Vicarious living through the works of William Heath Robinson in the times of a pandemic.

Coronavirus and COVID- 19, bring along a pandemic, severe lockdowns and an opportunity to mull over the idea of an ideal home. As we scramble to quell the quarantine, confined in the four walls of our houses; here is a chance to reflect upon how the house can facilitate in making this a sanguine experience through the skeptical optimism of an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, William Heath Robinson.

As we practice social distancing, fight anxiety and aren’t able to move out for a breath of fresh air, the question that rings in my head is, can our houses start catering to such needs in changing times? We live in a time where movies like ‘Contagion’ and the thoughts of apocalypses don’t seem delusional anymore.

The role of a house is shifting from that of being a place for shelter, to that of a place which provides necessary isolation during such times. Perhaps, I would choose to replace the word ‘ISOLATION’ with the word ‘SOLITUDE’, for the mere benefit of it being conceived as an opportunity rather than a cause of depression!

What then is this ‘ideal home’ and how does it incubate this necessary atmosphere of solitude that we are talking about? How can our built environment begin to offer a way of living where one is interacting with the society, despite of being in the confines of his own house? What can a lockdown house of 2020 look like?

Trying to find answers to these questions, I stumbled upon the infographics of W. Heath Robinson, who had conceived this notion of living years back. Skeptical yet filled with considerable enthusiasm, his works “How to live in a Flat” (1936) and “An Ideal Home” seem very relatable in this pandemic. Fig 1 “The Folding Garden”, suggests ingenious solutions for outdoor spaces for people living in high rise apartments.

An apt explanation of the graphic says, “ This contraption folds out like a murphy bed to reveal everything you could want from a garden including a dog kennel, a cradle (that the baby’s father rocks with a foot pedal while smoking his pipe) and a clothes line, held afloat by balloons.”* These infographics give us ideas to find ways and means of surviving this lock-down. His series “How to live in a Flat” suggests many inventive space-saving solutions and ways of socially distanced community living as we seek to live in the pandemic!

Source for images: How to live in a flat by Heath Robinson

Reference *: https://www.1843magazine.com/culture/look-closer/absurdity-and-wonder-heath-robinson-at-home

The 2020 Lockdown House