Hasta La Ideas

Roughly hewn concrete gives a rocky texture to the walls of this Alpine holiday home by Austrian studio Marte.Marte Architects (+ slideshow).

The four-storey Mountain Cabin was constructed by Marte.Marte Architects on the side of a hillside in Laterns, Austria, and boasts far-stretching views of the surrounding mountains and forests.

Two rectangular openings wrap around the rectilinear body of the house, dividing it into two and creating a sheltered outdoor terrace on the upper-middle floor. This level functions as the building’s entrance and can be accessed via a staircase at the rear.

A second staircase spirals down from this floor to bedrooms and storage areas on the lower levels and up to an open-plan kitchen and living room on the uppermost floor.

Smooth concrete walls and ceilings are left exposed inside the house and contrast with the rugged surface of the facade. Floors, doors and window frames are oak, as is much of the furniture.

Square windows are dotted around each elevation and are the only other interruption to the clean lines of the facade.

“The openings punched into the double-walled concrete shell are transformed into framed landscape paintings,” says the studio, describing the views from the windows.

We’ve published a few houses in the mountains of Austria, including a boxy concrete house surrounded by sloping meadows and a cabin built from locally sourced spruce, fir and elm. See more houses in Austria.

Other winter retreats we’ve featured include a snowboarding cabin in Canada and a contemporary Alpine chalet. See more winter retreats on Dezeen.

Photography is by Marc Lins.

Here’s a project description from Marte.Marte Architects:

Mountain cabin in Laternser valley

At the edge of a wooded ravine, beneath the imposing wooden house of the Catholic Community of Sisters, the small tower building rises from the steep hillside.

Striking and modest in appearance, it stretches up out of a small hollow situated on a narrow path along the edge of the forest.

The only change made to the hillside is the driveway and the terrain has been left in its original form.

Fitting into the landscape as if it were a barn, the building, which is a fine example of the homogeneous use of materials, in this case, carefully hewn rough concrete, stands out against the meadow green and winter white. Its ashy-gray colour only contrasts slightly with the heavy oak front doors and the anthracite-coloured handrails blend in with the branches of the surrounding forest. As if they were punched into the walls, the square windows of different sizes are spread out across the walls, and their full effect is only achieved at the corners.

The integration of the outer surfaces requested by the client is a kind of artifice. At the entry level, which is accessible via a flight a steps, the structure narrows down to two supporting corner columns, which not only provides guests with the unique opportunity to look through the building while at the same time enjoying a panorama view of the surrounding landscape, the whole time protected from the elements, but also lends the entrance a sense of significance.

Inside the column, a spiral staircase connects the living area on the upper level with the two more private areas on the lower level, where the bedrooms and relaxation areas are interlocked like a puzzle. Semantically speaking, this gesture of the tower creates archetypes of fortified structures and abstract computer figures in your mind’s eye, making the tower seem familiar and strange at one and the same time.

Inside, the openings punched into the double-walled concrete shell are transformed into framed landscape paintings by wide, matte solid oak window frames that do not take up much wall space. These framed windows direct the guest’s attention to the prominent mountain chain, the gentle slopes and the dense forest grove.

Besides the raw concrete surfaces and the untreated oak floors, doors and fixtures, the black metal surfaces complement the harmonious, austere combination of materials. The client and architects haven’t built a flimsy holiday house, but instead a place of retreat that will remain standing for generations, despite any forthcoming changes of climate and landscape.

Client: private
Planning: Marte.Marte Architekten
Location: 6830 Laterns-Vorarlberg-Austria
Site area: 485.4 sqm
Gross floor area: 102.6 sqm
Floor area: 87 sqm
Built-up area: 43.03 sqm

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Marte.Marte Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

London architect Dingle Price has revamped a warehouse in Hackney to create a bright spacious home and studio for a painter and his family.

Dingle Price began by stripping the interior of the old Victorian warehouse where the artist and his wife had already been living for several years. Making use of an existing mezzanine, the architect divided the space in half to create two-storey living quarters on one side and a double-height studio on the other.

“This idea of subdividing the space into equal parts led to a concept of inserting a house within the studio,” Price told Dezeen. “The position of the existing mezzanine decided which half would be which.”

North-facing skylights allow daylight to flood the inside of the studio, where high ceilings offer enough room for several large canvases.

Windows puncture the partition wall so residents can look into the studio from their two upstairs bedrooms.

“It’s quite an internalised world,” said Price. “When you’re in there you don’t really look out. It’s a kind of internal landscape where, instead of looking at a landscape, you’re looking across a sequence of spaces.”

Walls and ceilings are plastered white throughout and there are a mixture of both painted and exposed pine floorboards.

Other artists’ studios to feature on Dezeen include a series of buildings on a Canadian island and a faceted house and studio for an artist in Spain.

Photography is by Ioana Marinescu.

Here’s a project description from Dingle Price:

House for a Painter

Attracted by the large volume and excellent natural light, the artist and his wife lived and worked in this warehouse building in an ad hoc manner for some years, before the arrival of their first child necessitated a more formal inhabitation.

Dingle Price Architects proposed the insertion of a two storey house with a front facade overlooking and animating the studio space which attains the character of a small piazza or garden, a feeling further enhanced by the large landscape paintings in progress.

The design draws on the symmetrical character of the existing building to provide a series of interconnected rooms of varied scale and proportion. The existing interior consisted principally of white plastered walls, and both unfinished and white painted pine floorboards. Rather than introducing new materials, we chose to adopt and extend the use of this palette – staircase and cabinetry are constructed from southern yellow pine planks, and the elevation of the residence if partially clad in painted pine boards of a matching width to the floorboards.

Whilst the residence can be entirely or partially closed off from the studio when necessary, opening the doors and shutters reveals scenic views across the internal landscape.

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Dingle Price Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian architect Raffaello Rosselli has repurposed a corroding tin shed in Sydney to create a small office and studio apartment (+ slideshow).

Rather than replace the crumbling structure, Raffaello Rosselli chose to retain the rusty corrugated cladding of the two-storey building so that from the outside it looks mostly unchanged.

“The humble tin shed is an iconic Australian structure,” he explains. “As the only remaining shed in the area it is a unique reminder of the suburb’s industrial past.”

The architect began by taking the building apart and replacing its old skeleton with a modern timber frame. He then reattached the cladding over three facades, allowing room for three new windows.

The frames of the windows are made from sheets of Corten steel that display the same orange tones as the retained facade. “The materials have been left raw and honest, in the spirit of its industrial economy,” adds Rosselli.

In contrast with the exterior, the inside of the building has a clean finish with white walls and plywood floors in both the ground-floor living space and the first-floor office.

Photography is by Mark Syke, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Here’s a project description from Raffaello Rosselli:

Tinshed

The humble tin shed is an iconic Australian structure. The project was to repurpose an existing tin shed at the rear of a residential lot, in the inner-city suburb of Redfern, Sydney.

Located on a corner the existing shed was a distinctive building, a windowless, narrow double-storey structure on a single-storey residential street. As the only remaining shed in the area it is a unique reminder of the suburb’s industrial past.

The project brief was to create a new use for the building as an office space and studio. The shed in its current state was dilapidated and structurally unsound. The original tin shed was disassembled and set aside while a new timber frame was erected. The layers of corrugated iron accumulated over generations of repair were reassembled on three facades.

Corten steel window boxes cut through the form and extend out over the lane and street, opening up the once windowless space. The materials have been left raw and honest, in the spirit of its industrial economy. The west face was clad in expressed joint fibre-cement panels, while plywood floors and joinery add warmth to the interior.

The project embraces that it will continue to change with time through rust, decay and repair.

Designer: Raffaello Rosselli
Location: Sydney, Australia
Year: 2011

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Raffaello Rosselli appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Scandinavian firm C. F. Møller has revealed proposals that could see the world’s tallest timber-framed building constructed in Stockholm.

As one of three shortlisted proposals in a housing design competition, the 34-storey Wooden Skyscraper is presented by architect C. F. Møller, architect Dinell Johansson and consultant Tyréns as a vision of future housing that would be cheaper, easier and more sustainable than typical steel and concrete constructions.

“The main reason it hasn’t been done before is that concrete and steel have a big part of the market,” C. F. Møller architect Ola Jonsson told Dezeen. “But now the building industry has started taking responsibity for the environment.”

He continued: “Construction accounts for around 30-40 percent of CO2 produced in the world globally and if you look at the CO2 released in the production of wood it is a lot better than steel or concrete.”

According to Jonsson, using wood could even be a cheaper alternative, as it is a lighter material that costs far less to transport. It is also more fire-resistant than steel or concrete.

“We have a long history of building wooden structures in Sweden,” he explains. “We have a higher knowledge of how to use the wood those days and we know that glued or nailed wood does have very strong construction qualities.”

If built, the 34-storey building would exceed the height of the nine-storey Murray Grove tower in London, as well as a proposed 20-storey tower in Vancouver by architect Michael Green and a Swedish tower approved at 30 floors. “I’ve seen sketches of other buildings, but we are definitely at the highest end of this discussion,” said Jonsson.

Wooden pillars, beams, walls, ceilings and window frames will all be visible through the building’s glass facade. The presented designs also include a concrete core, although Jonsson says this could be replaced with wood. “We believe a modern building should use every material for its best purpose,” he adds.

The winning entry in the competition, organised by Swedish building society HSB Stockholm, is scheduled to open in 2023 to coincide with the organisation’s 100th birthday. Anyone can vote for the winner using the HSB Stockholm Facebook page.

Other projects by C. F. Møller include an art and craft museum completed recently in Norway and a centre for entrepreneurs with a green fibre-cement staircase.

See more architecture by C. F. Møller »
See more skyscrapers »

Here’s some more information from C. F. Møller:

Wooden Skyscraper

For HSB Stockholm’s architectural competition 2023, three teams of architects have produced innovative proposals for private residences of the future at three different locations in the centre of Stockholm. Berg | C.F. Møller’s proposed design is a 34-storey skyscraper made of wood.

Berg | C.F. Møller Architects are working in partnership with architects Dinell Johansson and consultants Tyréns on their entry. The team has chosen to build upwards, and has designed a 34-storey residential building, which will be seen for miles.

The building will be built over a wooden construction with a concrete core, and it is intended to give the people of Stockholm a new and characteristic beacon and meeting place in their city.

Back to basics

Wood is one of nature’s most innovative building materials: the production has no waste products and it binds CO2. Wood has low weight, but is a very strong load-bearing structure compared to its lightness.

Wood is also more fire resistant than both steel and concrete. This is due to 15% of wood mass being water, which will evaporate before the wood actually burns. In addition, logs get charred which protects the core.

Wood secures a good indoor climate, perfect acoustics, helps regulating the inside temperature and can be exposed without being covered with plaster or other costly materials.

In Berg | C.F. Møller’s wooden skyscraper, the pillars and beams are made of solid wood. Inside the apartments, all the walls, ceilings and window frames are made of wood as well and will be visible from the exterior through the large windows.

Sustainable

Social and environmental sustainability is integrated into the project. Each apartment will have an energy-saving, glass-covered veranda, while the building itself will be powered by solar panels on the roof. At street level there is a café and childcare facility. In a new community centre, local people will be able to enjoy the benefits of a market square, fitness centre and bicycle storage room. A communal winter garden will provide residents with an opportunity to have allotment gardens.

All three design proposals are available on HSB Stockholm’s Facebook page. Here you can vote for your favourite and thus play your part in determining how private homes in Stockholm will look in the future.

About the competition

HSB Stockholm – Sweden’s largest building society – is 100 years old in 2023. At that time an ultra-modern residential high-rise building will be completed in Stockholm city. Three architectural teams are now preparing the competitive proposals for the spectacular house that will be placed at one of three different sites in Stockholm.

Berg | C.F. Møller Architects is working together with architects Dinell Johansson and the urban planning consultancy Tyréns. The other two competing teams are Equator Stockholm with Mojang (Minecraft) and Utopia Architects with Rosenberg Architects.

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wooden skyscraper appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio NOARQ has doubled the size of a house in northern Portugal by extending its rooftop into the hillside (+ slideshow).

The resident family of four had outgrown its home in Vila Nova de Famalicão and asked Portuguese architect José Carlos Nunes de Oliveira of NOARQ to give them more space, as well as a garage.

The architect began by removing partitions in the existing house to create larger rooms. He then replaced any lost rooms in a new structure inserted between the house and the inclining landscape.

“The proposal harnesses the most important pre-existing element, the roof, and uses the force in its profile to merge into the woods,” he says.

Living and dining rooms are all accommodated in the original house, while three bedrooms are contained in the extension.

A protected terrace is slotted between the new and old structures with a corridor running along one of its sides. Residents can directly access the courtyard from various rooms, plus a set of pivoting Corten-steel doors leads out to the surrounding garden.

The garage, with room for up to three cars, sits at the lowest level of the site and is flanked by a retaining wall of pale stone.

Other Portuguese houses we’ve featured on Dezeen include a row of stables converted into a summer retreat and a set of cabins in a woodland park. See more residences in Portugal.

Here’s more text from NOARQ:

NP House

The project was for the extension and renovation of a single family house with 262.09 square metres of gross floor area, to adjust to the actual needs of comfort for a family of four persons and the housing laws and rules of construction and building regulations.

The building was currently in the middle of a great mass of trees, as a mark. The housing consists of two floors, the ground-floor dedicated to service functions and garage, and the top floor exclusively dedicated to housing.

Without questioning the value of the pre-existence, the proposal maintains the current volume, offering the services and the social spaces of the family.

The expansion develops in the direction of the slope (west), where it opens a space for external expansion, contained in the far west area of the new rooms and the corridor north by stitching both areas of housing.

Adjacent to the house at the ground-floor is nesting in the back of the hill, the garage, hidden under a coating plant.

The intervention is in essence an extension of each of the habitable areas, increasing the number of existing health services (maintaining the same number of rooms), yielding a total gross area of 469.11 square metres.

The landscape was the subject of major concern. The new emerges organically from the old. The building emerges as a root that grows, goes through the ground and anchors to life on earth.

On the point of view of language the proposal harnesses the most important pre-existing element – the roof – using the force in its profile to redesign and merge into the woods.

The house is raised on a structural system of walls, retaining walls and reinforced concrete slacks interspersed with faces of masonry. Interior floors have wood flooring American pine, with the exception of the service rooms cover with stony coverings. The garage and the den’s floor is in epoxy and the exterior spaces cover by wooden deck.

The entire building will be covered by an acrylic plaster reinforced with glass fiber network cladding clipped (ventilated wall system). The roof will be in zinc. The interior walls and ceilings are plastered and painted or plaster according to the spatial and functional requirements of each compartment.

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by NOARQ appeared first on Dezeen.