viernes, 30 de noviembre de 2012

Island Retreat

Jens Risom's Block Island Retreat by Gary Nadeau for Dwell


"In the late 1960s, designer Jens Risom sought an affordable vacation home for his family on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. Now some 45 years later, the prefab cottage still exists to serve the needs of the growing Risom brood." via:thisispaper


 

lunes, 26 de noviembre de 2012

Autori House A

House A by AUTORI

House A - Adaptation of Novakov family house, from the year 1925.

House A is a part of the cultural and tourist complex “Terra Pannonica” in the village of Mokrin, in northern Serbia. The estate is planned to consist of five houses of different functional and architectural characteristics, of which two have been completed until now.

After House B was completed in 2010, as an office and studio space with guest apartments for various workshops and other creative activities, House A was completed in 2012 as a guest house with apartments and communal spaces for relaxation and socialization.

The newly completed House A is a reconstructed family house from the year 1925, demonstrating both strong sense of continuity and accordance to contemporary life style. The challenge that architects of the Studio AUTORI faced was how to transform both functional scheme and the general appearance of the house, to suit the new functional and aesthetic requirements, but still preserve the original qualities of the ambient.

The new program of the guest house, consisting of communal dining room with a porch, two salons, master apartment, kitchen and toilets on the ground level, five apartments and a terrace on the upper level and a wine cellar with a club space in the underground, was quite different from the previous ground floor family house.

Architects met this challenge by concentrating all of the activities and views in one central space on the ground level, from which the rest of spaces derive in a sort of free flow. Such central space was achieved by subtraction of a previously enclosed service room, at the centre of the house and addition of a porch to the exterior. In this way architects created an open central space to contain a dining room, acting as a transitory area between the exterior and the interior of the house, offering a balance betwee private and social activities.

The treatment of the internal furnishings and finishes, establishes a connection between contemporary life style and continuity of traditional ambient through fresh interpretations of inherited elements of interior and decoration. In the newly added spaces, such as apartments on the upper floor, architects maintained affinity to the local context by creating simple bright spaces with some curious detailing, such as a swing or a ladder, which one may encounter in the one of the apartments, adding charm to the otherwise humble vernacular ambient.

Also the recycled furniture, from old Yugoslav government offices and salons, adds a sense of continuity and luxury which gives the whole ambient a unique charm.

House A, represents a well thought response to the issues and challenges of the contemporary environments in regards to the continuity of tradition and local values, proving that being contemporary does not necessarily mean being in conflict with local heritage and accumulated experience.




jueves, 22 de noviembre de 2012

PEGGY’S TRAVELS

 Peggy Wong’s travels are not only enviable, but her images make her destinations look like places out of dreams. Cadiz, Bordeaux, Casablanca, Concarneau, San Simeon, just to name a few.



miércoles, 21 de noviembre de 2012

Search: Wolzak

Farmhouse renovation and extension, near Zutphen, NL, 02-04.

How can the historical and spatial qualities of an old farmyard, with all its various outbuildings, be retained when the new function is that of a family residence?

The livestock barn which formed the stem of the traditional T-form farmhouse is demolished and replaced by a new building.

This new extension attaches itself precisely to the opening left by the removal of the original barn, thus retaining the T-form. The new volume is skewed in plan giving it a distorting ‘pulled and dragged’ perspective.



The existing farmhouse and outbuildings are divided programmatically from the new extension. Living accommodation is situated in the existing building with the adjoining part of the extension housing a large open kitchen space and the entrance, situated between the new and existing. The workroom, guest accommodation and garden store are all located in the remainder of the new volume separated from the living spaces by a large conservatory. The freestanding barn is retained with an option for a future swimming pool conversion.



The load bearing construction of the extension consists of a series of solid prefabricated wooden plates. They define the building’s internal finishes and influence the quality of the interior space. By cladding the roof and elevations with a continuous skin of horizontal timber laths, the façades simultaneously have the appearance of being open, semi-transparent and closed.

Architects: SeARCH bv
Location: Zutphen, The Netherlands
Project Team: Bjarne Mastenbroek, Ad Bogerman
Assistants: Elke Demyttenaere, Remco Wieringa w/ Nienke Bouwhuis, Gert Jan Machiels, Dagmar Niecke, Geert Vennix, 
Client: anonymous 
Contractor: BAM utiliteitsbouw, Arnhem
Interior Design: Kluster V.O.F., Purmerend, The Netherlands
Completion Date: July 2004
Project Area: 500 sqm
Photographs: Christiaan Richters
Words: Courtesy of SeARCH