Pete Bossley - Heatly house, Bay of Islands

Pete Bossley

Heatly house, Bay of Islands

One of my favourite Kiwi baches here. Pete has come up with an island retreat he describes as a base camp for exploring, half way between the wilderness/open waters, and the hustle and bustle of the townhouse.

Located here, extending north, the house takes in easterly views of the smaller islands in the bay and westerly sunsets, on sheltered rear decks.


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As you head down the 8 levels of the house (as each wall between the rooms divides the long structure, there's a couple of stairs) the decks widen as do the overhangs covering them to protect the midday diners. The clear open views out either side of the house are great and the wooden rafters and trussing add detail to the simple lines of the house. Being on an island, the house was prefabricated and shipped in, prompting the use of timber, a staple on mainland New Zealand anyway and befitting of the surrounding cabbage trees and native bush.

So lets walk up the levels of the house:
We start with an open plan living, dining and kitchen, in that order, to save smells wafting, with the BBQ just across the west decks for evening entertaining.
Next, laundry and guest bath, and this is key, a walk up outdoor shower and the main entrance area. Great for de-sanding and washing off your wetsuit (it's still cold swimming, even in the north of NZ) before you enter the house.
Finally, a kinds bunk room with beds in a loft, second bedroom and at the end, master with ensuite, furtherest away and tucked into the bush for privacy. Hidden back from the beach, across the lawn is a sleep-out for guests, and a boat shed (how else do you get there?).

via: Pete Bossley & UME Magazine

Patkau Architects - Shaw House

Patkau Architects

Shaw House

Here's a quick reference to a northern hemisphere version of the Road to Farellones house.

Similarly the pool is built into the second floor, but in this case, the entry is right underneath it. Windows in the bottom of the pool allow light to ripple across the doorway and entrance porch. The galvanised steel, concrete and light timber exterior combines, and no doubt will age, well.

I really like this and the slat covered loft boxes, housing the tall bedroom and study/guest room. There's plenty of room for jumping on the bed, and the fact that they're tall makes up for these rooms being moderate in size. Downstairs, separate living dining and kitchen areas in sequence as you head back from the sunken lounge and views to the harbour (the kitchen is behind a sliding door, seen opened and closed in the shots). Finally, right at the back of the house, as all bachelor pads should, it's got space for the weekday car and the weekend race car (double garage).

As you can well imagine there's some serious reinforcing in the concrete to hold all that water up there, and even more so with Vancouver's stringent earthquake codes. But the house takes in the views and has wide openings despite these constraints. Great.































From their site
Program
A private residence of 285 square metres for a single person. The program includes living spaces, bedroom, study, music room, and a lap pool.

Site
The site is a small waterfront property, 10 metres wide by 47 metres deep, looking across English Bay to the North Shore mountains which dominate the skyline of Vancouver. Required sideyard setbacks result in a plan which is limited to 8 metres in width.

Design
The house is organized with living spaces on grade, private spaces above grade, and music room below grade. The dimensions of the site made it difficult to locate the lap pool on grade while retaining generous living spaces. Consequently, the lap pool is located above grade, along the west side of the house, connected at either end to the terraces off of the bedroom and study.
Within the narrow floor plates spatial expansion is only possible outward over the water and upward through the volume of the house. Small spaces are enlarged with generous ceiling heights, while the fully interiorized dining room rises through the floor above to a clerestory that brings both daylight and light reflected from the lap pool deep into the central area of the plan.

Construction
Vancouver is located in an area of high seismic risk. In this context, with the lap pool located above grade, a robust structure is required that is resistant to significant lateral forces. As a result, the house is constructed almost entirely of reinforced concrete.

Awards
American Institute of Architects National Honor Award 2005
Governor General’s Medal 2004
Record House Selection 2002

via: Patkau Architects, Haeuser & The Slow Home

Nuñez + Valdes - Road to Farellones house

Nuñez + Valdes

Casa Camino a Farellones

Time for another thank you, this time to Plataforma Arquitectura, the best source of information on architecture in Chile. They've kindly allowed me to translate their residential posts which enables me to bring you some fantastic Chilean works.

I'll let their posts do the talking, save to say I love the way the living/dining room is wide open and the pool in the centre of the house!

Article by:Carlos J Vial

Location: Road to Farellones, Santiago, Chile
Architects: Max Núñez B., Bernardo Valdés E.
Collaborating Architect: Nicolás del Río L.
Plot size: 7000 square metres
Built area: 230 square metres
Year designed: 2004/2005
Built: 2005/2006
Via: www.drn.cl & http://maparq.wordpress.com

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Pre-construction
The land is located on the Northern slope of the pre-Andean valley of the Mapocho river. It faces a wildlife sanctuary to the north and has unhindered views to the Pochoco Hill, La Paloma y El Altar peaks. On the plot, two dispersed groupings of pines, some almond trees and a hawthorn, appear between the natural vegetation of the slope. The house is formed around the particularities of the plot: its slope (15 degrees), its vegetation, its views, and also the requirements of the client, a bachelor, who opened up the brief to redefine the traditional features of the house from single family to single person usage. This, in order to provide a place to get away from the city and live in close connection with the pre-Andean landscape.

The project
An 8 by 36 metre platform juts out (like a large diving board) in a horizontal plane from the landscape in a northerly direction. On top of this platform are the open planed extroverted rooms, below, a more intimate space. This platform generates a stable and continuous surface, from which the architect can extend into the surroundings. South to North: a guest room, patio, living pavilion, terrace and pool, occupy the length of the platform.

The living pavilion is a glass enclosed structure under a thin dark roof. It's more or less an empty space, that can be occupied of several ways, housing a cooking area, a table and comfortable furniture. It also has some shelves and surfaces that have acquired collections of things, that are the natural extensions, or tentacles, of the lifestyle of the owner. From here, your gaze falls through the glass towards the mountain ranges, towards the depth of the valley, the pines, the immediate surroundings, let's just say you can see everything, everywhere from this room.

The pavilion's size is such that when alone, the owner can feel completely isolated in the deserted surroundings, more so if it's raining. The pavilion welcomes the sun but controls its entry via eaves and curtains. Two sliding windows, at the northern and southern ends, allow ventilation of the pavilion via the wind that rises up the valley. The rails of these windows, a continuation of the floor, and the extended eaves, accentuate the extension of the house into its surroundings.

The guest room, forms the main entry point to the house and a as a connection with the the main level that defines the platform. The patio, a heavy surface 70 cm above the platform, is defined by a preexisting border. At it's edge, under the shade of a tree, are a collection of cacti where the birds land and drink. The terrace and reflecting pool, extend into the landscape, completely detached from the slope of the plot. The water reflects light onto the ceiling of the pavilion and allows for a refreshing dip in the high temperatures of the summer. Under the platform, descending from the pavilion, arranged clockwise around the space (sold) that defines the perimeter of the pool above are: a bed, a bathroom, wardrobes, a library and a guest bathroom. These rooms contrast the openness of the pavilion above created with solid, heavy textured walls. Here, the views towards the landscape more are focused: a long window that provides sunset views from the bed, a large window that is penetrated visually by the valley towards the north, and walls without views towards the city in the west, handle in a more controlled way the distance between these more intimate spaces and the surrounding landscape.

Images

Plans

via: Plataforma Arquitectura

Marcio Kogan - Mirindiba House

Marcio Kogan

Mirindiba House

Well here's a house that I'm really delighted to have on my site.

Thanks to the grace of Marcio Kogan and his team I bring you images of one of his latest residential designs. I hope to feature more of his work soon and if you're in São Paulo be sure to say in the Hotel Fasano (designed I believe jointly by Marcio Kogan and Isay Weinfeld).

Nelson Kon is the great photographer.

This urban house combines dark natural Brazilian hardwood, concrete and vernacular stonework in the open planned style that I love to see. Progressing up the house: stone, concrete framed and then totally wood clad forms are thoughtfully placed.

First up you'll note those fantastic spans and openings. Marcio pushes the boundaries with industrial size spans of pillarless windows all around. Forming the backbone, structurally and visually, of the house is a thick stone clad wall, perforated as well by large spans of glass. This seems to provide a divide between the outside and in, for a house that really opens up to its outside areas.

Entering on the more enclosed side of this wall, guests are no doubt ushered to the open plan living room upon arrival. Passing through the opening in that solid stone backbone they view the pool and deck area, a real summer entertaining spot. Shaded from the heat, guests can relax in this room which seems to be an open area, until you realise Marcio has hidden huge sliding glass doors into the far wall, which seal this area up in winter/at night.

With the lights of the big city in the distance, this house is a secure oasis for the resident family. Downstairs an open relaxed living area, and then through and further down the backbone, a formal dining room served by the kitchen hidden off the corridor with a snack room.
Upstairs, away from the buzz of guests, three children's rooms with en suites, a master bedroom and as all houses should have, two walk in wardrobes. I'm presuming that the smaller, forming a corridor to the first Master en suite, is for the working father. The second, a room larger than the kids bedrooms, I presume is for the lady of the house (my wife was very impressed!), and is separate from the second en suite and bath tub.
Rounding off the floors of the house is the home cinema room on the final floor, encased in that lovely hardwood, with views across to the city, reminding you of the action around, even in such comfortable surroundings.

And if it's all too much, dive into the pool or head across the deck to the sauna in the far right corner of the property.

Marcio Kogan

Born in 1952. Graduated from Mackenzie School of Architecture in 1976. Received an IAB award for the Rubens Sverner Day-Care Center in 1983, and in 1994 an award for the facade for the Larmod Store, organized by the Magazine of the newspaper Folha and CCSP (Creation Club of São Paulo). Realised an exhibit of small-scale models entitled “Architecture and Humor”, a critical view of the architectural and urbanistic problems of the city of São Paulo, which had great repercussions throughout the city. Participated in the IV Architecture Biennial with these projects: UMA Store, Strumpf Residence and the MRA-2 commercial building in 1999. Awarded Architectural Record House 2004 for Du Plessis Residence – Laranjeiras / Paraty / Brazil.

via: Marcio Kogan