Hasta La Ideas

This narrow house in Osaka by Ido, Kenji Architectural Studio contains hollow white boxes for stairs and a skewed upper storey.

The three-storey house replaces the residents’ former home on the same site, which suffered from a lack of natural light due to its proximity to the neighbouring buildings.

The architects increased the available light by rotating the second floor by 14 degrees, angling a pair of rooms towards a large corner window.

The rotation also creates voids above the staircases, which allow light to penetrate from the roof down to the lower levels.

Angular white boxes cantilever out from the wall to create sets of steps that appear to float upwards.

The main bedroom and bathroom are located on the ground floor, while the living room and concrete kitchen take up the first floor.

The angled second floor contains the children’s bedrooms and has a tapered wall on one side to further open up the space.

The final staircase leads up to a roof terrace which is partially covered.

Other houses in Osaka we’ve featured include a building that cantilevers dramatically over its driveway and a house with a faceted concrete exterior.

We’ve also featured lots of unusual staircases on Dezeen, including one with floating wooden treads and a zig-zag handrail – see more stories about staircases here.

See all our stories about Japanese houses »
See all our stories about Osaka »

Photographs are by Yohei Sasakura.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

House in Tamatsu
The house is designed for 4 members of a family with two kids. The house is placed at urban district and a small plot of only 43.21sqm in Osaka, Japan. Around the site is the mixed-use area where small houses, small factories and small office buildings coexist together without any harmony.

The client’s former house, which stood at this site, was a wooden two-storey house. The adjacent sites were close and natural light didn’t enter into the old house. Therefore the client requested the family room (living area, dining area and kitchen) to be as large as possible without pillars or load-bearing walls, and that natural light that comes into the house, especially into the family room.

First, since the site was narrow, the volume of the building took up as much of the site as possible. According to the lifestyle of the client, the bedroom of the couple and wet areas were placed in the ground floor, the family room was placed in the first floor, the rooms of children were placed in the second floor and the terrace was placed on the roof.

For a structural reason, the large openings were not able to open out on the road side of the first floor of the building. So the architects rotated the volume of the second floor 14 degrees for the axis of the building, and interstitial spaces between the rotated wall and the outer wall of a building became voids.

The skylight was set up in the upside of the void, and is intended to allow natural light to drop on the family room of the first floor.

Site plan

Moreover, one of two walls rotated 14 degrees on the plan of the second floor is also inclined to the verticality, and the part which overlaps with the stairs is turned up and has become like origami or a facet. This inclined wall frees people’s feeling by deviation from the norm, simultaneously the sense of touch of the degree of inclination and the light to reflect of that inclination causes a new physical sense.

Ground floor plan

The building’s white box is completely different from the building of the neighbourhood. It is the appearance which the cylindrical volume of the second floor rotated 14 degrees penetrates into the building. Box-shaped cantilevered stairs are floating in the void.

First floor plan

Project Name: House in Tamatsu
Use: residence
Site: Osaka, Japan
Architect: Kenji Ido / Ido, Kenji Architectural Studio
Design period: March 2011 – February 2012
Construction period: March 2012 – July 2012

Second floor plan

Structural engineer: Masakazu Taguchi / Taguchi Atelier Planning Structure
Structure system: timber construction
Total floor area is 94.46 sqm.
Building area is 32.75 sqm.
Plot area is 43.21sqm.
Building scale: 3 storeys

Roof terrace plan

The post House in Tamatsu
by Ido, Kenji Architectural Studio appeared first on Dezeen.

This rooftop house extension by Californian architects SFOSL has a metal bridge at its entrance and a facade that folds open.

The architects weren’t permitted to adapt the volume of the derelict house, so instead designed a rooftop living room that is barely visible from the street but offers residents a view out over the San Francisco bay.

“The box on top incorporates the maximum allowable zoning volume,” said architect Andreas Tingulstad. Other restrictions included a necessary 4.5 metre setback from the facade and a maximum total height of 10 metres.

A perforated screen folds down over the south-facing facade of the new room to prevent it overheating during the day.

“The operable sunshade is perforated by an abstraction of the blocks’ facades, integrating the context of the neighbourhood into the building,” explained Tingulstad.

A wooden staircase provides a route down to rooms on the first floor, while the metal bridge stretches back to meet a patio that steps down to the same level.

The exterior of the house is painted black to set it apart from its white, grey and cream-coloured neighbours.

Other American houses we’ve featured on Dezeen recently include a country house clad in shimmering aluminium panels and a writer’s hideaway clad in black-stained cedar.

See more stories about residential extensions »

Photography is by Bruce Damonte.

Here’s a project description from SFOSL:

20th Street – San Francisco

The client came to us with a derelict home on 20th Street by Potrero Hill.

The client’s had a basic need for an upgrade but also more space – to achieve this it soon became evident that expanding up through the roof was our only way.

This would not only meet their needs, but could potentially take advantage of the view overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

The existing 1575 sq. ft became 2225 sq ft – the private domain would remain on the 2nd floor – while the public functions would rise to an addition on the roof – a classic but clear programmatic division.

We chose to fully comply with all the zoning regulations, and let that be the solution to our design strategies.

We maneuvered through many City issues, but managed to solve the project requirements within the required setback of 15 feet, extending 32 feet in height, all within 175 dollars per sq ft.

We were not allowed to change the existing façade other than replacing windows and cladding due to the fact that the city had designated this block as historic.

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Although we felt that the building itself had no particular historical significance – it was first and foremost a volume – but we felt the block could make sense. We proceeded by distilling the façade components in order to highlight the common denominator of the individual houses.

As the home faces south, the new dining and living space would be excessively hot in the sun during the San Francisco’s Indian summer. We naturally wanted to capture as much of the view as possible, but also ensure that privacy and cooling issues were resolved.

First floor plan – click above for larger image

The extension would become an outdoor / indoor space enabling the free roaming from the deck in front, through the public space and back to a formerly unappreciated terraced garden in the rear. We wanted as big of an expanse as possible, but simultaneously we wanted to allow for privacy – the solution was a flexible sunscreen. By perforating the skate-ramp cladding with a pixilated image of the street we combined the city setback guidelines, the shading- and the privacy strategy with the City’s wish to embrace the character of this block.

Second floor plan – Click above for larger image

The once obsolete and underutilized backyard was given new meaning by enabling a continuous loop in-between the private and public functions. The new indoor stair and the outdoors catwalk bridge now connect the private and secluded 2nd floor to the living area on the 3rd level. This allows the owners’ two dogs a free passage to the rear yard 24-7. Our only other injection apart from the color black and the bridge connection was an aim of the highest possible degree of floral diversity – to give the backyard that oasis feeling.

Roof plan – click above for larger image

For the interior we embraced the client’s love of raw construction materials. They especially wished for many visible and unpainted wooden surfaces combined with brightness and gloss. We recycled wooden roof joists and custom-built a shelving system. PSL beams were used for the stair connecting the old house to the new, and OSB sheets connected the 2nd floor to the entry.

Section – click above for larger image

To weave the house into the urban fabric the building was clad in the inexpensive Ramp Armor material, used to make skateboard ramps. This material, with its precision, makes the building autonomous and differentiates it from the neighboring houses – while simultaneously enhancing the original design by pinpointing the primary components of the original vernacular – in that sense the building once and for all reaches its full potential within the historic envelope.

Sustainable Design is imperative to us. For this project we installed solar panels, and reused existing materials and minimized new materials to minimize waste. Our take on sustainability is foremost about the use of square footage. In every project – and maybe especially in this renovation and extension, every square foot has been thought through in its intention and objective. If we detect a spatial blind spot – we make sure it goes away or comes to life.

Front elevation – click above for larger image

Architect: Casper Mork Ulnes, Andreas Tingulstad, Grygoriy Ladigin.
Location: 1330 20th Street, San Francisco
Year Completed: 2012
General Contractor: Natal Modica Construction, Inc.
Engineer: Double D Engineering
Metal Work: Defauw Design & Fabrication
Landscape Architects: Flora Grubb
Area: 2225 sq ft (remodel + upward extension)

The post 20th Street Residence
by SFOSL appeared first on Dezeen.

Swiss architect Gus Wüstemann used raw concrete, oak and travertine to create the smooth walls and floors of this home and poolhouse overlooking Lake Zurich (+ slideshow).

“The use of raw materials is essential for our work,” Wüstemann told Dezeen. “It’s that kind of atmosphere we’re looking for – authentic surfaces with character.”

Describing the concrete structure of the house, he said: “It’s about mass and feeling the power. Concrete is a further step in the culture of stony architecture, but it’s still a stone and you can feel all the work of the construction behind it.”

The two buildings are positioned at different levels of a sloping site, with the swimming pool and pavilion at the lowest level, while the house sits above on the other side of a small garden.

Concrete dominates the walls of the house, but the facade is clad with timber to match the pavilion opposite, which is solely clad with wooden panels.

Frameless walls of glass slide open across the facade of the house, connecting living rooms on the ground and first floors with a terrace and balcony that overlook the lake.

Bedrooms are located on the ground floor, while a movie room, gym and wine cellar are housed in the basement.

We’ve featured a few projects by Gus Wüstemann, most of which also feature raw materials – see them all here.

Other Swiss houses we’ve featured include a holiday home in the Alps and a concrete house with folded seams.

See more projects in Switzerland »

Photography is by Bruno Helbling.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

2 Verandas

This is a house for a young South African family in Erlenbach, just outside Zurich along the lake.

The plot is in a suburban context and therefor pretty dense with family homes, typical for the area. The site is on a slope, where on top there are beautiful views to the lake with evening sun and at the lower part there is a group of smaller family houses.

The clients asked us for a solution for a house that made the most of the big plot, wanting a view, but not end up with a house on top of the hill and a rest of a garden down below.

Periphery

Our solution for this plot was to occupy the periphery of the site, with the main house on top of the hill and the pool house at the bottom, both houses connected through a solid stony promenade: 2 verandas.

By occupying the periphery: there is one veranda at the top, the promenade is going alongside the eastern boarder of the plot leading to the south end, there is a park in the middle of the site.

The park can be consumed as nature from all three sides and therefor there is no ‘left over’ land. The stony promenade connects the two verandas, is a site of its own, where you walk or sit and enjoy the view to the lake or the park. With the promenade, the garden moves up to the level of the living room and it connects all levels of the house with the garden.

2 verandas

The main house is a stony, concrete, hammer shaped volume over two levels, that contains the living rooms. In the upper part is the‚ public ‘living room for invitations and dining with a beautiful view over the lake of Zurich. On the ground level is the family lounge with an exterior patio that can be joined as one room with the living room. All the windows disappear and the inside and outside patio become one. That patio connects all bedrooms and is a lounge to sit together privately and watch a movie.

The circulations in and out of that space are controlled by concrete volumes at the ceiling that condense the space through mass and light and slow the circulation.

The two rooms are crossed above each other, at the ground floor level we pull a wooden curtain around the concrete volume to create the private sleeping quarters.

The upper living room has a shark fin like shape, so the space is very high at the back of the space with northern sky lights, and is lower at the front to frame the view.

Mass with no windows

The inside and the outside are joined, as we let all the windows disappear, so there is only the concrete mass left. The inside becomes a covered outside space: Mediterranean feeling in the northern hemisphere.

The absence of the window is the essential instrument to actually unite in and outside space; it is the glass itself that reminds us of the border of in and outside. In many projects nowadays this fact is neglected or simply ignored and therefore glass is used in an extensive way.

Mass and light

We chose natural and raw materials like concrete, travertine or wood. The concrete is formed and communicates with the space through light gaps that give that extra feeling of finesse to the shear mass of the concrete. Throughout the whole house indirect lights are giving directions, and attract the periphery of the spaces rather than the centre. The indirect light is creating the atmosphere.

On the underground floor there is a gym, a movie room and wine cellar all arranged around the light up masses of the concrete that give the house a whole different playful area. There is raw concrete and raw wood and therefore a lot of texture.

Basement plan – click above for larger image

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

First floor plan – click above for larger image

Section – click above for larger image

The post Two Verandas by
Gus Wüstemann appeared first on Dezeen.

World Architecture Festival 2012: architects Arcau won the civic and community category at the World Architecture Festival this week for a community building in the French town of Pornic that references traditional local storehouses for salt.

Comprising two gabled blocks, the Solarge Town and Community Building matches the forms of the local architecture, but also features louvred timber facades that conceal a structure of concrete and glass behind.

We’ve now announced winners for all the awards, including World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year, as well as all the category winners from day one and day two.

Dezeen is media partner for the World Architecture Festival, which took place at the Marina Bay Sands hotel and conference centre in Singapore. You can follow all our coverage of the event here, including a series of movies we filmed with programme director Paul Finch.

We’re also filming movies with some of the winners, which we’ll be featuring on Dezeen very soon.

The post Slideshow: Solarge Town and
Community Building by Arcau appeared first on Dezeen.

World Architecture Festival 2012: here’s a slideshow of the winner in the villa category at the World Architecture Festival, which is a house on a working sheep farm on North Bruny Island, Tasmania, by John Wardle Architects. 

Clad in galvanised, corrugated iron, Shearer’s Quarters is positioned on the site of an old shearing shed alongside a timber-clad cottage.

Pine lines the interior walls, where an open-plan living room and three bedrooms provide enough room to accommodate guests that include sheep shearers and friends on tree-planting weekends.

Bedroom walls are covered with recycled apple crates that the architects sourced from nearby orchards.

We’ve now announced winners for all the awards, including World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year, as well as all the category winners from day one and day two.

Dezeen is media partner for the World Architecture Festival, which took place at the Marina Bay Sands hotel and conference centre in Singapore. You can follow all our coverage of the event here, including a series of movies we filmed with programme director Paul Finch.

We’re also filming movies with some of the winners, which we’ll be featuring on Dezeen soon.

The post Slideshow: Shearer’s Quarters
by John Wardle Architects appeared first on Dezeen.