Hiding and displaying at the same time

Since the first stage of my design process, during this design studio in Winchester, I was wondering how I could manage to locate the garage in the best way possible. Saying this, I mean that wherever I put the garage it looks located in a wrong position. This could be because of the light: for example in my case, since the entrance is just one and I can't change it, the more directed place whould have been putting the garage in the south part of the site. But in this way I can't locate places like the living room, dining room and kitchen in the south. So, why don't you locate it in the north part, giving up in having a direct access to the garege? I tried but in this way I was covering the most interesting and nice view from the site. The other problem was that I didn't want to make the family living in this house watching the car passing through the garden and stopping in front of them.

At the same time, analyzing more deeply the landscape of the site, I was trying to use and take the most from it, not only to link the building to this place and only this one, but also to obtain what I rally wanted for the house itself.

At the stage of my process I manage to find a possible solution looking among a lot of projects, even with totally different kinds of landscape and the MAVA's house by Gubbins Architects, together with the last project that I have described in the last post, helped me a lot.

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/221463-Gubbins-Arquitectos-Casa-Mava

Pablo Montecinos

Like it can be seen from the picture, the architects of this project did a sort of loggia for the entrance of the house, composed by two volumes. This entrance hosts the cars park and allow to hide them due to the presence of what looks like a massive volume just above it. The truth is that what we see like wood panels are not walls but work like a balustrade for the beatiful view to the sea. And even the wood paviment above the entrance makes the light come trough it. Just beside the open garage there is the entrance so it is quite hidsen and protected from winds and different waether conditions.

Despite the site is totally different from the kind of forest in which I'm designing the family house I was thinking to use the same kinds of materials that they used here: concrete and wood. Concrete because I think that it's the best for this kind of building related to different slopes and trees roots that can always contact the walls and push them. And the wood because, for me, it creates again a sort of junction with nature.

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/221463-Gubbins-Arquitectos-Casa-Mava

Gubbins Arquitectos

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/221463-Gubbins-Arquitectos-Casa-Mava

Pablo Montecinos

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/221463-Gubbins-Arquitectos-Casa-Mava

Gubbins Arquitectos

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/221463-Gubbins-Arquitectos-Casa-Mava

Pablo Montecinos

Different approaches:bending

This project, The house in a forest, by Igloo Architecture studio is much more similar then the other projects that I have analyzed previously to the circumstances in which we are designing the house in Winchester area.
Also in this project the architects had to manage the amount of trees and the slopes of the site. But what is very interesting in this building is the approach used. In fact the architects tried to develop the form and shape of the building on the base of the different points of view among the trees and trying to follow the crown of trees development. In this way, as it can be possible to see in the section, there are several heights and each of them hosts spaces around the stairs like: living/night area/kitchen/dining. The house is composed by two main volumes, one of which is rotated and has an empty space on the ground floor that hosts the garage/loggia.

SOURCE: http://www.archdaily.com/441741/a-house-in-a-forest-igloo-architecture/

Photos by Andrei Creangă

SOURCE: http://www.archdaily.com/441741/a-house-in-a-forest-igloo-architecture/

Photos by Andrei Creangă

Since at this stage I'm focusing on the position of spaces on the base of their function, it's very useful looking at this project because of the size of each room and the similar amount of rooms requested. What I'm trying to do is obtaining the best orientation for each room and the work is worse since there are so many big and dense trees. So, as they do with the stairs space locating windows above it on the ceiling, to obtain a lighter space, I need to use the same method but applying it in more than just one point.

For what concerns the structure, it is really interesting and smart to think and design the spaces as indipendent to the main volumes, like if they are a massive skin of the building. In fact, looking at the facades from different points of view, sometimes the inner space is aligned to make the light pass directly through the windows, other times the ceiling sticks out or the facade is rearward creating the desired shadow on the base of the orientation of the volume. In one case the ceiling has a hole and the facede is rearward to obtain a balcony as well.

SOURCE: http://www.archdaily.com/441741/a-house-in-a-forest-igloo-architecture/
Photos by Andrei Creangă

SOURCE: http://www.archdaily.com/441741/a-house-in-a-forest-igloo-architecture/

Photos by Andrei Creangă

Different approaches: fragmenting

Looking back to my previous resarches about a landscape architecture project, I've seen this landscape project by Buro Sant an Co. that helped me a lot to start to think about where I'm going to locate every single room, since at this stage we have to focus on the functions of a family dwelling. Separating every single function/room in a fragment, keeping in mind different size for each room, help to make a reasoning in mind that otherwise can be very difficult. Doing this, you also have to consider where you are working on and, precisely in Winchester, in a hard site to work with, due to the presence of slopes and a lot of trees. Last but not least, the orientation! Obviously it's much different locating a bedroom on the north side than on the east side, so all these thoughts have to coexist at the same time.

SOURCE: http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2011/06/roombeek-the-brook-by-buro-sant-en-co-landscape-architecture/

Looking at this picture, helps me to remind how many possibilities I have to design and locate each function/room. Observing this project, it seems that they have broken the paviment and then they started to take pieces off, until they menaged to obtain what they really wanted. Well this is exactly the same that I'm going to do, since I can invent the client's expectations and requests (like adding functions like a swimming-pool, or a library, or a craft room, why not?) and, in case, I can change, keep or delete them. But in my case, I can also move every piece freely, according to function, sunlight, wind and everything I'm going to consider.

SOURCE: http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2011/06/roombeek-the-brook-by-buro-sant-en-co-landscape-architecture/

To start my design, I tried to find some architecture examples in which it was really clear the link between function and position of every room. This is an House in Sayo, Japan designed by Fujiwaramuro Architects for a family. Like it can be seen from the plan, the house is developed along a passage that starts like a narrow entrance and stops with a room at the end. Each other room is located on the edges of this passage and, in this way, each room has up to three free facades looking outside.

The passage is visible from the exterior too, not only for the different colour and material from the other volumes, but also for the different height. In the ceiling there are also some circular windows that make the light pass through and arrive to the rooms. But what I'm really interested in, is the fact that this passage is not merely a passage but, in the middle of the house, it becomes the living room, so it becomes as important as the other rooms, due to the function that the architects gave to it.

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/227499-fujiwaramuro-architects-House-in-Sayo

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/227499-fujiwaramuro-architects-House-in-Sayo

So, since this is a family with young kids, it is very important to have communicating spaces, so that while the mother is in the kitchen, she can hear and see her kids playing just in the next room. It is also a way to make every member of the family take part to the family life. So coming back to the "sun path problem", using this method of managing the location of the rooms along a line, can be very usefull to orientate each room in the best way too. This can be done both folding the line/passage and twisting the walls of each room. Nonetheless this method can also be used to orientate the facade to the desired view.

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/227499-fujiwaramuro-architects-House-in-Sayo

SOURCE: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/227499-fujiwaramuro-architects-House-in-Sayo

Different approaches: integreting/hiding

It's not the first time that I face a project in which I have to consider the relationship between man and nature. And every time I am in these kinds of situations, it's like the first, since there isn't a right and unique approach to face the "problem". So the first question is: what does the client want to obtain? What are his/her needs? In this case the client is not real but I can choose to follow the requests made by the family living in the existing house or not. Interpreting the client's requests is not always easy but when they say that they would like a close relationship with nature and wildlife, you have a clear starting point, it's just up to you to menage and develop this idea.
So, looking to this paint Déjeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard Manet it makes me think about the relationship between man and nature. Obviously in this case the painter wanted to mark the modernity of his painting but what I'm interested in is this self-confidence belonging to the characters by which they interact in the scene. They mix up with the nature behind them. Above all the naked girl, free from dresses, confuses her self much better and looks in armony with the surrounding.

SOURCE: http://www.francescomorante.it/pag_3/304aa.htm

I'm not saying that to obtain this complete merging between architecture and nature, we should open our buildings and undress them but that there are different ways to merge architecture with surrounding. You can decide to hide, to open, to confuse (by using other different ways like colours, materials and distances), etc... Or, you can decide the opposite, therefore choosing a violent way of manifasting the presence of a building in the middle of nature. But between these different approaches there some others that try to find a new approach not taking a unique direction.

So, thinking to these different approaches, I decided to analyse some examples of them. The first project that I would like to focus on is the Earth House by BCHO Architects.

SOURCE: http://www.dezeen.com/2010/06/10/earth-house-by-bcho-architects/

This house, made in honour of the poet Yoon Dong-joo, consists in a space digged in the ground representing not only a clear sign of mankind in nature but also a tempt to merge the architecture with nature. So we have a dual meaning expressed also in the phase of construction, since they decided to reuse the digged ground for the internal walls. But what I am interested in, is the fact that it's impossible to see this building from afar so, approaching the site, it's a true surprise finding this architecture. Still, it can be seen clearly only from the sky, especially by night.

SOURCE: http://www.dezeen.com/2010/06/10/earth-house-by-bcho-architects/

Obviously this building takes advantage of the contact with earth and can use also the benefit of having two courtyards, usable in different ways depending on the season. But just one facade faces outside the ground so I think that it has been really important to choose the orientation and the unique possible view. Also the choose of the material is decisive: I think that they chose concrete to obtain the best response from the material in terms of contrasting the strenght of the ground. Instead for what concerns the use of wood, I think that it is still linked to the idea of merging this building with nature in the best possible way.

SOURCE: http://www.dezeen.com/2010/06/10/earth-house-by-bcho-architects/

Coming back to the "views topic", it's also important to mark the fact that the roof of the building can be seen like a new piece of ground, so it can be easily used like if it is a paviment in a garden. Still, from this point you don't have only a view imposed from the orientation of the house but you can turn around your self for 360 degrees and appreciate constantly the landscape surrounding you.

SOURCE: http://www.dezeen.com/2010/06/10/earth-house-by-bcho-architects/

SOURCE: http://www.architetturaecosostenibile.it/architettura/nel-mondo/casa-terra-rapporto-natura-uomo-202.html

New brief: Winchester project

The new brief consists in proposing a modern new family home located in Winchester. The site is characterized by different gradients and slopes and many trees causing overshadowing on the ground and on the adjacent existing house (that is dilapidated and should be replaced with the new one we are going to design). So it's very important, at this stage, to analyse: trees' shadows, prevailing winds directions, orientation and the sun path.

It's also important to consider the view into the site and out the site, since the family would like to have a view facing to the University of Winchester and the hospital side.
In themeantime, me and my group did the model to study gradients and slopes of the site.

I love this video

Every time that I watch this video again, I'm totally surprised about what it's possible to do with space. How, with a simple sliding wall, you can create a different function in the same space. I think that interior designers and architects today should focus on this kind of restoration on existing buildings to make people life easier and up-to-date to their needs.

SOURCE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFo3rl1a9C0