* 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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* Architecture & Design: Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Announces 2013 National Design Awards Winners

Architecture & Design: Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Announces 2013 National Design Awards Winners: “..Now in its 14th year, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards is continuing its legacy to recognize outstanding achievement across a variety of disciplines in the design community.  The awards were established to “promote design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world”.  This year the recipients will be honored at a gala in October during National Design Week in New York City.  The goal of recognizing this achievements is to reinforce the idea that “everything around us is designed” and the potential for innovation and creation is present across all types of development. The winners of this year’s design awards were selected based on excellence, innovation and public impact..James Wines is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.  Wines is the founder and president of SITE, multidisciplinary studio based in New York City that develops site-specific structures that utilize information about the surrounding environment.  The work includes buildings, public space, environmental art, landscapes, master plans, interiors, video productions, graphics and product designs, all of which use the context to determine the design.  With projects numbering over 150 in 11 countries, Wines’ and SITE’s work has been highly influential in the design community..Michael Sorkin is honored with the Design Mind Award for his work in architecture at his practice, Michael Sorkin Studio; for his work in architectural and urban critique for Architectural Record and as professor at the City College of New York; and as an urbanist for his work with the non-profit organization Terreform which is dedicated to research and intervention of urban morphology..The popular non-profit organization that produces lectures covering issues of technology, entertainment and design – TED – is awarded the Corporate and Institutional Achievement.  The talks cover a wide range of disciplines and have grown exponentially in popularity since its beginnings in 1984.  To promote local outreach, TED has also developed the TEDx talks which allows individuals to independently organize events in their communities..The Architecture Design Award is going to Studio Gang Architects, a Chicago-based collective that uses design to connect with and respond to contemporary issues.  Each project addresses the individual cultural and environmental concerns of the site, using specific strategies to deal with global issues of urbanization, climate and sustainability.  The projects cover a range of scale and scope, from individual building towers to infrastructure and public space..Graphic Designer Paula Scher is recognized for the Communication Design for her work with “iconic, smart and accessible images”.  Her work uses typography to develop images that have meaning and evoke feeling.  Her work is highly recognizable and has been used for environmental graphics, packing, publications and branding systems..Fashion Designer Behnaz Sarafpour is being recognized for her work in elegant and innovative textiles.  Her collection blends high design with affordability, while consciously choosing organically produced materials for her designs..Media design firm, Local Projects, is being recognized for Interaction Design.  The firm specializes in work for museums and public spaces and has been creating work for the 9/11 Memorial Museum.  It is being awarded for its use of physical space and interactive design to create collaborative storytelling projects..Aidlin Darling Design is the recipient of the Interior Design award for the studios interest in designing spaces for all five sense.  The studio functions as a hub for collaborators of many disciplines, including builders, fabricators, artists, engineers, and chefs..Margie Ruddick work is being recognized for the Landscape Architecture award for her pioneering approach in incorporating ecology into the urban landscape.  Ruddick is also an author and professor whose work has gained international acclaim and is likely an inspiration in today’s desire to design environmentally conscious sites in modern cities..NewDealDesign is honored with the Product Design award.  The multidisciplinary firm collaborates with industrial, graphic and interaction designers to create innovative products “dedicated to helping people live better everyday”. (via Cooper-Hewitt.org)

See our post on another project by Studio Gang Architects: Solar Carve Tower by Studio Gang Architects in New York City, next to the High Line linear park.

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image: Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre by Studio Gang Architects by Greg Murphy; article: Vinnitskaya , Irina. “Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Announces 2013 National Design Awards Winners” 10 May 2013. ArchDaily

* Residential Architecture: Urban Townhouse by GLUCK+

Residential Architecture: Urban Townhouse by GLUCK+: “..This project reinvents the typology of the urban townhouse on a typically narrow infill Manhattan, New York City, New York, plot..By radically reconfiguring the organization and façade of the building, open loft-like living spaces find privacy from the street behind a four-storey vertical library. The clients asked for generous light-filled interiors and privacy from the street – in contrast to the standard New York City row house with parlor room windows right on the street, usually curtained or shuttered from the eyes of passersby..The conventional plan and section were redefined with the stair and elevator core pushed up against the street façade, instead of running along one of the party walls.  As a result, loft-like spaces run fluidly the entire length of the 38-foot-deep building, rather than being compartmentalized into small front and back rooms. An open mezzanine living room, a private office nook, and sitting rooms to private bedrooms, extend off the stairs which wind like a ribbon around the elevator core..The front façade engages the street with a custom water-cut aluminum rain screen with brick-shaped openings relating to the solid bricks of its neighbors and panel joints corresponding to the neighboring building stories. During the day, it appears as a flat, patterned mass, marked off from the adjacent houses by the tall glass slots on either side. The horizontal joints of the aluminum panels break up the vertical surface as a reference to the rhythm of the window spacing of the row houses..At dusk, this impression wanes as the glow from the horizontal slit windows and the vertical glass slots animates the street façade. The aluminum appears more as a screen than a mass, and invites the eye toward, but not into, the house..The rear facade is in counterpoint to the front: It is all glass; a full-height, full-width curtain wall that bathes the interior in light. At night, the warm lantern-like light of the interior illuminates the rear garden..The public spaces of the townhouse (living room, dining room, and kitchen) are linked by a light-filled mezzanine which overlooks the backyard. The etched glass on the upper three floors gives privacy to the bedrooms and baths, as well as a diffused light that is in fact, brighter than clear glass. By extending the materials (brick, stone and wood) of the ground floor open living and dining area out into the garden, the spatial experience captures the full 70-foot-depth of the site..” Extensive glazing, natural light, garden views, privacy; interesting facades, interior volumes, details; original article includes a video..

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image: © Raimund Koch;  article: ”Urban Townhouse / GLUCK+” 24 Mar 2013. ArchDaily

* Residential Architecture: Shelter Island House by Stamberg Aferiat + Associates

Residential Architecture: Shelter Island House by Stamberg Aferiat + Associates: “..Architects Stamberg Aferiat + Associates have designed the Shelter Island House in New York, USA..Let the line that divides art from architecture be transparent. This project gave us an opportunity to bring our influences, inspirations, aspirations and years of architectural design to bear in one place with only ourselves and our budget to define the boundaries..Cubists looked beyond the mechanical view of how the eye sees and employed the brain’s ability to remember and anticipate, allowing one to take in a seemingly disjointed array of phenomena but still have the whole make sense. The increasing plasticity of lightweight building materials allows us some of the Cubists’ slight-of-hand to simultaneously evoke the immediacies of built form as well as architectural dream states – the hovering roof, translucencies between inside and outside, and walls that are not walls..Practice what you preach: Architecture coupled with color can bring joy while providing the basic necessities. Building our own house gave us the leeway to be as bold with our color choices as the work would allow and to push boundaries that few dare, but our choices were always based in serious color theory..Sir Isaac Newton observed the different behavior of color created with pigment and color created with light. The Impressionists and Fauves experimented with Newtonian principles to create light effects with pigment. These experiments have redefined thoughts on how colors relate to one another. Guided by Newtonian color theory, the intense palette of the house allows richly-colored reflected light to pass through translucent walls, suffusing spaces with a delighting glow..”  Extensive glazing, natural light; interesting fenestration, form, interior volumes; exuberant color..

image: Paul Warchol; article: Contemporist

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