It started with a single shack on a remote plot of rural farmland. This one-off project turned out to be the prototype for a larger-scale venture – a modular housing system celebrating the bare-bones simplicity loft living in a natural setting.

The award-winning Shack at Hinkle Farm was designed to be as basic as possible – it was ultimately built by friends of the family, not a professional construction crew.

A vacation home for architect Jeffrey Broadhurst, the Shack is “simplicity embodied,” perched on a 27-acre mountaintop property in West Virginia. It can only be reached on foot or by off-road vehicle, and there’s no electricity – but the views are incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL0gavxH_-g

In turn, The Crib evolved to be a flexible solution for similar site conditions with different elemental variables – the elevation, for instance, lending itself to flood-friendliness.

“This prototype building is made with sustainable and recyclable materials that can be fabricated off site then transported and quickly assembled where desired. The Crib, takes its basic form from traditional American corn cribs, which were common farm buildings that served to store and dry corn. However, here the form is realized as a more sophisticated kit of parts. The simple but exceptionally sturdy structural concept allows considerable flexibility in the length of the building and degree and type of outfitting.”

It is essentially a traditionally-made, wood-frame structure that sits up on stilts with walls on three sides and a glass-and-metal garage door facing down the hill, looking out over the landscape.

The evolved version, however, comes with a variety of optional additions, such as a first-floor brick facade, additional shading and fenestration options and so forth. A wood-burning stove, small kitchen, space to sleep and area to sit out on the deck make this a modest residence for full-time purposes but a great little vacation retreat.

The post Shacking Up: Little Loft Cabins Live Off the Grid first appeared on Dornob.

Elevating the Concept

Raised floors are nothing new. Countless office buildings around the world have installed them on top of solid substrates (usually concrete slabs) to house everything from electrical and mechanical systems to computer rooms, IT data storage centers, and technological command hubs. These hidden spaces typically range from two inches to four feet in height.

Banchini collaborated with French designer Laure Jaffuel to take the raised floor model one step further, ultimately naming their creation “3-8.” Instead of using hidden spaces to mask unsightly wires and IT stations, the pair created spaces large enough to accommodate entire meeting rooms and conventional workstations — not to mention a kitchen and garden.

The Amenities of 3-8

Permanently installed on the fourth floor of the Centre Pompidou, 3-8’s primary function will be to host educational lectures and workshops put on by the museum. Hinged floor panels open to reveal the rooms underneath, to which a set of easily navigable stairs provides quick access. Although each new space was assigned a specific use, all of these underground floors can be easily modified as their occupants’ needs change.

A large section of seven hinged floor panels exposes a working kitchen, complete with a storage area, sink, and a rack rail to hold cups, cooking utensils, pots, and pans. A similarly-sized floor section conceals a seating area illuminated by an undulating neon red light.

Beneath these submerged levels is a compact garden, with small plants thriving in rich soil all throughout. Adjacent to this area, two more panels cover up an advanced speaker system. Open other subtly installed panels to find an assortment of desks for visitors alongside a big flat-screen TV.

Banchini’s Vision

Banchini was always impressed with the vision of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, the men who designed the original Centre Pompidou. He believes that the innovative upgrade reflects the progressive architectural concepts that inspired the original building and helps the world of office design move forward.

He explains: “raised floors are a common element of office architecture. However, they seem to be disregarded by architects and are rarely used outside of their primary function. Hiding all the functional elements under the surface allowed us to completely free the space, but it is also a reference to utopian architectures developed at the same time as the beautiful architecture of the Centre Pompidou.”

Banchini hopes his creative use of larger submerged spaces will motivate other designers and architects to develop unique ways to utilize underused office space. He adds: “The installation is not trying to provide a new model for offices, it is merely meant to question the alienating office culture that we take for granted. The misappropriation of the office space should encourage us to high-jack daily life objects and emancipate design from preconceived usages.”

An Encore Extra

In 2016, Banchini created an inflatable PVC nightclub in his studio Bureau A, when he hosted the yearly party of the Federation of Swiss Architects. He incorporated this whimsical addition into the Centre Pompidou project. The inflatable structure extends out from under a raised tile of office flooring.

The post Hide and Sink: Leopold Banchini Design Conceals Rooms and Objects Under Office Floors first appeared on Dornob.

Have you ever looked at a row of beautiful beachfront houses and imagined a giant wave crashing in from the sea, wiping them all away? Waterfront architecture can seem awfully vulnerable, and it’s true that when beach houses aren’t engineered with weather protection in mind, they’re probably not going to last long. All it takes is one storm surge for the coast to be inundated with water, instantly flooding the impeccably decorated interiors of all those high-end properties. With climate change, the chances of this happening are only going to grow, so some architects are starting to design around the worst-case scenario.

The plot of land this particular beach house sits on, a narrow stretch of Camano Island, Washington, complicates things even further: it’s located at the base of an extremely steep slope that experiences occasional shallow mud slides. Threats from multiple sides might be enough for some to give up on such a property, but for the homeowner, it’s sentimental; it’s been in his family for three generations and he grew up spending summers at a modest cabin that now sits to the side of the main house. Architecture firm Design Northwest took on the challenge and produced a modern beauty that’s ready for almost anything.

The beach is so remote, there’s no drive-up, requiring the owners to park in a common lot and walk down a narrow path to reach their home. That made it too difficult for the architects to bring in concrete trucks and other heavy equipment. Plus, a geotechnic study determined that the site wasn’t safe for conventional building techniques. Their solution? Raising the house on steel stilts rather than putting in a high retaining wall. These ten-foot supports elevate the lowest level of the house well above the beach, and any mud coming from the slope can just slide right under it. This creates storage space for canoes and other outdoor recreation equipment. The northern end of the house is cantilevered to avoid having to cut into the slope for additional supports.

Concrete stairs lead from the ground level into the living area, where an entire wall of windows looks out onto the Puget Sound. The views are incredible just about anywhere in the house, but the bathtub looks downright heavenly, and there’s also a tiled terrace with a rooftop garden on the top floor for whale-watching and enjoying the beautiful West Coast sunsets. Beneath the cantilever on the ground level, the homeowners plan to cultivate a fern garden.

The interior marries contemporary influences with traditional beach house aesthetics, full of bright white surfaces and mottled grey tile that mimics the look of the clouds outside. Since the back of the home faces the slope, the architects chose not to insert many windows on this side, effectively focusing views on the most beautiful parts of the property. That’s not hard, considering what they have to work with. Clad in metal siding, this contemporary beach house is ready to stand up to whatever nature can throw at it.

The post Modern Beach House on Stilts first appeared on Dornob.

A living space should be a lot of things – warm, inviting, comfortable, and a reflection of the residents’ personalities. Ukrainian architect Alex Bykov wanted all of these things for a loft he was commissioned to renovate, and he achieved his goal by turning a stuffy square space into an open and flowing home with an abundance of movement throughout.

“Usually they say that the successful interior is a beneficial combination of environmentally friendly contemporary decorative materials, d design furniture, sanitary equipment and home appliances. …Nevertheless, the interior of an apartment located in the heart of Kiev’s historical district has a much more valuable treasure – an idea.”

“A young creative couple had been looking for an architect, when their design friend recommended them Alex Bykov. The couple was preparing for a wedding and decided to spend their honeymoon in an atmosphere fo the renewed apartment. After a fruitful discussion of suggestions and proposals the concept of ‘constant motion’ was born. Furthermore the concept became the main vector of planning design and stylistic solutions of the interior.”

The loft is now called Constant Motion, and one look at the floor plan explains why. The kitchen, which is known to many as the heart of the home, is at the center of the circular floor plan.

Surrounding the kitchen are the lounge, lofted library full of built-in bookcases, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. It is possible to move from one room to the next in a circular motion, covering the entire apartment without deviating from the circular path.

The traditional brick, rich wood and soft textiles make this contemporary loft feel a lot like a more traditional home. Industrial elements and quirky little details give the home personality and keep it from feeling cramped.

The loft’s bedroom has doors to keep it private, but it has no windows. To keep it from becoming too dark and small, glass adorns the tops of the walls. This lets sunlight shine in from the large living room windows just on the other side of the bedroom wall.

The library was built on a raised floor to provide some additional storage space. This addition was built using low-cost materials and, along with its fun modular wall shelves, adds an element of playfulness and gives a great view of the living room.

The post Clever Design Makes a Small Apartment Feel Grand first appeared on Dornob.

This forest structure that takes site-specific design to new heights, bending its entire layout around trees and, in a few cases, even building them into the structure itself.

For this remote home in Japan, K2 Design and their clients wanted to preserve the existing forest of pine and cherry trees, consequently creating a series of small interconnected volumes that break up the home into a series of cozy spaces.

Much of the structure is also lifted off the ground, making the experience of using the connective rooms and pathways feel like more like passing through the forest canopy than simply walking in the woods.

There were functional benefits to raising the building as well – a reduction of snow buildup around its edges during the winter, and protection against ground moisture in the summer.

“This is a guest house located in the forest of Daisen piedmont, Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture. The house site is situated in the midst of abundant cherry and pine trees, standing at natural well-balanced intervals with trunks reaching towards the sky with bountiful leaves. The figures of the trees are beautiful. They are the legitimate habitants of the forest.”

“Sensitive dialogue with the site is requisite to building a house that lies in coexistence with nature. Our building plan was drafted according to this idea. We arranged the house with most surrounding trees untouched and ensured the living space in the aperture to a maximum extent. A style coexisting with the forest is the keystone of our design, so we carefully surveyed and analyzed the lot for building, and designed a way to connect each function space of the house by short connecting passages. Differently-pitched roofs snuggling up to the extension of branches and foliage made it possible to take in sunlight effectively.”

The post Raised Forest Residence Deftly Dodges Trees first appeared on Dornob.

When we choose to get away from home, there are many different ways of going about getting some relaxation. Some folks choose a luxurious retreat where everything is taken care of for them from the moment they arrive. Others choose a slightly more rustic, but still remarkable, getaway.

The Delta Shelter from Olson Kundig Architects was designed as a weekend cabin. It is small by some standards – a mere 1000 square feet – and sits directly on a flood plain close to a river.

Because of the risk of flooding, the house is raised on stilts. According to the architects, it can be thought of as a steel box on stilts – but we’ve never seen a steel box look quite this alluring.

When the owners are away – or when threatening weather approaches – the entire house can be shuttered, protecting it from the elements and from possible floods. The shutters are easily opened and closed via a hand crank inside the house.

The home sits on an impressively tiny 20′ X 20′ footprint. Its rooms are stacked on atop the other, with the living room/kitchen occupying the top level and offering some lovely views of the surrounding area.

The post Up, Up + Away: Stilt House is Safe From Floods in Style first appeared on Dornob.

It hardly gets more modern than this – a white volume, planes sliding past one another in space, in a way that would do Mies or Corbu proud.

For the situation and site near Lima, the effect is quite perfect. This house in Lima needed to be open to the elements but still feel like a fully-finished and contemporary residence.

Hence the raised-off-the-ground element of detachment despite windowless openings, and the living-room whites found throughout – classically Modernist moves.

Javier Artadi Arquitecto started with a series of boxes, then sliced strategically through them per the program. The result reflects the flat linear horizons, but also frames views of this simple natural landscape – it affords visibility but still provides a sense of enclosure as well. Other projects have a similar look; the firm specializes in clean, minimalist lines and rectilinear shapes in stark white. The style calls to mind a sort of Aegean futurism, but most of the projects are set in South America.

“The project consists of a small house on a beach a hundred miles south of Lima and explores the expansion of the conventional uses of a beach house. To that end, a container box has been created, a space that integrates the living-dining room and terrace with pool, within which various elements have been designed (conventional and unconventional furniture) that offer multiple use options.”

“Architecturally, the volume has been strategically perforated along some planes in order to control sunlight and to achieve a selective visual approach (towards the sky, the sea, etc.), and it has been deliberately suspended above the garden to add an air of weightlessness and freedom to the architectural experience of the users.”

“Functionally, the main volume is surrounded by sleeping and service areas. There the kitchen and master bedroom can be found, which are both visually connected with the terrace and pool, and through them, with the skyline.”

The post White Modernist Home Lifted Off the Beach first appeared on Dornob.

The renderings are as matter-of-fact as the design: a no-nonsense, use-all-spaces approach to mobile and quickly-deployed housing by Mehdi Hidari Badie.

The non-directional configuration contains all of the basics centered around a core volume of space – supplementary wings on either side and raised decks front and back.

Adjustable metal legs support the primarily wood-and-glass frame structure, adaptable to different ground conditions when the wheels are raised.

Solar panels are a clearly dominant feature, providing full energy self sufficiency as well as shade and shelter for the outdoor areas.

The post Unboxed: Surprisingly Spacious Flat-Pack House on Wheels first appeared on Dornob.

Lots near the water get a lot cheaper if you are just one or two plots removed from the water’s edge. Enter Projects Asia turned what could be a less desirable trait into a blessing with this unique home, a wrap-around design with a curving roof and rooftop deck.

The architects crafted this curved dwelling in response to the meandering waterway nearby, lifting it up as well to provide views around and above the neighbors.

While sculptural in appearance, the undulating roof (outside) and ceilings (inside) also respond to the needs of interior spaces while bringing in natural light.

The result is an almost Prairie-Style organic approach where function and form are pushed and pulled in tandem, all while keeping in mind the natural and artificial surroundings.

More from the architects

“The recently completed Aldrich House, located in Perth, Western Australia has views of the waterfront. Using digital terrain modeling, the group at Enter Project designed the non-parallel roof as an extension of the surrounding landscape. The changes in the curves of the roof allow for the height of the ceiling to change depending on what room you are in. The ceilings in the bedrooms are lower offering more intimacy while the spaces open up in the more public living areas.”

“The home consists of three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two living rooms. Between the curves of the roof and the lack of 90-degree angles in the house, the house feels open and full of visual interest. The viewing deck on the roof offers beautiful views of the surrounding landscape.”

About Enter Projects Asia

“Sitting at the forefront of technologically aided design, our internationally acclaimed architecture firm seeks to further the culture of architecture from a grassroots level.  We are producing projects of exceptionally high design integrity and material finish. Voted ‘The Most Sustainable Architecture Practice in Thailand, we are fully Thai registered and operate out of Phuket, with a growing client base all over South East Asia, Australia, Europe and the USA.”

The post A Unique Curving Roof Shelters This Home with a View first appeared on Dornob.

Set near the snow-prone Sugar Bowl ski resort near Lake Tahoe, this house has to content with snow loads that come with nearly ten feet of pack at a time.

The resulting design is definitely modern, but it recalls railroad avalanche sheds of times passed with a roof tilt designed to shed excessive weight after heavy snows (depositing excess, in this case, behind the home so as not to endanger people entering or exiting or block key doors).

The entire residence is raised up on a concrete plinth to keep it accessible even during deep-snowing winters. The cedar-enclosed first story is wrapped in bright warm wood, enclosing entry, boot, guest and children’s rooms as well as support spaces.

Lower-level windows frame lovely landscape views like pictures, while the second story (containing master bedroom and living room areas) provides all-around lookouts toward the surrounding forest and mountains and features additional woods including walnut and fir.

Not quite minimalist nor really rustic, crisp engineered lines and clean architectural details are found throughout, contrasting nicely with the organic landscapes that stand out on all sides. Design by John Maniscalco Architecture and photography by Matthew Millman.

The post Winter Home Roof Sloped for Snow Like an Avalanche Shed first appeared on Dornob.

It does not take a housing crisis to realize the importance of cost in construction at home and abroad alike. A 40,000-dollar, two-shipping-container house that is not just livable but lovely is itself impressive, but has particular global appeal to those who cannot afford more. This cheap shipping container house takes cues from modernist architecture for a result that looks far more expensive than it really is.

Benjamin Garcia Saxe is a Costa Rican architect with a new take on low cost shipping container houses that mixes classic Modernist approaches, used materials and sustainable strategies.

“Gabriela Calvo and Marco Peralta dreamed of living in their fantastic property 20 minutes outside of the city of San Jose, Costa Rica; where they could be with their horses and enjoy the natural landscape. They made the very bold choice of exploring with me the possibility of creating a very inexpensive house made out of disregarded shipping containers that allowed them to be dept free and live the life they always dreamed of. It was important for me to provide them with the sunrise, the sunset, the spectacular views, and overall try and create a feeling of comfort and home.”

The core two containers are staggered along the East/West access, providing selective access to natural sunlight and natural cross-ventilation.

In the center, a raised and tilted scrap-metal roof angles up to catch additional indirect daylight and  further facilitate passive cooling.

The entire structure is lofted on stilts – a subtle tribute to structural simplicity, regional climate and perhaps to the Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier era of traditional Modernism as well. Cheap modern houses are hard to find, but this is clearly a smart way to go about it.

The drawings are likewise unpretentious and straightforward renderings of uncomplicated spaces – neither minimalist nor over-designed. The result is something that (to some of us at least) is more attractive than prefab suburban mega-homes could hope to be, and certainly much cheaper to create.

“The final cost of the house (40,000USD) is lower than the cost of social housing provided for the poor in Costa Rica. Perhaps this project begins to expose the importance of design as a tool to provide beauty and comfort with a very low budget in the 21st century, whilst using creativity to not only redefine a scrap material such a disused shipping container, but perhaps to even show that there are viable, low cost, passive alternatives of temperature control to adapt to a very intense tropical climate.”

Photos by Andres Garcia Lachner

The post Cheap Modern Shipping Container House first appeared on Dornob.

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While developers built up monstrous modern structures on all side of this small urban-lot house in Seattle, Edith Macefield stood firm and refused to sell her ‘nail house’ property. Now, the tables have turned and the developer – with whom she forged an unlikely friendship late in life despite their differences – plans to put the hold-out home on top of a new development to be erected on the plot.

It does not exactly look like a natural top floor, but the design proposal does manage to keep the house almost entirely intact without the builder having to sacrifice the ground-level space forever.

Edith’s resistance sparked grass-roots support around the city and beyond – some people even got tattoos to show their solidarity with this lone woman who simply wanted to live and die peacefully in her own place.Popularized in a recent movie, the concept of a ‘Nail House‘ is a curious one that has played out in various ways throughout the world – a modern version of the timeless tale of pitting a single small individual against a giant or group thereof.

The post 2 Stories, Straight Up! Hold-Out Home to be Raised & Saved first appeared on Dornob.

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