A staircase folds around a double-height bookcase inside this wooden family house in Fukuoka, Japan, by local architects MOVEDESIGN (+ slideshow).
Illuminated from all sides by skylights, clerestory glazing and various windows, the staircase was designed by MOVEDESIGN to connect all three floors of House in Nanakuma, creating a well-lit study space that is surrounded by books and other personal items.
“We can see the sky from one window, or the green of trees from other windows,” explained the architects. “These window pictures change with the eye level walking up and down the stairs, making our minds calm and peaceful.”
Internal walls were added sparingly, so the staircase leads straight into rooms on each floor. “The individual spaces are continuous so that the family can have privacy and also feel the presence of each other,” said the architects.
On the ground floor, the staircase opens out to a living and dining room where all food preparation and dining is accommodated by a single wooden island. Translucent panels conceal storage areas behind, while a traditional Japanese room sits off to one side.
A living room occupies the basement floor and opens out to sunken terraces on both sides of the building. A long and narrow window offers a view out to the largest of these two spaces, which is overshadowed by a small balcony on the floor above.
Walls on this floor feature exposed concrete surfaces, contrasting with the wooden walls and partitions elsewhere in the house.
The main bedroom is located on the uppermost floor, alongside a second Japanese room and a small roof terrace.
This house is located in Fukuoka, Japan. Reinforced concrete for basement and wood flame for two floors on the ground.
Three floors are in layers, different generations of this family live in this layered house. The individual spaces are continuous so that the family can have privacy and also feel the presence of each other.
The role of the large staircase is an apparatus to connect three layers. It takes sunlight and connects the air with the house. The stairs are the main traffic line, there are some windows cut outside scenery. We can see the sky from one window, or the green of trees from other windows. These window pictures change with the eye level walking up and down the stairs, making our minds calm and peaceful.
The staircase and windows were planned to control the opening to the outside, cutting the scenery, saving energy, bringing requisite sunlight and a wind through the house. We hope that three people of this family having different generations can have individual lifestyles for their day life.
A perforated concrete wall screens the courtyard of this Singapore house by Formwerkz Architects from low sun and prying neighbours (+ slideshow).
Formwerkz Architects punctured the concrete wall joining the house’s two blocks with a pattern of holes that looks like inverted braille.
“The perforated concrete wall allows for air-flow and glimpses of the garden beyond but shields the western sun and its adjacent neighbours,” said the architects.
The blocks sit either side of a pool in a central courtyard and have gardens to the front and rear, a layout modelled on a northern Chinese typology but adapted for the tropical climate.
“Similar to the traditional courtyard typology, the inner core is a private, secure and well-ventilated outdoor space intended as an extension of the family space,” the architects said.
From street level the house is approached via a flight of stairs that lead up to a decked terrace, which sits on top of a garage next to the staff quarters in the basement.
The ground floor is tiled with travertine both outside and in, divided by the central pool that separates a living area on one side and a dining room and kitchen on the other.
Upper storeys overhang these spaces, protecting them from rain to remove the need for walls that would face the interior.
A spiral staircase leads up to a series of bedrooms, studies and bathrooms on both sides, connected by a balcony that circles the courtyard partly indoors and partly out. This walkway breaches the concrete walls so the residents can amble above the jungle-like garden.
Rooms on the first floor are screened with wooden strips, used either vertically or criss-crossed. A large bathroom, library and outdoor seating area take up the top floor.
The courtyard house is located in a three-storey mixed-landed residential district, on the eastern part of Singapore. Built for a multi-generational family who seeks a communal way of living but wanted a space that are private, screened from the prying eyes of surrounding neighbours.
While inspired by the Si He Yuan courtyard house, the project seeks to readapt the vernacular typology found in the northern regions of China, to a detached house typology in an urbanised tropical context.
The massing, comprising of two blocks in a north-south orientation, delineate the site with a front garden, the central courtyard where all the rooms looked into and a back garden. The public and private realms are layered in a spatial procession from the street. Circulation within the house circumambulate the courtyard on all floors.
The main spaces are organised around this central, outdoor atrium where a lap pool runs parallel to one edge. The ground floor is finished entirely in hone travertine without any drops to blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, unifying the entire ground floor as a singular, seamless, communal space. The perforated concrete wall allows for air-flow and glimpses of the garden beyond but shields the western sun and its adjacent neighbours.
The house expresses the relationship between periphery and core. Similar to the traditional courtyard typology, the inner core is a private, secure and well-ventilated outdoor space intended as an extension of the family space. While the periphery is surrounded in dense tropical foliage, the courtyard is tranquil and contemplative.
Through a series of spatial appendixes of bridges, wall perforations, pool extensions, shower stalls, stairs and bay windows that penetrate the two side walls that bound the inner sanctum, the residents gets to experience the tropical garden on the periphery.
Italian architect Antonino Cardillo used roughly textured plaster to create lumpy brown surfaces across the upper walls and ceilings of this apartment in Rome (+ slideshow).
Using the geometric ratio of the golden section, Antonino Cardillo designed House of Dust with a horizontal division that separates living spaces and furniture from the coarse plaster walls and ceilings above.
The architect wrote: “[I was] craving for primordial caverns, for Renaissance grotesques, for nymphaeums in Doria Pamphilj, for faintly Liberty façades in the streets off Via Veneto.”
Windows are sunken within deep recesses and together with a series of rectangular doorways they emphasise the line dividing top and bottom.
The architect also added a series of arched doorways, intended to reference fourteenth century Italian paintings, which conceal both rooms and cupboards.
One of these doorways features a pink glass doorknob that signifies the entrance to the master bedroom and bathroom, tucked away in the corner of the residence.
The rough plaster surfaces are missing from these spaces, where instead walls and ceilings are coloured in a pale shade of pink. There are also concrete washbasins and a cylindrical shower concealed behind a ghostly white curtain.
The kitchen surrounds the perimeter of the bedroom and can be screened behind a pivoting wall.
The living room is just beyond and features a wooden floor resembling a large rug. Furniture here includes small green tables designed by the architect, large grey sofas and a marble dining table.
Photography is by the architect. The short film (below) was directed by Pasquale Marino and features a pair of boxers sparring in the apartment, while the ceiling above them appears to be crumbling away:
Here’s a project description from Antonino Cardillo:
House of Dust by Antonino Cardillo architect
In this house classical orders and proportions celebrate dust. The golden section divides the sides of the living room: a light grey base supports a ceiling of rustic plaster of the colour of the bare earth. Craving for primordial caverns, for Renaissance grotesques, for nymphaeums in Doria Pamphilj, for faintly Liberty façades in the streets off Via Veneto. A balanced sequence of compressions and dilatations makes up the space of the house.
On the walls, passages and windows appear, now dug out of the base, now like carvings in a baguette. A series of arches, abstract memories of fourteenth century Italian painting, disguise doors and cupboards. Among these, one studded with a pink glass doorknob introduces the intimate rooms, which too are distinguished by the palest pink on the walls: yearning for dawns and flowers, the colour of beauty, the colour of beauty that dies.
Design and project management: Antonino Cardillo Client: Massimiliano Beffa
Date: September 2012 – March 2013 Address: Rione Ludovisi, Rome, Italy Surface: 100 square metres – 1,076 square feet Featuring ‘Triumviro’ tables designed by Antonino Cardillo
Belgian studio Areal Architecten inserted this brick and concrete townhouse into a residential streetscape in Mechelen near Antwerp.
Internally the three floors are united visually by a void topped with a skylight, which brings light down the stairwell to the ground floor.
This internal “canyon” separates the open-plan living spaces from the bedrooms.
“It’s a single family row house in the city but with amazing views and voids, and the use of a combination of raw and refined materials,” says Thomas Cols of Areal Architecten.
The brick facade is sliced and faceted to relate the otherwise austere volume to its neighbours.
Instead of a front door onto the street, the house is entered via a porte-cochère.
Inside, the material palette is restrained, with ribbed concrete soffits, brick walls, timber and concrete floors and large internal single-pane windows.
The staircase is of white-painted steel and features blade-like treads.
The upper floors are of timber while the living quarters and kitchen have fitted timber-fronted storage units.
The open-plan first floor features a living room giving on to a terrace while the kitchen is on the ground floor.
The stone-clad ground floor rises in steps to manage the transition between the street level and the lower garden.
Here’s some text from the architects:
House in Mechelen
By a set of subtle surfaces, the front facade is struggling to blend into the template of the street. It balances between integrating and standing out. Inside a continuous open space made of large and generous rooms, connected to each other by some unexpected views creates a compressed urban-like space.
A “canyon” of light allows to create a dinstinction between the living spaces and the bedrooms while extending itself to the ground floor through a void which receives the staircase.
The traditional spaces of a house are put together here into a single organic space with raw finishing such as a concrete grid on the ceiling and the prominent interior brick wall.
Facade
A difference of level on the ground floor creates a smooth transition between the street and the back of the house which is ended with a longitudinal garden.
Through precise openings and a terrace in extension of the living room, the boundaries between inside and outside in this townhouse are fading.
Seoul architects studio_GAON designed this house in the Korean countryside for a couple who want to retire and grow walnuts (+ slideshow).
The couple, who are in their sixties, required a house where they could live with their parents and daughter.
Located on a sunny hillside near the provincial town of Geochang, the timber-framed house has traditional Korean architectural features including a raised timber “maru” deck offering views of the surrounding countryside.
The daughter and parents are accommodated on the second floor and ground floor annex respectively, sharing the living room and maru with the owners.
The house is designed to engender a sense of tranquility and privacy, allowing the owners to rest after their long careers.
“The scenery is so peaceful that it feels like midday nap soaks into a body as softly blowing wind,” write studio_GAON. “Nobody hinders or prohibits ingoing, but the house is so peculiar located that nobody from outside can see the inside.”
Here’s some more information from the architects:
House in Geochang
House in Geochang is the house built on a sunny hill of Geochang, a Korean provincial city. There is a tall, brushy dogwood in the site, and a spring next to the tree which always provides fresh water. Also there is a small pool at the foot of the hill.
The scenery is so peaceful that it feels like midday nap soaks into a body as softly blowing wind. Nobody hinders or prohibits ingoing, but the house is so peculiar located that nobody from outside can see the inside. Slope of the hill is moderately steep, and wind is blowing quietly. This is an ideal land, which has hill, water, wind and tree.
The house was built by a sexagenarian couple who was going to live with octogenarian parents. The house owner, who devoted his entire life to social movements (labor movements) resembles Prometheus, a Titan in Greek mythology.
The couple helped others during their whole life, and even now they are taking care of others at every opportunity. They are planning to grow walnuts after completing the house. So they wanted a land which is suitable for farming, and a house which can provide true relaxation.
So we wanted a modest and cozy house, which will not wake the Titan, who takes rest after a long time, from his nap. Nap is a temporary sleep, a sleep which provides a clear mind after waking up. Here they will take sleep and rest soundly. For this reason, we decided to call the house as ‘House, where shade rests’.
Required spaces are rooms for the couple, parents and daughter respectively, living room as common space, two restrooms and an attic. The relationships whithin the family is good, but we targeted on keeping discreet distance and protecting private life in order to prevent discomfort due to overly nearness and excessive consideration.
On the East corner, where the dogwood is seen clearly, we put a kitchen and dining room, and on the opposite side, projected the living room to the main approach, and added a wide floor. For this reason, if we see the house from the front, the part of left side is a space for daughter-in-law, and the part of right side is a space for mother-in-law.
The living space for the daughter-in-law is a kitchen and dining room, where the dogwood and spring are very close to. The living space for the mother-in-law is living room and main room, which has a good view of a garden and village. For a daughter, who wants a separate space, assigned a room with a balcony on the 2nd floor, and from there she can have a talk with a person on a deck connected with a kitchen, looking each other.
Due to the form of the site, the house was slightly tilted along East-West axis and took elongated shape. Since the scenery of the hill located on North-West side was so beautiful, they should be seen from the kitchen and living room, and we made windows toward South and North in order to receive warm sunlight from South.
As the house owner wished, we hope the family will remember this house as their new home, as the cozy and comfortable house, receiving consolation from nature. The building, like a farmer who endured storm and eventually collected teemful harvest, will be a permanent living place for the three generation family.
Long brick and wood volumes extend down the narrow plot of this house in Bondi, Sydney, by local architect Fearns Studio (+ slideshow).
While renovating a single-storey Victorian terrace, Fearns Studio filled the thin strip of land behind with a blackened wood cuboid on top of brick ground floor that’s painted white.
Under the pitched roof of the old house, a lounge faces the street and a bedroom behind is connected to a bathroom via a small courtyard.
These rooms are joined by a long corridor that leads from the front door to the large open-plan dining, kitchen and living area.
Ground-floor rooms are lit by skylights, as well as patio doors along the thin alleyway down one side of the house that leads to a courtyard.
“Skylight penetrations bring light into the centre of the plan, helping to define spaces within it,” said architect Matt Fearns.
Stairs behind one wall of the double-height dining space lead up to two more bedrooms, which both have a balcony and share a bathroom.
Kitchen units, tables and cupboard doors match the wooden window and door frames, which warm the neutral interior.
A guest bedroom and ensuite bathroom sit above a garage at the bottom of the garden.
A renovation of an inner city, Victorian terrace house, the Bondi House was conceived as a first floor timber tube above a ground level brick box behind the retained portion of the house.
Skylight penetrations bring light into the centre of the plan, help define spaces within it and protect the privacy of neighbouring dwellings from upper level rooms while large glazed doors open new ground level interiors to unobtrusive garden courtyards.
Warmth is given to the white plaster walls and ceilings and to concrete flooring with oak cabinetry, windows, doors and with blackbutt flooring through the remainder of the house.
This slatted structure by architects Plasma Studio looks like it’s crawling over an apartment building in the Italian Dolomites (+ slideshow).
Plasma Studio were faced with the dual tasks of adding a circulation space and a new family home to an existing block in the South Tyrol village of Sesto, close to the Austrian border.
“An under-utilised roof space gave way to an angular crown, connected to a ground floor reception space and architectural office by the host’s renovated spine,” said the architects.
The structure appears to grow out of the hillside, snaking up the back of the building as a series of faceted planes.
Two levels are housed inside the extension, which uses the sloping site so the lower floor nestles against the top floor existing building but opens out onto a garden on the same level behind.
Inside, bedrooms face on to a corridor lit by a glass chasm that extends up and over the building.
An open-plan living, kitchen and dining area are housed in the upper storey, which sits at a slight angle to the structure below to further differentiate it.
The large balcony on this level looks out to the forested hills and snow-capped peaks on the other side of the valley.
These two floors are linked by internal and external staircases, and also connect to the circulation core that provides access to each of the six apartments in the whitewashed building underneath.
The architects sent us the project description below:
Paramount Residence Alma
This project was conceived to fulfil a two-part problematic: (1) Residence Alma -a Tyrolean guest house with 6 holiday apartments from the 1960s adorned with a pitched roof – was due for a common circulation and service core, and (2) the project architect, Ulla Hell, was looking for a new home for her young family of five in the mountain community of Sesto. The result: an under-utilised roof space gave way to an angular crown, connected to a ground floor reception space and architectural office by the host’s renovated spine.
Extension diagram
Having already made their mark on nearby Residence Königswarte with the addition of the Strata Hotel in 2007, Plasma Studio sought to follow a similar skin organization. A timber strip section in larch wood was borrowed from the neighbouring Strata and extruded along two paths. The first stretches across the site, picking up the topography on either end of the building and climbing to enclose a third storey balcony. Here, the edge skirts around the existing footprint, leaving corners exposed to acknowledge its presence.
A second path draws the timber skin up from behind, folding around the chimney to return to the ground. Interstitial spaces between the exterior walls and wooden bands swell at ground level to offer sheltered outdoor living spaces. The design team employed parametric modelling software to optimize the density of these timber strips and their metal substrustructure, balancing budget, aesthetics, privacy and views. This approach allowed for flexibility throughout the design phase and output shop drawings for pre-fabricated elements at an efficient pace.
Roof plan diagram
The Alma addition departs, however, from the Strata in its approach to volume. The practical constraints of a multi-room hotel structure called for a regular distribution of modules along a connecting spine. The perceived volume was achieved through horizontal sections around free-flowing terrace spaces. With the Alma, we took advantage of a more flexible program to create unique spatial conditions. These interior volumes are rendered legible from the exterior by the timber strips–an honest depiction of the playful activity within.
The interior of this family home is characterized by 360-degree views. Perhaps the most spectacular of these being a view of the sky through an incision over the central stair. This opening delivers an immediate reading of exterior weather conditions, collecting precipitation and receiving direct sunlight.
Elevation diagram
The main living spaces are split over two floors with first floor bedrooms off a skylit corridor, and an open plan kitchen, dining and family room encircling a fireplace on the second floor. By grouping functional elements in orthogonal cores, the surrounding space is liberated. The exterior walls of the main living spaces collapse inwards to catch light, views and varying degrees of enclosure.
All living spaces in the private residence have direct access to the outside through a series terraces or gardens. Its multiple access points include: a main entrance through an internal connection to the neighbouring house, a series of openings that follow the natural topography, and an external stair connecting the third floor terrace to the garden. Each inhabitant has come to find their own favourite route.
Isometric diagram
Limited material and colour palettes give strength to the space, with splashes of colour in the children’s washroom. The otherwise white walls provide a backdrop for an ever-changing display of shadows from the pleated roof above.
As the extension sits within the steep topography, substructural elements were developed in reinforced concrete, while the superstructure was built from prefabricated cross laminated timber (CLT) insulated with wood fiber and sealed with black bitumen. The outer skin in larch wood strips on a galvanized steel structure was determined according to cost and aesthetics by the aforementioned parametric model. A consistently limited colour code was applied to the exterior, allowing the volume to dissolve into the surrounding hillside when viewed from afar.
Through its use of form, materials and views, this newly completed addition flirts with its context at three scales. The first, and most immediate, with its host: as an addition to the Alma residence, it shares a newly renovated core, carrying the fractal geometry from the roof down to Plasma’s Italian office through the Alma’s cartesian skeleton. The second, with its neighbour: together the Strata and the Alma define the next generation of the family-owned hotel complex. And finally, with its terrain: the sculptural addition acts, not as a parasite, but as a mediator between the existing house and surrounding topography, extending from the landscape like a lichen.
These hyper-realistic computer renderings show a forthcoming concrete and glass house in Christchurch, England, designed by London-based Henry Goss Architects (+ slideshow).
Henry Goss Architects designed Staithe End for a site adjacent to a listed building and in a conservation area close to Christchurch harbour on England’s south coast, while the images were produced by sister company Goss Visualisations.
The house will sit right up against the listed property and border another building at a slight angle on the other side, so terraces and garden will also be angled to compensate.
An open plan living, dining and kitchen space will occupy the ground floor, leading out to the series of terraces linked by external staircases.
Two of the four bedrooms including the master suite will be located in the basement, across a sunken gravel courtyard from an artist’s studio topped with a green roof.
The other two bedrooms will be on the top floor, along with another living space at the back with a balcony overlooking the harbour and nearby Hengistbury Head Nature Reserve.
This steel-framed upper storey is to be clad with vertical strips of local larch on the street facade and will sit on top of the concrete ground and basement levels. Strips of glazing will separate these floors and the house next door.
“Pretty interesting job, this one, as the chances of it getting planning [permission] were virtually nil due to the historic environment, listed building, coastal flooding etc,” writes architect Henry Goss.” Somehow we got it through by a narrow margin at comity with full endorsement from the local planning authority”.
Construction is due to start later this year and the architects hope to complete the project in Autumn 2014.
This four bed private house on the banks of Christchurch Harbour represents a real coup and a major precedent for high quality contemporary architecture in the most sensitive of historic environments. Planning approval was gained largely due to the unusually progressive and enlightened planning authority in Christchurch, Dorset who champion all high quality design, contemporary or otherwise.
Sectional perspective
The dwelling is located in the centre of an important conservation area and adjoined to a listed building, part of which requires demolition to make way for the development. The uncompromising contemporary nature of the design was seen by the LPA as a positive aspect as it seeks to distinguish itself from the listed building thus providing a strong contrast in design that compliments and emphasises the design qualities of each.
Further constraints came in the form of coastal flooding. The solution was to treat the entire site as a tanked excavation including basement, courtyards and terraces which fall below the 4m AOD set by the Environment Agency.
A lightweight steel and glass box floats atop the exposed concrete ground work providing views across the harbour to Hengistbury Head Nature Reserve.
Natural light is brought into all parts of the plan at basement, ground and first floor by careful manipulation of levels and openings down the long narrow site. The result is a development which has an ambiguous relationship between inside and out, between built form and nature.
Glass walls slide back to open up this house extension by British firm Duncan Foster Architects to the surrounding English woodland (+ slideshow).
Duncan Foster Architects added the new living and dining room while reorganising the interior of the 1930s Arts and Crafts-style five-bed house in South Oxfordshire.
Black zinc and black timber cladding were chosen for the external finishes to reference local agricultural buildings.
Large-span laminated timber beams echo the exposed timber in the original house and allow for an uninterrupted view of the woodland as they require no support at the corner.
Vertical steel elements used along one wall extend out past a sunken pool. A large window fills the gable to let in the maximum amount of light.
“The client had bought the property because of its charm and character, so the brief was to maintain the spirit of the existing house yet at the same time to re-organise the interior to open the house up to the landscape beyond,” said Duncan Foster.
After considering a variety of renewable energy options for heating the home, a log-burning boiler was chosen due to the availability of wood on the client’s land.
Duncan Foster Architects sent us the following text:
Concept
The existing five-bed detached house was originally constructed in the 1930s as a ‘self build’ by a retired army major, in the arts and crafts style. The house occupies a 9 acre densely wooded site overlooking the Vale of Aylesbury, in Chinnor, South Oxfordshire, and is located within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The client had bought the property because of its charm and character, so the brief was to maintain the spirit of the existing house (characterised by low ceilings, small windows and exposed timber beams) yet at the same time to re-organise the interior to open the house up to the landscape beyond.
On the ground floor, the entrance hall, family living room and study retain original features. A small hall extension creates a bay window seat in the language of the existing house.
The new living/dining extension to the north contrasts the existing architecture – with a large open plan vaulted roof which sits on exposed glulam beams – chosen as a contemporary reference to the exposed beams in the main house.
The external structure enables the corner of the room to be opened up to the woodland landscape beyond. Minimal glazing strengthens the contrast with the existing glazing and links the building to the landscape beyond.
Refurbishment Strategy
As well as the layout and design issues, the thermal performance of the existing fabric and the existing servicing strategy needed a complete overhaul.
The existing house was heated by an oil burning boiler. The oil bill alone was around £6000 per annum. The existing house had little or no insulation, and had single glazed Crittal windows
It was clear therefore that the first step was to improve the thermal performance of the existing fabric, and this was done by installing a new ground bearing insulated concrete slab throughout the ground floor, utilising underfloor heating. The existing external walls were cavity walls (uninsulated) so these were easily insulated with blown fibre.
The existing roof and skeilings were insulated between joists and also underlined with rigid insulation with taped joints and re-plastered to proved a warm and air tight ‘hat’ for the building.
The majority of the glazing was replaced by double glazed timber windows, with a high performance aluminium glazing system specified for the extension.
All of these changes improved the efficiency, yet maintained the character of the existing house.
Several renewable technologies were considered at the outset, including ground source heat pumps via boreholes, and wind energy, but it was established early on that due to the abundance of woodland owned by the client, a log burning boiler would be utilised to provide the majority of the house’s hot water and heating demands.
The Log Burning Boiler feeds a 1500L accumulator tank which acts as a thermal store to provide both the hot water and heating for the house. This is supplemented in the summer months by 2 roof mounted solar panels (when the log burning boiler is not used), and also by a small LPG condensing boiler to deal with vacations and any additional peak demands. The Orligno 200 log burning boiler was specified as it runs at an efficiency of 92%, with nominal CO2 emissions.
It is calculated that 90% of the houses heating and hot water will be met by the onsite renewables – reducing the client’s energy bill to approx £750 per year.
A purpose built plant room was built adjacent to the new front porch to accommodate the large accumulator, and the log burning boiler and LPG boiler. The layout of this underwent several permutations to ensure that the 1250mm diameter accumulator, the log burning boiler and the LPG boiler could all be accessed for both operational and maintenance purposes- as well as integrating the flue requirements. The plant room sits within the recess of the existing house’s front elevation, without dominating the existing character of the house.
In addition to the log burning boiler, a 8kwP bank of PV’s was installed within the curtledge and is expected to provide 6867kwH/Y, with an estimate annual saving/earning of £1665, with an 8 year payback period.
Japanese firm Horibe Associates has completed this combined home and dog-grooming salon in Japan’s Ōita prefecture (+ slideshow).
The house by Horibe Associates is located on a long, thin plot surrounded by rice fields and features a mono-pitched roof.
One end of the building has a living space for a small family, who run their business from a salon at the other end of the building.
“Because the line of sight extends unbroken from the shop entrance back through the garden, the space feels larger than it actually is,” said the architects.
A living and dining room is located towards the back of the house, with views out on to a courtyard garden.
In the same space there is a daybed located beneath a small mezzanine room that can be accessed by a wooden staircase.
Curtains are used throughout the building to separate the internal spaces.
Bathrooms and a kitchen are located in the centre of the house. They can be easily accessed from both the salon and the house at either end of the building.
Toward the front of the salon, a small internal window on the mezzanine floor overlooks a dog-trimming room.
The architects have made concrete floors and plywood ceilings a feature to reduce costs. The building covers 66.25 square metres and sits within a larger 325.41 square metre site.
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