Master of Architecture Thesis Rice University 
absalon l 1964-1993

[f13]
Prototypes 
by Absalon, 1990
[f14]
Cell No. 2 (third version),
1993, 9.7 square meters in area
[f15]
Cell No. 2 (first version), 
1991, 9.7 square meters in area 
Meir Eshel was an Israeli-French artist and sculptor who chose the name Absalon for his professional career. Absalon had developed a wide collection of work in his short life, all of which could find a place in the discussion of challenging norms and the abnormal eventually normalizing. However, only a specific series of his work will be discussed. The projects which he called “cells,” the homes he designed to house himself in, in six different cities: Paris, Zurich, Tokyo, Frankfurt, New York, and Tel Aviv. He explained these cells during a lecture at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in May of 1993. He described how he abided by no existing standards of design, stating that he is 15 cm taller than the average man and no averages reflect his body’s needs. He studied his own movements and desires to create a set of standards tailored specifically to himself. While ignoring societal standards, he is challenging himself to be attune with his body, his movements, and his lifestyle within these cells ranging from four to eight meters squared in footprint.

Although Absalon’s design exercise and experiment is restricted to himself, he went through an exercise of requiring full attention of himself to redefine dimensional standards. As he is describing his cell designed for Zurich he explains how he can only stand tall in two moments of the house, the rest he must move through while bending over. He states, “I will have to revise my notions of comfort in order to live here comfortably”(6) He describes a similar example of one’s body conforming to the irregularities around them. “I think it’s a bit like, if you have a cupboard that’s a bit too low down. The first time you open it, “ow!”, a terrible bang, then you do it again, and again, but with time and with use you develop a special movement for this cupboard.”(7) Absalon’s “Cells” project is a true test of recognizing one’s daily movements and the way one takes up space. Redefining his design standards through notions of comfort and challenging comfort was a strategy to push him out of a distracted state.

(6) Absalon, Susanne Pfeffer, and Kunst-Werke Berlin. Absalon. 258.
(7) Ibid.

Feyza Mutlu
Master of Architecture Thesis
Rice University School of Architecture linkedin.com/in/feyza-mutlu
fnmutlu1@gmail.com
@fnmutlu1