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Buxton Rise - Black Range State Forest

2/7/2020

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Architects Format Architects 2019
Picture
The Buxton Rise house is a bush retreat overlooking the Black Range State Forest 100km north east of Melbourne. The house is defined by its large & deep overhanging roof designed to offer shade and protection from the elements. The plan is arranged around a glass walled open plan living and dining area facing north, a rendered masonry walled sleeping zone to the south and outdoor areas defined by the cantilevered roof to the east and west. The roof is constructed of a grid of deep laminated veneer lumber beams exposed and expressed in the ceiling. The simple order, restrained detailing and a palette of warm internal materials including polished plaster walls, plywood ceilings and exposed aggregate concrete floors lends this house a calm and relaxed feel.
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The landscape and topography are diverse and includes ridge lines, valleys with ephemeral water courses, remnant clusters of native vegetation and cleared grazing land. The site is unique and beautiful and so it was important to site and design the new building to protect and enhance this natural landscape.

The range of materials were kept to a minimum, there’s an absence of minor material and extraneous detail hopefully lending a sense of calm and well being to the house. Naturally sealed timber windows and joinery including sustainably sourced plywood ceiling panels, exposed & laminated timber beams, cast on site concrete floors with locally sourced river rock aggregate and sand.

The entire design revolves around the idea of simple living. I enjoyed integrating some informal ideas for example the utilitarian kitchen is designed like a traditional farmhouse kitchen where family activity and kitchen work are integrated in one big room with a huge dining table in the middle. This open spatial arrangement is followed through in the detailing where open and continuous cantilevered wall shelves allow a single wall finish to flow uninterrupted throughout the entire living space. Spatial continuity and continuity of surface is a key design feature of this house as it lends a quiet unity and calm of the whole.

The house is designed as a single level in an elevated position with the back slightly cut into the hill. This allows the front of the house to sit on grade providing unfettered access outside and a strong visual connection to the land from inside. The budget was tight so the house is relatively compact, at just under 180m2 it includes an open plan living/dining/kitchen space, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, laundry and storage, but the spatial arrangement and constant visual connection to the outside make the house feel much bigger.

Every room has a view out into the landscape. There are spaces designed for late evening sun, or sunny spots in the morning so that you can track the light throughout the day. Winter sun penetration is achieved by facing a large open plan glass living, dining & kitchen area to the north, east and west, this area is open to the views and centered spatially around a 3-sided glass firebox. Summer sun is controlled by a massive overhanging roof comprising a grid of 600mm deep secretly joined timber roof beams. The roof’s presence is felt throughout the house to enhance the sense of shelter.
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Águas Claras Residence - Petrópolis, Brazil

19/5/2020

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Architects: Rodrigo Simão Arquitetura
Area: 1700 ft²
Year: 2015
Photographs: André Nazareth, Antonio Garcia​
 A house conceived as a contemplation platform, wide open to the views and to maximize sunlight, so vital in a mountain climate.

The whole house develops in one level, suspended from the ground, protected by a generous overhanging roof, accessed through a stone floor forecourt, avoiding rain water, so intense in the region, keeping the house free from moisture.

The steel structure made possible spans such as 8,40m, allowing wide opening windows (up to 60% of the span), creating open spaces in dialogue with the garden and the beautiful landscape of the region.

In the same way, living room and kitchen are integrated with the wood oven contributing to the thermal functionality of the house and the big refectory table extending the pleasure of cooking and being at the table to the rest of the house.

The flooring in most of the house is polished concrete, from the slab itself. Polished in the act of concreting - usually used in industries and gas stations because of its high impact and abrasion  resistance, has smooth and hygienic finish.
This option results in a huge economy of construction phases and materials, besides being an extremely perennial low cost solution.
Built through a CEF (Caixa Econômica Federal) financing program, by a couple who personally managed the construction process, hiring an architect, an engineer and a construction firm.

The couple was very successful in coordinating building and payment cronogram in a very complex process of building phases, receiving regular inspections and receiving the financing parcels.


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North Bondi House by James Garvan

19/5/2020

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Architects: James Garvan
Area: 180 m²
Year: 2019
Photographs: Katherine Lu
This ambitious and crafted home responds to its traditional context by prioritising rigorous geometric composition, dynamic use of space and light, and a strong engagement with the streetscape. The optimistic intent is to advance the traditional semi-detached housing type to better reflect the contemporary social and cultural context of Bondi.

CORE PRINCIPLES The unadvanced, ornate and traditional context inspired an optimistic, ambitious and contemporary response. Paired with its ornate neighbour and set amongst the backdrop of vernacular semi-detached houses, the project relies on the simplicity, clarity and strength of the geometric refence to traditional gable-ended semi-detached houses.

The geometry of the new façade is a mirror of its neighbour, but is stripped of ornamentation. The unadorned frontage gives primacy to the purity and clarity of the three staggered gabled forms whilst still maintaining a formal connection with its neighbour. A strong connection to the outdoors, privacy from the street and the ability to adapt the building to various thermal conditions was achieved via the fully operable and dynamic front and rear facades. The previously dark core of this semi-detached home is now drenched in sunlight throughout the day and naturally ventilates the entire home, drawing air in from the front and rear and expelling it through the open skylights. The restrained material palette relies on variety in texture and patten and their interaction with light and space to provide a level of richness and vigour to the project. This restraint in turn accentuates project’s formal composition and improves the design intent’s legibility.

RELATIONSHIP OF FORM TO CONTEXT Given its exposed location, restrained material palette and gabled composition, the house stands as a new landmark in the back-streets of Bondi. The crisply detailed simple forms of the front façade offer an alternative to the traditional Bondi semi and along with it, a sense of advancement. The dialogue between the new and old is easily read with an unobstructed front boundary and a generous setback which openly engages the streetscape.

This openness is balanced by the privacy offered by the dynamic timber batten screening that slides across the facades providing access, sun protection or a veil from onlookers.

PROGRAM RESOLUTION Whilst the new building envelope addressed the presentation to the streetscape and interface with the broader context, the reconfiguration of the internal arrangement was successful in creating a more dynamic engagement with natural light, space and the landscape within the home. A large void was dropped into the middle of the home and topped with a series of strategically placed openable skylights between the rafters. This satisfied the brief requirements of separation between public and private spaces and the injection of natural light and air into the core of the home whilst maintaining privacy from the neighbours to the north.
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Minimod Curucaca / MAPA

14/5/2020

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  • Architects: MAPA
  • Area: 90 m²
  • Year: 2018
  • Photographs: Leonardo Finotti
MINIMOD is an exploration of the experience of landscape and technology. It presents itself as a primitive retreat with a contemporary reinterpretation, which more than an object aims to become an every-remote-landscape experience. Its compact and efficient design enhances the surroundings of where it is installed and turns them into available landscapes.

The Curucaca Valley is located in the mountain region of southern Brazil. The landscape is characterized by its intense visuals and a rugged topography, covered by the typical vegetation of the Brazilian Atlantic forest. The MINIMOD lies in a clearing in the middle of this dense forest landscape, next to a steep gorge that offers a stunning view of the valley.

MINIMOD pretends to be an alternative to traditional construction: based on prefab plug&play logics, it incorporates the benefits that a newly-born industry has to offer. Quiet but not shy, its unique-in-Brazil CLT Wood-Technology combines industrialized products efficiency and new technologies sustainability with the sensitivity of the natural material par excellence.

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Lake Joseph Cottage, Muskoka, Ontario

14/5/2020

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VFA Architects
Project DescriptionIn response to both site conditions and programmatic needs, this project was about designing a retreat that would accommodate the users’ needs and comfort throughout the seasons in contemporary context, while quietly inserting itself into Muskoka’s cultural and natural landscape. 

Since the early 1860s, we’ve seen a rich layering of recreational architecture that populates the region’s 16,000 lakes. It has long been a desirable summer destination for city-dwellers where cottages range from modest log cabins to ornate Victorian summer homes, capturing an important regional history that’s deeply embedded into its cultural fabric.

The past decade has witnessed the development of a new chapter in Muskoka’s architectural narrative – one marked by a dramatic shift in scale that threatens to erode its unique character. The once humble and unobtrusive structures tucked into the hilly shores of the region are now replaced with oversized recreational residences disruptive to the regional identity. This phenomenon is particularly prevalent on Lake Joseph, which has more recently attracted local and international celebrities.

With a respect for the local history and sensitivity towards the environment, the cottage’s massing is guided by a thorough understanding of the site conditions – including topography, solar orientation, vegetation, and existing views – as well as a consideration for the family’s programmatic needs. 

The resulting form is a series of low-slung volumes integrated onto the site; unified by a trio of formally expressive overlapping irregular hip roofs with generous overhangs towards the south and west façades. The three roof lines relate to the function of each pod where the shared living spaces are designated to the front bar looking onto the lake, the bedrooms are at mid-bar, and the last bar is an enclosed sunroom with Muskoka screen.

In an effort to leave the softest footprint possible on the landscape, the cottage is constructed with a number of passive features which facilitate user comfort while minimizing the need for mechanical systems - including strategically located openings to encourage natural ventilation and a naturally-preserved façade that requires little maintenance. Shou sugi ban was applied to the exterior wood panelling as an homage to the site’s history where the previous cabin had burnt down. White pine is used in contrast to brighten. 

A 10’ wide open square breezeway interrupts the building as an immediate visual thoroughfare from back to front - the architecture, in its charred appearance, frames the lake as if it were a picture. Principal Architect Vanessa Fong describes the feeling she wanted to evoke in this experience, “When you arrive at the cottage, you always arrive from the back - the cottage is in the way so you never get a sense of the water and the view. It was very important to have a sense of arrival and connection to the landscape, so you’re not just arriving at a building.” 
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VFA’s interpretation of the archetypical cottage experience at Lake Joseph expresses harmony with its environment; where architecture becomes part of the landscape and respects the time-honoured tradition of cottage retreating as well as the wilderness it’s surrounded by.
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Michigan Lake House - Leelanau County

14/5/2020

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  • Architects: Desai Chia Architecture, Environment Architects
  • Area: 4800 ft²
  • Year: 2016
  • Photographs: Paul Warchol
The architect write: Perched on a woodland bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, this home, designed in collaboration with Environment Architects (AOR) of Traverse City, MI, is an assemblage of three offset structures that play off each other— the ‘gathering’ structure contains the living room, kitchen and a covered 'vista' seating terrace; the two 'sleeping' structures house the master bedroom suite and three children's bedrooms. A dining area breezeway connects all three structures.

The roofscape has gentle undulations that follow the movement of the natural terrain and make a playful reference to the vernacular architecture of nearby fishing villages. The resulting rhythm of exposed wood beams provides layers of asymmetrical vaults throughout the interiors. At the southern end of the house, a 20 foot cantilevered roof extends over the 'vista' terrace, providing a protected, unobstructed view of Lake Michigan and the surrounding woodlands.

Scuppers of the roof collect rainwater, allow for drainage, and assist with erosion control around the site. The home elegantly integrates geothermal heating into its design. Studies of the prevailing winds determined window placement to take advantage of natural ventilation: there is no air-conditioning in the home.

The exterior of the house is clad in ‘shou sugi ban,' a traditional Japanese method of charring wood so it becomes rot resistant and bug resistant. The charred texture and the modulation of deep facade members enhances the shadows across the facade as the sun rises and sets.

We reclaimed dying ash trees from the site and milled them down to be used as interior cabinetry, flooring, ceiling panels, trim work, and custom furniture throughout the house. The interiors of the house embody the indigenous landscape that once thrived with old growth ash.

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Humane Education Society / The Animal Sanctuary Wilmslow

13/2/2020

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Good progress after only five weeks on site, bad weather and floods!
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  • If you would like to support the charity, please contact https://www.heswilmslow.co.uk
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Bruny Island Hideaway by Maguire + Devine Architects

21/7/2019

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Built as an escape from everyday life, this off-grid cabin by Maguire and Devine Architects celebrates the Tasmanian landscape and is a reminder of simple pleasures. This off-grid modern-day log cabin draws inspiration from the client’s past, who was born in Taiwan and grew up experiencing Japanese architecture built during the occupation. Through this, she developed a strong love for minimalist design and envisioned a holiday home where “stuff” would not clutter her time of relaxation. The brief was to “design a building as a piece of furniture,” in which all furniture was to be built in, aside from the low dining table and mattress in the loft bedroom.
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Architect: Maguire + Devine Architects
Location:  Alonnah, Bruny Island
Year: 2017
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Battersea House / Proctor & Shaw

18/6/2019

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  • Architects Proctor & Shaw
  • Location London, United Kingdom
  • Category Extension
  • Area 175.0 m2
  • Project Year 2018
  • Photographs Stale Eriksen, Megan Taylor
  • Manufacturers Flos, Maxlight, VADO, Trimble Navigation, Ibstock
The architect writes:
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This post-war end of terrace house has been completely refurbished and extended with a contemporary loft and a modern rear extension by its architect owner. The project delivers a high quality transformation inspired by the post-war utilitarian design of the original building. Purchased in May 2017 we immediately set about a full refurbishment and extension project which included the full landscaping to both front and back gardens. In terms of massing we extended out the back as far as was reasonable and created level access to an excavated garden. The loft has been fully extended with a crisp modern full-width flat dormer. 

Keeping true to mid-century modern ideals simple lines, pure form and function prevail. The design authentically expresses the construction and materiality without decorative ornamentation. The ground floor extension is built in a light cream brick, which contrasts with the dark blue painted original brickwork. Glazing to the garden is slim-lined, full height and width, and expressed as a plane, with thin capping details to disguise mass. The spruce deck and pine rafter warm-deck roof construction is exposed and co-ordinated with discreet lighting, making positive architecture from the original challenging ceiling heights. The original floor level was excavated down one step and carried through in to the garden for a seamless connection. 

The extension forms part of an open plan kitchen, dining and living room, with a tough long-lasting concrete polished floor. The kitchen is simple white cabinetry with shop sprayed flush panel doors. A custom oak island forms the centrepiece to the room with Flos Aim pendant lights above. Utility services are hidden away behind bi-fold doors, clad in painted vertical tongue and groove timber, which is a continuation of the under stair storage, housing cloaks and shoe storage.

The vertical circulation has been enhanced with a new custom painted steel screen guarding and balustrade, inspired by mid-century geometric room dividers. This in turn is co-ordinated with a crafted ‘journey’ of connected birch ply elements; a coat store (adjacent to the re-located front door), a ceiling cladding detail and the main element - a bespoke stair case to the loft. The circulation remains compact and efficient, these elements bring a sense of materiality and joy.

The rooms throughout the house have been treated individually with colour or materiality; dark green to the sitting room, pastel shades to bedrooms, unpainted plaster to the master bedroom, with tile and terrazzo to the bathrooms. The front sitting room was extensively refurbished with a new projecting box window seat, log burning stove, fitted cabinetry and a log store. The dark colour emphasises the cosy sanctuary and the room offers a contrast to the light-filled family orientated spaces of the home.
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The House of Prajna, Gwacheon-si, South Korea

24/1/2019

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The architect (Hyoungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh in studio_GAON) writes: The House of Prajna seems like a vessel heading for the woods, embraced by the forest, with the pentagon shape of building site reminding of that of ship. On the bow of ship shape, a persimmon tree over hundred year old branches its arms toward the large sky with hollowed trunk. Although this house is a result of intentional design, I feel like it is already been completed by thousands of interactions of invisible components. Every time I visit, I feel like appreciating the work of someone else’s.  

The house is located in Gwacheon near Seoul. Gwacheon has been playing a role of government city, and praised for an ideal place for living. Other houses in the district, line along the street a bit apart from each other, and the surrounding woods enclave the town like a blanket. The site feels cozy. 

At first, the owner of the house, a middle aged couple, said in tranquil but clear tone that they have four family members, have a dog and want to have a separate workroom distinctive from the living place. They bought the land ten years ago, and other lots around the site have been already filled out. Lastly, they wanted to preserve the awesome persimmon tree.
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