Ivan Hernandez Quintela
on coming up with excuses to create another reading place within my house
Reading is for me a mood activity. I do it for pleasure (even if I am researching a particular project I’m working on or for a specific text I’ve committed myself to write). So depending on my mood, I choose to read on three different spots in my house. The first is on a leather chair I inherited from my father. It is not the most comfortable of chairs but I like its width, which allows me to shift from right to left as I cross my legs during my readings. This chair is in front of my philosophy bookshelf. The ceiling is low, and the chair is angled to the corner so I feel enveloped. I tend to read with low-volume classical music. One of the speakers is right next to the chair so I can clearly hear the music. I have a small piece of tree trunk next to the chair where I place my cup of tea. The chair faces a window framing an acacia tree and an orange tree. Birds are always hanging on their branches. There is a lamp on top of the bookshelf and its bulb faces the wall so it lights indirectly, not enough for night reading so I mostly read on that chair during the day, not for too long, mostly when I am browsing through already-read books looking for a particular passage or a specific quote. At night, a couple of hours before going to bed, I might read at my working table. There, I also have another of the leather chairs my father gave me. This one’s seat is a bit torn. A desk lamp allows for good night reading; here I read for longer periods. In this spot I might write and draw as well, so the table gets a bit messy at times. Books often pile on the table for a couple of weeks, three or four at a time. Here I read heavy books on art and architecture, with pictures. I might switch from one book to another depending on my mood. If my neighbour receives a visit at night, the car, as it parks, blinds me with its headlights as his parking spot faces directly into my window, so I tend to have the curtains closed. When the curtains are open (only during the day) I can see a robust medlar tree. Here reading feels more serious, more focused. Before going to sleep, I read, at most, ten pages of a diary or of poetry, in bed, pillows against the headboard and sit
with legs stretched out. Nothing dense but surely inspiring. It is my preparation before night meditation. I like the words I have just read to linger. I should be clearing my mind of all thoughts, but a phrase might stick in mind like a kind of mantra before I finally try to focus on my breath. On Wednesdays when the cleaning lady comes, the current book disappears from my bedside table. To her, books belong in the bookshelf. I have spoken to her about it, how I read every night in bed before falling asleep, how I believe in the concept of the pillow book. I have given up. On Wednesdays, before heading to bed, I rescue the book I’m reading that week. I need it so I can fall asleep. On weekends, I read on my terrace, on a futon whose base was inspired by Donald Judd’s furniture, with a dozen cushions bought from a local artisan. Here reading is completely relaxed. I alternate between reading and napping, reading and gardening, or simply reading and doing nothing at all. Here, music is not necessary. I can hear all sorts of birds, my dogs chasing a squirrel, even the neighbour’s chickens and pig. The terrace has two open sides to catch the breeze. If chilly, I wrap myself in a blanket. The couch faces my main garden. If a plant needs trimming, or an old leaf hangs on, I interrupt my reading without hesitation. I have no goal, no task, no hurry. Here, reading is a slow-living ritual. Sometimes, when the weather is particularly pleasant, I’ll take out a small round table and a plastic chair to have my morning tea on the open terrace and read a bit. c Ivan Hernandez Quintela closed Ludens , his urban practice in Mexico City, four years ago, moving to the woods of Valle de Bravo and starting a new practice, Haiku Architecture . It focuses on small architectural gestures within the landscape. Currently building his own house, he has used this article to rethink book shelves once the house is done (one thing is clear: there will only be one long bookshelf on a long wall) and to make plenty of reading spots inside and out. His father’s chairs will go with him and there will be plenty of benches all around the garden and a tea room surrounded by all types of ferns in which to read in the utmost leisured way).
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on site review 40 : the architect’s library :: books, shelves, collections
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