Tag Archives: Timber
Architecture | Ipês House | StudioMK27
Marcio Kogan’s StudioMK27 designed the Ipês house in São Paulo, Brazil.
In the design and construction of the House of Ipês there is exposed concrete. In this house the material is used in a radical manner throughout the upper volume. The large concrete box appears to be floating atop a glass volume. In the living room, which continues to the veranda and the garden, the doors open entirely, diluting the division between interior and exterior. The main entrance is done through pivoting panels that also open entirely to the front garden. In the internal space, a long irregularly-shaped sofa wriggles around the room, constructing a space with no hierarchy among the different orientations.
The structure of the house incorporates large spans which accentuate the Idea of a floating Box, besides propitiating a totally free and continuous space. The use of raw concrete refers to modern buildings, aesthetically and functionally, as in a dialogue with this modern architecture. The House of Ipês, with its grand spans and brute material, transpires a sobriety and the concrete impregnated by the passage of time, exposes the existence of the life of the building.
Architecture | Under Pohutukawa | Herbst Architects
ARCHITECTURE
Photographs: Patrick Reynolds
Project: Villa Amazi | Architects: Herbst Architects | Location: Piha North, New Zealand| Photographs: Patrick Reynolds | Compleated: 2008
Herbst Architects recently completed a beautiful home under the trees in New Zealand. When we say “under the trees” we mean it! The property was 90% covered by Aukerlands native Pohutukawa trees, which created a challenge for Herbst, a New Zealand based architecture firm founded in 2000 by Lance and Nicola Herbst. “In order for the home to exist it would require the destruction of a large number of mature trees. To do this we looked to the trees themselves to give us the cues that we needed,” the two architects explained.
“We separated the brief loosely into private and “public” components, giving us smaller individual masses with which to articulate the forms. The private functions of bedrooms and garage are housed in two towers which are construed as freshly sawn stumps of the trees that were removed. To allude to the bark of the stumps the skins of the towers are clad in black/brown stained rough sawn irregular battens. The interior spaces are then seen as carved out of the freshly cut wood, achieved by detailing all the wall / ceiling and cabinetry elements in the same light timber.”
Via| Contemporist
Architecture | Whistler Residence | Canada
ARCHITECTURE | INTERIOR
Project: Whistler Residence | Architects: Battersby Howat Architects Design | Location: Whistler, Canada| Compleated: 2010
Vancouver-based studio Battersby Howat Architects has designed this contemporary two story home in Whistler, a resort town in the province of British Columbia, Canada.
Travel | Yellow tree house
The tree house restaurant, which is located near Warkworth, north of Auckland, has attracted a lot of attention since its opening. Peter Eising and Lucy Gauntlett of Pacific Environment Architects, the commission was a dream come true – being paid to design and build a tree house was the stuff of childhood fantasies. “The easiest part was coming up with the concept,” says Eising. “The trickiest part was to make it hang there.”
“We were inspired by the hanging ‘organic’ form of the butterfly’s chrysalis. This worked well in creating a memorable image during the day as well as a ‘lantern’ effect at night where the skin becomes transparent and the interior glows. It attaches itself to the tree and becomes part of the tree,” says Eising.
The restaurant’s dining room is inside the tree house, while the kitchen and other facilities are located on the ground. Access to the treehouse is provided by an elevated 60 metre tree-top walkway.
A striking pod-shaped structure built ten metres off the ground and claiming to be New Zealand’s only tree house restaurant has become a hit. While the tree house restaurant is open for a limited season – 9 January to 9 February – an extended opening period is under consideration.
Architecture | Duncan Terrace
‘Our clients’ brief for this project was to add a modern ground floor extension to their Grade II listed Georgian terraced house in Duncan Terrace, Islington. More specifically, they wanted this extension to contain an extra bedroom, a kitchen and a living space which would act as a connection between the house and the garden whilst also respecting the existing Georgian Architecture.’
One half of an extension to a house in north London is surrounded by frameless glass, whilst the other half is encased in slatted timber.
The first and more solid volume takes the form of a wooden box which, like a piece of Japanese origami, envelops the bedroom and literally brings a natural element (Iroko wood) from the outside world to the inside.
The second volume, entire in glass, brings natural light into the new living space and acts as a visual link between the Georgian house, the wooden box and the garden. The high tech structural glass used for this volume, moreover, acts as a contrast to the beautifully handcrafted timber slatted detail which envelops the adjacent volume.
Is it just me? Or are you in love with this addition too? So beautiful & natural.
