This house is noteworthy for having been stripped back to the function of its parts. In a small house of considerable beauty, there is no extraneous detail. In a semi-rural setting, this house was specifically designed to cater for entertaining and the display of art, and there is little in the house to detract from these purposes.
Definition of the space is in itself minimal; a series of sliding doors forms the wall between study and guest room, there is little in the way of built in cabinetry, and the kitchen revolves around a mobile island bench that derives directly from commercial kitchen componentry. Large sliding glazed doors run the length of the building, enabling strategically placed masonry walls to warm over the course of the day. The house has no mechanical heating or cooling; provision of thermal mass is therefore desirable, if not critical and, in this case, it has been used to aesthetic advantage.
Vestiges of previous occupation of the site inform the siting of the building. Existing unfinished masonry walls have been cleverly incorporated as protective courtyard walls, and as support for decking.
The designer is to be commended for the approach taken to this interesting project.
2 awards
2011 Winner
Residential Design – New Houses: Up to $300k Construction Cost