* Residential Architecture: Tower House by Gluck+

Residential Architecture:  Tower House by Gluck+: “..This holiday home in upstate New York, USA, by US firm Gluck+ features an elevated living room that hovers nine metres above the ground..As the weekend retreat for Thomas Gluck – one of the firm’s principals – and his family, Tower House was designed as a four-storey tower with a “treetop aerie”, affording mountain views across the nearby Catskill Park..The house is glazed on every side. In some places Gluck+ has fitted dark green panels behind to camouflage the walls with the surrounding woodland, while other areas remain transparent, revealing a bright yellow staircase that zigzags up behind the southern elevation..Taut vertical cables form the balustrade for this staircase and are interspersed with small lights, intended to look like fireflies after dark..One of the main aims of the design was to minimise the impact on the landscape. The architects achieved this by lifting the large living areas off the ground and stacking bedrooms and bathrooms on the three floors beneath, creating a base footprint of just 40 square metres..This arrangement also allows all of the wet rooms to be arranged in an insulated central core. When the house isn’t is use, this core isolates the heating systems, helping to reduce energy consumption..The three bedrooms are positioned on the north side of the house, where they can benefit from the most consistent daylight, and contain yellow furniture to match the colour of the staircase..The living room above is divided up into four different zones by the arrangement of furniture and features a 12-metre-long window seat that spans the entire space. There’s also a secluded roof terrace on the next level up..New York-based Gluck+ was known until recently as Peter Gluck and Partners. The firm is now run by Peter, his son Thomas, and three other principals..”  Extensive glazing, natural light, views; interesting cantilevered form, fenestration, furnishings.. Interesting photos and slideshow..

See our posts on two other home by Gluck+:

• Residential Architecture: Urban Townhouse by GLUCK+
• Residential Architecture: Rado Redux by Peter Gluck and Partners

image: © Paul Warchol; article: Dezeen

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* Residential Architecture: BIG & small House by Anonymous Architects

Residential Architecture:  BIG & small House by Anonymous Architects: “..This tiny house in northeast Los Angeles, California, USA, by local studio Anonymous Architects contains only three rooms and is lifted off the hillside on a set of concrete pilotis..Named BIG & small House, the two-storey residence was designed to maximise space, as it occupies a plot around half the size of its neighbours..Rather than squeeze in lots of small rooms, Anonymous Architects chose to add just one large living room, a single bathroom and a mezzanine bedroom. “What the house lacks in square footage it provides in volume,” explains the architect..A single-car parking garage runs along the side of the house, and the mezzanine bedroom stretches out over the top, allowing the combined living and dining room to become a double-height space..To increase natural light inside the house, interior partions don’t meet the ceiling. This was intended to create an “open-lofted feeling”..The shape of the house is defined by the outline of its sloping site. The base of the building barely touches the declining ground, but is held firmly in place by concrete-pile foundations..”The house is a completely isolated object,” (says) architect Simon Storey.. “It’s almost like a industrial shed compared to it’s neighbours, however the undulating roof softens the house just enough that it feels part of the neighborhood.”..Seamed metal sheets clad the entire exterior, while interior walls and floors are lined with timber..Anonymous Architects previously worked on another house on a small plot in Los Angeles and named it Eel’s Nest after the narrow residences found in Japanese cities..”  Extensive glazing, natural light, views; small footprint; interesting details and interior volumes..

See our post on another home by Anonymous Architects: Residential Architecture: Eels Nest House by Anonymous Architects.

image + article: Dezeen

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* Residential Architecture: X House by Cadaval & Solà-Morales

Residential Architecture: X House by Cadaval & Solà-Morales: “..This X-shaped house by architects Cadaval & Sola-Morales hangs over the edge of a hillside on the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain..Aptly named X House, the two-storey residence is based on a simple rectilinear form but features four triangular recesses that create the X-shaped plan. One of these recesses allows the structure to avoid a nearby tree, while two others provide windows that avoid overlooking neighbouring houses and the fourth lengthens the glazed facade to offer a wider view of the surrounding landscape..”The form is not a priori, but an effort to give a unitary response that satisfies each of the questions that rose up in the design process,” explains Cadaval & Solà-Morales..The walls without glazing appear as solid, undecorated concrete and were set using a single-sided formwork. “[The house] accumulates in its skin the diverse and continuous knowledge acquired within the process of construction,” say the architects..Residents enter the house on the top floor by following a staircase around the edge of the pine tree and locating a door that is two metres below street level, alongside a garage for parking two cars..A bedroom, bathroom and study occupy two arms of the cross on this floor and overlook a double-height living room on the storey below..Downstairs, the living room and kitchen wrap around the facade to offer views out across over the hillside..”X House uses form to qualify spaces of very different nature and provide them with an individual character, always incorporating landscape as a main actor,” add the architects..”  Extensive glazing, natural light, views; very interesting form, interior volumes, contextuality on a steep site; roof terrace; very good photos, some by the excellent photographer Iwan Baan, in a 20-image slideshow accompanying the original article.

image: Sandra Pereznieto; article: Dezeen

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* Residential Architecture: Casa Cubo by Studio MK27 – Marcio Kogan

Residential Architecture:  Casa Cubo by Studio MK27 – Marcio Kogan: “..Two chunky concrete storeys are perched above a living room without walls at this house in São Paulo, Brazil by Brazilian architects Studio MK27..Led by architect Marcio Kogan, Studio MK27 imagined the house as a solid object punctured by large voids. “[It is] a monolithic volume that, in its empty interior, contains other volumes,” explains the team..Perforated metal screens slide back and forth around the perimeter of the ground floor living room, allowing the space to either reveal or conceal itself from the surrounding garden and swimming pool..”The common area is therefore an open space, like a rip in a concrete box, totally integrated with the garden,” say the architects..On the upper floors, more metals screens can be pulled across the windows to provide privacy for the bedrooms, television room and office located behind the concrete facade..Suspended treads rise up though a narrow stairwell to connect each of the floors and eventually lead up to a terrace on the roof..”  Interesting form, conception, materiality, interior volumes and interior decoration and design; indoor / outdoor sensibility.. (article contains a 16-image slideshow)..

See some of our other posts on homes by Marcio Kogan, and Studio MK27:

• Residential Architecture: Toblerone House by Marcio Kogan – Studio mk27
• Residential Architecture: V4 House by Marcio Kogan – Studio MK27
• Residential Architecture: Ipês House by StudioMK27 – Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: Cobogó House by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: Osler House by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: House 6 by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: BR House by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: House 53 by Marcio Kogan
• Architecture: Interview: Márcio Kogan by Studio MK27
• Residential Architecture: Punta House by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: Chimney House by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: Paraty House by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: Bahia House by Marcio Kogan
• Residential Architecture: Brick House by Marcio Kogan

images: Fernando Guerra; article: Dezeen

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