In Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas refers to the architectural lobotomy where the contemporary city has disengaged form from function. In this sense, a lock-up in East London is merely a container whose external expression has little relationship to the undetermined interior activity within. The façade presented not as a face but as a mask. In engaging with the urban fabric why bother with the surface treatment of the exterior at all? Architects have been guilty of exterior decoration so why not just leave the streetscape as-is? This provides for a surprise upon entry, brokers the unexpected, of not knowing what’s behind… I privilege here not ‘interior architecture’ but more importantly ‘architecture as interior’. Satan’s Whiskers in Bethnal Green is one such flip between inside and out. Hotelaundrette is proposed here as another: enter here.

Below this difference between inside and outside is represented in the architectural image: golden interior vs grainy exterior.

Tweet