The Sliding House #2

No seguimento do nosso último post sobre o projecto The Slidding House (Novembro de 2008) da autoria do atelier DRMM, anexo agora um breve video produzido e lançado este mês pela revista Wallpaper.

The Sliding House #2

The Sliding House #2

'' The Industrial and the Picturesque’: A new house with guest annexe and garage for a rural site in Suffolk, East Anglia - a small-holding formerly characterised by bungalow, outbuildings and caravan arranged casually under a big sky.

The stringent local Planning parameters for rural development were accepted by the architect who shares with the client a genuine appreciation of vernacular farm buildings.After studying alternatives it was agreed to manipulate the local timber framed and clad ’shed’ idiom.The brief was a self-build house to retire to in order to grow food, entertain and enjoy the East Anglia landscape.The client was both straightforward and sophisticated. The site offered a combination of rolling England and agricultural Holland.

These parameters greatly appealed to the international architects interested in systems, materials and unconventional architecture.The project was designed to be elaborated on and built by the client, an enterprising mathematician and motorcyclist. A client/maker capable of calculating the value of design and of risk.The outcome is 3 conventional building forms, with unconventional detailing and radical performance. And a big surprise. A 28m linear building of apparent simplicity follows the requisite maximum 5.8m permitted width, 7.2m height is sliced into 3 programmes; 16m house, 5m garage and 7m annexe. The garage is pulled off axis to form a courtyard between slices of building.

The 3 fixed buildings are further defined with distinct finishes; red rubber membrane and glass, red and black stained larch respectively.The linear composition is carefully sited on a level ridge which runs north/south along the north eastern boundary of the site. Thus the choreographed progression from road past annexe and garage, to house, glasshouse and then on to garden are a logical sequence. The bedroom/service half of the house is modular timber cassette construction, the living half a generic curtain wall glazing system. The annexe and garage are constructed from the modular timber cassette system with scandinavian laminated section windows and doors.

The surprise is that these separated forms can be transformed by the fourth and largest element in the group, the 50 ton mobile roof and wall enclosure which traverses the site. This is an autonomous structure; steel, timber, insulation and unstained larch spanning hidden tracks, recessed into a concrete raft on piles. The mobile roof and walls form an insulating structure that passes over the annexe, house and glasshouse, creating combinations of enclosure, open-air living and framing of views according to position.Each element of the composition is carefully proportioned in relation to frame, window and wall sizes.

All elements were prefabricated to be assembled on site, except groundworks, internal joinery fixtures and external surfaces, which were in situ.Movement is powered by hidden electric motors on ‘bogeys’ integrated into the wall thickness. Each of the 4 separate motors has its own pair of DC car batteries which are charged by mains or PV solar panels.The railway tracks are recessed into the external terrace on which the entire composition rests. The 6m gauge ‘railway’ is further disguised by stone paving joints and a linear drainage gully.This aligns the whole composition, obviates any roof gutters, and draws the visitor toward the garden beyond.

The tracks could be extended in the future should the client wish to build a swimming pool which in turn may need occasional shelter…Sliding House offers radically variable spaces, extent of shelter, sunlight and insulation. The dynamic change is a physical phenomenon difficult to describe in words or images. It is about the ability to vary or connect the overall building composition and character according to season, weather, or a remote-controlled desire to delight.'' by DRMM

The Sliding House
Client: Private client Architect: dRMM; Alex de Rijke, Joana Pestana Lages Goncalves Engineer: Michael Hadi Associates, Rutger Snoek, David Williams, Rob Hart

Villa Ordos100 | SAMI Arquitectos

O atelier SAMI-Arquitectos é uma jovem parceria entre os arquitectos Inês Vieira da Silva e Miguel Vieira que desde a sua fundação, no ano de 2005, se têm evidenciado no panorama nacional e internacional. Em 2007 foram um dos nomeados pelo comité português para o prémio Mies Van der Rohe com o projecto Gruta das Torres Visitor Centre na Ilha do Pico, Açores. Deixo-vos com um dos seus trabalhos que me suscitou alguma curiosidade, a habitação Villa Ordos 100.

"Being given total freedom was initially a daunting prospect. Faced with a landscape in the process of transformation and a client who made few specific demands the project became a challenge to our imaginations. We saw the aim as to build a large house in an area of fairly dense occupation, yet to allow for both privacy and light. Our solution was to follow a continuous line which both divides the inner space and separates it from the exterior. Infinite and unbroken, the line gives strength, cohesion and dynamism to the building. While the function of the line as it moves from interior to exterior and back again may change, its integrity remains the same, giving each interdependent space an equal value. The line flows through the public areas of the ground floor, eddying into more intimate social spaces and allowing a gradation of both light and seclusion. It also creates private compartments at the level of the first floor. The line allows us to maximise the perimeter while respecting the confines of the footprint."

"Thus we gain in terms of light, privacy and protection from the elements. The openings, both within the building and on the exterior, do not violate the line which remains intact and continuous, giving a sense of fluidity and space to the interior of the home. In the most private part of the house the line continues to allow spaces which are both intimate and secluded. Here small modules containing sanitary installations enable larger areas to be divided without challenging the integrity of the linear flow. The convivial spaces of the house are dynamic and interconnected, permitting a fluid circulation within. The height of the ceilings varies according to the compartments giving a greater intensity and a differing luminosity to each space."

"The principal dining room is a particularly well lit space, providing a point of reference in the life and course of the home. Here a tree will be planted to link this space with the exterior environment, as this is the part of the house which receives most light when the sun is at its zenith. The interior and exterior openings make this the most introspective part of the house, as though the building were looking inward upon itself. The architectural line goes beyond the footprint in the spaces of the swimming pool and the principal living room, as if in search of a more intense relationship with the exterior, a vital response to fertility and light. The height of the walls at the level of the roof is not constant and these variations are most clearly articulated in the swimming pool, just a single floor in height, but where the flow of the line which drives the whole project is at its strongest and most expressive. We took a line, we followed it and allowed it to create space. The line was our conceptual response to our initial challenge and the functionality of the building is derived from that concept."

Casa em Sobral - Bak Gordon

A simplicidade e as boas ideias normalmente andam de mãos dadas. Este projecto do arquitecto Bak Gordon na aldeia de Sobral à primeira vista não traz nada de novo, mais uma casinha branca no Algarve num exercício competente de inserção de um novo edifício numa malha urbana fortemente caracterizada pela presença centenária e rural das construções envolventes. No entanto as pequenas caixas coloridas que pontuam os alçados deixaram-me uma impressão forte. Primeiro, porque o uso da Luz natural em conjunto com a Cor, tornaram os vãos em autênticas caixas de luz coloridas, construindo um jogo que desperta a curiosidade e enchem o espírito com uma sensação de conforto. Depois, pela simplicidade do gesto, que sem grandes truques de desenho, ou aplicação de materiais dispendiosos, consegue-se criar uma casa com personalidade própria. Mas claro, quem é que aceita colocar portadas interiores nas suas habitações?!??!

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Quartos para crianças

E se o teu quarto fosse uma folha em branco? E se pudesses desenhar aquilo que quisesses? Pois bem, o estúdio de design francês e-glue especializou-se em criar ilustrações para crianças. O seu primeiro produto são películas adesivas com diferentes motivos ficurativos.

Bookshelves

Shibuya Publishing é o projecto concluído em 2008 pelo arquitecto japonês Hiroshi Nakamura. Esta livraria/escritório situa-se me Tokyo e têm uma área de construção de 240 m2. Mas o que têm de especial esta livraria, que a possa distinguir das restantes? Bem, possui uma organização única dos livros através de um conjunto diferente de estantes que produzem um efeito caótico, mas igualmente coerente e distinto das demais. Dêem uma vista de olhos pelas imagens e digam se vos agrada!