Hasta La Ideas

Hinged panels discretely integrated into the facade of this house in Parede, Portugal, by Lisbon architect Humberto Conde protect the property when the owners are away. (+ slideshow).

Humberto Conde designed the family home for a narrow plot next to a three-storey property that informed the overall dimensions of the new building and the position of its street-facing elevation.

To the street, the house presents a minimal facade covered in cement panels and punctuated by narrow vertical windows. The hinged shutters fold down to conceal the windows, protecting the property at night and when the family is on holiday.

“The new building promotes a dialogue between the surrounding area by a language of contrast in its image and shape regarding all the spatial articulation principles that mark the adjacent building,” said Conde.

At ground-floor level, the entrance is shielded by a small boxy canopy, while the hinged shutters that conceal the kitchen and laundry can be folded upwards to admit natural light and views toward the street.

The gently sloping courtyard at the front of the house provides space for parking two cars, while a large patio at the back is surrounded by vegetation and incorporates a lap pool that is illuminated at night.

A long corridor leads from the entrance to the kitchen on the left and into the main living and dining area, which is connected to the garden by full-height sliding glass doors.

A staircase located to the right of the entrance ascends from the corridor to a first floor containing two bedrooms.

Next to the master bedroom is an antechamber between the dressing area and en suite bathroom, which contains a square, swivelling window.

This window looks out at a sculptural tree in a sheltered courtyard with frosted windows on either side, allowing light and ventilation to reach the bathrooms.

A door from the master bedroom provides access to a balcony overlooking the garden at the rear of the house, which projects over the patio below to shade the living spaces.

On the second floor is a third bedroom and doors that open onto a large roof terrace.

Similarly to the hinged panels on the house’s minimal front facade, these doors sit flush with a dark wall that gives the terrace a contrasting appearance to the rest of the white exterior.

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here’s a project description from Humberto Conde:

Parede 11 House, Cascais, Portugal

Principles

The project aims to develop a single house located in the centre of Parede, Cascais, in a site characterised as Historical Urban Space. The lot of the house as a particular elongated and thin configuration like the adjacent lot on the left side – south. The nearby buildings are part of a summer houses morph-typological group that proliferated in the Portuguese coastline in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

These houses were usually built as second houses or summer residences, presenting, in general, a garden that involves them throughout their perimeter. The exception is made in smaller lots of recent date where it was usual the implantation of terraced houses, as a way to potentiate the opposite top sideband.

In this particular case, given the lot’s configuration and taking into account the adjacent house (with three floors above the ground and one basement), we believe that the new construction should certainly be marked out through these alignments, namely the build’s height, volumetry and the alignments of the main facade.

The new building should promote a dialogue between the surrounding area by a language of contrast in its image and shape regarding all the spatial articulation principles that mark the adjacent building – as well as by the used construction details, such as window openings, metric of the facades and visual relation with the exterior.

Safeguarding a small courtyard at the entrance of the house – access area to the parking lot and the house – that assures the alignments, the new building is developed in three floors above ground, freeing at the back (West), a green space which is in direct relation with the social spaces of the house.

Access / Outdoor Spaces

The building is focused on the alignments with the adjacent house, with a East/West orientation, which allows to free part of the lot at East as a reception and decompression space, providing an area for two parking spaces inside the lot.

There’s a longitudinal corridor, delimited by the contiguous lots’ walls, with the introduction of a single vegetable element – a tree – allowing the automobile and pedestrian access to the interior of the housing. It’s also considered the interest in maintaining the permeability of the soil by applying a large green surface at the back of the house. This will allow the infiltration of a significant percentage of rainwater and the optimisation of the access to the infrastructure network derived from extensions installed on the public road.

Functional Structure

The access to the interior of the house is made by a small and slightly inclined ramp, which is also use as a common distribution atrium of the automobile and pedestrian access.

At the ground floor level are the social spaces of the house. Through a central corridor, which serves as the house’s entrance hall, it’s made the distribution to the different spaces of the house. On the left side of the hallway are the kitchen and clothing treatment areas, accessed laterally. In front is the living room, a big space that establishes a close relationship with the exterior, through the use of a garden. Finally, on right side of the corridor are the staircases for the upper floors – the private spaces of the house.

Reaching the first floor through the distribution staircase, located on the right side of the house’s main access, we’ve got two bedrooms equipped with their own private bathroom and closet. Both bedrooms are naturally lit through the openings located on the East and West facades, having been also created a small outdoor garden to canalise natural light and ventilation of the bathrooms of both bedrooms.

The second floor consists on a single space – the third bedroom and a bathroom. Both spaces enjoy natural light and a strong relationship with a terrace facing the West, where a tree coming from the garden on the lower floor emerges.

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of Humberto Conde’s Portugal townhouse appeared first on Dezeen.

Slovenian firm Studio 360 built walls of modular white shelving inside every room of this L-shaped apartment in Ljubljana to maximise space whilst removing clutter (+ slideshow).

Studio 360 renovated a 100-square-metre apartment in the heart of the Slovenian capital to create the modern home, which contains a large living and dining room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a study.

The designers didn’t make any changes to the layout of the apartment, but gave each room a different arrangement of shelving based on simple geometric shapes. This inspired the project’s name, Geometric Residence.

The studio also made small structural adjustments by changing windows and doors, replacing the flooring and rewiring the electrics.

“When the client approached us, this apartment was vacant and ruined,” explained studio director Lidija Dragisic. “In order to bring it back to life, the renovation was absolutely necessary.”

The interior combines basic materials and natural colours, with white walls, oak furniture and detail accents in black. “This approach allowed the residents the freedom of doing any additional decorations without disrupting the overall design statement,” said Dragisic.

Entering the space, the apartment opens onto the open-plan living room, accessed by walking under a strip of mirrored glass.

The lounge area is dominated by block white shelving, with gaps made of oak deliberately inserted to allow the addition of books, a TV and speakers.

In contrast, the adjacent kitchen features uniform white units, which surround a custom-made 3.5-metre wooden table with a parquet finish.

In the master bedroom, oak storage units are suspended from the wall above a bed made from the same wood. Both this room and the second bedroom feature full-height white wardrobes.

Sandwiched between the two bedrooms is a small study with shelving divided into squares and rectangles.

The two main bathrooms are finished in slate grey tiling and feature mirror-lined walls and white inlet shelving.

Photogaphy is by Miran Kambic.

Here’s a project description from the designers:

 Geometric Residence, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

The apartment is located in the heart of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is divided into living area (consisting of a large living room with kitchen and dining room) and more intimate / sleeping area (two sleeping rooms and a study room). In between these two spaces there is a service part offering two contemporary bathrooms and one utility.

When the client approached us, this apartment was vacant and ruined. In order to bring it back to life, the renovation was absolutely necessary. The adaptation didn’t make any significant changes to the floor plan, besides some bathroom enhancements, windows & door replacements, new flooring and electrical installations.The interior furnishing design is simple, with design-scheme combining basic materials and natural colours: oak, white furniture and some detail accents in black. This approach allowed the residents the freedom of doing any additional decorations (art, coloured cushions, carpets, accessories etc.) without disrupting the overall design-statement.

The furniture along the walls is in a neutral white and designed in a geometrical pattern, which magnifies the flat’s ambience. Several carefully selected accents are wood, which create a pleasant and cozy atmosphere. The furniture is custom and unique – for example, a big 3.5 m long wooden table in the middle of the dining area or a huge pantry with parquet-finish, which brings the living and private spaces together. The marriage of white and oak is implemented in the master bedroom as well (master-bed and a geometrically-shaped wall closet above). The massive curtains throughout the apartment achieve additional intimacy, softness and consistency (they are also in a neutral black & white combination). The bathrooms are simple and without any unnecessary decorations, which allows the beautiful concrete-like tiles to stand out. These spaces are visually enhanced with the clever use of built-in mirrored walls.

Our aim was to adapt this interior to the versatile, ever changing needs of the modern customer. Besides the functionality, we wanted to create many different lighting scenarios and environments. This is achieved by combining basic lighting with the indirect led lighting, which are hidden in the furniture elements. The ceiling in the bedroom adorned with a crystal chandelier, which (along with the other vintage accessories) gives this residence a unique soul.

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and storage to Slovenian apartment appeared first on Dezeen.

This Berlin townhouse by architecture office XTH-Berlin features doors that open like drawbridges, sloping floors that function as slides and nets that cover holes in the floors (+ slideshow).

XTH-Berlin inserted staggered floors throughout the building’s 12-metre height to accommodate various living spaces, with bedrooms housed in slanted concrete volumes at the first and third levels featuring flaps that can be used to slide from one level to the next.

The house’s entrance contains wardrobes, a bathroom and a spare room that can be hidden by drawing a full-height curtain, while a gap in the ceiling provides a view of the zigzagging levels that ascend to the top of the house.

Two concrete-walled bedrooms situated above the ground floor feature sloping wooden flaps that can be raised to connect these rooms with a platform where the piano sits.

A gap in this platform level allows light and views between the storeys and is covered in netting to create a safe play area.

A staircase leads past the two bedrooms to a living room containing a bathroom that can be cordoned off using a curtain.

The third bedroom is connected to this living area by a gently sloping wooden bridge, while another flight of stairs leads to a reading platform.

A final set of stairs continues to the top floor kitchen and dining room, which opens onto a large terrace.

This open-plan level features a skylight that adds to the natural light entering the space through the full-height glazing.

A minimal palette of materials is used throughout the interior, including concrete, pinewood flooring, steel railings and laminated spruce used for dividing walls, stairs and doors.

The house is located beside a park marking the site of the former Berlin Wall. Entrances on either side of the property lead to a multipurpose space for storing bikes, clothes and shoes.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Townhouse B14

The house is all about space and light.

Developed by the section it has a continuous space stretching out over the total height (12 mts), length and width of the building: from entrance hall and playing area to a music level to a living room with an open bath to a reading area to the kitchen with terrace.

This open space is zoned by two concrete elements ‘hung’ between the firewalls. They contain the private (bed) rooms. Due to their slants views are possible through the entire house.

Only few materials determine the interior space: fair faced concrete for the solids, plaster for the firewalls, glued-laminated spruce for dividing walls, stairs and doors, and pinewood planks for the floors, besides steel for the railings, glass for the facades and fringes for filtering views and light. Interiors like the shelves and trunks are designed by us.

According to the site along the former wall – the no-man’s land between East and West – now the Berlin Wall Memorial, the house has a severe outside contrasting the coloured balcony houses opposite in the former West.

The house is built on a trapezoid lot of land of 118 m2 with a small garden in the southeast towards a residential path and the wide side of the house to the northwest facing the plain of the Berlin Wall Memorial which is mainly a park. It’s part of a settlement of 16 townhouses, the two neighbouring houses are by XTH-berlin as well.

The nearly all-over glazed facades are structured by steel girders, which span from one dividing wall to the other and take over the cross bracing. Two lines of fringy draperies in front of the ground and second floor provide screen and cover the window frames.

Technically we use a heat pump (pipes going 80 mts into the ground) with panel heating and rainwater tanks in the garden for use in the toilets.

You enter the house from both sides: From the north beneath the concrete solid in an area with wardrobe, bathroom and the building services room. From the south directly in the living space which opens to the very top of the building. This is the level to put the bikes, do handicrafts, play kicker, a spare room and a storage room can be separated by a curtain.

The stairway leading up crosses the first concrete element with two sleeping rooms inside. Few steps up you reach the music area, a gallery with a horizontal net as a fall protection.

The two sleeping rooms can be opened to this area by the use of 2,5m x 1,5m big elevating flaps (which besides to slide and play are used to ventilate the sleeping rooms to the quiet side of the house). Further up you are on top of the first concrete element: Here you find the classic living space with sofa and oven, but also a bathroom included, to partition by curtain.

Via a bridge you enter the second concrete element, containing another sleeping room. The sloped wall is becoming a huge pillow.

Continuing your way up you come to an intermediate level, which is mostly used as a reading area, looking back down you view the small garden on the back side of the house and the memorial park in front.

Another stairway and you reach the highest level on top of the second concrete element: kitchen and dining area, opening to a terrace. A huge roof light (through which the stack-effect ventilates the to a maximum glazed house) lets the midday sun shine deep down on the lower levels.

Client: private
Completion: 2012
Area: approx. 230m2

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in Townhouse B14 by XTH-Berlin appeared first on Dezeen.

The shingle-clad upper storeys of this house on the outskirts of the Austrian city of Linz by Vienna practice Destilat are rotated to create a cantilevered overhang above the entrance (+ slideshow).

Destilat was asked to convert the existing property on a hillside in the Bachlberg suburb of Linz into a property accommodating three self-contained apartments.

The original house was gutted and rebuilt from the level of the existing concrete pedestal, with the storeys above rotated slightly to shelter the entrance and make the most of views towards the Alps.

Grey shingles covering the upper storeys give the exterior of the building a monolithic appearance, while the gabled profile typical of Alpine properties is interrupted by a scattered arrangement of windows.

At the front of the house a variety of outdoor spaces are created by openings in the facade.

A gap in the pitched roof provides a small balcony outside the dining space of the penthouse, while the first floor features a terrace framed by a long aperture.

Each of the storeys above the basement garage contains an apartment with its own sleeping, eating and living spaces, with the top floor also incorporating a mezzanine area housing a gallery and guest bedroom.

The ground floor apartment occupies an area previously used as an indoor pool and provides multiple points of access directly into the surrounding garden.

The penthouse apartment features an open plan living space with a fireplace that projects from one wall to provide some separation from the dining and kitchen area.

A black concrete base and rough plaster hood add to the monolithic and sculptural look of this central feature.

The massive ceiling height and pitched roof are accentuated by pendant lights suspended above the dining table.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

House B.A.B.E.

B.A.B.E. stands for exclusive living at Bachlberg.

The former domicile of a family of entrepreneurs from Linz is located near the top of Bachlberg, in very quiet area near the woods, overlooking the provincial capital of
Linz, with a panoramic view of the distant Alpine foothills.

In cooperation with W. Wimmer, this run-down object with its spacious garden was converted into a modern apartment house with three living units. The original structure was gutted completely and extended by an additional floor with insulated timber framing.

Starting at the socle storey, the entire structure was slightly turned to optimise its viewing angles.

Covered entirely with grey shingles made of asbestos cement (Eternit), the building has a very monolithic and sculptural character due to its seemingly random distribution of apertures for windows, loggias and terraces.

The apartments of this house have very diverse characters and usable floor areas ranging from 140 to 200 sq m.

The former indoor pool area on the ground floor was converted to an apartment with direct access to the property’s garden.

However, the crown jewel of this building is the penthouse with its open living, kitchen and dining area and up to 6.5 meter high, open pitched roof and a gallery. A massive open fireplace is the almost archaic centre due to its reduced design as well as its concrete base and rough plasterwork.

Besides the impressive main room, which includes a gallery, the entrance area as well as the bathrooms were individually designed to meet the client’s requirements.

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twisted to shelter the entrance appeared first on Dezeen.

Perched on a clifftop along the Chilean shoreline, this idyllic residence by architecture studio L2C forms part of a self-sustaining community that produces its own energy and water, and deals with its own waste (+ slideshow).

L2C’s Nicolás Lipthay built the single-storey family residence in Tunquén, a 90-minute drive from Santiago, where an assortment of wooden cabins and concrete houses are dotted across a vast landscape 50 metres above sea level.

“Big and small, all [houses] share the tranquil and simple lifestyle that characterises this unique getaway location,” said Lipthay. “The disconnection from mainstream civilisation makes Tunquen an eco-friendly self-sustainable community.”

Tunquen House is situated on the edge of the coastline, so its plan is arranged to offer wide-stretching views of the Pacific Ocean from most rooms but also to ensure courtyard spaces are protected from the strong prevailing winds.

“The climatic conditions of the area, dominated by a powerful south wind, conditioned the design,” said the architect.

Concrete walls surround the building and are rendered white both inside and out, while the roof is supported by a series of visible wooden joists that have been painted white to match.

A combined living room, dining area and kitchen forms the centre of the plan. Glazed walls run along two sides of the space to open it out to a sea-facing terrace on one side and an entrance courtyard on the other.

The master bedroom sits beside the living room and features a private bathroom and a walk-in dressing room.

Childrens’ rooms and guest bedrooms are positioned on the opposite side of the building and lead out to a second courtyard.

A separate outbuilding sits off to one side, accommodating solar panels, water tanks, sewage treatment and recycling facilities.

Photography is by Nicolás Saieh.

Here’s a project description from Nicolás Lipthay Allen:

Tunquen House

Quiet, peaceful and with astonishing views of the Pacific Ocean, lies Tunquén, a group of a few hundred houses scattered over hills, cliffs and shore, overlooking the rugged Chilean coast, only an hour and a half away from the capital city Santiago.

An enormous fair sanded beach – as well as beautiful small secluded ones – a protected wetland and the proximity to quaint fishing villages and the coastal town of Algarrobo, make Tunquén an ideal spot.

A variety of architectural styles are found in this area, ranging from charming wooden cabins to grand sophisticated concrete houses. Big and small, all share the tranquil and simple lifestyle that characterises this unique getaway location. The disconnection from mainstream civilisation makes Tunquen an eco-friendly self-sustainable community. All of the houses count with solar power, water tanks and individual sewage treatment systems, and recycling is an important concern of the neighbours.

Tunquen House, located 160 km from the city of Santiago, is on the first line of the waterfront on a cliff over 50 meters above sea level. The house sits on the oceanfront in a contemplative and respectful manner, as a frame for nature and the environment. It is defined as a single volume of white concrete which is divided into three areas.

The main area houses the living room, dining and kitchen, leaving at one end the master bedroom and its services, and at the other the bedrooms for children and guests. This way, the house can set two scales of use, the first is when the owners are at the house by themselves, and the second is when they are there with the kids or guests.

The climatic conditions of the area, dominated by a powerful south wind, conditioned the design. Attached to the living area is a courtyard that has multiple functions, the most important is to be outside sheltered from the wind, in connection with the view and the interior of the house. This same courtyard provides the access, an outdoor dining area and garden.

The structure of the house is made up of a “bracket” of reinforced concrete which along with the fireplace and the walls of the exterior courtyards shape the projected volume, the roof is based on beams and wood, giving texture and greater height to the spaces.

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