Architect John Pawson on The Minimal Home

"I’ve always been fascinated by the home," John Pawson tells Phaidon.com. "They're very complicated and architects always want to get away from doing private houses as quickly as possible. Because they are the client’s home, the process can often be fraught and emotional. But I've always enjoyed them."

John Pawson: The Minimal Home is the tenth volume in Phaidon's continued documentation of the minimalist master architect’s stellar career.

It examines the essential nature of the domestic space, organized into six chapters, reflecting the way that a modern home is used: living, cooking, eating, bathing, sleeping, and working. Featuring photography, drawings, paintings, posters and film stills, each chapter is illustrated with examples of Pawson’s work, from the 1980s to the present day, as well as his experiences, influences, and inspirations.

Deyan Sudjic, Director Emeritus of the London Design Museum, and author of Vitra: The Anatomy of a Design Company and John Pawson: Making Life Simpler, provides thoughtful commentary on the history of the domestic interior and Pawson’s distinctive architectural and aesthetic style throughout. John closes each chapter in his own words, providing first-hand insight into how he designs and chooses materials.

John Pawson, Bronfman-Hauptman House, Los Angeles, USA, 2009. Photography: Gilbert McCarragher

"Mentally you start with a blank page every time," the architect says. "You are always looking for an idea for a project. Your brain takes in everything. I do photograph things, but you are storing them in your head, while you concentrate on being with the client, clocking the vernacular architecture, and the weather. When you’re coming back from the site, you are already trying to record everything you have experienced."

"Some clients are incredibly involved," Pawson tells Phaidon.com. "And then there are some clients who don't get involved at all. And then you're left struggling a bit, because you have to imagine what they might want. But you couldn't design a house without a client. Because you wouldn't have the basis in which to start designing. It wouldn't have a direction."

John Pawson, Home Farm, Oxfordshire, UK, 2019. Photography: Max Gleeson

Pawson’s own minimal home, the immaculate Home Farm - the pinnacle of minimal living - features throughout the book.

Talking to Phaidon.com in one of the rooms of Home Farm, Pawson reflects, "I’m very lucky because I've been able to do this exactly as I want. I’ve spent exactly as much as needed to get what I want. So I've ended up with a series of spaces which I walk around feeling - I wouldn't say elated because I'm slightly used to them - but I get a huge amount of pleasure just puttering around, feeling the atmosphere."

"It’s important for me that the spaces that you organise, the resulting rooms, make you feel good and feel special to be in. It obviously takes something to get there, but then to maintain them as well."

Get your copy of John Pawson: The Minimal Home here. Look out for the full interview with John Pawson in the coming weeks.

John Pawson, Drift Sofa for Herman Miller, 2025. Image rights holder: Photo by Klaus Langelund, shot on location at the Pawson Home Farm in England, courtesy of Herman Miller