4 IN 1 HOUSE BY CLAVEL ARQUITECTOS

The 4-in-1 house is located in a quiet residential area, at the top of a leafy hill in the outskirts of the city. From an architectural point of view, it is possible to distinguish the four ways of living, after which the house is named, since they are spatially and constructively qualified:

1. The leisure experience. The basement, lighted by patios and skylights, is the scene for game and amusement. Fun starts in the car park, where see the swimming pool can be seen from a “rear window”.

The pavement, made out of stained stamped concrete, solves the contact between the house and the ground. This level, in the form of a zigzagging fissure across the plot, houses the vehicle access and the car park.

2. The living experience. The ground floor consists of a C-shaped piece of concrete that looks west and opens to the private open area. A powerful cantilevering canopy provides the intermediate space between inside and outside. Here we find the space for relating, exhibiting and listening to music.

3. The autonomous living  experience. A body-tinted stacked glass volume, embedded in the C-shaped concrete, is the third environment of the project. It has a private access and may work autonomously. The minimum unit inside the global project.

4. The guest experience. It takes places in another C-shaped piece, this time east-oriented to catch the earliest rays of sun and the view to the woods. Looking as a private hotel, it consists of a series of rooms that can be occupied in a free way, according to the number of guests, and a common space connected to the vertical circulation core.

The outer volume is cladded with ceramic tiles that distorts its linear scale. Structurally, it is formed by a 37 meter truss beam that solves the big span and characterizes the front façade.

A thorough interior design, considering every detail (including the 2-ton concrete entry door), has been carried out inside to create unique feelings in each environment.

Location: Guadalupe, Spain

Architects: Clavel Arquitectos

Project Team: Ricardo Carcelén-González (architect), Aarón Hernández-Hernández (architect)

Building Engineering: David Hernández-Conesa

Area: 1210.0 sqm

Year: 2013

Photographs: David Frutos-Ruiz

VILLA KOGELHOF BY PAUL DE RUITER

Villa Kogelhof is designed based on complete autarky: therefore the house is energy neutral. By using several techniques, the villa will have a comfortable climate all seasons, whilst being extremely energy efficient.

It was an important wish from our client to create a simple, abstract, yet spectacular villa. The result is a composition; consisting of two square stacked volumes: one underground and one floating above ground. It is designed as an uncompromising glass box, supported by a steel V-frame.

The estate is part of a larger program initiated by the government, which aims to connect regional ecological zones throughout the country. The current owner bought the site, once farmland, seven years ago. It is a protected habitat for animals and plants and a major tourist draw in the area, open to the public.

Permission to build a house on the land was given only on condition that it was returned to its pre-agricultural state. The planting of some 71,000 six-year-old trees hint at the future of the estate as ‘a villa in the woods’ and were planted already in 2006. A rectangular pond was digged, requiring the removal of 70,000 cubic metres of soil.

The underground volume of the house consists the entrance, parking, storage and a workspace which looks out over the pond. The living area is situated in the floating glass box above ground. It’s plan is open and consists of volumes for the living room, the kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom and a patio.

The façade is completely made out of glass and offers a spectacular view over the surrounding landscape. The natural setting contrasts with the technical and modern appearance of the villa, that refers to the Dutch world famous coastal defence dams known as the Delta works.

One of the main principles of Villa Kogelhof was to translate luxury into the happiness of independence. The goal for the villa was to be self-sufficient; to generate its own energy, to heat its own water and to recycle the garbage.

To make sure Villa Kogelhof is energy neutral, the façade offers an important contribution. This so called climate-façade is composed of an outer layer of clear insulated glass from floor to ceiling and an inner layer of sun-reflecting fabric that can be rolled up and unrolled.

When the fabric is lowered, an air cavity is formed in which the air from the villa is extracted of a central ventilation system. The house is heated by a central heating system combined with an air pump.

Warm water will be generated using a biomass pellet stove, in which wood will be fired from the wood out of the private forest of the estate. Electricity will be generated from the PV-cells on the roof and in the near future also from the planned windmill.

Location: Kamperland, Zeeland NL 
Architect: Paul de Ruiter 
Project Team: Willem Jan Landman, Noud Paes, Marieke Sijm, Willeke Smit 
Adv. construction: Broersma 
Adv. building physics: Smits van Burgst 
Adv. Costs: Studio Bouwhaven 
Contractor: Bouwbedrijf M.J. van der Linde 
Gross Floor area: 715 m2 
Volume: 2.400 m3 
Year: 2013 
Photography: Jeroen Musch

HOUSE IN URGNANO BY MATTEO CASARI ARCHITETTI

La casa e’ edificata in un piccolo lotto all’interno di una zona d’espansione residenziale nel territorio di Urgnano, un piccolo comune del bergamasco a una decina di chilometri dal capoluogo orobico.

Le condizioni del luogo di progetto vengono interpretate per dissonanza e l’affaccio diretto verso l’esterno viene negato. Nella moltitudine tipologica e stilistica del contesto il volume, a pianta rettangolare orientata parallelamente alla strada principale, riduce a pochi gesti il rapporto muto con l’esterno.

La scatola in calcestruzzo antracite, sollevata da terra di un metro e mezzo, consente una sola effrazione: l’ingresso, assecondato anche da una leggera piega della parete vetrata che divide il portico.

All’esterno, quel che non e’ cemento e’ vetro, a cui è delegato il diaframma, non solo tra interno ed esterno, ma anche tra i due interni differenti dell’abitazione e del portico.

Il risultato di questa alternanza di materiale congiuntamente ai volumi puri e geometrici gli conferisce una immagine minimalista che esalta l'oggettualità e fisicità del progetto.

Contemporaneamente si ribalta la gerarchia tra i materiali differenziati per livelli posizionando le pareti vetrate a livello del terreno sovrapposte da una massa compatta in cemento priva di aperture esterne.

Una soluzione che conferisce all'edificio una leggerezza, ancora più evidente di al tramonto o di notte, come un gioco di riflessi e trasparenze tra le vetrate e lo specchio d'acqua della piscina, unico elemento non contenuto nella scatola.

Le difficoltà dell'ubicazione, a ridosso della viabilità principale e confinante con una strada secondaria, è alla base di alcune scelte progettuali indirizzate più all'interno del lotto stesso alla ricerca di un equilibrio intimo, riservato ed elegante.

Location:Urgnano, Italy

Architects:Matteo Casari Architetti
Architect In Charge:Matteo Casari, Valentina Giovanzani
Project Team:Silvia Previtali, Raffaele Rota
Structure:Chiappa Ingegneri Associati

Costruction:Nuovo Modulo s.p.a. – Elettroimpianti Med – S.A.VI.M.

Area:350 sqm
Cost:€ 550,000

Year:2012
Photographs:Andrea Martiradonna

THE CURVING HOUSE BY JOHO ARCHITECTURE

The mountains penetrate the sky and the sky contains the mountains as nature. Here, the mountains form lines and the lines remember the mountains in the land. The terrains of Mt. Gwanggyo flow low above the lot and the lot displays the entire view as if it responds to the graceful flow.

At this site, the land is the proof of space and everything about the substance. The shape created here contains the sky as an earthenware jar and displays the potentiality of land as a spatial substance. It draws a shape, but creates a space that shows the sky outside the shape to hide itself in nature. The ash-colored bricks (traditional bricks) embrace the concrete surface as fish scale while slightly altering the angles.

The traditional bricks used for this project have silver water-repellent coating on the surface and show sentimentality different from the rough surfaces of their tops and bottoms. The bricks with two different surfaces were piled to form a certain pattern from angles 1° through 25°. In other words, the variation of angle is another way how the outer skin in the shape of a concave lens facing south defines its existence.

The shadow of the brick wall caste as the Sun moves converts the flow of lines into the subtle change of the outer skin. The variation of the brick surface is intended to read the entire mass differently according to the perspective of incomer and the perspective of viewing the images from the mountains.

The rough texture of the traditional bricks interprets the lot in a different way in combination with the property of highly reflective stainless steel. The skies and nature reflected on the stainless steel surface distort what the true substance is to break the boundaries between shapes and texture. Unlike the rough texture of ceramic bricks, the stainless steel used on the front and on the side reflects the surrounding landscapes to make itself disappear.

If the bricks reveal themselves by the change of light and shadow, the stainless steel de-materializes itself by making itself disappear in nature. Such contrasting textures have different properties and confront each other in a single mass, but they ultimately establish balance through the extinction and reflection of light.

The pilotis for parking naturally serves as an opening for air ventilation. The summer breeze coming down from the mountain ridge circulates the air around the building thus reducing the heat load. Also, each room has windows for cross-ventilation and is planned to allow natural circulation of air. The motorized window on top of the living room can release heated air in summer for air circulation triggered by the difference in temperature known as stack effect.

The staircase to the north is planned to serve as a buffer of air against the freezing northwestern winds in winter to minimize heat loss. The front windows facing the south allow sufficient sunlight in winter to maximize energy efficiency with natural sunlight. In particular, the ceiling is also diversified to invite as much natural light as possible into the building to control illumination naturally.

The flow of space was borrowed from the method of handling the flow of air in traditional Korean homes. In detail, the pilotis on the bottom expands the surface of volume exposed to outer air to reduce the load of heat energy and allows natural ventilation in summer. This is similar to the principle of open living rooms in Korean traditional spaces. It means that the entire building allows ventilation to keep the building cool.

In winter, on the other hand, the concrete floor is made as thick as possible as a thermal mass, similar to Ondol floors of Korean traditional architecture for maximum insulation, to block the cold air from the underground. Also, the interior space of the second floor has an open living room, bedroom, and kitchen which can be divided and combined flexibly with sliding doors for different needs. This is a modern reinterpretation of the variable space of Korean traditional homes that can be used either as a big room or as smaller individual rooms.

Location: Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Architect:JOHO Architecture

Architect In Charge: Jeonghoon LEE

Design Team: Il-Sang Yoon, Gae-hee Cho

Construction:Dong-jin Chea

Site area:529.00 sqm

Area: 140.57 sqm

Year: 2012

Client: Im-jeong Choi

Photograph: Sun Namgoong