Studio Wok: «To inhabit means creating habits»
How can all this be designed? Nicola Brenna of Studio Wok, based in Milan, tries to explain: “There is a close bond between human beings, the nature of places and the way we inhabit them: inhabited space is like a garment, which instead of being worn is lived. Beyond physical characteristics, comfort is also generated by the ability of architecture to produce emotions: the light of a window at a certain time of day creates a pattern on the wall, the scent of good solid wood, the roughness or softness of surfaces. Today, also due to the period of tie in which we have been shut up in closed spaces, comfort takes on an importance that was often underestimated in the past. Our design research, on a residential or an urban scale, is constantly guided but the habitat concept, seen as quality of life: to think, to draw, to construct positive environmental conditions. To inhabit means creating habits. Our methodological approach is based on craftsmanship. To develop our works we carefully examine the physical characteristics of the site: landscape, materials of the local territory, light, atmosphere. We like ‘natural’ materials capable of evolving over time and ageing in step with the architectural host. The ability of a space to evolve and change over time, together with its inhabitants, is important.”