BAK Architects have completed the JD House, located in the forest of Mar Azul, in the Argentinian province of Buenos Aires.
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Visit the website of BAK Architects – here.
Photography by Gustavo Sosa Pinilla
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Mount Fuji Architects Studio have designed the PLUS house in Shizuoka, Japan.
Full description after the photos….
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Description of the PLUS House by Mount Fuji Architects Studio:
The site locates on mountainside of Izu-san, where Pacific Ocean can be looked down on the south. The untouched wilderness, covered with deciduous broad-leaved trees such as cherry trees and Japanese oaks, gives little level ground. But we saw faint glimmer of architectural possibility along the ridge.
The architecture would be used as villa for weekends. I didn’t want to just form the undulating landscape dotted with great trees as normal, nor design an elaborate architecture bowing down to the complex topography. What sprang to my mind is a blueprint for an architecture which is perfectly autonomous itself, at the same time seems to emerge as an underlying shape that the natural environment has been hiding. It’s abstraction of nature, to say. The architecture was realized by crossing two rectangular parallelepipeds at very right angles. The lower one contains private rooms and bathroom, and sticks half of the body out to existing narrow level ground. The upper one incorporates salon and kitchen, and lies astride the lower one and the mountain ridge. It almost seems like an off-centered cross pinned carefully on natural terrain. One axis of the cross stretches toward the Pacific Ocean on south, and the other, the forest of Japanese oak and some white birch on west. The rooms in the lower structure and terrace on it enjoy broad vista of the sea and blue sky. And gentle shade of natural forest embraces the space in the upper one. Water-polished white marble (cami #120) was chosen as interior finishing material. It glows softly like Greece sculptures to blend blue light from the south and green light from the west gradationally, thus creates delicate continuous landscape of light which suggests the character and usage of the space. Exterior is also finished with white marble. The surface get smoother as it approaches to the southern/western end till it takes mirror gloss (cami #1000) at the ends. The southern end of white cross melts into the blue of sky and sea, and the eastern end to the green of forest. Abstraction is nothing to conflict with nature here. Carved out of nature, it never stops being a part of nature itself, however highly abstracted. Never relativizes the nature with its foreignness, nor generate contradiction to settle for being “artificial nature†by giving up being abstract and mimicking the nature.The abstraction inspired by Mother Nature defines the nature itself, and still, stays natural. That’s what I wanted from this abstraction and architecture.
Visit the website of Mount Fuji Architects Studio – here.
Photography by Ken’ichi Suzuki
Mount Fuji Architects Studio have designed the PLUS house in Shizuoka, Japan.
Full description after the photos….
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Description of the PLUS House by Mount Fuji Architects Studio:
The site locates on mountainside of Izu-san, where Pacific Ocean can be looked down on the south. The untouched wilderness, covered with deciduous broad-leaved trees such as cherry trees and Japanese oaks, gives little level ground. But we saw faint glimmer of architectural possibility along the ridge.
The architecture would be used as villa for weekends. I didn’t want to just form the undulating landscape dotted with great trees as normal, nor design an elaborate architecture bowing down to the complex topography. What sprang to my mind is a blueprint for an architecture which is perfectly autonomous itself, at the same time seems to emerge as an underlying shape that the natural environment has been hiding. It’s abstraction of nature, to say. The architecture was realized by crossing two rectangular parallelepipeds at very right angles. The lower one contains private rooms and bathroom, and sticks half of the body out to existing narrow level ground. The upper one incorporates salon and kitchen, and lies astride the lower one and the mountain ridge. It almost seems like an off-centered cross pinned carefully on natural terrain. One axis of the cross stretches toward the Pacific Ocean on south, and the other, the forest of Japanese oak and some white birch on west. The rooms in the lower structure and terrace on it enjoy broad vista of the sea and blue sky. And gentle shade of natural forest embraces the space in the upper one. Water-polished white marble (cami #120) was chosen as interior finishing material. It glows softly like Greece sculptures to blend blue light from the south and green light from the west gradationally, thus creates delicate continuous landscape of light which suggests the character and usage of the space. Exterior is also finished with white marble. The surface get smoother as it approaches to the southern/western end till it takes mirror gloss (cami #1000) at the ends. The southern end of white cross melts into the blue of sky and sea, and the eastern end to the green of forest. Abstraction is nothing to conflict with nature here. Carved out of nature, it never stops being a part of nature itself, however highly abstracted. Never relativizes the nature with its foreignness, nor generate contradiction to settle for being “artificial nature†by giving up being abstract and mimicking the nature.The abstraction inspired by Mother Nature defines the nature itself, and still, stays natural. That’s what I wanted from this abstraction and architecture.
Visit the website of Mount Fuji Architects Studio – here.
Photography by Ken’ichi Suzuki
Spanish architects A-cero have sent us their latest completed project, a house in the “La Finca†development in Pozuelo de Alarcon (Madrid).
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Description from A-cero:
The structure of this new house is made of clear volumes, straight lines and simples shapes. The house’s front is made of marble travertino and there are many windows in it. Both elements give a lot of lightness to the house.
It has a 1.600 m2 surface and three floors (basement, ground and high floor). The structure adapts itself to the slope ( 4000 m2) where the house is. The garage and service spaces are in the basement, while the most public spaces (lounge, dining room, living room …) are in the first floor. Bedrooms and more private rooms are in the high floor. A-cero has designed also a 80 m2 spectacular and geometric swimming pool. It harmonizes with the clean architecture of this A-cero project.
Visit the A-cero website – here.
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The Spanish architectural firm A-cero designed this home in Somosaguas, a suburb of Madrid.
Full description after the photos….
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La Finca 4 House in Somosaguas by A-cero
The house is located on a 3.500 m2 plot presenting a light slope that is used by the access ramp to the garage. The floor plan has the form of a greek cross, and is delimited by the access pathway and the other properties on both of its sides.
The design of this 1.200 m2 compact single-family house is guided by two main concepts: a great functionality in the distribution of the interior spaces and their openness to the exterior to make the most of the views. Both ideas are also present in the interior design and in the selection of the construction materials.
Inside the house, the design follows a functional structure evolving around the hall stairs, an central design element that provokes a surprising visual and spatial effect. Another breathtaking space is the double height volume that contains the living room.
The form has been object of design since the conception of the project, in the same way and degree than any other functional or technical aspect. A clear and smooth composition of shapes, born from the encounter of expressive and massive blocks composing a sculptural group.
The façade’s geometrical configuration offers inclined walls with clean cuts. The two rectangular intersected bodies surround the cylinder containing the staircase that connects all the house’s areas.
The building is divided in three levels according to the program’s needs. The access is on the ground floor, where all the more public spaces are located: hall, living and dining rooms, office, TV room and kitchen. The living room occupies a double height space open to the exterior views through great glass panes. All the objects that could interfere with the contemplation of the views, like railings or walls, have been suppressed or replaced by transparent elements. The main entrance door is made of a 6 m high glass pane, letting the visitor perceive the interior of the house.
On a lower level are located the technical installation rooms, laundry, indoor swimming pool, games room, wine cellar, garage and a leisure area with a reading space, dining room and TV.
A staircase with glass railings and a glass corridor that goes through the double height space takes to a studio on the upper level overlooking the living room. Next to this area are the master bedroom, equipped with a walk-in closet and bathroom, and four more bedrooms with bathrooms, organized around a corridor covered with shelves.
The richness of this spatial composition is also apparent in the exterior, and organizes the connection between the house and its surroundings. This dynamical and rich design is also translated to a structural system made only of reinforced concrete walls, avoiding intermediate columns that could alter the space’s scale and cleanliness.
At some point, the structure pierces the façade to form a porch that finishes its composition, protects from the sunlight and creates an interesting play of light and shadow. The house is covered with white travertine, creating a clean and smooth finishing, the porch’s floor and the deck surrounding the pool and jacuzzi are made of ipê wood . The garden on the front of the house is organized in terraces and parterres, forming a decorative outline surrounded by a surface covered with white gravel. Three sculptures are carefully placed in this place, marking the entrance.
The interior of the house follows the same colour scheme and predominance of natural materials. The floors are covered with ceramic tiles and wood on the upper level.
Visit the A-cero website – here.
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Andrés Remy Architects designed The Black House in a suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Full description after the photos….
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The Black House by Andrés Remy Architects
The black house was born by the request of a young couple, brought to us by another of our projects “The Waterfall Houseâ€, which gave us the challenge of improving what we had done at that moment, taking advantage of the freedom they gave us during the design.
This single house is located in a closed neighborhood, 30km. away from Buenos Aires. The lot, 20 meters wide and 50 meters length with 3 meter of lateral retreats, has amazing views to the lake we could not let aside.
The analysis of the lot showed us the advantages and disadvantages we should take into account along the entire design process. The best views to the lake were at the back of the lot, while the best orientation was at the front. The surrounding houses and the wide lot marked the visuals we should use.
The simple program, for a socially active couple without children, made relevant the resolution of the social areas. We decided to divide the social areas in two. In one side are located the common areas, such as the kitchen and the dinning room. On the other side is located the living room, closer to the lake.
The shallow pool that divides the house in two allows the indirect light to bathe the interiors, as the northern sun reflects it’s light on the water surface. This way, light is present in every corner of the house, but never in a direct way.
Both programs are connected by a glass bridge, with the water running under your feet.
The living room, 10 meters wide and 5 meters length, opens to the exterior using glass walls. It was thought in a lower level than the rest of the house, making it permeable and allowing the ambients a clean view to the lake.
The resolution of the first floor follows the same criteria of differencing areas. At the front are located the bedrooms for the future children, with views to the lake. As a bridge, joining the two volumes in the lower floor is the main bedroom with a giant overhang that conquers the best views to the lake, seeming to float over the water.
The Black House has an almost provocative sobriety, where the pure white in the inside provoques an emotive contrast with the absolute black in the outside, reminding the bite of an apple. A strong characteristic that names the house.
CREDITS:
PROJECT AND DIRECTION: ANDRES REMY ARQUITECTOS
DESIGN TEAM: ANDRES REMY, HERNAN PARDILLOS, JULIETA RAFEL, CARLOS ARELLANO, GISELA COLOMBO.
BUILDING DIRECTION: ANDRES REMY, ASOCIATED HERNAN PARDILLOS.
STRUCTURAL STUDY: CLAUDIO.
SURFACE: 330m
YEAR: 2007
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A-cero Architects designed the house in Pozuelo de Alarcón, in Madrid, Spain.
Full description after the photos….
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House in Pozuelo de Alarcón by A-cero Architects
The house is hided behind a harmonious sculptural set of curved walls made of stone dark granite and marble travertino that seem to emerge from a big water plate arranged in the house entry.
In addition to the beauty of this structure, it offers a high grade of privacy and tact between the exterior (street) and the house. Other more, this structure goes to the back part, as a front, where is a natural, clear and kind scenery.
This block disposition and the house plot (a descending slope towards a lake) are used to distribute the house in two plants: a high floor, with exterior access, and a low floor. Both of them are looking to a wide terrace with a pergola and to the garden house.
In the high plant, we find a very wide and luminous hall provided with natural light for top skylights, and with two plates of waters dominated by two bronze lions. In addition it is used to lead to the kitchen, wine vault, dining room, lounge, office – library, and to the most private area: the principal bedroom, dressing-room, bath, interior swimming pool and small gymnasium. Also we find the stairs that descend to the low floor where there are a games lounge and a movies room, kids and guests bedrooms and the service area with two bedrooms in suite and with a wide area for the housework. All the house rooms are provided with wide large windows in a dark safety glass. These windows (that also works as doors) and a lot of house elements are completely computerized and motorized: lighting, safety, blinds, air conditioning … everything is centralized.
The high floor communicates with a terrace. In the lounge the access to outside is made by a long large window that provides a continuity sensation from the interior space to outside.
This terrace is covered by a pergola made of an aluminium structure that supports the sculptural premeditation of the building. In one of the side parts of the garden, there is a relaxation area with a pond of Buddhist inspiration.
Photographer: Ferran Silva (A-cero)
Visit the A-cero Architects website – here.
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GLR Arquitectos / Gilberto L. RodrÃguez have completed the CG House in Monterrey, Mexico.
Full description after the photos….
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The CG House by GLR Arquitectos / Gilberto L. RodrÃguez
The CG House rests on a generous 17,250 sq. ft. site adjacent to the Sierra Madre mountains. While the site’s steep slope presented a number of design challenges, the dramatic views it afforded of the city of Monterrey provided the architect with a number of opportunities as well.
From the street, two massive oak tress rise to provide privacy and welcome shade to the swimming pool terrace above. Due to the sloping nature of the site, a massive, exposed concrete wall defines and encloses the swimming pool and garden areas of the house and sets the tone for the design of the house itself, which is clad in brown/black volcanic stone, IPE wood, white stucco and steel.
A wide exterior granite staircase lead to an intimate garden of palm trees. Directly ahead is a 12 feet-high dark oak door whose grand scale offers a hint of the dramatic scale of this 10,650 sq. ft. home that lies beyond, beginning with an entry foyer whose 15 feet-high walls are adorned with silver leaf. A massive sculptural piece of coconut roots, steel and rocks was designed specifically for this space.
The living room, as well as the dining and family rooms, all have large windows with views of the garden, allowing light to penetrate deep within the spaces as well as creating a seamless interplay between the interior and exterior spaces. Also, within the house, subtle level changes between rooms not only add interest to the interior layout but these changes also reflect the site’s topography.
In the private areas of the home, which is articulated through a long corridor, the occupants have access to a second garden, located at the highest point on the building site, which is less formal and more recreational.
Project Team: Enrique Salas, Tomas Güereña, and Felipe González
Photography: Jorge Taboada
Visit the website of GLR Arquitectos – here.
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