Silvia's blog: researching through architecture: 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

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.