Modern Residential Design

Tennent + Brown Architects - Turn Point Lodge

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:04:00 +0000

Great Architecture - Choppered in - Tennent + Brown Architects landed their clients lodge softly in Pelourus Sound. The cozy wood fired lofts and separate living pavilion combine in a perfect self sustained retreat. Photovoltaics, rainwater harvesting and solar concious design combine with modern chic and warehouse like solidity of the steel frame construction.

The clients, two French brothers living in Singapore and Shanghai were struck by the outlook and drama of Turn Point.

The block had a designated building site on the southern side overlooking Four Fathoms Bay and in the shade most of the year. Instead the clients were taken by the outlook and drama of a narrow ridge facing northwest overlooking the point and gullies full of Nikau and regenerating broadleaves, up the long reach of the Pelorus Sound.

The challenge of this choice was accessibility. The site was 20m below a precipitous narrow forestry road, which itself was some 2km to the nearest barge landing, and some 50m above the sound. Discussions with David Kepes the selected contractor experienced in working the sounds, focussed on the difficulty and cost of accessing the site for both materials and labour.

It was decided to adopt the strategy of heli-lifting nearly prefinished buildings and subfloor frames to the site to minimise the need for site labour.

The brief called for a dwelling with separate bedroom /study/bathrooms for each brother and a central living /eating /kitchen space. There was a desire for guest accommodation if affordable. The house would be used once or twice a year, predominantly in summer for the medium term.

The brief suited the heli-lifting strategy suggesting separate buildings of liftable size and weight. The design process thus necessitated an understanding of building mass. This was developed through research with heli-lifting specialists and our engineers. The idea of towers reflected the singular quality of the private spaces and suited the lifting approach. The communal building sits parallel to the water below, and extends out each end providing morning and evening outdoor spaces. These spaces receive sun and shelter from the land and sea breezes, so that the north eastern end is sheltered from the cool morning land breeze running from the south, and vice versa for the blustery afternoon sea breeze. This was created in two halves and winched together once landed on the sub frames.

The occasional use of the buildings and the strong western light and occasional winds, has been responded to with a system of operable and fixed louvers. These louvers, along with cladding of profiled coated aluminium, give the building the appearance of shipping containers and huts sitting on the hillside. The interiors were requested to be white by the clients and the exposed steel work was required for the extreme wind zone and loads exerted during flying.

A great deal of attention was given to the spaces between the buildings with terraces and decking, and retention of existing trees. Electricity is made on demand by a remote diesel generator and photovoltaics, and gas is used for water heating and cooking to minimise electricity loads. Solar hot water was not as suited for the intermittent use, and separate buildings. A biolytix septic tank suited the long periods of no use and rain water is collected from the roofs.

Architect Tennent + Brown Architects
LocationPelourus Sound, marlborough sounds, New Zealand
Project Year 2007
Plans

Fearon Hay Architects - Sandhills Road House

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:38:00 +0000

Fearon Hay Architects

Sandhills Road House

Escape to Great Barrier Island - Fearon Hay Architects have taken their minimalist luxury to Medlands once again. Hard to resist Arch Daily's post on this hidden wonder, I'm drawn back to my youth!
Derived from the classic Kiwi tarpaulin for living between two caravans, this three bedroom house has all the subtle finishes and bold clean lines for which Jeff Fearon and Tim Hay are renowned.

Contrasting Fearon Hay's prized Shark Alley house further up Medlands beach, the Sandhills Road House tucks itself into the shelter of the sand dunes to the East. Both wonderfully minimal, Sandhills is more of a traditional retreat, subdued with a calming pallette. Each bedroom has its on shuttered patio and the entire house can be shuttered closed in winter.
Fearon Hay's traditional polished concrete is limited to a hard wearing living/dining area that in summer, thanks to the shelter of the dunes, could easily be left wide open. The two sleeping pavilions are clad in black stained ply and constructed over height with the walls extending to form the railing of the upstairs deck/viewing platform - a short unintrusive deck, from which to soak up the Medlands beach sunrise.

By Nico Saieh, Arch Daily

Located on the Eastern coastline of the Huaraki Gulfs, Great Barrier Island the ‘Great Barrier House’ is a relaxed holiday destination that references traditional notions of bach occupation. Drawing inspiration from the idea of two sheds linked by stretched tarpaulin, the house consists of two habitable areas joined by an expansive floating pavilion. Wide expanses of sliding glass doors & adjustable blinds allow the pavilion to respond to different environmental conditions while providing the location for eating dining & relaxing within the natural surrounds of the property.
Clad in band sawn ply sheet the ‘sheds’ provide a modern take on the use of vernacular building materials. Coupled with the use of permeable metal screens the ability to manipulate outlook and environment from within the ‘sheds’, provides further reference to traditional notions of holiday occupation and response to site. As locations for the bedrooms and bathrooms these built forms offer a sense of refuge from the open pavilion space.
A roof deck upon the Northern ‘shed’, gives outlook and sea views, otherwise restricted by the site location behind the Medlands beach sand dunes and nestled amongst the neighboring properties. Standing upon the roof deck looking South-West towards aging corrugated farm sheds and looking North-East towards the expansive seascape, the Great Barrier House sits comfortably within its environment; offering a private retreat while allowing an occupation that embraces the surrounding landscape and context.

Architect Fearon Hay Architects
Location Great Barrier Island, New Zealand
Constructed Area 250 sqm
Project Year 2007-2008
Photographs Patrick Reynolds
Plans

Herriot + Melhuish Architecture Ltd - Kelburn II House

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Herriot + Melhuish Architecture Ltd

Kelburn II House

Modern Suburban Villa - Herriot + Melhuish tucked this two level sanctuary in between established houses in the Wellington surrounds. It's U shaped floorplan forming a sunny courtyard behind their northerly neighbour.

Brief
Initially wanting a remodel of the existing villa, the clients' final brief entailed a bedroom and office on ground level along with the living spaces, a further bedroom for visiting family and a library. A north facing courtyard was also a requirement to provide a protected and private entry - and somewhere for summer evenings outdoors.

Site
The challenge of a narrow site and small site area, along with the associated height to boundary restrictions, meant innovative sollutions to sneak two stories in. These created a snug kitchen / dining area downstairs and set back bedroom and library upstairs.

The orientation of the site virtually due north and west, its linear nature, and the need for off street parking, dictated the placement of the built forms.
Views down the valley to the north and west are lapped up from the upstairs bedroom and library.

Design Approach
There was a conscious effort to avoid a totally open plan living space, instead creating two distinct areas where people could gather; the kitchen / dining area, or the main living space (to deal with larger family gatherings).

The home is organized around three main structural block walls that cantilever to support the upper level floor, and also provide a rhythm of structural elements along the main circulation route.
Building height restrictions lowered the ceiling height beneath the upper level spaces, which is reinforced with the use of exposed timber beams.

This ceiling treatment contrasts the finish and scale of the adjoining main living space to the west, and bedroom / office to the east.
The home is intended from the street to read as a contemporary version of a suburban villa, with the centrally placed windows to the bedroom and a rhythm of zinc sprayed steel verandah posts.
Materials have been limited to painted horizontal weatherboards on the ground level, and contrasting stained vertical boards and battens upstairs. Large sliding timber doors have been inserted into an aluminium glazing system, and external steel columns are zinc sprayed.
The raw palette of interior materials includes: concrete blocks, polished concrete floor, timber paneling, expressed timber joists, and timber / plywood joinery.

Slideshow

Architect Herriot + Melhuish: Architecture Ltd
Project team Max Herriot, Marcus Breitenmoser, Oliver Markham, Sara Newport
Contractor Dalton Construction
Plans

via:Herriot + Melhuish Architecture Ltd

Herriot + Melhuish Architecture Ltd - Waimarama House

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:01:00 +0000

Herriot + Melhuish Architecture Ltd

Waimarama House

Shifting Tides - Strongly connected to the land and surrounding beachside - a prime example of the new beach house vernacular in New Zealand - Herriot + Melhuish have created a holiday home that's prepared to move, if the sands and tides shift against it.

Overview
Having recently picked up a New Zealand Architecture Award for 2008/9, this house exemplifies the latest in bach design. Not forgetting its heritage, the house uses traditional materials, in a befitting contemporary manner. Horizontal wethearbords, plywood and sheets of iron roofing were the mediums for many a handyman around coastal New Zealand, used to create simple holiday huts.

Today, the same materials have produced this modern wonder. A comfortable 4 bedroom home, with sheltered outdoor spaces and an upstairs retreat from entertaining for the owners.

Far from it's simple forebarers, this is a house where the living is easy. sheltered summer decks, outdoor showers, simple flow to the outside of the house and plenty of room for extra guests to camp out.

Brief
The client sought a family house on the beach, with four bedrooms plus studio and study. In this coastal setting, sun, views and habitable outdoor spaces alternately protected from and catching sun and wind were a priority.

Site
Located close to the beach and fronting the Waimarama domain, the site is constrained both in size and by the need to relocate the house if required. Set against these constraints is a spectacularly open landscape - the edge between sea and hills, and a relaxed aesthetic of a small beach community.

Design Approach
The design approach combined a rational geometrical sensibility with a romantic attachment to the land and tradition. Hence a simple composition of two interlocking volumes: a white bedroom wing, loosely derived from the repetitious plan of 'shearers quarters', inserted into a double height 'timber 'crate'.

The forms are then extended, layered and truncated in response to site, views, sun and programme. The resultant north-facing courtyard not only leads to the front door but also provides outdoor family space – strongly connected to the house and sheltered from the afternoon sea breezes. Visual connection through the house and to the landscape was a key driver of the design. In the main bedroom upstairs, capturing the full drama of the sunrise and the expansive views from Cape Kidnappers to Bare Island were significant.

More than just a 'beach house', this is an all-year round dwelling. However, the need to relocate the building if required ruled out concrete construction. Instead high levels of insulation, heat pump technology and solar panels on the roof, augment the large double glazed openings that capture sun and trap heat in winter, but cool through sea breezes in summer.

The composition of natural oiled cedar weatherboards, painted plywood and weathered zinc sheet both connects the house to the landscape and some older local traditions, but equally clearly sets it apart from a lot of the local built context. This is a house strongly connected to the land but prepared, if the sands and tides shift against it, to move.

Slideshow

Architect Herriot + Melhuish: Architecture Ltd

Project team John Melhuish, Max Herriot, Oliver Markham
Contractor Mark Dawson
Photographer Paul Brimer
Google Location

Plans

via: Herriot + Melhuish Architecture Ltd

Studio di Architettura Marco Castelletti - Casa del Masso

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:49:00 +0000

Studio di Architettura Marco Castelletti

Casa del Masso

Razionalismo Comasco - A near vertical site in Como, with stunning views, let Marco Castelletti nod to local Italian architecture of the thirties, whilst bringing his clients a modernist house, proportioned and segmented with precision.

Overview

"At the end of 2002 the clients approached us to design the house.
They wanted to build this new house next to their one, in the garden facing the lake, and they were after something typically razionalismo comasco, architecture of the thirties driven by architect Giuseppe Terragni. So they chose the project that best met their expectations, ours. The project's main idea gave the name to the building: casa del masso." Marco Castelletti.
The house, set on a steep slope above the street, can be clearly seen across the lake.
The building stands by the side of the client's old house designed by engineer Luciano Trolli in 1955, and it takes advantage of a little tract of flat land, as does the original residence.
The house is linked to the street by a long flight of steps which wind along the slope and down to the house, which is organised over two floors.

Layout
The composition is based on the intersection of two volumes:
The first - facing the lake, is an horizontal structure supported by pilotis houseing all the living and bedrooms.
The second - is vertical holding the staicase and the services rooms.

On the first floor the living room crosses the house and is directly connected with the slope behind. Here the presence of a erratic boulder, in italian language "masso" (here is where the name of the house comes), protrudes into the dwelling as the characterising element of the space, so that it seems that the house is anchored to the slope at this point.
The boulder can be seen through the glass floor of the living room.

From the parking area you reach the main entrance via a flight of steps or an elevator running on the side of the garden.
After reaching the main entrance a footpath covered by a overhanging volume introduces a little hall where you can see the landscape and the monuments of the city.
From here, a large staircase takes you to an atrium with the large glass window which frames the erratic boulder. The internal layout of the main dwelling faces the kitchen, the living room and some other rooms towards the lake, while bathrooms, services and the laundry are put towards the slope.

The materials used to build the house enhance the volumetric composition and the difference between the horizontal volume, suspended and completely covered by white marble dust plaster, and the vertical covered with a natural stone called Iragna, laid down in horizontal layers with different length and thickness.

The same stone was used for the external pavements, the main entrance staircase and the terrace floor on the highest level.

The large windows are divided in sliding parts with electrical rolling shutters made of aluminium.

Solar exposure is optimised wit hteh building orientated with its largest windows and rooms to the south, and services and bathrooms facing north.

ResultsThe clients were really satisfied of the project and followed all the phases of the building that, because of the particular nature of the steep land, involved many challenges.
The crane to build the house was placed on the slope with an helicopter used to transport heavy weights. None the less, the house was completed in seventeen months, from May 2003 to December 2004, as stipulated.

Slideshow

Architect Marco Castelletti Architetto
Short Biography
Marco Castelletti, born in 1958, graduaded from the Facolty of Architecture in Genova on 1983.
In 1994, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005 was awarded the architecture’ s award “Magistri Comacini” for works carried out in Provincia of Como and in 2004 the international award AR+D for emerging architecture in London.
In the spring of 2005 he was invited to give a lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London.
He won many competitions for urban renewals in north Italy, as the upgrading of the Trieste waterfront, and from 1998 he has been invited to international competitions.

Project location Como Italy
Client private owners
Architectural design by Studio di Architettura Marco Castelletti
Interior design by Studio di Architettura Marco Castelletti
Landscape design by Studio di Architettura Marco Castelletti
Structural design by Ingeneer. Vittorio Montanini
HVAC design by Ingeneer. Vittorio Montanini
Lighting design by. Zumtobel
Main Contractor Impresa Biacchi s.a.s. – Plesio (Co)
Landscape contractor Impresa Biacchi s.a.s. – Plesio (Co)
Site Area 3000 sq/mt
Built up area 200 sq/mt
Budget 750.000,00 euro
Cost per sq. metre 1.800,00 euro
Google Location

Plans

via: Studio di Architettura Marco Castelletti

Clinton Murray - Gunyah Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:27:00 +0000

Clinton Murray

Gunyah Residence

Solid as a rock - A challenging section on Gunyah beach in Bundeena, forced Clinton Murray to rethink the vernacular (perhaps simple) Australian beach side house and create a resilient coastal retreat. Built to last forever.

Overview
Huge boulders throughout the cliff side, would have made slapping a wooden prefab house on the top of the plot the easiest option. Choosing instead to hide the house well down the plot near the breaking shoreline, posed challenges, yet rewarded both the architect and owners with stunning results. It also appeased the planning officials and nearby residents.

"The linear site is divided midway by a massive rock face, defining two distinct levels. The natural, sheltered enclave at the base of the rock face is where we believed the building belonged."

Tucked into the hillside, the copper clad roof has set out to weather itself in the ocean green shade of the bay beyond, further minimising the impact of the building for neighbours above.

Combined with the weathered copper is the solid base of the house. The ground floor living structure, of textured off-form concrete made with horizontal board forms, gives the impression of weathered timber, which contrasts with the fresh browns of the Oregon sleeping quarters and gallery above.

Building on a series of staggered rock platforms, the logistics of site management for labour, plant & equipment was challenging. All materials had to be craned in or manhandled from the top of the site, or from the beach front below. The entry stairs and concrete bridges required innovative reinforcement and form work solutions to achieve both continuous spans and the appearance of thin concrete blades hovering above the site. These thin blades continue inside with kitchen bench tops and bathroom surfaces formed on site of ultra thin jet black concrete.

Layout
To reach the timber front door, you negotiate the rock face via timber steps that weave through the boulders. Crossing a bridge that leads to a discreet front door you push open an oversized panel to reveal the high stud gallery. Strategically orientated, the full height end window of the gallery frames a nearby palm. Everything is overscale, stretched vertically, to relate to the magnitude of the cliff face behind the building site. Here, the reused Oregon timber stands vertical, allowing the seams to disguise two door panels, behind which hide two of the three master bedrooms. Each with, en-suite, balconies and outstanding views across the bay.

Heading down the hillside, you arrive at the main living quarters, housed in that heavy masonry base of textured off-form concrete. As with the rest of the house, glass front windows bathe the room with light, yet here, in contrast, the kitchen area to the rear and cubbyhole rooms, are lined with dark black concrete floors and bench tops. The darkness providing refuge from the summer heat, and mimic the caves often found tucked into cliffs around the Australian coast.

Also taking notes from nature the orientation of each level shifts as you rise up the cliff face. Thus forming fronds like the nearby palms, and allowing the building to sit back, minimising it's visual impact from the shoreline.

Results
"The house sits with its toes touching the sea and with an exposed worn rock face at its back, both constant reminders of the power of wild storms blowing in from the north-east. And should the big seas come, this house is a safe haven, no question about it."

Slideshow

Architect Clinton Murray
Project team Polly Harbison (Project Architect), Tanja Klocker, Jeff Umansky
Project Gunyah Beach House
Location Bundeena, New South Wales
Google Location
Builder Bellavarde Constructions
Structural Engineer O’Hearn Consulting
Landscape Architect 360 degrees
Photographer Simon Kenny

Plans

via: Many thanks to Clinton Murray

Top 10 ish - Modern Residential Design - 1 year old

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:21:00 +0000

As Modern residential Design celebrates its belated birthday, I thought I bring you couple of Top 5s whilst preparing for the arrival of my second son.

Top 5 Online Architecture Compatriots

Some of the guys that give me drive & motivation to keep hunting out cool modern design.
Many thanks for the links / diggs / stumbles / emails and support guys!!

Materialicio.us

www.materialicio.us

Contemporist

www.contemporist.com

Plataforma Arquitectura

www.plataformaarquitectura.cl

Arch Daily

www.archdaily.com

Arkinetia

www.arkinetia.com

Noticias Arquitectura

www.noticiasarquitectura.info

OK, 6, it was hard to make it so short.

Hope you enjoy - new residences coming soon!

Thanks to all my loyal followers too! New content coming soon I promise!

David Hertz - Studio EA - Floating Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:37:00 +0000

David Hertz - Studio EA

Floating Residence

Suspended Tetris - David Hertz has produced a number of fantastic residences and the Floating or Binder Residence in Venice, CA is no exception. It's paired back black minimalist play on volumes and floating separated masses intrigues.

Overview
The project is located on a small, 37 foot wide lot on a pedestrian only street in Venice, CA. Rather than create one solid object, David followed his residential design signature of two, two story units. The upper levels of the units seeming to float above minimal tilt up concrete walls and pillars of the lower levels. The two upper levels being attached by an open-air bridge. The larger of the structures is used as a residence while the other is used as an art studio and guest room over a garage.

The glazed panels, central to the floating effect are also large, sliding doors that conceal themselves so that the ground floor appears to be open to the exterior courtyards, thus blurring the definition of interior and exterior spaces. A large 2-story chimney wall frames the rear of the courtyard while blocking the overlooking 2-story neighbours. The exterior fireplace at the second floor flanks an outdoor sleeping porch and seating area off of the perforated breezeway bridge. Ipe, and black steel are used throughout the house to complement the Syndecrete® prefabricated concrete panels.

Walls on the first floor are intentionally held from touching the ceiling of the second floor to allow for a clear line of site over neighbouring residences and giving the illusion that the second story is floating above the first floor. These clerestory windows also bathe the lower level in light. The mass of the second floor elevations is divided into sections of positive and negative spaces that reinforce the destabilisation of the wall plane. Some of the vertical slices are specific to selective views of nearby palm trees.

A central floating stair divides the spaces and leads to a usable roof deck framed by high solid parapet walls providing privacy and strategically edited views of the distant landscape.

A continuous skylight, that opens to serve as a shaft to facilitate stack effect ventilation, frames the stairs that float from the ceiling of the second story. The exterior walls of the second story are covered in a smooth, steel trowel, integrally pigmented, stucco. These are connected seamlessly to the interior ceiling of the first floor, their continuation internally to form one single mass, further emphasises the weight of the "floating" block above.

Slideshow

Plans

via: Many thanks to Christina at Studio EA

MacGabhann Architects - Tuath na Mara Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:25:00 +0000

MacGabhann Architects

Tuath na Mara Residence

Armoured Longboat - Standing vigilant over a northern Fjord in Ireland, the Tuath na Mara Residence, by MacGabhann Architects appears solid as a rock. Zinc clad for resilience, the low slung house blends seamlessly into the heather-covered rocky landscape, its own seams, echoing the strata of surrounding rocks. Contrasting a well hunkered core, the roof line warps and twists upwards like wonderful grey weathered seaweed, revealing the surrounding views to the living areas.

Overview
The project's focus around the specifics of the site and putting the personal and particular experiences above the powerful and the public, seeks to create a mood which is meditative instead of tensing or relaxing.

The site is hidden from the public road and is accessed from high ground on the landward side where the first experience is of an elevated view of the site and the sea beyond. Therefore the importance of the roof, or fifth façade, dictated a metal zinc cladding which is suitable for both walls and roof. Said façade, mimicking the seaweed found on the shores beyond. The anthracite colour of the zinc makes the building camouflage itself into the heather landscape.

The roof of both living areas is flipped and directed in opposite directions and towards particular points in the landscape and sunlight. Both living areas are fully glazed, thus embracing nature and developing a conversation with it. By way of contrast the sloped slit windows of the bedrooms act as a counter point to the absolute horizontal of the ocean horizon.

In order to emphasise the fact that the owners were embarking on a holiday each time they entered the house, the step and entry ramp at the front door is disconnected from the building thus making the visitor step over a gap not unlike stepping from the static platform onto a passing train. Thus a physical step from the day to day life into this adventurous house.

Layout
The plan form was inspired by the traditional narrow cottage and is orientated towards warm southern sun. It contains three sleeping cells and auxiliary spaces in the middle with two living areas, one at each end, connected by a library. Glazing is relative to the function of the rooms, with the centre bedrooms and auxiliary spaces horizontally glazed with small landscape framing windows, while the end living areas are wide open to the surrounding views.

The roof rain water is drained by way of gargoyles making one aware of the elements even in the lightest of showers, thus reinforcing the connection between inhabitant and nature.

Client's Comments

For us, ‘Tuath na Mara’ is wonderfully paradoxical: profoundly contextual and strikingly free-floating.

It is contextual in two senses: Firstly it speaks to the built experience of both our families, being the width of a house on the west coast that has been in the family for generations, and having the name and some of the shape of a house built by a Scottish grandparent (‘Tuath na Mara’ equally well in Scots and Irish Gaelic). Secondly it is rooted in the Donegal landscape, or more precisely in the inter-tidal seascape with which it shares its colour and, very nearly, its location. From the sea, it is virtually invisible.

But it is also free-floating, both in the way it sculpts light internally, and in the way its design is part of a cosmopolitan architectural conversation that is above national boundaries. This global-local interchange marks it out as capable of belonging only to the 21st century.

Results
MacGabhann Architects have made, as the client describes, a wonderful modern escape. With integrated reference to vernacular buildings and the landscape, without compromising aesthetics and impressive modern design, I'm confident that this is not the last we'll hear from them in great residential design.

Plans

Project: Tuath Na Mara
Architect: MacGabhann Architects
Team Credits: Tarla MacGabhann, Antoin MacGabhann, Niels Merschbrock & Barry Maguire
Completed: 2006-2007
Awards: Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Public Choice Award
Best house 2008 Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Irish Architecture Awards 2008
Photographic Credits: Dennis Gilbert - VIEW Pictures

via: MacGabhann Architects

Arkhefield - Couran Point House

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:32:00 +0000

Arkhefield

Couran Point

Island retreat - The team at Arkhefield bring us one of their latest residential wonders in form of a simple, low maintenance, sustainable living volume which can be enjoyed all year round. The motives behind the design - maximising space and privacy - are attacked head on, as are the isolation and harsh climatic conditions on the island with basic low maintenance materials. The resulting simplistic structure, appears as a coastal tree, with its roof-line shaped by the strong winds and elements. Elements from which it can hunker down further, shelter, isolate and reorientate the use of external spaces.

Overview
The house offers a stark contrast to the predominant low shacks by the way that it expresses and celebrates volume, simplicity of form and its ability to manage/manipulate the external environment. The house appears to be inspirational amongst the community with many new houses currently under construction on the island being designed and sited in a similar manner.

The house is a simple extruded profile with its form being solely dictated by town planning constraints. Height, setback and roof pitch essentially created the volumetric section which was extruded to the road and waterfront boundary, then set back to maximize the enclosed space. The house breaks out onto the terraced waterfront on the east, for summer fun and to an enclosed "winter courtyard" on the west. The relatively closed north and south façades retain privacy from the adjacent blocks, and shelter from strong summer sun.

Design
The isolation of the site put a premium on the construction cost as all materials and skilled labour had to be barged out to the island. These constraints created unique challenges and encouraged a rethink to heavy/bulky build elements that couldn't be barged out to the site. Environmentally Sustainable Design principles of orientation and sitting along with use of solar, gas, rainwater harvesting, bamboo cladding/screening and a thermally efficient monolithic floor slab were all core ideas behind the build.

Layout
The house is split in half down the centre of its length with a large double volume "communal" living space on the north and a 2 level "private" core, comprising of bedrooms and service zones, on the south. The interplay between the two halves of the house creates a sense of inclusion and encourages interaction between family and guests whilst still enabling privacy and seclusion.

Our clients desire to recreate a "Bahaman" styled beach cottage with shingled, pitched, roof and quaint shuttered windows made for a challenging brief. They wanted the house to take them back to the memorable vacations they had spent in exotic locations. Through exploration and development it became evident that decoration and themed architecture may enable brief relapses into the bygone but that intelligent design and the creation of flexible spaces stimulated communal interaction, which was what really recreated that relaxed holiday atmosphere they were seeking. They are extremely happy and are enjoying there "Contemporary Bahaman" cottage which they have aptly named "the shed" out on Stradbrooke Island.

Results
The team at Arkhefield have managed to strip back this brief to the real essence of what the client was after. Conviviality and family togetherness were the clients true request and the flexibility of the hoses and its communal spaces are what makes the house such a wonderful island retreat.

Plans

Architect: Arkhefield [AF employees] - Director, Andrew Gutteridge
Project/Design Architect: Simon Wynn
Project Team: Justin Boland, Julie Tomaszewski
Building Surveyor: Bennett & Francis
Construction completed: July 2006
Hydraulic: BRW Enterprises
Interior Designer: Arkhefield
Landscape: JW Concepts
Lighting: Arkhefield
Structural: McVeigh Consulting Engineers / Steel House Frames Australia
Structure and Frame: Steel House Frames Australia
Builder: Clarke Construction (Kelwyn Cassidy, Steven Parker)
Gross floor area: 355 m²
Project cost per square metre: Client wishes this to be kept confidential
Photography: Scott Burrows

via: Arkhefield

Shubin + Donaldson Architects - Urban Spa

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:41:00 +0000

Shubin + Donaldson Architects

Urban Spa

Urban Spa - Shubin + Donaldson Architects have remodelled this house to soak up its Malibu shore front location. Sliding doors and windows allow the residence to be open plan or sectioned off at will. The site elements of the highway and beach challenged, and dispatched with charming results.

Program
The initial task was to renovate the original 1976 dwelling into a contemporary urban retreat, whilst adding some structural reinforcement. Bought in 2001 for it's location, the owners, together with the architects, went on to extensively remodel the house into an urban oasis. Concious efforts to negate the road behind and emphasise the beach in front are evident throughout.

Design
The overall concept for this 2,900-square-foot beach-side modern house was to transform it into an urban spa-like retreat. The house is perched along Malibu’s Pacific Coast Highway, and features access to the beach at the back. Sheltering the house and providing a hard façade is the garage to the rear. As an area of transition between the street and beach, an interior entry courtyard behind the garage, laid with rectangular cement pavers and bordered by smooth river rock and tufted grasses, introduces the primary design element of the home — a seamless union between interior and exterior spaces. Through crisp linear architecture, a split level plan, and visual access throughout the house brings in the beach.

From the entry courtyard, a line of sight straight through the living room takes in the sea views. Dragging your attention away, to the left is a bay window type dining room, accented by a white grid of window panes and shadowed from the noon sun. This window grid is echoed by the geometric pattern of the cabinets and shelves that lead into the minimal kitchen. True to the open plan, the kitchen seamlessly overlooks the main living space, allowing distractions whilst cooking.

The interior design palette of natural woods and limestone, white walls and fabrics, frosted and clear plate-glass creates a crisp and airy environment to appreciate the Pacific Ocean setting. A true Urban Spa,the elements were hand picked to portray the theme of air, light, and water.

Ground-floor living room and adjacent sitting room offer shadowed relief from the sunlit terraces beyond, with cooling white and dark wood tones in the furniture and materials. Double-paned windows, which open onto the first-level terrace, offer several ways for freedom, permitting unrestricted views onto the ocean while buffering sound (from the highway).

The upstairs rooms continue the overall theme of air, light, and water with repeating materials and colours. The well-dressed master suite faces onto a second large terrace with pocket-glass doors that fold away, converting the stepped upper terrace into a sleeping porch reminiscent of designs by Schindler and Neutra (and last weeks post - David Hertz! [Image]).
For reclining on the teak chaises, billowing fabrics can be drawn above and alongside the terrace to shield the sun and wind.

With the clients goal being a boutique like retreat to entertain guests rather than as a reclusive beach getaway, opulent bright-white materials: Limestone and high gloss surfaces were used to give that crisp light filled feel. In fact, the owners found it too 'bling'. The house was cool crisp and far too full of light, with the white being overwhelming sometimes. Aware of this, Shubin + Donaldson had already incorporated exterior shutters and shades, which compensate in the southern facing rooms. Then in terms of layout, a simple North facing Media room was added with minimal windows at the rear, providing a further space to retreat in summer, and a little getaway for all.

Openness and transformation are themes throughout and are most expressive in the master bath. Cool, ocean-blue frosted glass lines the walls and windows (that face another house on these sought-after lots). Behind the glass swing doors are the toilet and shower. Three layers of floor-to-ceiling glass form a translucent door that closes the space off from the bedroom, or opens it up to the master suite, porch, and Pacific Ocean beyond. Dark wenge wood - used throughout the house as an accent - encases the tub, vanity, and spacious closets. The rich brown colour gently contrasts with the limestone counters and floors. Double mirrors are placed on poles in front of the frosted glass, rather than set into a wall. To name-drop, the tub is designed by Philippe Starck.

Layout
First level: living room, dining room, den area, terrace with beach access, powder room. Upper level: home office, guest room and bath, powder room, media room, and master suite with bathroom/walk-in closet, closet office, outdoor sleeping porch.

Plans

Architect: Shubin + Donaldson Architects - Robin Donaldson, AIA, Principal and Russell Shubin, AIA, Principal
Interiors: Audrey Alberts, interior design consultant
Commenced: 2001
Photos: Tom Bonner Photography
Article & Imagery: Courtesy - Taylor & Company (many thanks)

via: Taylor & Company

Your Feedback | Modern Residential Design Content

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:39:00 +0000

Hello All!

For approaching a year now I've tried to gather details on some of the worlds best Modern Residential Design and Architecture.

I've received informal feedback from many of you, thanks.

So now I want to see what's really interesting you as a reader and try and decide on some new directions for Modern Residential Design.

If you have a second, I'd love it if you could complete the survey below:
http://micropoll.questionpro.com/akira/mpview/437090-94714

And hey, if there's a specific Architect or Residence you'd like to see on the site, let me know in the comments below.

Apologies that I couldn't add an 'other' box to the poll.

Thanks - Nick

David Hertz - Studio EA | McKinley Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:25:00 +0000

David Hertz - Studio EA

McKinley Residence

Green Alchemist's Residential Compound - The McKinley Residence is David Hertz's live in laboratory for modern - environmentally friendly - residential design. Converting common elements into green design, it's feature packed. The house is a true testament to David's commitment to the cause and to top it off forms a homely modern residence, showcasing practical design elements, fine tailored for a young family.

Aimed at "spreading the word", the Studio of Environmental Architecture is David Hertz's latest venture, leading the way in Eco friendly design and sharing what he's learnt both through his residential work and his own house. Many thanks to the team at Studio EA for the details on this house.

Overview
Designed as a new house when Venice was till a rough neighbourhood the house presents a relatively strong/protective façade at street level and uses enclosed balconies to extend the upper levels and take full advantage of sea breezes.

The house consisted of two pavilions connected by a bridge, and was already cutting edge (environmentally) through its use of Syndecrete®, which contains about 41% percent recycled content and is twice as light, with twice the compressive strength, of normal concrete. Syndecrete® is David's own development and one of many featured in the residence.

It is now a compound made up of four discrete two-story buildings linked by three enclosed bridges that all face onto the courtyard.

Style "Balinese Modern"

Working it through
There was only one snag in the whole process. David is staunchly in favour of green design, the mere fact of adding that much space nagged at him. "There's no getting around the fact," he says, "that on a purely ecological level, 4,400 square feet is a lot of house by most of the world's standards."

His solution was to make the house the greenest house of its size he'd ever seen. Hertz used this house as a case study for green building techniques. An array of 20 solar collector panels on the roof help generate about 70 percent of the home’s electricity needs, and other sections of the roof are given over to flat-plate collectors that provide hot water to the water heater, which then sends it into a radiant heating system in the concrete floors.

I've no beef with the results, David's family expanded and so has his residence, the house is all used and as much as we battle with the urges, who wouldn't want their own compound like this. David's innovative materials and willingness to push for a more environmentally sound house is exemplary.

The materials used were chosen carefully to support environmental sustainability and the design intent. Recycled and FSC certified sustainable woods such as Ipe, Mahogany, and Fir, are used throughout the house to complement the Syndecrete®.

The Syndecrete® acts inside the house as a kind of “solar sink” for passive solar energy transfer, storing up the sun’s warmth during the day, and thus keeping it from overheating the interior, and then slowly releasing that heat during the night. Syndecrete® flooring was chosen for several reasons; it eliminates mold and dust caused by carpet, requires less maintenance, and is more environmentally sensitive than carpet, wood, or other floor finishes.

In order to maintain excellent indoor air quality, David used zero VOC paint, and eliminated a forced air system and carpeted floors, and with them mould and dust.

Another bonus of these materials is the resultant durability and functionality of the house. Its for living in. Rather than begin a minimalist box (don't get me wrong they have their place) the house portrays both David's design innovations, but also the family's efforts, endeavours, favourite drawings, posters, toys, etc. And it's a tough house.

You can see here one of my favourite shots showing the utilitarian nature of the house, and how its designed for a family.

Yup, David's hosing it down, an ability that's now on the list for my house. You can also see that playful design feature to let the kids feel its their house too, a pint size door for them.

Green Credentials
Hopefully in the images, you'll spot some of these fantastic features.

Passive Ventilation – eliminating the need for a forced air system the shaded front living area naturally ducts cool air up thought the house and stairwell, then out the temperature sensitive skylights.
Solar Energy – an array of 20 solar panels on the roof supply around 70% of the home's energy needs
Photovoltaic Panels and Flat Plate Collectors – providing hot water to the water heater and subsequently the radiant heating system in the concrete floors. David says to heat the place, with these panels installed takes about as much energy as a 60w light bulb, all taken from his solar array.
Vacuum tubing on the roof, which uses a parabolic collector to focus the sun’s rays, provides additional hot water
Recycled FSC certified sustainable woods such as Ipe, Mahogany and Fir
That Syndecrete®, a light-weight concrete that uses 41% recycled content - it also holds various pigments and textures to form furniture throughout the house, like the kitchen bench, table and bathroom sinks.
Zero VOC paints
High performance heat-mirror glazing
The pool system uses an ionization and silver filter, eliminating the need for chlorine

Layout
I've wanted to write about David's work for some time now as his preferred layout for houses draws from tropical bungalows and linked pavilions.

Phase-1
You'll note that he has separated the functional areas of the original house at the bottom, both vertically and horizontally into 4 boxes. The living and dining come entertaining areas at the front are split from the garage at the rear to form an external lounge/fire pit, one that tops my list for "ideal after work summer beer spot".

Above, the bedrooms retreats, with the master bedroom above the lounge, and the children's bedrooms, back away over the garage.

Second only to the fire pit, is the outdoor sleeping area off the master bedroom. In summer time, the enclosed balcony becomes a comfy, cool sleeping area.

Phase-2
This renders the children's original bedrooms as guest areas that convert into a large rumpus room for rainy days. To accommodate the three children as they grow older, David's given them more space (between them and their wing of the house) and space for their guests. They have a bedroom and studio area in the upstairs of the new wing, and mum and dad gain an open plan kitchen/dining area with a wall that opens up completely to the pool and inner courtyard formed between the two wings.

Results

This building is a successful study in architecture that is both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally responsible, whilst functioning as a pair of Levi 501s, hard wearing, sexy and a design classic.

Images

Slideshow

Plans

via: Many thanks to Christina at Studio EA

Steven Holl | Planar House

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:31:00 +0000

Steven Holl

Planar House

Desert Tilt Up Wonder - This Steven Holl designed residence in Paradise Valley, AZ, USA, uses raw Concrete and Corten Steel to create a great prefabricated home and art gallery for it's owner.

Overview
Designed to house a contemporary art collection, internally, the house sets out to be a blank canvas, not to distract from the works held within.

The street façade blends into the desert greys, with the ageing steel fitting in perfectly.

Flourishes on the exterior are limited to the courtyard from where a ramp leads to a rooftop sculpture garden - a place of silence and reflection.

The rear, with overhands for shading, is the largest expanse of light giving glass. These sliding openings taking in views to the nearby Camelback Mountain.

Layout
The house is broken up into three functional areas. The garage and master bedroom, together with the library form the quiet zone at front of the house. To the rear are the dining and kitchen areas, located to soak up the views down to the mountain. A contemplative study joins these rooms at the rear, cool in summer no doubt as the doors to both the pool behind and rear yard would form a breeze-way of cooled air.

Between the two spaces lies the gallery and living area, a perfect space for the owner to enjoy the collection.

Similar natural cooling techniques are employed inside, with the overhead light shafts linking to cooling pools on the floor below, a technique which combined with minimal unshaded glass, would keep air con bills to a minimum.

Images

Plans

Google Location Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Arizona
Status completed 2005
Client Withheld
Architect: Steven Holl
Project Architect Martin Cox (Tim Bade - Schematic Design)
Floor Area 3320 sf
Project Team Robert Edmonds, Annette Goderbauer, Hideki Hirahara, Clark Manning
General Contractor(s) The Construction Zone
Structural Engineer(s) Rudow & Berry
Mechanical Engineer(s) Roy Otterbein
Civil Engineer(s) Fleet Fisher
Electrical Engineer(s) Associated Engineering
Landscape Architect(s) Steve Martino & Associates
Photos Bill Timmerman
via:Steven Holl

Diarmuid Gavin Designs | Chelsea Garden - Oceânico Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:28:00 +0000

Diarmuid Gavin Designs

Oceânico Garden

Changing Residential Design for Landscape Design - Stepping away from houses, I thought I'd cover the big news this week in London, the Chelsea Garden show.
The show, as well as showcasing the latest in gardening, showcases some fantastic Landscape gardening. A stand out in my mind, was the Diarmuid Gavin Designs | Oceânico Garden

Not really one for knowing about flowers, or gardening, I was at first interested in the reference to the 1940's chairs, which to me, actually look more like Harry Bertoia style chairs from 1952.

What got me next was the fantastic crate like design of the garden shed.

Three of the four walls fold down on hot days, or fold up in increments for wind or winter use, with the top 300 mm folding out to form some shade protection, or ventilation, when the other walls are closed.

I think it's a great solution for outdoor entertaining!
It's kind of a miniature Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects | Coromandel House

Layout

The Royal Horticultural Society describe it thus:

The Café Garden is a place for people to stop, sit, relax and to immerse themselves in the atmosphere; it is a haven from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The garden opens to a clearing to reveal an open wooden pavilion with slatted wood sections for shading visitors. Inspired by a set of 1940s-style French mesh work chairs, outsized, stainless steel daisies are the centre of drama in the garden.
The daisies burst out of the ground and tower above the garden, set at varying heights among rich planting and a deep green jungle of foliage.
Tables and chairs with leafy parasols are interspaced within the planted areas.
Beyond the café, there is a forest of lollipop Catalpa trees and daisies, a dreamy backdrop to complete the scene. Pathways link the seating areas.

And, The Telegraph have some fantastic panoramas:
Of the Oceânico Garden, And others.
More on the Chelsea Garden Show from the Royal Horticultural Society

Alvaro Ramírez y Clarisa Elton | House in Buchupureo

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:06:00 +0000

Alvaro Ramírez y Clarisa Elton

House in Buchupureo

Cliffhanger - Alvaro Ramírez and Clarisa Elton - are the authors of their own weekend retreat on the central Chile coastline. Great residential design, propped on stilts, with minimal environmental impact.

{Reworked article from Plataforma Arqutectura Author:David Basulto [tricky]}

This great house is located on a remote coastal trail in central-south Chile, in Buchupureo, VIII región del Bío-Bío. When I lived in Concepción, the capital of the region, we'd surf here. The waves were fantastic, rolling into all the bays around this area. Getting there was difficult and the water was freezing (pushed up from the Antarctic), but the untouched waves, scenery and beaches were, and are still, amazing!

The project was developed in dialogue with its environment, both through the materials used for creating the volumes, as well as how these are implemented and placed on the site.

The house is supported on a steep slope through piles, which lessen the intervention/excavation of the plot's soil, allowing in turn, the free passage of water.

The cabin is divided into three functional spaces, relating to the three requirements of a holiday house. A bedroom with bathroom; a space for entertaining and guests - being with the kitchen; and a terrace, linking the other two spaces and providing spot for those spectacular views. All spaces seeking panoramic view towards the Pacific Ocean. The terrace serves as the lobby space, an intermediate space, as it is located between two interior spaces, providing protection against the wind and and as a place to embrace the ocean.

The structural elements of the house are left visible, giving form to the shape of the house. The structure, external and internal elements, are all created from local wood (the equivalent of Radiata pine), yet treated differently depending on their role. For the pillar structures and beams pieces of 4 "x6" 2 "x6" and 2 "x5" were used. All were treated to give them protection against moisture.
For interior cladding, ¾" x 4" pine are used,brushed, without any treatment. Finally for the external cladding 1" x 4", painted with carbolineum.

The tectonics of the project establish a close relationship with the local architecture, using wood and 'laja' stone, materials predominant in the area (most of the fences in the area are built with laja stone and mud, as well as many old house floors).

The structure of the roof is wood and in its V design, it detaches itself from the wall structures at both the front and rear of the house. This letting light into the interior,generating a feeling of spaciousness. Laja, the stone used to cover and protect the roof, was thought of as an element of both cultural adaptation (local architecture) and natural (landscape elements), blending the building into the rocky shores below. Conversely the view up from the beach sees the timber framework match the colours of the cliff face, the house's home.

Images

Plans

Google Maps Location: Buchupureo, VIII Región, Chile
Designed: September 2005
Constructed: December 2005 - February 2006
Architects: Alvaro Ramírez, Clarisa Elton
Builder: Ruperto Vera
Structural Engineer: Alvaro Ramirez
Owners: Alvaro Ramirez + Clarisa Elton
Total cost: $7.050.000 (US$15.000)
Constructed Area: 55m2
Images: Carlos Ferrer + Alvaro Ramirez + Clarisa Elton

via:Plataforma Arquitectura
& Alvaro Ramirez + Clarisa Elton

F3 Arquitectos | House in Rupanco

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:35:00 +0000

F3 Arquitectos

House in Rupanco

Wooden Wonder - F3 Arquitectos - renowned for their timber architecture in Chile, have created this wonderful prefab retreat in 75 days! I question what more could be required of a modernistic cabin?

Many thanks to Plataforma Arquitectura for bringing us this fantastic residence in Southern Chile.

Translation / reword of original article by Carlos J Vial

Located in a remote area of Lake Rupanco, the commission responds to the request of a "summer house" or retreat, of sporadic use. Due to its complex, ever changing climate and geographical location, the plot made on site slow construction impossible.

The project consists of a single volume, with the layout distributed linearly, parallel to the lake views and shore. The site drops down a field to the shore below and northern sun.

A solid timber rear façade with a singular overlapped entrance, to the house, provides the necessary private secure barrier to the public road, becoming the main structural axis of the project. This wall in turn partially meets the requirements of security due to the prolonged periods when the house is uninhabited.

In contrast, once inside the interior, each room has a glazed wall facing the lake, creating a porous, and therefore vulnerable, façade. F3's solution being sliding wooden panels, clad in the same treated wood of the rear façade, that allow the owner to create a singular, completely airtight volume when leaving for the city.

As for the remote location and inclement weather that would hinder an on-site build - this was resolved by prefabricating many of the wall, floor and roof panels.

The Result
A beautiful, simple, elegant lakeside retreat. And to top it off, construction was completed in 75 days!!

Plans

Location: Lago Rupanco, X Region, Chile.
Arquitectos: F3 Arquitectos - Alejandro Dumay, Nicolás Fones, Francisco Vergara.
Size: 127 m2.
Materials: Treated wood, in prefab panels.
Completed: 2005.
via: Plataforma Arquitectura
& F3 Arquitectos

Davide Macullo | House in Ticino

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:20:00 +0000

Davide Macullo

House in Ticino

X marks the spot - Davide Macullo takes full advantage of this stunning foothill plot. Embedding and hiding the services and garage of the residence into the hillside, lets the main living areas sit above and soak up the views.

Overview
Located in one of sunniest place in southern Switzerland, the house is characterised by small monolithic volumes following the natural slope of the land and is surrounded by nature. The landscape seems to "flow" through these volumes and become protected courtyards of green. The construction is enhanced by an entrance "cave" surrounded by the green and following slope of the plot. The house continues up the slope in an organic and fluent sequence of spaces, related to each other and stretched out to embrace the surrounding nature. This typology aims at offering an alternative to the "box-shaped" construction on the hills that seem to proliferate the area, building without respect for the environment.

Design
Apart from the concrete foundations required on the sloping site (and perhaps the excavation, which one could argue against, for its ability to hide some of the build), the whole construction has been realised according to sustainable principles and with bio-ecological materials in mind.

Wood and copper are unusual materials when one thinks of high end glamorous construction. In this build, these undervalued materials come to life due to their sustainable features. The wonderful texture of the copper mesh, brings the façade to life.

Construction
A double envelope contains and protects the interior spaces. The internal envelope is built with the STEKO® wood-bricks, a constructive technology which adds further structural rigidity and modular uniformity to the renowned sustainable nature of wood. The Steko® system, utilised even in the internal partitions, is fully recyclable and reduces the time spent on site, with a corresponding reduction in noise, dust, site traffic and other environmental nuisances.

The external skin is made of a recyclable copper screen, that protects the wooden internal envelope, further regulating internal temperatures.

Layout
With the garage hidden below grade, out under the front lawn, the rest of the house is spread over two levels. The kitchen and services area on one and the main living and sleeping areas at ground level.

Plans

Architect: Davide Macullo
Collaborators: Laura Perolini, Michele Alberio & Margherita Pusterla
Completed: 2007
Engineer: Andreotti & Partners - Locarno, Switzerland
Physical engineer: Franco Semini - Lugano, Switzerland
Project manager: Ennio Magetti - Minusio, Switzerland
Structure: Foundations - reinforced concrete; Walls - STEKO® wooden bricks; Cladding - TECU Classic & TECU Net
Photographer: Enrico Cano - Como - Italy

via: Davide Macullo

Pugh + Scarpa Atchitects | Solar Umbrella

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:36:00 +0000

Pugh + Scarpa Atchitects

Solar Umbrella

Model Rebuild - When remodelling their own residence Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa could never have imagined the press and accolades that would be bestowed upon a build designed around their own very personal needs. Economical, solar powered, solar water heating, nearly off the power grid and with a fitting yet aesthetically contrasting extension. A rear extension that embraces the house's 1920's bungalow origins and pays homage to its design sake, the Paul Rudolph Umbrella House of 1953.

Overview and Plot
The lot, in Venice California, typical of the area, has two road frontages. This allowed the house's orientation to be flipped, the crux of this build. With the living area and kitchen behind now facing the larger rear garden, an additional bedroom was added upstairs, and the second bedroom converted to an office. Most of all, the flip orients the house to the southern sun allowing the sun's energy to be stored in the concrete eastern and western walls and floor.

Design
The extension has the majority of its glazing along the warmth facing southern wall, with northern glazing opening up for cross ventilation. The architects describe it as "global regionalism," Californian indoor outdoor flow, wrapped in modern technology using recycled and sustainable materials, offsetting the use of concrete with gains made through its thermal storing properties that lead to lower power bills. Overhangs regulate the sun in its strongest months and double glazing with a low-E film , framed in aluminium with thermal breaks, control the wind and indoor environment. To save on materials the solar panels themselves form the outer canopy and Solar Umbrella, shading the house. With the rear set up, insulation was blown into the walls and floors of the original wing and operable skylights in the kitchen and bathroom provide natural light and ventilation whilst maintaining privacy.

Upstairs

In winter, warmth is provided through radiant in-floor heating powered partly by one of three solar hot water panels. Two are used to pre-heat the domestic hot water before it gets to the gas-fired hot water heater and the other to heat the pool. These panels halved the gas use of the house which is now 2.5 times as big! As usual there was initial outlay for the solar water heaters and panels, which 10 years.

Living area extension

Although the double height extension sets the house apart from its neighbours, the fact that it is at the rear facing the alley, contrary to most of the houses on the block, mean its northern facing traditional façade, lets it fit in with the Joneses. The services are concealed up the side of the house, and a bike rack just inside the new front gate provides mobility to the nearby shops (apparently a novelty in the US).

Exterior

Well thought out landscaping incorporates gravel, to allow the plot to drain and prevent it from heating up like large paved areas do, and planting is drought tolerant, with species that appeal to the abundant hummingbirds in the area. The new pond and pool also help regulate the temperate and composting was also included as part of the landscape design.

Layout
A relatively simple layout provides for both open plan living and more intimate work and rest areas.
Downstairs the office, with access to the main street, sits beside the second bedroom and main bathroom on the eastern wall. The living room and kitchen take the southern and western walls respectively. As well as allowing heat to rise up and out the upstairs windows, the industrial like steel stairs link the downstairs area to the more private master bedroom with en-suite.

The Results
The house now provides an additional open plan living area ideal for the couple's son, connecting outdoor play and space indoors. The Solar Umbrella plays its dual role, keeping the house cool and shaded in summer and warm through its solar panel composition in winter. Utilitarian, the house is built to be lived in and enjoyed rather than as a show-piece 'typical' modern build. This to me is what makes this a home.

Plans

Name of Project: Solar Umbrella, Venice, California, USA
Architect: Pugh + Scarpa Architects
Completed: April 2005
Total project cost excluding land: US$390,000.00
Usage: 3 permanent occupants 105 hours/week, 15 visitors/week at 3 hrs per visit average.

Information courtesy of: Pugh + Scarpa Architects

OJMR Architects | Fritz Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:07:00 +0000

OJMR Architects

Fritz Residence

L Shaped Simplicity - Wrapped around a cooling pool with ample shade and expansive living areas, this Jay M. Reynolds residence in Palm Springs, combines two simple volumes to create a modernistic whole.

Site
The house is located on a flat, irregularly shaped lot at the end of a cul-de-sac. The neighbourhood contains a variety of styles and references to the preferred typical suburban desert subdivision architecture.

Program
Mew single-family residence including kitchen, dining area, living room, office, three bedrooms, and two-and-one-half bathrooms.

Design
The house is designed for a retired couple with the need for guest bedroom suites and a large communal space for the living, dining, and kitchen areas.

To achieve a feeling of "simplicity" within conventional means, it was decided that planning and construction must be straight-forward and the character of the house reflect a strategy of enclosure and openness focused towards the main outdoor space. Two simple volumes are connected together to define a corner with one wing containing the guest bedrooms, and the other containing the master suite. The two wings are connected at the main living, dining, and kitchen space.

Hallways are located along the east and south sides of the two wings and help to define the laterally spaced rooms, which can be closed off from the circulation zone with large sliding walls. The rooms all access the outdoor pool/courtyard space from large sliding glass walls.

Plans

Name of Project: Fritz Residence, Palm Desert, California
Architect: The Office of J.M. Reynolds Architects, Los Angeles
Jay M. Reynolds, AIA, principal
Built area: 2,600 square-feet
Completed: 2003
Budget: US$650,000
Materials: Exposed concrete block walls, natural stone veneer walls, plaster over wood framing, concrete floors, walnut cabinetry, Gascogne Blue limestone floors in bathrooms, translucent glass panels, Montauk Black marble counters in kitchen, Venetino White marble countertops in bathroom and on kitchen island.
Photos: Ciro Coelho

Information courtesy of: OJMR Architects and Taylor & Company (many thanks)

Bernardes + Jacobsen - Vila Nova Da Conceiçao Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Bernardes + Jacobsen

Vila Nova Da Conceiçao Residence

Smoke and Mirrors - once past the solid industrial façade of this residence, light, shade and reflections open up this hemmed in residence by Thiago Bernardes and Paulo Jacobsen.

Overview & Plot
In dealing with a narrow conical plot near Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, stretching the layout and smart use of structural steel, has rewarded Thiago Bernardes and Paul Jacobsen.

The sloped plot, required them to play with the layout of the house, spreading out and reordering the location of the office, five bedrooms with en suites, and the gym into a plot of just 760m².

At the narrow entrance end of the plot sit the service area, laundry and garage, just below ground level. Half a level above street height and just a little further down the plot are the entrance, kitchen and dining room. From here, an impressive atrium carries you either: down a long set of short depth stairs the living room, home theatre and gym; or upstairs to the five bedrooms. This atrium is an amazing planted area with bamboo and foliage abound. Through glass openings above; it appears light and airy, despite being in the centre of the narrow plot.

Key to the project is this area of vertical circulation. It is composed of a set of stairs and bridge, illuminated by openings above, which give the residence spatiality that is unusual. Through this atrium, emphasis was also placed on the secondary entrance, access between the house and garage, used every day, but often ignored in design.

Layout
On the ground floor, at the widest area of the plot, the living rooms all open out to the pool and BBQ area receiving light through sliding doors that rise the height of their extended stud.

Above, the bedrooms are one and a half storeys off the ground. The extra high stud, affording them light and views above the surrounding residences.

The Result
The project also takes full advantage of the external area at the bottom of the plot.
This is done through: high studs; open plan; minimal interference in the indoor outdoor flow; and where support was needed the upper levels, svelte steel poles were used, and even then, polished to a mirror, to minimise their impact.

The garden is then in effect doubled through the use of a reflective sheathing on the rear party wall (intriguing, as we often see this in narrow restaurants to double the depth of perception).

Plans

Architect/Designer: Bernardes + Jacobsen
Completed: December 2005.
Materials: Steel structure, stone, wood, glass and Ceramic tiles
Built area: 900m²

Information courtesy of: Bernardes + Jacobsen

Bernardes + Jacobsen - CF Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:17:00 +0000

Bernardes + Jacobsen

CF Residence

Steeling the show - Blessed with a great plot and open brief, a lightweight, transparent, horizontal building, was what the architects Thiago Bernardes and Paulo Jacobsen designed.

Overview & Plot
Located on a plot in the picturesque condominium Portogalo in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Paulo Jacobsen and Thiago Bernardes wanted to accommodate a large family retreat taking full advantage of the plot and its location. The challenge was how to minimise the buildings impact from roadside - difficult with such a large house.

Departing from traditional Brazilian wood or brick structures the house employs steel to span the vast openings that connect all rooms to the views below.

The svelte steel corner pillars provide minimal interruption to the open plan dining and living area of the ground floor. In summertime (almost constant in Angra dos Reis) the glass panels dividing this area up slide away to provide an enormous expanse of shade.

Half way up the façade, and providing elevated viewing to the bedrooms are two outdoor balconies of Peroba wood, these break up the stark white of the lower level and the surrounding steel structure. The wood is also used throughout the second level interior, and as a lining the the vast roof span.

Continuing to the roof level, tropical storms and heavy rain, common in the early part of the year in Rio de Janeiro are caught by large glass overhangs, which still let light through to the bedrooms. The glass also blurs the connection between the roof’s reflecting pool, paved with green ceramic tiles, imitating the colour of the inlet and sea beyond. The same applies to the pool on the terrace, which seems to fall into the sea. This camouflage, and the fact that the house is set into the hillside at the rear, reduces its size, as to the thin steel structures, elongating its horizontal structure. It’s only from below, backstroking in the pool that the house’s true size is revealed.

Layout
With the entire ground floor dedicated to the pool, dining and entertaining, the upper level provides the entrance and 4 bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. Originally two giant bedrooms, the sets of two our housed either side of the atrium over the pool. As you enter the residence through its large dark wood doors, the bedrooms act as blinkers, focusing the view out to the water beyond.

A small seating area between allows you to contemplate, and perhaps acts as a formal arrival area. From here, “grand” staircases head both inside (left) to the living room, and outside (right) to the pool area (Bernardes + Jacobsen are renowned for impressive staircases).

The Result
Now complete in a 4 bedroom layout, this family retreat seems to have all one needs for a relaxing weekend. The thin steel structure and stretched horizontal roofline give it the appearance of a lightweight marque or stretched canvas roof. A seaside camp that mirrors the water beyond. Yet, from within, there is no doubt that this house is: permanent; modern and luxurious; and will provide a great weekend spot for years to come.

Plans

Architect/Designer:
Bernardes + Jacobsen
Client: Carlos Firme
Construction: February, 2001 – December, 2003
Materials: Steel structure, stone, wood, glass and Ceramic tiles
Built area: 1024m²
Plot: 2000m²

Information courtesy of: Bernardes + Jacobsen

Drew Mandel Design - 83A Marlborough Ave

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Drew Mandel Design

83A Marlborough Ave

Infill house on a 13ft wide plot, becomes feature residence of the street - Drew Mandel has used every inch of this brownfield (ex 1 car garage & garden) site to create his ideal residence. Influences of Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler eminent in the residence's façade lead to elegant use of wood detailing for the interior.

Overview
Drew, an up and coming Canadian architect snapped up an “interesting” plot, that his colleague at MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects, David Miller had on offer. Setting out to create his debut "big time" design, Drew won a number of awards in Toronto and Canada. The house is an impressive example of modern infill, coming in at a modest $182 per ft².

The Lot
Miller and his architect wife, Amy Falkner, had obtained a minor variance allowing them to build to the very edges of the property line without the usual margin of grass or ground cover. (It's only because the houses on each side are set back from the lot line that there is any space at all between the Mandel-Cooper house and its neighbours.) To support development, the municipality had allowed a substantial increase in the floor space, from 908 to more than 1,280 square feet above ground.
Their relatives labelled the plot a bowling lane, Mandel and his wife like to think of it as a lane each.

Design
Focusing on commercial design at work, Drew’s evening efforts on his own house pulled from his designs of multiplexes, community centres, libraries and banks. The main Achilles heel of the plot, the extended walls down either side of the property, led Drew to (as he sometimes reflects) to overcompensate with house glass panels at either end and a large light well at the centre of the build. I disagree; the house is fantastically bright and airy.

Breaking the house away from other designs out there and I believe linking it to his favoured FLW and Rudolf, is the use of patchwork glass rather than a large expanse of industrial like uniform façade. A cute modernist take on the Juliet balcony protrudes from the master bedroom, breaking the rear wall further and allows great views down to the meticulously landscaped garden, that complements the house so well. Adding to the functionality of the glass façade, a large central panel pivots to allow bigger pieces of furniture to be hoisted in.

Bringing in that industrial design know-how resolved the issue of construction methods too. Such a narrow tall design refused traditional frame design used in residential projects, meaning an industrial to balloon framing technique was adopted. Steel supports for the entire 38-foot length of the walls were put up first, and then the floors were locked in afterwards.

Further industrial features of the house include the two ramps from the entrance of the house to the living room and from the master bedroom to the second bedroom, a comfortable alternative to stairs.

Layout
From the semi-subterranean guest room at the front of the house you head south up the ramp to the living room, then north up five stairs to the dining room-kitchen floor, then south again up the house's only full flight of stairs to the master bedroom and bathroom. Finally, completing the layout you head north, up the second ramp to the second bedroom.

The Result
Drew and Denise have blown their relatives away. Despite the restricting plot they've created a house that through it's high ceilings, skylights and maximum glazing at both ends is a bright, spacious and airy home.

Plans

Architect/Designer: Drew Mandel Design
Client: Denise Cooper & Drew Mandel
Completed: 2007
Structural: Blackwell Engineering Ltd. (David Bowick)
Builder: T. Fijalkowski & Associates
Site Plan Approval: David Miller & Amy Falkner
Lot:13' x 115' or 1560 ft²
Costs: $182 per ft²

Information courtesy of: Drew Mandel Design

Frederico Zanelato - Casa Martins Siquiera

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:34:00 +0000

Frederico Zanelato

Casa Martins Siquiera

A True Weekend Retreat - Ferederico Zanelato's own house no doubt paved the way for the design of this marvellous family home near São Paulo. Maximising the slope of the plot, this house spreads living over three levels in three distinct zones.

Overview
The embracing the views of the Serra do Japi was the "be all" and "end all" of this build.
Frederico wanted a house that stimulates discussion, where spaces are integrated and connected to each other, as well as the surrounding plot. Conveniently the plot is well orientated to minimise the suns impact on the residence, and thus the requirements of air conditioning. Frederico's skills at minimising materials and specifying kept this build in economical proportions as well. Total construction cost $510US/m².

Lot
Located in a condominium between Jundiaí and Itupeva, 60km from São Paulo, 1000m², with a mild slope and a fantastic views of the Serra do Japi.

The client
A happy young couple with two children, a child and an adolescent and many friends. They wanted a home for the weekends, a place for unforgettable moments, for parties, to receive guests, relax and create. As an advertising director and businesswoman, respectively, the husband and wife team are usually based in São Paulo, and required a "retreat" from the hustle and bustle.

Following the topography of land and its geographical position, the house was designed in three blocks; intimate, social, and service, linked by an elongated circulation area of three distinct levels.

A single open plan wing for the living room, dining and kitchen is connected by a hallway to the rear block of two levels.
To the left of the hallway: two storeys and 4 bedrooms. To the right: the services/utility area and above, private office.

Access to the home is through a wooded avenue. The façade clearly indicates two blocks separated by a large panel of wood, the main door, which when opened, mimics the tree lined avenue. Up lighting is used to create sensations and justify the texture of materials in the entrance way.
Just inside the entrance are doors leading to two of the four bedrooms and stairs to the second level. Both levels overlooking the central courtyard or "birds square" as the owners refer to it. Wooden shutters afford shade and further privacy to these rooms, breaking the white façade nicely and distinguishing the two areas.
This courtyard receives morning sun and cross ventilation through strategic openings, making it a year round pleasant breakfast spot.
Passing the courtyard on your left as you head away from the entrance, you arrive at the social wing. Pleasantly shaded, overlooking the pool, a leisure area and further behind, views to the Sierra Japi.

Here, kitchen, dining and living room intertwine. It’s position between the "birds square" and the swimming pool area is strategic, for coexistence and as a buffer between the two zones: repose and action. The "birds square" works as a further filter between the social and private wings and creates an open intimate space.

The outdoor rooms, or BBQ area, is located in the largest free area of the plot. It too is open to those views that inspired the choice of the land: the Serra do Japi.

Half way to the second level bedrooms, the circulation area opens to a roof deck over the living area. Used as a mini-golf course, the deck is also the only access to the owners workshop and hidden office, which is above the service wing.

The choice of materials was defined according to the function of each area obeying the basic rules of environmental comfort and wishes of this family.

The Result
A house zoned into three distinct areas, each buffered from the other by the outdoors that allows for private retreat or very social entertaining.

Plans

Architect: Frederico Zanelato
Co-authors: Marcelo Miua and Fernanda Kano
Student: Regina Sesoko
Structures: Vagner Garcia de Oliveira
Photos: Bebete Viégas
Completed: 2007
Costs: $510 US/m²

Information courtesy of: Frederico Zanelato

Frederico Zanelato - Architect's Residence

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Allen) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:36:00 +0000

Frederico Zanelato

Architect's Residence

Structured Strata - Layered up for optimum views, ventilation and privacy, Ferederico Zanelato's house in São Paulo is a quality residence at an economical price.

Overview
This architect’s house is what it should be, driven out of pure needs and the situation at hand, with clear intention. Frederico, with a Masters focus in economical design, is conscious about using materials wisely. Serving him well in the design of his own house, which apart from quality hard wearing flooring, uses well finished local materials to create a high class residence. Completed in 2005 and setting aside the cost of the plot, the house came in at under $400 US per square metre for construction! Far more impressive, considering that similar executions in São Paulo are quoted as $1200 US.

The plot is located in the Sierra Itapety, 54km from São Paulo, surrounded by a pool of Atlantic Forest, which drives the houses windows and openings, catching your eye from every corner.
The geographical position provided the strategic entry of light and ventilation. Large overhands and shading battens provide shelter from peak summer heat, and allow the air to cool in the shade before entering, traditional solutions within new design. The slope of the land also imposes on the distribution of the volumes, the zoning, the entrance and landscaping, thus completing the desired dialogue with the house’s surroundings.

Layout
The ground floor is occupied by the social area: living room, kitchen, guest bedroom and bathroom. With access to the front garden and full sun, this level is laid out by relative use of sunlight, with a bright and airy living area, and the guest bedroom snug at the rear.

The middle level: houses a covered car park and service area - come laundry and bathroom.
On top of the social area is a patio / garden, solarium with reflecting pond, and a wooden deck.
The intimate master bedroom and bath are housed in the final volume suspended above. Cloaked in shade providing battens, yet still with views out across the valley.

The materials chosen for the construction, simple and local to the region, establish a connection between the area and the owner’s way of life. The exterior, cleanly rendered in stucco, is livened up with a fantastic entrance way mural. The floor of white granite is broken by a carpet of pink sandstone that calls attention and directs to the main entry. Wet zones are covered with white granite chips and the ground floor exterior with large grade loose gravel. Useful for tropical storms and the winter floods common in São Paulo.

The views to the surrounding Atlantic forest, framed by white walls, form calming green curtains. Outside the master Bedroom, water, vital for life, reflects and intensified the surrounding green and the sky above. Features which embrace and justify Frederico’s choices of white, black, wood, stone and iron.

Plans

Architect: Frederico Zanelato
Completed: 2005
Costs: $400 US Per square metre

Images and information courtesy of: Frederico Zanelato

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