Hasta La Ideas

Vietnamese studio H&P Architects has built a prototype bamboo house designed to withstand floods up to three metres above ground (+ slideshow).

H&P Architects used tightly-packed rows of bamboo cane to build the walls, floors and roof of the Blooming Bamboo Home, along with bamboo wattle, fibreboard and coconut leaves.

Elevated on stilts, the house is accessed using wooden ladders that lead to small decks around the perimeter. The area beneath can be used for keeping plants and animals, but would allow water to pass through in the event of a flood.

The walls fold outwards to ventilate the building, plus sections of the roof can be propped open or completely closed, depending on the weather.

Inside, living and sleeping areas occupy the main floor, and ladders lead up to attic spaces that can be used for study or prayer.

The vernacular structure can be assembled in as little as 25 days and adapted to suit varying local climates and sites.

It has been designed as a house, but could also be used as a school classroom, medical facility or community centre.

“The house can keep people warm in the most severe conditions and help them control activities in the future, also contributing to ecological development as well as economic stabilisation,” said the architects.

Suspended sections of bamboo can be filled with plants to create a vertical garden on the facade.

At night, interior lighting shines through the cracks in the walls to make the building glow from within.

Other bamboo structures on Dezeen include a floating tea house with louvred bamboo corridors, a thatched dome at the centre of a lake and homes designed to assist the housing crisis in Vietnam. See more architecture using bamboo »

See more Vietnamese houses »
See more architecture and design in Vietnam »

Here’s some information from the architects:

Blooming Bamboo Home

In Vietnam, the natural phenomena are severe and various: storm, flood, sweeping floods, landslides, drought, etc. The damage every year, which is considerable compared to the world scale, takes away about 500 persons and 1.2%-GDP-equally assets and reduces the involved areas’ development.

One solution to houses and homes for millions of these people is the goal of this BB (Blooming Bamboo) home.

From the bamboo module of f8-f10cm & f4-f5cm diameter and 3.3m or 6.6 length, each house is simply assembled with bolting, binding, hanging, placing.

This pulled monolithic architecture is strong enough to suffer from phenomena like 1.5m-high flood. Currently, H&P Architects is experimenting the model to suffer 3m-high flood. The space is multifunctional such as House, Educational, Medical and Community Centre and can be spread if necessary.

From the fixed frame using f8-f10cm bamboo, the house cover can be finished according to its local climate and regional materials (f4-f5cm small bamboo, bamboo wattle, fibreboard, coconut leaf) in order to create vernacular architecture.

The users can build the house by themselves in 25 days. Besides, it can be mass produced with modules and the total cost of the house is only 2500$.

Therefore, the house can warm people in the most severe conditions and help them control activities in the future, also remarkably contribute to ecological development as well as economic stabilisation.

This will give conditions for self-control process and create connection between vernacular culture and architecture.

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by H&P Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Angular cutaways create apertures through the walls, floors and ceilings of this house in the Bousou Peninsula mountains of Japan by architect Yuusuke Karasawa (+ slideshow).

Divided into eight equal portions, the wooden house was designed by Yuusuke Karasawa as a perfect cube with four rooms on each of its two floors.

Three-dimensional holes cut through the structure at the points where spaces meet one another, allowing views across different rooms as well as between storeys.

“The partition walls and ceilings of these eight spaces are interrupted by six small cubes that create gaps in the walls and ceilings, providing visual connections between the various rooms,” said Karasawa.

“Although I spaced the cubes out, the interrelatedness of their angles of inclination connect them, creating a sense of continuity,” he added.

The cutaway sections also help to distribute light through the house. “Beams of sunlight come from unexpected directions and crisscross within the interior, bringing out more layers of complexity to the already diverse interior condition,” Karasawa said.

Positioned on the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, the house provides a weekend retreat for a family who play golf at nearby country clubs.

The four ground floor rooms comprise a kitchen, a living room, a studio and an entrance lobby, each with white walls and timber flooring.

A steel staircase winds up to the level above, where a large hallway and two bedrooms are accompanied by a glazed bathroom.

The timber-clad facade features lopsided square windows on each side, offering views out towards the surrounding mountainous landscape.

Other Japanese residences we’ve featured this week include one that brings light in through the roof, one with a series of small attic spaces and a narrow timber house with paper thin shutters folding out from its walls. See more Japanese houses »

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Villa Kanousan

This is a weekend cottage situated within the deep mountains area of midland of Bousou Peninsula. The site is located on Kanou Mountain, Kimitsu city. Traditional Japanese painting artist, Kaii Higashiyama(1909-99) once mentioned that he was awakened to a landscape painting by the majestic ravine scenery of this site-this cottage is sitting on the slope looking down this ravine.

The exterior shape of this building appears to be a simple cube. However, the interior consists of two layers of the traditional square plan, while a cubic volume is inserted to the points of intersection produced by the wall surfaces, the floor surfaces and the ceiling that divide the space.

The intersecting angle of each cube is defined by the rule of an algorithm, producing the most prominent character of this project – that adjacent cubes are tilted in a definite angle against each other.

The rotation angle of the cubes defined by algorithmic rule dissects the interior volume into various spaces according to the header forms of the cutting plane, providing diverse spatial conditions as each individual room.

The interior produced by this method have diverse characteristics for each space although the certain sense of order is given to the whole building since the setting of the cube angle is not random.

This condition allows to experience the coexistence of the order and the diversity as antinomy based on the physical sensation of the space. It can be said that such coexistence of order and diversity is the most significant characteristic of the architectural space produced by an algorithmic rule.

The toplight on the ceiling brings in the sunlight and filled up the room during the daytime. Beams of the sunlight come from unexpected direction and crisscrosses within the interior, bringing out more layers of complexity to the already diverse interior condition.

The initial rotation angle of the cube is fixed according to the slope angle of the site, therefore the magnificent natural scenery is reflected and articulated to the spatial conditions of the interior space. The occupants of the space can feel the sense of unity to the scenery visible outside of the windows.

This weekend cottage was completed under the unique methodology of configuring the spaces – while it exists within the grand nature, and its surrounding scenery is taken into the space. The result would be the new and original physical sensation and experience of the space.

Project name: Villa Kanousan
Location: Kimitsu, Chiba, Japan
Design: 2007-2008
Construction: 2009
Architects: Yuusuke Karasawa Architects (principal in charge: Yuusuke Karasawa)
Consultants: gh9 Co Ltd., mechanical (air conditioning)
General contractor: Eiger Co Ltd – Noriaki Fujii,Yousuke Ozaki
Structural system: timber
Materials used: rose mahogany, exterior: plaster board (emulsion paint finish. Flooring and carpet , interior.
Site area: 459.03 square metres
Built area: 51.83 square metres
Total floor: 87.69 square metres

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Yuusuke Karasawa appeared first on Dezeen.

Small attic spaces are tucked between the ribs of a triangular roof at this house extension in Japan by mA-style Architects (+ slideshow).

Japanese firm mA-style Architects designed the timber roof as a series of V-shaped frames, which sit over a rectilinear base and create triangular windows at each end.

Added to the west side of a family house, the Koya No Sumika extension provides a separate living and dining space for a couple and is connected to the main building by a glass and timber passageway.

“The young couple desired feelings of ease and spaces that ensure quiet and comfortable times,” said the architects. “The extension is designed as a minimum living space and pursues both maintaining distance and retaining fertile relationships.”

Small pockets slotted into the sides of the living area provide storage spaces for books and plants, as well as study areas with wooden desks and chairs.

A set of protruding wooden stairs and a separate ladder lead to the compact attic spaces overhead, as well as to a bed deck at the front of the building.

Bare light bulbs hang down from the triangular ceiling sections to illuminate the space.

Other mA-style Architects projects we’ve featured are an elevated house in the shape of a giant rectangular telescope, a wooden house lifted off the ground and curved like the hull of a boat and a metal-clad house with a smaller wooden house inside. See more Japanese houses »

Photography is by Kai Nakamura.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Koya No Sumika

This is an extension plan for a young couple’s house next to the main house. The main house is a one story Japanese style house with about 200m2, which is commonly seen in rural areas.

It is a big house with many rooms and mainly consists of large spaces for people to gather and to provide hospitality. However, the young couple desired feelings of ease and spaces that ensure quiet and comfortable times.

A simple extension may enable each of the house’s residents to live completely separated, but the relationship between the families and the connection with the main house might be lost.

Therefore, by utilising the functions for living in the main house, the extension is designed as a minimum living space, and pursues both maintaining distance and retaining fertile relationships.

The extension is attached by a connecting-corridor on the west side of the main house. This enables the residents to switch their mindset before entering into the other living space, and the common garden maintains a proper sense of distance. By relying on the main house for the large kitchen, bathroom, and future children’s room, only a few functions for a living space are required for the extended part.

The living spaces are aggregated into a simple continuous structure, which consists of small, 2m high, U-shaped bearing walls. A V-beam roof truss is made with 62mm panels and structural plywood on both sides, and it is topped with a 69mm thin roof.

By overlapping the bearing walls and the V-beam frame, and by using a variety of finishes, contrasting spaces are created and a sense of scale in the vertical direction is born in the flat house. By doing so, as the residents’ living scenes unfold, light and air freely circulate in the space, and the people’s lines-of-sight extend beyond the area in a state of freedom. We intended to leave a rich blank space that fosters the imaginations of the residents.

The post Koya No Sumika by
mA-style Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Paper-thin shutters fold out from the walls of this narrow timber house in Tokyo by Japanese firm Unemori Architects (+ slideshow).

Unemori Architects clad the entire exterior with timber boards, then added matching shutters across the large windows.

“At the second and third floor there is a large hinged door in each room. If it’s opened, the inside of the room is enveloped in light and wind as if you are outside,” explained architect Hiroyuki Unemori.

Unemori positioned windows to offer the best views of the building’s surroundings. “The window is so big against the small rooms that every time a window opens or closes the view inside dramatically changes,” he added.

Small House accommodates a couple with a small child and is located within a densely populated suburban area of the city.

An entrance slotted into the corner of the building leads through to a circular white staircase, which spirals up to three storeys above and down to one below. Each floor contains one room, including two bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen.

A glass-fronted bathroom is positioned on the roof and faces out onto the surrounding rooftops across a triangular roof terrace.

The architects used single layers of timber to construct the floors, which match furniture, surfaces and cupboards in the dining room and kitchen.

The compact site also includes a small driveway and a narrow space to park bicycles.

Other Japanese residences we’ve recently featured include a house with a staggered interior and gently sloping roof, a house lifted off the ground by a single central pillar and a tall house with views of a nearby observation tower.

See more Japanese houses »
See more architecture and design in Japan »

Photography is by Ken Sasajima.

Here’s some project description from the architects:

Small House

The small house which the married couple and their child live stands in the densely populated area in Tokyo. Though the neighbouring houses is very close, I aimed to design the house which exceed the physical narrowness living at the city.

I laid out the 4m×4m building as small as I could at the centre of site area 34m2 and made some space for flowing of light and wind around it. And by making the space, it’s possible to avoid setback regulation and it has the 9m high volume like a tower.

The inside is simple structure what is separated by the 4 floor boards and is jointed by spiral stairway.

Especially, by making some extremely thin floor boards (thickness 70mm) , the up and down floor boards got close and connected the whole space of the house without a break.

The space of around the house is useful to let light and wind in. The wall of the rooms borders the outside, so I put windows in the best position that harmonising with its surroundings.

And the window is so big against the small room, every time the window opens or closes, the inside view dramatically changes.

Especially, at the second and third floor there is a large hinged door each room, if it is opened, the inside of the room is enveloped in light and wind as if you are outside.

By making the thin floor boards for connecting with their life and making the large windows what are opened toward the city, I aimed to exceed the segmentation, for example the upstairs and the downstairs, the inside and the outside, a building and the town, etc. to broaden the whole image of a house.

Location: Meguro-ku,Tokyo
Principal use: private residence
Family type: couple and child
Parking space: One car
Site area: 34.27 m2

Building area: 17.47 sqm
Total floor area: 67.34 sqm
Plot ratio: 146.4%
Structural systems: steel frame
Scale: 1 basement and 4 storeys
Completion: August 2010

Materials：Exterior wall – flexible board t=8mm siding water-repellent coating, roof – FRP waterproof t=3mm topcoat, interior wall – whiteboard t=3mm, ceiling – lauan plywood t=4mm CL, floor – lauan plywood t=12mm UC
Architect：Unemori Architects
Structural engineer：Structured Environment
Developer : Taishin Construction

The post Small House by
Unemori Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Ghent studio Open Y Office has extended a house in Belgium, adding a concrete structure that could also function as a standalone residence (+ slideshow).

Located in the town of Herent, the extension was designed by Open Y Office with stark concrete walls that contrast against the white-painted brick exterior of the old house, which is a converted post office.

“The inhabitants wanted an extension that was flexible enough to be transformed in time to a separate unit with its own bed and bathroom,” said the architects.

The volume of the building appears as two rectangular boxes stacked on top of one another, with the upper storey slightly overlapping the ground floor below.

An open-plan living area occupies the first floor and overlooks a garden with a new swimming pool.

A glass passageway leads through to the existing house, plus large timber-framed windows open the room out to a long and narrow balcony.

The ground floor below contains storage areas and a garage with timber panelled doors.

Concrete steps with a steel balustrade lead into the house via an entrance on the first floor.

Other residential extensions we’ve recently featured include a London home with a walk-on glass roof and an extension in Dublin covered with terracotta tiles that look like bricks.

See more residential extensions »
See more architecture and design in Belgium »

Photography is by Tom Janssens.

Here’s a short description from the architects:

House Wiva

This OYO story takes you to Herent, where the extension of a private residence captures its surroundings.

The inhabitants wanted an extension that was flexible enough to be transformed in time to a separate unit with its own bed and bathroom.

OYO emphasised the contrast between the new shape and the old volume, which used to be an post office. You can see the concrete floating above the garden.

From the point of view of the residents, the extension creates exciting views from the new living room. The two volumes are connected with a light wooden footbridge that functions as entrance but also clarifies the different volumes.

Architects: OYO – Open Y Office
Location: Herent, Belgium
Type: Single family house extension
Area: House extension 110 m2
Year: 2010

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Open Y Office appeared first on Dezeen.