Steven Holl | Planar House

Steven Holl

Planar House

Desert Tilt Up Wonder - This Steven Holl designed residence in Paradise Valley, AZ, USA, uses raw Concrete and Corten Steel to create a great prefabricated home and art gallery for it's owner.

Overview
Designed to house a contemporary art collection, internally, the house sets out to be a blank canvas, not to distract from the works held within.

The street façade blends into the desert greys, with the ageing steel fitting in perfectly.



Flourishes on the exterior are limited to the courtyard from where a ramp leads to a rooftop sculpture garden - a place of silence and reflection.



The rear, with overhands for shading, is the largest expanse of light giving glass. These sliding openings taking in views to the nearby Camelback Mountain.



Layout
The house is broken up into three functional areas. The garage and master bedroom, together with the library form the quiet zone at front of the house. To the rear are the dining and kitchen areas, located to soak up the views down to the mountain. A contemplative study joins these rooms at the rear, cool in summer no doubt as the doors to both the pool behind and rear yard would form a breeze-way of cooled air.

Between the two spaces lies the gallery and living area, a perfect space for the owner to enjoy the collection.



Similar natural cooling techniques are employed inside, with the overhead light shafts linking to cooling pools on the floor below, a technique which combined with minimal unshaded glass, would keep air con bills to a minimum.



Images

Plans



Google Location Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Arizona
Status completed 2005
Client Withheld
Architect: Steven Holl
Project Architect Martin Cox (Tim Bade - Schematic Design)
Floor Area 3320 sf
Project Team Robert Edmonds, Annette Goderbauer, Hideki Hirahara, Clark Manning
General Contractor(s) The Construction Zone
Structural Engineer(s) Rudow & Berry
Mechanical Engineer(s) Roy Otterbein
Civil Engineer(s) Fleet Fisher
Electrical Engineer(s) Associated Engineering
Landscape Architect(s) Steve Martino & Associates
Photos Bill Timmerman
via:Steven Holl

Diarmuid ­Gavin ­Designs ­| ­Chelsea ­Garden ­- ­Oceânico ­Garden

Diarmuid Gavin Designs

Oceânico Garden

Changing Residential Design for Landscape Design - Stepping away from houses, I thought I'd cover the big news this week in London, the Chelsea Garden show.
The show, as well as showcasing the latest in gardening, showcases some fantastic Landscape gardening. A stand out in my mind, was the Diarmuid Gavin Designs | Oceânico Garden

Not really one for knowing about flowers, or gardening, I was at first interested in the reference to the 1940's chairs, which to me, actually look more like Harry Bertoia style chairs from 1952.



What got me next was the fantastic crate like design of the garden shed.


Three of the four walls fold down on hot days, or fold up in increments for wind or winter use, with the top 300 mm folding out to form some shade protection, or ventilation, when the other walls are closed.

I think it's a great solution for outdoor entertaining!
It's kind of a miniature Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects | Coromandel House



Layout


The Royal Horticultural Society describe it thus:

The Café Garden is a place for people to stop, sit, relax and to immerse themselves in the atmosphere; it is a haven from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The garden opens to a clearing to reveal an open wooden pavilion with slatted wood sections for shading visitors. Inspired by a set of 1940s-style French mesh work chairs, outsized, stainless steel daisies are the centre of drama in the garden.
The daisies burst out of the ground and tower above the garden, set at varying heights among rich planting and a deep green jungle of foliage.
Tables and chairs with leafy parasols are interspaced within the planted areas.
Beyond the café, there is a forest of lollipop Catalpa trees and daisies, a dreamy backdrop to complete the scene. Pathways link the seating areas.

And, The Telegraph have some fantastic panoramas:
Of the Oceânico Garden, And others.
More on the Chelsea Garden Show from the Royal Horticultural Society

Alvaro Ramírez y Clarisa Elton | House in Buchupureo

Alvaro Ramírez y Clarisa Elton

House in Buchupureo

Cliffhanger - Alvaro Ramírez and Clarisa Elton - are the authors of their own weekend retreat on the central Chile coastline. Great residential design, propped on stilts, with minimal environmental impact.

{Reworked article from Plataforma Arqutectura Author:David Basulto [tricky]}

This great house is located on a remote coastal trail in central-south Chile, in Buchupureo, VIII región del Bío-Bío. When I lived in Concepción, the capital of the region, we'd surf here. The waves were fantastic, rolling into all the bays around this area. Getting there was difficult and the water was freezing (pushed up from the Antarctic), but the untouched waves, scenery and beaches were, and are still, amazing!



The project was developed in dialogue with its environment, both through the materials used for creating the volumes, as well as how these are implemented and placed on the site.

The house is supported on a steep slope through piles, which lessen the intervention/excavation of the plot's soil, allowing in turn, the free passage of water.



The cabin is divided into three functional spaces, relating to the three requirements of a holiday house. A bedroom with bathroom; a space for entertaining and guests - being with the kitchen; and a terrace, linking the other two spaces and providing spot for those spectacular views. All spaces seeking panoramic view towards the Pacific Ocean. The terrace serves as the lobby space, an intermediate space, as it is located between two interior spaces, providing protection against the wind and and as a place to embrace the ocean.



The structural elements of the house are left visible, giving form to the shape of the house. The structure, external and internal elements, are all created from local wood (the equivalent of Radiata pine), yet treated differently depending on their role. For the pillar structures and beams pieces of 4 "x6" 2 "x6" and 2 "x5" were used. All were treated to give them protection against moisture.
For interior cladding, ¾" x 4" pine are used,brushed, without any treatment. Finally for the external cladding 1" x 4", painted with carbolineum.

The tectonics of the project establish a close relationship with the local architecture, using wood and 'laja' stone, materials predominant in the area (most of the fences in the area are built with laja stone and mud, as well as many old house floors).



The structure of the roof is wood and in its V design, it detaches itself from the wall structures at both the front and rear of the house. This letting light into the interior,generating a feeling of spaciousness. Laja, the stone used to cover and protect the roof, was thought of as an element of both cultural adaptation (local architecture) and natural (landscape elements), blending the building into the rocky shores below. Conversely the view up from the beach sees the timber framework match the colours of the cliff face, the house's home.

Images


Plans


Google Maps Location: Buchupureo, VIII Región, Chile
Designed: September 2005
Constructed: December 2005 - February 2006
Architects: Alvaro Ramírez, Clarisa Elton
Builder: Ruperto Vera
Structural Engineer: Alvaro Ramirez
Owners: Alvaro Ramirez + Clarisa Elton
Total cost: $7.050.000 (US$15.000)
Constructed Area: 55m2
Images: Carlos Ferrer + Alvaro Ramirez + Clarisa Elton

via:Plataforma Arquitectura
& Alvaro Ramirez + Clarisa Elton

F3 Arquitectos | House in Rupanco

F3 Arquitectos

House in Rupanco

Wooden Wonder - F3 Arquitectos - renowned for their timber architecture in Chile, have created this wonderful prefab retreat in 75 days! I question what more could be required of a modernistic cabin?

Many thanks to Plataforma Arquitectura for bringing us this fantastic residence in Southern Chile.

Translation / reword of original article by Carlos J Vial

Located in a remote area of Lake Rupanco, the commission responds to the request of a "summer house" or retreat, of sporadic use. Due to its complex, ever changing climate and geographical location, the plot made on site slow construction impossible.

The project consists of a single volume, with the layout distributed linearly, parallel to the lake views and shore. The site drops down a field to the shore below and northern sun.

A solid timber rear façade with a singular overlapped entrance, to the house, provides the necessary private secure barrier to the public road, becoming the main structural axis of the project. This wall in turn partially meets the requirements of security due to the prolonged periods when the house is uninhabited.

In contrast, once inside the interior, each room has a glazed wall facing the lake, creating a porous, and therefore vulnerable, façade. F3's solution being sliding wooden panels, clad in the same treated wood of the rear façade, that allow the owner to create a singular, completely airtight volume when leaving for the city.

As for the remote location and inclement weather that would hinder an on-site build - this was resolved by prefabricating many of the wall, floor and roof panels.

The Result
A beautiful, simple, elegant lakeside retreat. And to top it off, construction was completed in 75 days!!

Plans

Location: Lago Rupanco, X Region, Chile.
Arquitectos: F3 Arquitectos - Alejandro Dumay, Nicolás Fones, Francisco Vergara.
Size: 127 m2.
Materials: Treated wood, in prefab panels.
Completed: 2005.
via: Plataforma Arquitectura
& F3 Arquitectos