Architecture Wednesday: A House In The Woods

It’s been mighty hot here in Smallville, of late, and I needed a shot of cool and this house, A House in the Woods, during a snowy winter’s day is cool in every sense of the word.

It’s a single-family home located on a densely forested almost ten acre lot at the base of the Shawangunk Mountains. The 4800 square foot home is the result of what the architect calls a “studied relationship between two opposing geometries – a long sculptural wall clad in Cor-Ten weathering steel and a mass of stratified bluestone that appears to have emerged from the boulder-strewn earth. “

And here I just thought it was purty.

The design for A House in the Woods began with the owner’s desire to build an artful home that responded to her values of order, beauty, and environmental stewardship. The home’s simple geometric lines are enriched by the materials—all locally sourced—which creates a kind of balanced composition that that is both sensuous and refined.

From HomeDSGN:

“The site boundary is defined by a series of Norway spruces, the singular element guiding visitors to the secluded entrance. The curved Cor-Ten wall is heroic, yet pragmatically justified as it carves a modest entry court that amplifies the sound of the stream running parallel to the house. The wall also operates as a spine that organizes the interior spaces into a series of cinematic portals to the landscape. The character of the minimalist interior is profoundly impacted by the changes of the wooded site from season to season.”

Funny how something that seems so easy, and so cool, could have spring forth from such a complicated thought process. I, however, still think it’s purty.

HomeDSGN

Architecture Wednesday: Aviator’s Villa

I've heard of bringing your work home with you, but this takes it to a whole new level.

The house, designed for a retired pilot, er, Aviator, is organized as an analogical continuum of disassembled flight components. Similar to how the ‘Air Body’ wraps an airplane all around, this House is also ‘exposed’ to air on all its sides, in an orbital fashion.

The House, sited on a hill beside a small lake in the New York's Duchess County, plays on the concept of being fully surrounded by water as well, with the swimming pool to the south side of the house mirroring the lake on the north side. The House is imagined as a floating structure between water bodies and fully surrounded by air.

And the architect also used the way a plane would steer through wind currents, aimed at its destination and navigating the prevailing winds, to make the House turn and torque to face the sky, the views, and the lake; the House looks south, north and west predominantly.

Articulated as a vertically extending volume with a cantilevered prow, the main house is oriented to allow maximum daylight in. Large open glazed panes are mounted on riveted metal frames, further screened by perforated metal panelling, or brise-soleils, meant to replicate the texture of clouds, while limiting the high sun rays and allowing shadows within the home's interiors.

The house is three primary spaces: the large 30 feet tall living room and study, kitchen and dining area, a cantilevered 40 feet bedroom, and a library, imagined a ‘Memory Box’ and accessible only through the bedroom. The library's window opening faces the wooded areas outside, while a more secluded area in the rear is lit by a skylight whose view is directed to the cantilevered volume of the bedroom above.

It isn't to everyone's taste and has an almost cartoonish appearance, but it is something to see, before it takes off completely for parts unknown.

via HomeDSGN