Hasta La Ideas

Chilean architect Pedro Gubbins designed this concrete residence as a rural retreat for himself and his family and has balanced it on top of a dry-stone wall (+ slideshow).

Named Omnibus House, the long and narrow residence is constructed on the side of a hill and the wall beneath it functions as a retainer against the sloping landscape.

Gubbins wanted the house to be visually linked to the outdoor spaces of its woodland location, so he designed the concrete volume with lengths of glazing stretching across its longest facades, allowing views right through the building.

“All the issues with privacy are solved because of the slope of the location,” said Jose Quintana Cabezas, an architect at Gubbins Arquitectos. “There are neighbours, but they are far away enough to not to have visual contact, plus all the tree trunks help.”

One of the most prominent features of the house is a concrete staircase that cuts through its centre, connecting the rooms on the main floor with an entrance on the storey below and a terrace on the rooftop.

Corridors run along both sides of the building, while rooms are arranged in sequence between. Glazed partitions divide the living and dining rooms, either side of the staircase, while wooden boards separate the bedrooms at the western end.

The concrete walls are exposed inside the building, plus polished concrete floors run through each room.

Santiago studio Gubbins Arquitectos also recently completed a hillside house with walls of timber and concrete.

Other recent projects in Chile include an earthquake-proof house and a hotel for stargazers. See more architecture in Chile.

Here’s some more information from Gubbins Arquitectos:

Omnibus House

Life and leisure space

To break the typical areas of an urban house; kitchen, living–dining room and dormitories, this house has a double circulation that deconstructs these areas into a set of complimentary places.

This creates a way of inhabiting that moves away from a typical urban arrangement into a more playful one.

To inhabit the exterior from within

To inhabit the exterior of a holiday house does not only imply the direct interaction with the outside of the house, but also the interaction through the house.

This has been achieved through its own structure and arrangement, allowing the possibility of re-discovering new views from the terrace-roof; from the back terrace through the living room, from the corridor or galleria by the main façade or sheltered along the houses stone base.

A sustainable architecture

The north orientation of the houses main façade (23.5 metres width by 3.1 metres height) offers the possibility of becoming a large solar collector that at night time re-emits the accumulated thermal energy gathered during the day, by its walls, concrete slabs and roof.

Materiality and construction

The use of concrete as the main material, gives a sense of mass that is necessary for relating to the context.

Its colour complements the surrounding trees and allowed the used of a large span for the roofing and the use of different textures produced by the rough sawn timber formwork sold by a local retailer.

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: roof plan – click for larger image

Above: east elevation – click for larger image

Above: west elevation – click for larger image

Above: north elevation – click for larger image

Above: south elevation – click for larger image

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Gubbins Arquitectos appeared first on Dezeen.

Double-height studios bring art and architecture students together in the new college of architecture at Clemson University, South Carolina, by New York office Thomas Phifer and Partners (+ slideshow).

Lee Hall College of Architecture accommodates students from 12 different degree programmes across the departments of art, architecture, construction science and landscape architecture at Clemson University.

Thomas Phifer and Partners designed the building as a place where students on different courses can see into each other’s studios and share some of their workspaces, intended to increase “cross pollination” between disciplines.

“The process of making this work is such a celebratory testament to the collaborative spirit in architecture,” said Thomas Phifer. “These are the very principles that form the foundation for interdisciplinary learning at Lee Hall.”

Rooms on the ground floor feature glazed partitions to afford views from one area of the building to another. A sequence of first floor mezzanines are suspended above, where students and tutors can observe the activities below, plus more glazed studios are sandwiched between.

Huge doughnut-shaped skylights direct natural light into the double-height spaces, while glazed elevations to the north and south offer views out across the campus.

A terrace is positioned to the north of the building to provide a place where students can build large-scale models.

Lee Hall was one of 28 projects to receive an Institute Honor Award from the AIA earlier this year. Other projects recognised included another university building designed by OMA and a mile-long urban park by BIG. See all 28 winners of the Institute Honor Awards.

Other university buildings to complete in recent years include the factory-like Dyson Building at the Royal College of Art in London and the X-shaped scientific research centre at the Australian National University in Canberra. See more universities on Dezeen.

Photography is by Scott Frances.

Here’s some more inforamtion from the Thomas Phifer and Partners:

Clemson University, Lee Hall College of Architecture

Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in upstate South Carolina, the addition to the Lee Hall College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson University is carefully sited adjacent to a green belt of open spaces that runs through the center of campus.

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

An ultra-energy efficient building, the 55,000 sf addition was conceived to accommodate the expanding needs of the college which includes 12 professional degree programs in the 4 departments of Art, Architecture, Construction Science + Management, and Planning + Landscape Architecture.

We discovered early in the design process that all programs form a close community with a rich culture of collaboration. To cultivate this sense of community within the new addition, program elements are intermingled to generate an environment for “cross pollination” between programs and disciplines through adjacency, allowing students to learn from other students and faculty though informal creative exchanges.

Proximity and transparency are supported with carefully detailed glazing between interior program elements. Transparency is also employed on the exterior facades to blur the line between the natural world and the interior environment. This connection to the exterior is enhanced through operable and motorized windows which are opened when exterior conditions permit. The exterior space to the north of the Lee Hall addition is carefully proportioned and intentionally flexible to foster full scale fabrications.

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Location: Clemson University Clemson, South Carolina
Date: 2011
Client: Clemson University College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Size: 55,000 sf
Project Team: Thomas Phifer AIA – Managing Partner, Eric Richey – Project Architect, Robert Chan Katie Bennett

Architect: Thomas Phifer and Partners
Associate Architect: McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture
Structural Engineering: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Mechanical Engineer: Talbot and Associates
Landscape Architect: Pond and Company
Civil Engineer: Dutton Engineering
Environmental Consultant: Transsolar Inc.
General Contractor: Holder Construction

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by Thomas Phifer and Partners appeared first on Dezeen.

Architects Francesco Di Gregorio and Karin Matz used spotty tiles, blue rope and pine to convert the hayloft of an old thatched farmhouse into an apartment on the small island of Föhr in Germany (+ slideshow).

The clients had already been living on the floor below but wanted to convert the attic to make room for their growing family, so the architects were brought into turn the old storage area into a liveable space with two additional bedrooms.

Francesco Di Gregorio and Karin Matz, who combined their studios in 2011, were keen to incorporate the Friesian heritage of the island into the interior. “The space is very much influenced by the place – its history, traditions and nature,” Matz told Dezeen.

She continued: “In the traditional houses at least one wall in the dining rooms would be covered in patterned tiles, as a way of showing wealth. Since we wanted to bring light into the house, we thought that tiles would be a great reflective material and at the same time something so present in all Friesan houses.”

The architects thus lined selected walls with over 3000 ceramic tiles. Each tile has an hole drilled into its centre, revealing the bright blue adhesive behind and creating a grid of pale blue polkadots.

“We never aimed to make the space feel modern,” added Matz, “but being an attic space we had the possibility to give the client an additional space which was very different from the old flat they have below.”

Blue cables suspended between the floor and ceiling form a balustrade around a staircase leading up from the ground floor.

Once inside, residents are faced with a long L-shaped living and dining room, with bedrooms and a kitchen lined up at the back.

Pale pine boards are used for flooring and kitchen furniture, plus more pine lines the walls of the bedrooms, where is has been painted in a vivid shade of turquoise.

Other recently completed apartments include a London residence where a staircase merges with a kitchen counter and a 1970s-inspired beach apartment in France. See more apartment design on Dezeen.

Photography is by Francesco Di Gregorio.

Here’s some extra information from the architects:

Föhr

The project is located on Föhr, a small island in the North Sea. In the village of Alkersum, inside a former hay storage of a traditional farmhouse, we redefine the whole space with a wood structure covered by 3,200 tiles, each with a hand-made circular hole, 500 mt of polypropylene blue rope and treated pine wood.

Due to its geographical location, Föhr is very much in the hands of natural forces. The area has a big tide. When the water is low you walk over to other islands. It is a flat island where 60% of the island is under sea level. To protect the island man made grass-walls surrounds half of the island. Still, every autumn when the big storm-floods arrive, the island go on alert. 1634 an enormous flood erased most of the houses on the island and reshaped the map. It is a though climate for permanent inhabitants; at the same time the island changes completely in the summer months when the population raise from 8500 to 40,000 due to tourism.

Föhr is an island belonging to Germany but first and foremost to Nordfriesland. The Friesians have their own language and culture. In the 17th century a school of navigation was founded on Föhr and many people became sea captains sailing on Asia and North America. Sailing on other countries brought back the tradition of ceramics and tiles from Asia. Being rich was to have as many painted Friesian tiles as possible on your dining room walls.

Wood used inside was painted in Friesian colors, which are different nuances of blue-green. Beds were traditionally in bed-boxes. Houses were always in brick with thatched roofs. The rooms were small, dark and all the same size.

The space as been re-opened by taking down all dividing walls except for the ones surrounding the bathroom. A new volume is added which becomes the central wall going through and unifying the space.

It is covered in ceramic tile with a simple pattern given by the blue cement holding them. Light is brought through the reflective ceramics and the translucent doors. Threads frame the staircase creating a transparent threshold. The bedrooms are dark bed-boxes, private like nests.

Often you only realize after what it is that you have done; we returned in the summer and we realize what we had build. A stranded ship.

Year: 2012
Client: Private
Location: Alkersum – Föhr – Germany
Project: Francesco Di Gregorio & Karin Matz

Construction: NCE Bygg AB
Electrician: Jörg Kottke dba Elektro Kottke
Plants: Heizungsbau Domeyer
Built area: 85 sqm
Status: Built

Above: floor plan – click for larger image

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and Francesco Di Gregorio appeared first on Dezeen.

Czech studio Stempel & Tesar has completed a house that looks likes it’s being swallowed up by the landscape (+ slideshow).

The family house is located in Český ráj, an 18,000-hectare nature reserve also known as Bohemian Paradise, and the house nestles against a hillside blanketed with grass.

Stempel & Tesar tunneled down into the landscape to make room for a sauna that had been requested by the client. “We decided to add a basement rather than increase the footprint of the house,” architect Jan Tesar told Dezeen. “It wasn’t too complicated to build because of the sloping site.”

The rest of the three-storey house is designed to reflect the traditional local vernacular, as planning conditions in the area are strict. Three elevations are clad with timber, while the fourth is covered with stone – a nod to the old Bohemian residences that also contained workshops or barns.

Design guidelines stipulated that no more than four windows could be added to each elevation, plus each one had to follow precise size and proportion guidelines. The architects got around this by designing large timber shutters, which slide across larger glazing panels on the north-east walls.

A steeply pitched roof oversails the walls and is clad with pre-weathered sheets of titanium-zinc.

Rooms inside the house follow a basic linear arrangement and are divided into two rows by a central corridor.

Other residences completed recently in the Czech Republic include a gabled lodge with a first-floor observatory. See more Czech architecture on Dezeen.

Photography is by Fotes.

Here’s a project description from Stempel & Tesar:

Cesky raj – Stempel & Tesar architekti

The opportunity to construct a family house in Cesky raj turned out to be a very pleasant and unique one right from the very first moment when we met the client.

Unique location adjacent to a wood with view opportunities to rocks and forests was constraint by very prescriptive and challenging planning restrictions applicable in the location in protected natural area.

The guidance documents from the authorities outlined the design meticulously: main windows must be of rectangular shape, long edge vertical, subdivided into glass panes, fixed window height ratio of 2:3 up to 4:5, the typical width of windows between 0.7-1.2m, the number of windows in the front wall between 2-4 etc. Many other building elements were prescribed with the same precision to the same level of detail.

Our design proposal originated from characteristics of local historic architecture, hence half of the house is made of stone and other half of timber, this duality derives from original division between dwelling and a workshop or a barn. Traditional open barn entrances with in/out passage inspired the high clearance glazing. These opportunities for vistas bring desired southern light into the interior while opening unique view at forests in the north and peaks of mountains.

A simple pitched roof covers the entire building volume. For roof material we selected weathered titanium-zinc sheets resisting severe weather conditions. The roof is in 45dg and the ridge is oriented parallel to the entrance as well as the main building axes.

Building volume of the house is very simple and uncomplicated therefore the final design is a pure form without any additional architectural element. The final form is very respectful to the traditional building forms in the area and originates from principles of local vernacular architecture.

Building plans extends from ground floor to the attic space right above, both used as dwelling. The house is used as a terraced house with the entrance located in the centre of the building volume.

Above: site plan

Client: private clients
Location of site: Cesky Raj, Czech Republic
Program: housing 198 sqm
Project by (firm name): Stempel & Tesar architects
Principal designer: Jan Stempel, Jan Tesar
Site area: 2715 sqm
Building footprint: 189 sqm
Design and construction: 2010-2012

Above: basement floor plan

Above: ground floor plan

Above: first floor plan

Above: cross section

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by Stempel & Tesar appeared first on Dezeen.

Chunky horizontal bands divide the floors of this house in the woods outside Utrecht by architecture studios Powerhouse Company and RAU (+ slideshow).

Home to a family of five, the house comprises three storeys, including one that is buried underground. Living and dining rooms occupy the ground floor, while bedrooms are located upstairs and the basement floor contains guest rooms and a swimming pool.

The architects conceived the top floor as a “village of cabins”, which follow a different outline to the ground floor below. To achieve this, they installed a complex steel frame that surrounds a set of five rectilinear volumes.

“One of the most important aspects of the house is the amazing steel structure,” Powerhouse Company‘s Stijn Kemper told Dezeen. “There is this 11-metre free cantilever that makes the design possible, but the funny thing is that it’s completely covered up, so you never see the structure. It’s a strange experience.”

Different materials are applied to the facades at each level. On the ground floor, a wall of glazing fronts the garden-facing south facade, while the rear is clad with a mixture of glossy travertine and mirrored glass. To contrast, the top floor walls are covered with dark-stained wood but are also interspersed with mirrored glass windows.

Two hollows in the ground surrounding the house slope down to meet the basement floor, helping to bring natural light to the swimming pool and two guest bedrooms.

A small pavilion at the other end of the garden provides a playroom for the children. More mirrored glass is used to clad this structure, which can also be used as a separate guest house.

Charles Bessard and Nanne de Ru founded Powerhouse Company in 2005, with offices in Rotterdam and Copenhagen. This isn’t the first time the firm has teamed up with Amsterdam studio RAU, as the pair worked together to design a competition-winning dance and music centre for The Hague.

Other projects by Powerhouse Company include a spiral-shaped house extension and a woodland house near Arnhem. See more architecture by Powerhouse Company.

Photography is by Christian van der Kooy.

Here’s some more explanation from Powerhouse Company:

Villa L – Paradox of Uniting Diversity

Powerhouse Company, in close collaboration with RAU, recently completed Villa L. Designed to fulfill the desires and needs of a young family, Villa L is set in the woods of central Netherlands, fully oriented towards the sun and the views on the garden. Villa L is a spatially diverse residence where every floor has its own strong identity, creating a broad spatial spectrum within a unified whole.

A young family with three children asked Powerhouse Company to design a house that would fulfill their dreams: a paradox of a house that is simple yet surprising, open yet specific, minimal yet luxurious. Powerhouse Company resolved these contradictions with a sustainable design for a house based on a radical differentiation of spatial experiences on three floors (of which one is subterranean); the maximum buildable size on this site. Three clear levels, with three very different characters and functionalities as a basis for family life to emerge.

Family life

One level is for living, a generously open ground floor. A strip of serving rooms containing storage, toilets and stairs, provides easily access to the luxuriously open living spaces. The kitchen and living room are oriented maximally to the sun and view. In close relation to this living area there are two studies located on the north side next to the entrance.

Village of cabins

The collection of rooms on the first floor provides space for sleeping and privacy. Set in a delicate roof garden, all the bedrooms are autonomous volumes crafted in their entirety from dark wood. They work like a village of cabins, providing intimacy and privacy. Every room is like a world of its own with private views over the wooded landscape.

Wellness and retreat

The curved basement is for guests, wellness and storage. The excavations allow the pool and the guest rooms to have fully glazed facades and direct access to the garden.

Smart Sustainability

RAU designed innovative sustainable measures including a hot and cold-water storage and extensive use of hidden PV cells. The basement contains a dedicated area for the high-end energy saving installations.

A house designed for the hectic life of an evolving family; fragmented yet united, plural yet whole.

The audacious structural engineer Gilbert van der Lee, also responsible for engineering Villa 1, designed the structure, including the soaring ceiling of the living room. The interior furnishings are designed by interior designer Bart Vos.

Above: site plan

Location: near Utrecht, The Netherlands
Partner in charge: Nanne de Ru
Co-architect: Thomas Rau
Design: Nanne de Ru, Charles Bessard
Project leader: Stijn Kemper
Team: Ard-Jan Lootens, Bjørn Andreassen

Above: exploded axonometric

Structural engineering: Gilbert van der Lee – BREED Integrated Design
Sustainability: Thomas Rau – RAU
Project management: Stef Pierik – Pierik Projecten Groep BV
Contractor: Coen Hagedoorn Bouwgroep BV
Landscape design: Sander Lap – LAP Landscape & Urban design
Interior design: Bart Vos – VOS Interieur

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: basement floor plan – click for larger image

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and RAU appeared first on Dezeen.