When I first observed the painting drawn by Edward Hopper, I noticed the more typically interpretation of it, a married couple who although are living together they are very much apart and have little in common, the man seems reasonably content most likely ignoring the situation at hand, the women is dissatisfied with her married life and seems to be day dreaming. The set itself seems like a stage, as audience is peering through their window. I noticed things like their skin tone and postures, which helps to decode the paintings hidden meaning. As I started to delve more into what Hopper may have been to trying to express I discovered my own translation that I then conveyed in my short passage.
In my translation I focussed more on the woman in the painting, she stood out to me as it seemed as though she had something more deep to hide and was disguising more then anyone else may have noticed. It seems as though her marriage is a theatrical production for which she is playing the ideal housewife, the world is her audience whom put her role up on a pedal stool. Although she is much more then she leads her voyeurs to believe because beneath this whole façade she dreams of her perfect place where she is the voyeur and no one can see into her life, it is warm and comfortable and is a place where she can think for herself and discover the world beyond this cage of obligations and expectations.
My model design is a symbolic translation of my passage; every architectural feature represents a meaning.
The top level- which can also be considered as her “character” is designed which large open windows so show that she is being judged and peered at through every angle, with the columns framing and representing a very traditional style of architecture along with the exposed rafters in the ceiling which denotes the old-fashion way in which her obligations define her. The stool is placed in the centre with no comforting aspects, displaying her disassociation of the space and her constant unease in this cage.
The bottom level displays her true sense, and the place that she dreams of and sometimes escapes to for a brief moment. This true essence of this place is represented using warmth and scale, as well as architectural features and furniture. The fire place and skylight brings in the warmth, the ceiling features with the smooth round lines helps to convey a sense of freedom with the features indicating a path to the sky. The bookshelf symbolising her privilege of learning and discovering the world through the written word, which she can not usually do. The chair itself is large in scale depicting the priority of comfort in this space it is formed to symbolise that is a part of the space not just an addition. Finally, the window that she can see out and no one can see in, so she can be herself without watchful eyes.
