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A ROOM OF ONES OWN

A GLIMPSE INTO THE HOME OF MELBOURNE STUDENTS DURING LOCKDOWN


“I never realised how versatile my tiny apartment was until I had to work from home. A studio, a model gallery, a photography studio, a cinema, and a group study area. From time to time I rearrange the furniture and it brings a lot of surprises. We are more adaptive than we think. “ “Surprisingly, the world hasn't stopped, it feels busier than ever. I've found myself staring at the different objects cluttered around my room, reminding me of some of the best memories I've had. A framed tile of Vermeer's most infamous portrait, photobooth strips and a series of misshapen ceramics are among the collection on my desk - what do they say about me if a stranger walked into my room?” “The current experience of working from home is proof of contactless life. Emotions are less stimulated and life becomes more peaceful inside my little apartment, while the whole world outside is in chaos. Panic still exists every day, worrying about the future as isolation seems to reach the peak of my patience.” “The new ‘do everything at home lifestyle' gives me more time in solitude and challenges my self-management abilities. I surrounded my study area with books to create a studious atmosphere – it's very easy to get distracted. The way in which I divide space according to their functions helps me to more easily get in the zone. “ “For me, working from home is striking the right balance between comfort, productivity and ritual. The aim is to have complete control of the environment around me, as I am the only one keeping myself accountable. I've never had any precedents or peers that can attest to this, but one thing I can say is that like all skills that are worth learning, it isn't easy. “ “One day at a time” is what I keep telling myself to keep me motivated and active. There is no point in thinking about the things we can’t do, or worry about what may happen. None of these situations are in our hands, the only thing we can control is the present and how we react to it. Viktor Frank said in his book, Man's Search for Meaning, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” “The first week of staying at home was pretty hard for me; in just a couple of days I went from being in Melbourne, still adjusting to that change, to very suddenly having to go back to family in Spain, where I couldn't even go out for a short walk. The house I’m confined in is more of a summer house, so we all have to share the dining table for working, and that intense coexisting can get a little bit overwhelming.”
MINGJIA SHI AMANDA CHOW VANESSA WU MASON MO JIMENA QUINTANA MARIA MARTINEZ ABASCAL KENEN MACHADO

An independent, youth-led architecture journal from Melbourne (Naarm)

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proudly edited by:
Jack Murray, Connor Hanna, Yuchen Gao, Simone Chait, Yiling Shen, Victoria Marquez,