Hasta La Ideas

The form of U-House by Jorge Graca Costa was inspired by traditional Mediterranean courtyard houses to protect it from the windy climate of western Portugal and it’s the twenty-first door on our A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about U-House »

The post Dezeen’s A-Zdvent calendar:
U-House by Jorge Graca Costa appeared first on Dezeen.

Huge rectangular holes puncture the walls and ceilings of this four-storey split-level house in Tokyo by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects, the next window of our A-Zdvent calendar. Read more about House T »

The post Dezeen’s A-Zdvent calendar: House T
by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

French architecture practice Tétrarc has applied a camouflage print onto the walls of this social housing complex in Saint-Gilles Croix de Vie to create the impression of shadows cast by trees (+ slideshow).

“We used an image of a pine tree, transformed a little bit of this image and put it on our facade,” Tétrarc told Dezeen, before explaining how the print is a reference to the nearby Vendée forests. “The camouflage effect wasn’t expected,” they said.

The grey-painted shapes appear on all of the white-rendered elevations and from certain angles the images on the main buildings line up with those on projecting wings to create the same effect as real shadows.

The Mervau housing development replaces ten houses from the 1960s and provides a total of 36 residences within four crooked rows.

A network of passageways and courtyards weave in and out of the spaces between buildings, plus Tétrarc have added south-facing gardens to as many residences as possible.

The development includes of mix of housing types, from small apartments to two-storey townhouses, and parking is located underground.

Living rooms face south in most of the apartments to catch as much daylight as possible. All living rooms and bedrooms have been designed to accommodate two or more possible furniture layouts.

Based in Nantes, Tétrarc have previously designed two libraries that we’ve featured on Dezeen. See more buildings by Tétrarc »

Photography is by Stéphane Chalmeau.

Here’s a project description from Tetrarc:

Mervau by Tetrarc

In Saint-Gilles Croix de Vie, a well known Atlantic port, Tetrarc is undertaking a social housing project with Vendée overtones, Mervau. After having reviewed the housing site (Arborea), its classification (Playtime) and its services (Boreal), and its construction using the wood option (Rosa Park), Tetrarc is giving its views here on the gradual renovation at the heart of small and medium sized towns.

In order to demonstrate that an urban renovation can be fused with the existing structure rather than traumatising it, Tetrarc is seizing the opportunity for a consultation with Vendée Habitat: the regional social housing office is planning to tear down roughly ten dilapidated small houses dating from the 1960s erected on a site measuring 3,553 m2 in order to build 36 comfortable housing units to be occupied by more than one hundred people.

Instead of erecting horizontal or vertical structures at odds with a sensitive urban environment, Tetrarc is proposing to establish a hamlet there in order to ensure urban continuity whilst giving occupancy of the plot of land to 101 housing units/ha and forming a strong interiority beneficial to the development of social interaction between residents.

Above: site plan – click above for larger image

Manifest urban familiarity

Nothing picturesque here: Tetrarc is adapting this tried and trusted urban design to a current form. They are revisiting the constructed continuities, the frequently used measurements, the continually changing points of view created by the reorientation of a façade or the slope of a roof, within the context of the greater visual homogeneity and a white coloured commonality. The series of households are set along alleyways of varying lengths, along lanes, passages and small courtyards, creating a visually welcoming and physically porous urban space accessible to all the population.

This approach requires that a careful response be given to each urban micro context: this will avoid any mass effect by favouring a perpendicular settlement; this will provide a visual vista on a street by opening up an alley along its line; thereby retaining the peaceful nature of residents’ houses by placing access to the parking areas in a buffer between the gardens and the new hamlet; another street will be changed by introducing an urban settlement on it created by at least six adjoining town houses.

Above: long section one – click above for larger image 

A strong sense of interiority

This arrangement has the added advantage of aligning housing with public space to the palpable diversity of collective spaces. Because of this it offers the residents the opportunity of having social facilities: children’s playground facilities, neighbourhood contact, shared public festivities… all elements of a socially active population.

This use leads to the quality in the use of shared spaces being comparable to the use of the access spaces to the housing and their external extensions which have a very direct participation in the quality and use value of the locations. Separating boundaries, the enclosure of small gardens, house doorways, handrails, ramps and balustrades are designed with exceptional care. Letter boxes and electricity meters are fitted into the scheme with extreme care. The sun shading equipment is in the form of playful vernacular designs. The walls and boundaries between the housing appear as cast shadows, an allusion to the pine trees in the Vendée forests, heightening the hamlet’s seaside resort atmosphere.

Above: long section two – click above for larger image 

Diversity and use value

With its homogenous forms the hamlet combines several types of housing in order to meet the big demand for diversity of residents: houses T2, T3 and T4, simplex garden apartments; houses T2, T3 and T4 upstairs simplex, duplex town houses.

Tetrarc is paying particular attention to the quality of everyday use. Accordingly the garden apartments are extended by a space screening the views from the alley and offering a south facing living room. The upstairs apartments are served, two on each side, by an independent staircase directly connected to the alley. They have some external space in the form of a large balcony with room for table and chairs. The town houses have a ground floor entry, a living room and kitchen both opening onto a small planted courtyard. A bathroom, a water feature and a bedroom; the other bedrooms are upstairs.

These varied types of housing have the common features relevant to the life style of today’s families: the open plan living room/kitchen is big enough to fit different types of furniture. In the bedrooms the bed can be positioned in at least two (and often three) different places.

Similar consideration has also been given to the collective areas. Along the alleys the areas opposite the buildings have been organised into night-time spaces and day-time spaces, which diversifies the architecture between the two façades and reconciles usage by avoiding the conflicts linked to noise nuisance.

In the same way, to protect the housing from the noise arising from car parking access, rubbish bin areas, maintenance areas, the housekeeping areas and meters have been placed in an enclosed section on the western gables.

Wisely managed energy

The response to environmental requirements and the optimisation of the operational energy use are, for example, directly evident in the architectural devices: in order to intensify the harnessing of free energy the installation of fabricated straps has been precisely calculated in order to optimise their absorption of sunlight, the roofing profiles have been examined with the same objective, which has led to some of them being lowered; a maximum number of living rooms are south facing; the sun shading equipment is fitted with openings located upstairs and the balconies protect those on the lower level.

In this way Mervau is providing high density medium housing which takes into account contemporary life styles and environmental requirements; it is providing quality thanks to the sophisticated streamlining of the construction, and this is integrated into the existing town by giving it a feel of poetic serenity.

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by Tétrarc appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest house in our A-Zdvent calendar of residences named after letters cantilevers from the landscape in southern Germany and has 380 acrylic cylinders puncturing its facade. Read more about House R »

The post Dezeen’s A-Zdvent calendar:
House R by Bembé Dellinger appeared first on Dezeen.

Sloping meadows and woodland thickets are all that surrounds this boxy concrete house in the mountains of western Austria by local studio OLKRÜF (+ slideshow).

Haus Rüscher is located around a kilometre away from the nearest village and OLKRÜF designed the house as two self-contained buildings that impact as little possible on the surrounding countryside. “It was important for the client to build a very compact house that would not spoil the local landscape by sealing over the top surface with unnecessary concrete, gravel or tarmac,” the architects explain.

The outer shell of each building comprises a single casting of concrete, designed to reference the solid volumes of the surrounding mountains. “The most challenging part of the project was the single-piece construction,” architect John Read told Dezeen.

The larger of the two buildings contains the living rooms and bedrooms, while the smaller structure is a guesthouse with a sauna and shower room in the basement.

In the main house, split levels differentiate between the living room and kitchen on the ground floor, while upstairs the children’s room sits lower than the master bedroom to allow enough ceiling height for bunk beds.

Exposed concrete walls are sandblasted to create smooth interior surfaces on the lower level. Floors are lined with elm boards, which also clad the walls and ceilings in the bedrooms.

Large windows pierce the concrete facade on different sides to give residents clear views across the mountain and forest landscape.

“The most successful thing for us was managing not to compromise on the design from start to finish,” added Read. “That is something that rarely happens in the industry, but in this case the final result is almost identical to the original concept. Partly this was due to our perseverance and partly it was due to the client believing and sharing in our vision.”

See more Austrian houses on Dezeen, including one that appears to climb down a hill.

Photography is by Adolf Bereuter.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Haus Rüscher

Location

As solitary solid masses embedded in the landscape sits the project Haus R. It hangs on a steep incline at almost 1100 m in altitude and a kilometre from the nearest village of Schnepfau. To the north, the houses back on to thick woodland that cover the rest of the hill, in all other directions lay pasture lands. Because of the elevated position the house enjoys incredible views in every direction, especially of the Kanisfluh mountain and the valleys of the Bregenzerwald.

The sparsely populated landscape is reflected in the simple form and basic materials chosen for the design. The double shell is constructed without any horizontal construction joints. The entire outer wall was constructed as one solid piece. In this way the solid concrete hull corresponds to the simple mass of the surrounding mountains. The grassland grows right to the edge of the building to emphasize the concept of the house as a rock emerging from the ground naturally. In addition, a small guest house was included in the design that abides by the same rules of design. It compliments and emphasises the first by creating a ‘natural rock formation’ rather than a solitary monument.

Circulation/Rooms

It was important for the client to build a very compact house that would not spoil the local landscape by sealing over the top surface with unnecessary concrete, gravel or tarmac. The top surface surrounding the building had to remain as natural as possible.

It was also important that house had a generous living space for entertaining and accommodating guests, but should not be too big for everyday use. As well as providing open space, the design had to incorporate smaller, more intimate areas for when people wished to relax in peace. The guest house and the separation of the sleeping rooms using split levels, are a result of these thought processes.

From the mountain track leads a set of stairs between the two houses, which are both entered from the rear, so that the entrances are not visible from the track.

The ground floor is shared into separate zones through different room heights in the living and eating area, the kitchen and the circulation paths. The high ceilings in the living space allow incredible views in all directions. In the west, the rooms entire height and width is glazed to give a panoramic view of the surroundings. The lower kitchen area is orientated towards the open living room, above which a vertical air space flows through all the levels. The first floor and cellar levels are reached through a set of floating wooden stairs that pierce the concrete of the outer wall, supporting themselves on one side only.

Above: site plan

The differing room heights also resulted from the needs of the two very different sleeping rooms. The lower sleeping room was designed for the children, and was intended to be able to accommodate a double bed or bunk bed system and therefore utilises an intentionally higher format. Latching on to the side of this room is the slightly bigger main bedroom, which has a normal room height and enjoys views of the Kanisfluh. In addition, the guest house bedroom replicates the feel and elegant style of the main house but in miniature. In the cellar, beside the storage rooms and the technical room, there is a small sauna and separate shower room.

Above: ground floor plan

Materials and Construction

The 65cm thick hull of the building was formed in two parts: The outer shell and the core insulation managed to avoid the usual visible construction joints by being constructed from one continuous piece of concrete over 9.5 meters in height. Connecting on the inside, the internal walls are also constructed in one solid piece, with the interior walls, for the most part, echoing this process by casting several walls straight through multiple levels in a single piece. The floors are then set into place afterwards by drilling metal into the triple height finished wall to provide the basis for the supporting structure.

Above: first floor plan

All the exposed concrete areas in Haus R have a sandblasted finish, the floor is fitted out in Elm and in the cellar the floor is finished in polished screed. By contrast, the two bedrooms (and the guest house) are completely clad in wood. The windows in these rooms are flush with the outside of the building whereas the windows on the ground floor are flush with the inside of the building, this was to allow the inclusion of sun blinds that prevent overheating in during the summer. The jamb is constructed entirely from concrete all the way up to the beginning of the window frame.

Above: section

Both roofs were designed inverted. As an important fifth facade, they were finished with a layer of large format prefabricated concrete slabs. The house is also fitted out with a ground source heat pump that provides the majority of the energy for the under floor heating all year round.

Above: front elevation

The thermal mass of the building is exceptional for its size due to the buildings extensive use of exposed concrete within the insulation shell. This provides stable warmth through the winter months and a consistent cooling effect during the hot summer days.

Above: side elevation

The construction of the building was very complicated and challenging for the many reasons; the concrete walls were cast in one single piece which was experimental for both the builders and the architects. The mountain weather was unpredictable and often extreme. Site access was difficult for the heavy construction vehicles. And the large format windows, that were inserted into the concrete jamb, had very little margin for error.

Above: rear elevation

However, the house, from the initial design to the finished building hardly changed at all. This was only possible due to an intense and detailed communication between the architect, the construction company and the client. An important element in this process was the guest house.

Above: side elevation

It was constructed using the exact same methods and materials as the main building and provided a useful proving ground. In this way all parties were able to evaluate and optimize the experimental construction methods for the main building, ensuring a very high quality finish.

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by OLKRÜF appeared first on Dezeen.