Ponatahi House 

A house wrapped in literature. Ponatahi House is a large residence north of Wellington, New Zealand, designed by Architecture+.

The project involved applying a poem by Jenny Bornholdt to a set of 120 large glass panels forming a rectangular skin around the upper level of the exterior walls, windows and terraces.

To create an artwork for a glass screen 27m x 10m x 3.7m high surrounding the exterior, upper level of a home. The screen would be made up of 120 glass panels varying in size and positioned to a grid. Within the grid, there would be areas free of glass to allow airflow.

The design would be required to provide shade in some areas and add a textural element to the glass surface. To track down an appropriate text-to-glass application method and to oversee the artwork's production and installation.

My proposal to the owners was to 'wrap their house in literature'. They embraced the idea and commissioned poet Jenny Bornholdt to write a poem. The poem, sandblasted onto the glass, literally wraps the house in literature.

The work is viewed from inside the house looking out and able to be read from any point where the glass is seen. From outside, the work becomes abstract and textural, with some parts of the poem repeated to read right way round.

Light plays a lively part by casting the typography onto other surfaces both inside and out according to the day and seasons.

The owners are living in their poem. The poem casts its shadows - Dali-like onto floors, walls, ceilings, - timber, glass, carpet, ceramics, even people, always moving and changing.

Contemporary yet classic, this work is permanent and has become part of everyday living in the home. It exists to be absorbed, to be considered, ignored or taken for granted, to provide a sense of intimacy in one space, yet in another be a grand moment. It can be dipped into, or left alone as if a book.

BEST Awards 2002: Finalist, Environmental graphics

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