Hasta La Ideas

Large folding doors open this woodland house outside Stockholm onto a decked terrace that is shaded by a folding fabric canopy.

The house by Swedish studio Schlyter/Gezelius Arkitektkontor is entirely clad in larch, milled into striped patterns by local carpenters.

Inside the pine-framed building, walls are lined with stucco and have rounded corners.

A timber staircase in the central kitchen and dining room leads to a first-floor loft with oversized windows.

Other timber-clad woodland houses in Sweden to have been featured on Dezeen include a tree-top hotel cabin and a triangular hut for campers – see more projects in Sweden here.

Photography is by Luc Pages.

Here are some details from project architect Camilla Schlyter:

Background, low impact no waste

During the last 25 years I have worked with and studied how the use of computers and software have affected architecture and the physical landscape. First I was in raptures about the possibilities. Though this is still true there are other implications that are all the more worrying. The waste of space in today´s interiors and exteriors, the lack of respect for the natural landscape, the global use of non-renewable materials, and how all of this in various ways is linked to our digital tools.

Some reflections on this subject is in an essay (made possible with the help from a large grant from a Swedish architect organization, ARKUS) called “the architect´s digital tools and there implications on the physical landscape”.

Facts, low impact dwelling
Built: fall 2009, South west outside Stockholm. Close to the Baltic sea.
Builder/contractor: Allerskog & Krantz AB, by Åke Krantz and Kenneth Kling. Local contractors.
Carpentry shop: Dahlqvist Snickeri AB, Local carpentry
Client: Private
Engineer: Konkret Rådgivande Ingenjörer i Stockholm AB, by Olle Norrman
Architect: Schlyter / Gezelius Arkitektkontor AB, by Camilla Schlyter

On the construction of the dwelling

• the use of local contractors and carpentry shops
• the use digital files for milling.
• frequent contact architect, contractors and client
• a tent was set up on the site and the construction of the dwelling could continue without too much regard to the weather conditions.
• every part of the building was designed specifically for this project. A local carpentry shop, just minutes away from the site, milled the façade panels, the rounded corners, the ledges, the windows, the doors, the staircase, the kitchen fittings, the fitted closets, fitted bunk beds and some more items.

Site

• tried to use the conditions of the site with respect for yesterday and tomorrow =make as little impact as possible on the site, plan pluming, electricity etc.
• find optimal shelter from the wind and find the best balance of sunlight to increase the inflow of the sun and decrease energy losses of the wind
• no stone blown up
• no trees felled
• the undercurrents of the water flow taken into account
• combine the conditions of the landscape with the needs of the family-obtain a close connection between outside and inside

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Construction/framework: pine wood
Insulation: cellulose fiber
Inner walls: wood boards, putty and paint, the rounded corners in the interiors where made by a master of stucco.
Windows, doors: pine wood
Façade: larch wood, milled in different designs
Heating: air-heat pump system
Roof: roofing felt with the thinnest metal as a top layer. The roof is designed to work as one big gutter. No other gutters needed.

Wood

• using wood that was forested with sustainable methods
• the builders and I were very happy when building, the building site smelled wonderful, and we all cried when it was finished!
• wood products is fine in regard to health reasons for the builder, the user and the environment
• wood degrades into earth
• wood coming from a local source will work excellent when being used locally
• wood does not require much energy when retrieving and processing
• it will be easy to change and exchange parts
• it was easy to custom make designs in wood
• 80% of the land area is covered with forest, forest is increasing not decreasing, wood is a renewable rescore, traditional knowhow on building in wood, traditionally a large industrial production based on wood as resource

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Plan

• create diagonals
• let the fine boundary between spaces be slightly prolonged.
• try to use architecture to expand space, without expanding the physical space or physical volume!
• create possibilities to see but not be seen, to hear but not be seen, to be together but alone etc.

Digital tools

• using the digital tools to calculate the use of building material in order to create a minimum of waste. All that was left for me as a keepsake was a small 150 mm piece of façade panel!
• use them to optimize design and to create dialog between client, contractors and architect.
• use them to create an open process, but not wasting time and money on elaborate photorealistic perspectives, instead use them for quick sketches and sitting together by the computer.

We are currently developing a multifamily housing project constructed of wood, where the façade can change in harmony with the landscape and the micro climate. To increase the inflow of the sun and decrease energy losses of wind etc. A project circling around the cultivation both in- and outside the house. This house is part of a large development in the countryside outside Stockholm the plan is submitted to the planning process.

See also:

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Cabin by Cyrén & Cyrén	Hölick Sea Resort by Henrietta Palmer	Villa Överby by John Robert Nilsson

London-based Fraher Architects have completed a house extension in Islington that is wrapped in larch batons and has a flower-covered roof.

Adjoining the rear of the listed house, the timber-clad extension contains a study and a dining room with an oversized glass door to the garden.

Benches and fences lining this garden terrace are made of the same timber.

A serpent-like lamp illuminates the terrace at night, while matching orange lamps light up the new dining room beneath a rectangular skylight.

The roof over the dining room is split into two halves, which pitch in different directions and enable rainwater collection.

Modest residential extensions are common in London neighbourhoods – see our earlier stories about a house extended by just a metre and a zinc-clad extension squeezed into a wedge of land.

Photography is by Andy Matthews.

Here are some more details from Joe and Liz Fraher:

The Jewel Box

Intended for a reputable silversmith and QC the brief called for complete renovation and extension to provide a dining area and garden room. This Grade II listed building is located in the prominent Colebrook row conservation area.

Conceived as a series of jewelled boxes carefully inserted into the existing fabric, the proposals open up and revitalise what was a series of dark disjointed spaces. Timber and concrete have been combined in a simple palette of materials that wrap around the existing fabric, inviting the user through the space and into the garden. The remaining period architectural features are retained and celebrated whilst the rear addition utilises a double canted wildflower roof to bounce light deep into the floor plate.

Click above for larger image

A hidden garden study provides a place of contemplation overlooking the south facing courtyard garden.

Click above for larger image

Sustainable Scottish Larch combines with a series of green roofs to soften the junctions of the insertion and provides a habitat for local wildlife. Super insulation and rainwater storage add to the eco credentials of the scheme.

See also:

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Villa extension by O+A	Extension to Residence Königswarte by Plasma	University extension by CrystalZoo

Ever considered building a mobile pop-up gallery? Although it’s not a new idea, we love that Made Out Portugal, a collective of Portugese designers documented the buildout of their mobile exhibition space for DMY Berlin this past June. Check out the Made Out Portugal lighting and interior objects on exhibition and the DIY timelapse video of the buildout after the jump.

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Oscar Niemeyer will be 104 this December, but he’s still apparently going plenty strong, with none of those back and forth trips to the hospital that so plagued him last year. Following his recent appearance in the soon-to-be-released Urbanized documentary, the opening of his new foundation, and hopefully still working on his new interest in songwriting, the AP reports that the legendary architect has just released a new book, launched this week in his home city of Rio de Janeiro. Details on who is publishing and if and when it will be released here in the US aren’t known, but the title is The Churches of Oscar Niemeyer and, as the title would suggest, it contains “photos and sketches of the churches and chapels he has designed over his long career.” While his 1943 Church of St. Francis in Pampulha, Brazil is arguably his most famous, you can see a number of images of his additional impressive, thoroughly modern work on churches over at ArcSpace. Whoever winds up publishing, we just hope it doesn’t cost $650 like his last did through Assouline. Though fortunately, they also put out a regular, $25 version as well.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Square windows with various dimensions sporadically puncture the plain brick exterior of a community centre in Hungary.

Architects MARP and Dévényi és Társa designed the two-storey centre beside a school in the town of Sásd.

The building has an asymmetrically pitched roof with eaves along one edge that match the height of those on an adjacent school.

The centre provides a computer lab, music room, cafe and study room for pupils of the school, plus a library and gym hall for the use of the whole community.

A handful of projects in Hungary have been featured on Dezeen in recent years, including a staircase resembling a wedge of Swiss cheese and a faceted stone concert hall – see all our stories about projects in Hungary here.

Photography is by Zsolt Frikker.

Here is a more detailed description from MARP:

Community centre by MARP

Sásd is a town of 3500 inhabitants located in the northern part of Baranya county. Its local government set to realizing the new “Integrated Community and Cultural Institution” with high ambitions and the use of EU funds on the premises adjacent to the existing elementary school providing for the educational needs of the Sásd microregion.

Directly adjoining the existing school buildings renovated in the framework of the present investment, the new structure is furnished with rooms for educational activities (e.g. study circle facilities, computer lab, music room, cafeteria and corresponding service units), functions serving the wider town community (e.g. library) and multi-use rooms (gym and events hall). All these features clearly demonstrate the intention to create a cultural centre for the town and the whole Sásd microregion in the form of a new Community House.

When designing the new structure, we put priority on integrating it into its environment both intellectually and physically in a way that would make it stand out as an unmistakably contemporary and autonomous architectural proposition in its urban context. This process implied engaging in constant dialog with elements such as the somewhat fading, though characteristic tradition of brick homes in the surrounding built environment, the distinctive building line, nearby structures seen as significant, the presence of local monuments including a neighbouring church, the change of scale etc.

Through condensing these complex functions, each calling for large surfaces, in a single edifice – though separating them might in have been an easier path to take – we wished to take on the tradition that still managed to incorporate changes of scale by delicately integrating major public buildings within their historic town setting. The greatest challenge in the design process was to find contemporary answers with credibility and a sense of proportion to the innumerable questions raised in the quest for integration while not losing track of different (financial, construction etc) aspects of reality.

In positioning the building, we kept the traditional saw-toothed building line, and even filled the gaps formed over the years when previously existing buildings were demolished. The entrance could thus be joined to a public plaza which creates a picturesque way for visitors to approach the building as well as serving as the venue of important community activities (e.g. fairs).

Besides the building line, the compact mass of the structure is shaped by a number of factors: it interacts with the oldest wing of the existing school, a brick structure from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, being adjacent to it and following its eaves line. From this virtual point of reference, the planes and edges defining the shape rise dynamically until the other half of the block, creating an intimate embrasured entrance below the library space.

The asymmetry of the high-roofed format was designed to enable proportionate roof structures to face the road, emphasising the monolithic appearance of the structure due to the identity in the tone and materials used in the brick coverage of the façade and the tile roofing. This minimalist design indirectly alludes to the rigorous world of the monumental backyard brick sheds parallel to the streets, built behind the homes of German-speaking townsfolk.

As befitting its intended community use, the building vigorously communicates with the town through the large surfaces comprised by the irregularly placed apertures on its front, transmitting the life going on within its walls. The homogenous arrangement of these openings highlights the large contiguous spaces they enclose. Their position, set in a plane to the north and in deep casements to the south interacts organically with the environmental conditions.

Architect:
MARP / Márton Dévényi, Pál Gyürki-Kiss;
Dévényi és Társa Ltd. / Sándor Dévényi

Engineering:
Marosterv Ltd. / Maros József, Maros Gergely;
EG Mérnöki Ltd. / Erős Gábor
Steel structures: Dr. Metzing Mérnöki Ltd. / Dr. Metzing Ferenc
Mechanical engineer: Dévényi és Társa Ltd. / László Skrobák

Client: Sásd Town Council, Sásd, Hungary
Location: Szent Imre utca 25-27., 7370, Sásd, Hungary
Size: 2.600 m2
Beginning of conceptual design: February 2009
Construction period: 2010 – 2011

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Centre for Neonatal Care by Feilden Clegg Bradley	House for elderly people by Aires Mateus Arquitectos	Neighbourhood Centre by Colboc Franzen & Associés