin Klein, I have the feeling that they say, I'm feeling bored or
happy or sad or something, I'll go down Madison Avenue and just see what's
going on. There seems to be a difference of focus. Having said that, I think that
the one luxury you can give people these days is space. And to give them that
kind of space in the centre of London, which is so expensive, is very generous
and I think is then reflected in how they feel about the shop and about the
clothes and everything else.

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JIGSAW SHOWROOM, BOND STREET, LONDON.

GROUND LEVEL SHOWROOM
©John Pawson

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Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

You're also showing them an architecture and giving them a space which they
wouldn't normally be able to experience. And of course it's on a scale which you
can't do domestically. And of course, I think that the way retail is going,
customers do expect a certain quality of architecture and finish in a shop,
which again allows me the budget that I need Because it isn't that, because it's
a flag ship, it's a lost leader or anything, that the shop has to be the most
profitable of the group because it's there. Retailers now realise they have to
invest every five or ten years in these kind of fit-outs which are very, very
expensive if you use four foot squares of granite on the floor which need
supporting, it you lay solid blocks of granite for the steps, if you use fifty or one
hundred foot Douglas fir floor boards, if you have special hardened plaster for
the walls, if you custom-design light fittings so that you try and leave the ceiling
as a clean plane.

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JIGSAW SHOWROOM, BOND STREET, LONDON.

INSIDE THE ENTRANCE
©John Pawson

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Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

Architects seem to forget about the ceiling as though people don't look at the
ceiling. I think because it's another discipline perhaps, because it's a mechanical
engineer's domain, because a modern shop has to have fire alarm, smoke alarm,
emergency lighting, speakers, air conditioning, lights of course, exit signs, all
these things. Even so-called modem or simple architects seem to forget about
that. But of course there is a reason, it's expensive to keep the ceiling clean, and
it's very, very difficult. And you need an interaction between all the various
consultants to achieve that. But I think that if you do, people will not know
immediately what it is but they'll feel different. They won't look up at the
ceiling and say "I know why I feel good in this space. It's because John Pawson's
given me a white clean place. I'll just feel better". And they do.

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JIGSAW SHOWROOM, BOND STREET, LONDON.

CHANGING ROOMS AT REAR
©John Pawson

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Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

And the other thing you can't do is you can't design down. Some of the people,
not the owner of course, but some of the less inspired people at Jigsaw said
"It's going to alienate our customers. It's too sophisticated. They're not going
to get it" - which of course is terribly patronising and I think jolly rude. The
answer is they do get it; most of them do get it. You just have to look at their
faces. You have to stand in there on a Saturday afternoon and watch their
faces. And of course you're going to get people who don't understand it or
don't get it or don't like it. And they stand outside and they say "Jigsaw! Should
have called it maze" or something like that. You cannot go for the lowest
common denominator. That's another thing; you can't say I'm going to design
something young, because it's a lot younger clientele. What does that mean,
and who knows? It doesn't mean cheap. 'Young' doesn't mean cheap, it doesn't
mean gaudy, it doesn't mean colourful; it doesn't mean trendy or whatever.
They've asked me to do a children's shop. Well, you know, it's not going to be
bouncy castles.

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JIGSAW SHOWROOM, BOND STREET, LONDON.

STAIRS TO LOWER GROUND
©John Pawson

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Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

My children like my spaces because they're free of stuff and there's a feeling of
freedom. You see children in the shop, they run down the double staircase and
up the other side, and they wander round through the etched, hand-etched,
acrylic screens and they have a ball. And it's great entertainment.

24

JIGSAW SHOWROOM, BOND STREET, LONDON.

EXTERIOR AT NIGHT
©John Pawson

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Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

I think in some ways it's a great advantage to come to architecture late like I
did, and not necessarily to go through the system. I sometimes wonder about
the product of, not in terms of people but of the actual architecture you see
built, there seems to be a kind of distance, perhaps created by the drawing
board, and a lack of experience of real life. And it's no coincidence. I think that
fifty is considered young for an architect, which is what I nearly am. And I think
that's a good thing because you need all the maturity of living and taste, and I
think that's missing in a lot of architects. It isn't just about doing something on
the drawing board and then going home. It's about living it. And I'm not just
talking about residential architecture which is very easy to equate because,
you know, you have this typical thing, perhaps in England, of the architect living
in the beautiful Georgian house and doing very modern office buildings or very
modern houses for clients. But I think architects have to take responsibility, not
in the sense of necessarily functional requirements or codes or planning
permission or whatever; I think it's to do with really feeling, having a feeling for
what they build. They've really got to live it. And of course it's very intense.

Related talks:

Chris Wilkinson Joanna van Heyningen & Spencer de Grey Terry Farrell
Bridging Art & Science Birkin Haward The Great Court Transport & Urban Design

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Simplicity | John Pawson | Pidgeon Digital 07/05/20, 15:18

1996 The Inclusive Envelope 1996 1996

1996

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