Comments on: Patio Interiores – The Neighbours Inside Out

By: luke

luke — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:33:53 +0000

@marc
“…naff billet doux.”
With your knowledge of the French language you should know of Proust’s extensive musing on a public lavatory on the Champs-í‰lysées. Proustian involuntary memory makes no hierarchy of experiences; the interior patio is a rich sensory experience. The famous British artist Rachel Whiteread would probably see this negative space as a fundamental parallel to her work.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:31:35 +0000

@Tom – we are all electric but I can imgine what you mean. I’d still love to see a pic though!

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:27:58 +0000

@Marc – please come back! You sound like such a nice chap!

Ben – do you also have to lean precariously out of the window holding a mirror to read the gas meter? We do. It’s great having mains gas instead of using the trucked-butano but I can’t believe that putting our meter on the wall below the patio window is really the most practical way of implementing it. If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, I’ll send you a picture.

By: hellothere

hellothere — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:50:56 +0000

@ Mistress. Thanks for your info on the apartamento. It is as I had thought, then.

By: jules

jules — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:53:52 +0000

In some flats the only light available is from the inside patio. We stayed for a week in Sevilla in what would have been wonderful accommodation but for the lack of daylight as we were on the first floor. (the ground floor had street access).

By: Blanca

Blanca — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:23:29 +0000

As a madrileña living in the US. You just made me terribly homesick with your post today!

By: Andrew Forbes

Andrew Forbes — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:12:35 +0000

I love the Spanish word “Tragaluz” – sort of means light swallower. Those tiny patios were often ways of getting light into homes that were otheriwse dark, as windows would be small or shuttered to keep the property cool. Light wells or tragaluzes were the solution to let hot air out and light in. Andalucia’s arab heritage means that these are a popular architectural feature in many homes here.

By: ValenciaSon

ValenciaSon — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:14:13 +0000

@ Edith: because every Friday they made arroz al horno

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:56:13 +0000

@Frank – I think the charm is in the fact that in many ways the patio is in a way a horrible place. It exists in older (and often prettier) blocks of flats out of necessity: to provide natural light to the interior rooms. It exposes to our neighbours parts of our private lives that we might not want them to see, and vice versa, whether we like it or not. Perhaps intrigue is a better word to describe it than “charm”.

Don’t forget Hitchcock based the classic “Rear Window” almost entirely on this type of scenario.

By: frank

frank — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:32:11 +0000

“How silly. Not negative, simply not dreamy-eyed. Only a foreigner could see the beauty in the miserable patio. (I am still laughing.)”

And i thought I was the only one that failed to see the “charm” in those horrible blocks of flats. I have never tried living in one, but as one that loves peace and quiet, I know I would hate it! We were woken yesterday by a donkey clomping up the steep steps beside our rented accommodation, as it’s the only way of getting stuff to the top of the village, but apart from that and a few birds, it was very peaceful. We also spent a few days in a rural hotel outside Ronda, and the sound of the nightingales calling as you went to sleep was lovely, so long as you went to sleep, otherwise they call all night long and after 5 or six hours, it gets a bit monotonous!