Italian architect Andrea Tognon refurbished this L-shaped building in Teolo, Italy, by adding the missing corner and it’s the latest house in our A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about Residence O »
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Residence O by Andrea Tognon appeared first on Dezeen.
Japanese studio Mattch has completed a family house in Nagoya with a sweeping facade that stretches out towards the corner of its plot (+ slideshow).
While the rear and side walls of House H are straight, Mattch designed the roof of the building as an irregular gable that curves up then down as it runs along the length of the building.
“I let the form of the ceiling curve gently to diffuse the light that enters through the slit-shaped top light on the north side of the ridge,” said architect Ryuji Takenaka.
The curved elevation frames the outline of a patio at the entrance, while a row of timber rods screens a sheltered deck that could be used for storing bins or bicycles.
Glass walls slide back to connect the patio with the interior, where a kitchen, living room and dining room occupy one double-height space at the front of the building.
A traditional Japanese room filled with Tatami mats is also located in this space but can be partitioned off when necessary behind folding translucent screens.
A mezzanine floor is positioned above the bedroom and bathrooms to provide a multi-purpose room at the rear of the home.
The owner of the residence works for a paint company, so the interior was decorated using white paint he supplied. “[He] wanted to make a showroom for visitors,” explained Takenaka.
Wooden flooring runs through each room, while exposed wooden columns provide extra support for the concealed steel framework.
House H is one of many projects we’ve published that are named after letters of the alphabet and you can see more by catching up with our A-Zdvent calendar, which is counting down one house every day until Christmas.
Other Japanese homes we’ve featured recently include one that generates all its own energy and heating.
Photography is by Nacasa & Partners.
Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image
Above: first floor plan – click above for larger image
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by Mattch appeared first on Dezeen.
Rectangular windows puncture three layers of walls and ceilings in this house in Japan, the fourteenth window in our A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about House N »
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House N by Sou Fujimoto Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
A grid of timber louvres screens either end of this house in Japan, which is the letter M in our daily A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about House M »
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House M by AE5 partners appeared first on Dezeen.
This conceptual house would be wrapped entirely in a plastic insulating material normally used on roofs. Intended for Łódź in Poland, it’s the lowercase letter l in our A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about l House »
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l House by moomoo architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Eight architecture students from the University of Colorado have designed and built a cabin in the Utah desert for a Navajo woman (+ slideshow).
Above: photograph is by Scott Zimmerman
Under the guidance of tutor Rick Sommerfeld, the students teamed up with charity DesignBuildBLUFF, who regularly work with students to provide housing for some of the 2.4 million Native Americans that live in dilapidated or overcrowded housing on tribal land.
The team were tasked with replacing the home of Lorraine Nakai, an avid collector of books, ornaments and other memorabilia. “When we met her, she had her collections piled and dispersed within her old house. She expressed a strong desire to be able to showcase her eclectic collections in her new home – they were truly a part of who she was,” explains the team.
Above: photograph is by David Hevesi
The students planned a long and narrow residence with one room spanning its entire length. To accommodate all of Nakai’s possessions, they tucked all bedroom and bathroom facilities behind a 15-metre long storage and display wall. “It transforms the interior of the house into a diverse exhibit,” say the designers.
Instead of a conventional bedroom, Nakai’s sleeping area is little more than a bed-shaped shelf in the wall, although a doorway and ladder lead up to a guest bedroom in the loft.
Kitchen surfaces are also incorporated into the wall, but a wood-burning stove is suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the room. “The fireplace, which is an integral part of the Navajo culture, stands proud as a singular object in this space,” says the team.
The exterior of the house is clad with timber and the students also added panels of recycled glass to protect the walls from the harsh desert sun and open winds.
Large windows along the east-facing elevation and a large doorway to the south allow for cross-ventilation during warmer seasons. Meanwhile, a projecting window on the north side of the building provides an indoor seating area with a view out across the landscape.
The houses’s position beside three other small buildings and a tree frames the outline of a courtyard, providing further protection from the wind.
The building was constructed in just 80 days for a budget of $25,000, the equivalent of just over £15,000.
See more stories about houses on Dezeen, including an Alpine holiday villa in France and seven woodland cabins in Portugal.
Photography is by James Anderson, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s a short description from the team:
DesignbuildBLUFF is a non-profit organization located in southeast Utah. The organization works with college students to help Navajos on the Indian reservation. Collaborating with DesignBuildBLUFF, during the summer of 2011 eight students from the University of Colorado at Denver designed the house, and during the fall semester moved to Utah for the build.
The house was built for an impoverished Navajo woman. With little-to-no construction experience, the team completed the house in 80 days with a budget of $25,000. The team’s final design is a true response to the client’s aspirations, existing site conditions, and extreme desert climate.
More importantly, the successful completion of this project hopes to inspire young architects and show them that with determination, persistence and the will to improve people’s living conditions, modern and thoughtful designs can be achieved even with little funding.
Students: James Anderson, David Hevesi, Zia Hooker, Courtney Hughes, Milen Milev, Cam Minor, Michelle Pollock and Josh Young.
Senior Instructor: Rick Sommerfeld
Above: site axonometric plan
Above: floor plan – click above for larger image
Above: long section
Above: north and east elevations
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University of Colorado students appeared first on Dezeen.
French architects JKA and design studio FUGA have converted a nineteenth century Alpine farmhouse in France into a holiday villa with chunky wooden cladding and cut-outs based on the shadows of other buildings (+ slideshow).
To recreate the rhythms and patterns of the traditional local buildings, JKA and FUGA used one-inch-thick roughly sawn spruce planks, which they had to source over a year in advance. ”Only a few trunks presented enough nodes and few clapboards big enough were able to be pulled from each trunk,” architect Jérôme Aich told Dezeen.
In typical Alpine barns the gaps between disjointed wooden planks would allow air to circulate round drying hay, but at Villa Solaire the gaps between each panel simply let extra light into the rooms inside.
The architects studied the shadows cast onto the villa by neighbouring buildings to determine the positions of the cut-out patterns. “The pattern within the cladding is designed to respond to the path described by these shadows. The areas receiving a greater amount of sun are all the more open,” Aich said.
Originally they planned to cut the wood digitally before installation, but instead found it easier and more economical to attach the boards to the building frame first, then stencil on the patterns and employ a local carpenter to cut them by hand. “The construction marks slowly disappear but the cladding keeps the valor and traces of the handmade work,” Aich explained.
The framework of the original farmhouse was restored, which the architects describe as an unusual practice. “A lot of operations on old farmhouses used to cut out the wood structure of the first level and replace it with concrete structures. In our case, the existing skeleton was integrally conserved,” added Aich.
Inside the two-story house, a ground floor wading pool is surrounded with recycled slate tiles that were originally used to cover the roof.
Bedroom suites and a kitchen are located on the first floor and are positioned at each of the corners, leaving a cross-shaped living room between with windows on all four walls.
The different areas of this room are separated by level changes, which the architects describe as a reference to the topography of the of the Rhône-Alpes region.
“The house is conceived as an imprint of its surroundings,” concluded Aich. “Imprint in terms of landscape and geography, in terms of sunlight, as well as in terms of history.”
See more stories about villas on Dezeen »
See more stories about French architecture »
Photography is by Julien Lanoo
Here’s a few words from the architects
Villa Solaire
JKA and FUGA
The project consists in a conversion of an ancient farmhouse into a luxury rental villa, revisiting traditional techniques. This former farmhouse is located in the historic district of Pied de La Plagne, in Morzine. Built in 1826, it was singled out by the municipality as a landmark for traditional architecture.
Drawing on the context: inside/outside fitting
A uniform cladding wraps the whole farm. One of the challenges of the project was to preserve its appearance, while filtering light into the heart of the building.
The traditional technique of decorative cut-outs within the wood strips was used to perform specific perforations within the planks. The design of this simple and contemporary pattern is consistent with the equipment and techniques used by the local carpenter for cutting spruce slats. These cut-outs recall the disjointed battens of the traditional barn, used for drying hay.
Today, these slits bring light inside the building. The glazed elements of the project, which are flush with the inside of the façade, are partially hidden by the cover strips. As they are not visible from outside they do not interfere with the uniformity of the cladding.
Throughout the year, the surrounding roofs and buildings cast their shadows on the façades. The pattern within the cladding is designed to respond to the path described by these shadows: the areas receiving a greater amount of sun are all the more open and provide a certain legibility of the continuity between the common spaces of the house.
This concept of interlocking inside/outside, evokes a lifestyle in harmony with its surroundings and leads to the project being named the “solar house”: a house exposed on its four façades to the path of the sun, perceived as a sundial.
Above: site plan – click above to see a larger image
Finding one’s bearings: a living geography.
The idea is to move through this house between four “blocks” steady as rocks, located at each corner of the building. Each independent unit forms a suite with sleeping area and amenities. Between these four blocks, the remaining space is occupied by a succession of stacked floors at different levels in the framework. This continuum of generous space welcomes the activities shared by the inhabitants: cooking, dining, watching a film, conversing in the living room, warming up around the fire…
Above: ground floor plan – click above to see a larger image
These four blocks mark the house as the summits punctuate the valley. In Haute Savoie, one instinctively relates the farms to the mountains. Again, this symbolic association is translated in each block as it is identified in its facing mountainous terrain, just as the framework can be interpreted as a forest, whose various topographical lines are recalled within the different floor levels.
Above: first floor plan – click above to see a larger image
Revealing the structure: nested scales or “the complex of the snail”.
The charm of the original farm resides in the existing structure. Conserving its overall appearance was of one of the project’s key challenges, which motivated its restoration: It was fully recovered and the original plastering preserved after brushing and trimming.
Above: section – click above to see a larger image
Compressed spaces, expanded spaces. Nesting areas.
In order to clear the room of the nave while meeting the rental house needs, utility functions were closely integrated. A strong contrast results from the scales of the cosy bedrooms, bathrooms and sleeping alcoves, next to the open central meeting space. The complexity of these nested spaces is combined with a similar research in terms of details and materials.
Above: section – click above to see a larger image
Client: Private
Cost: 1.100.000 € excl. tax
Area: 620 m² gross floor area
Beginning of studies: October 2009
Construction completion: January 2012
Program: Rental house – capacity 16 persons
Design Team: JKA – Jérémie Koempgen Architecture, FUGA – J.Aich & M.Recordon designers, J.Koempgen and J.Aich are members of the collective Ferpect
Contractors: SARL Laperrousaz (carpenter) / SARL Yves Gourvest Construction (masonry) / SARL Fourcade Herve (interior design) / Etablissements Guy Perracino (joinery) / Labevière (Electrician) / Marcellin (heating) / SARL CQFD Drouet (shutters) / Florinda Donga (curtains)
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and FUGA appeared first on Dezeen.
This house in Tokyo with one tall skinny wing and one short fat one is at number eleven in our A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about House K »
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by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
French studio Avenier & Cornejo Architectes has used strips of cedar cladding to wrap every surface of this house in Orsay, France (+ slideshow).
Above: photograph is by Cristobal Palma
The architects wrapped the cedar strips over each wall and and around the gabled roof of the two-storey Maison 2G. “To have a fully wooden exterior was a logical reaction to the environment,” said Avenier & Cornejo‘s Miguel Cornejo. “The house is at the end of a road by the forest, so it fulfilled a transition between urban and natural environments.”
Large windows and openings let light penetrate the wooden walls, plus rooms inside are organised to receive daylight at the times of day when they will be most used. “The kitchen was orientated east to have breakfast with morning light and the living room has the soft evening light of the west,” said Cornejo.
The ground-floor living room is a double-height space that is described by the designers as being “carved”. It opens out to a terrace and garden.
Above: photograph is by Cristobal Palma
“We worked on the flow of movement in the house to reduce corridors and create a dynamic flux,” added Cornejo. “In this way we sculpted an intersection of movement and perspective.”
Above: photograph is by Cristobal Palma
A staircase winds up through the centre of the house and leads to three bedrooms, all located on the first floor.
Other houses we’ve featured in France include one with cut-out shutters on its glazed facade and one with deep larch window frames.
See more stories about houses on Dezeen »
Above: photograph is by Cristobal Palma
Photography is by Stephane Chalmeau, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s some more information from the architects:
House 2G
Orsay (France)
Before becoming a family home the land near the University of South Paris, Orsay, was better known by students for a take away bus that served English fast food.
Located at the end of the Rue Georges Clemenceau, at the intersection with the entrance to the university grounds, this site has a triple orientation, including a view of the park.
Above: photograph is by Cristobal Palma
Architects Avenier Cornejo’s clients are friends of friends. The development of the project was a collaboration that had a lot of freedom. The family, having a third child, was open to any proposal for their new home that offered plenty of quality light; which was previously lacking.
Above: ground floor plan – click above to see larger image
The challenge of the project was also to insert a contemporary house ecologically in a suburban fabric, more or less traditional, enjoying its view on the park. The ground is very wet and required deep foundations for the supporting structure. It is specified to meet the 2005 target for RT operation. In addition to basic insulation, natural vegetation was added externally. The compact volume limits energy losses.
Above: first floor plan – click above to see larger image
Flirting with the building regulations of the materials and the context of the landscape led a project of ‘total look’ wood. The volume is simple and one-piece, the wood cladding envelope dramatic. Composed of strips of cedar crate, this one allows omnipresent light, to be so over-input and redirected the angular pants interiors. The volumes are designed and vibrate throughout the day.
Above: roof plan – click above to see larger image
To offset the plain exterior the interior is enhanced by a carved inside: a large volume unites the two levels of the house, patio lights rooms and bathroom and staircase structure the ground floor…
Above: section – click above to see larger image
This framework looks onto the landscaped garden to enjoy its charms. The untreated cladding has been planted with patina ash and sweet fruit integration.
Above: front elevation – click above to see larger image
Client: Private
Architects: Avenier & Cornejo Architectes
Building company: Martins Construction
Mission: Complete
Programme: Private house
Surface: 216 sq m
Cost: 400 000 Euros HT
Phase: Completed
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Cornejo Architectes appeared first on Dezeen.
We’re into double figures on our A-Zdvent calendar and at number ten is J House in Japan, which features rooms that open out to one another. Read more about J House »
The post Dezeen’s A-Zdvent calendar: J House
by Isolation Unit and Yosuke Ichii appeared first on Dezeen.
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