* Residential Architecture: Cedarvale Ravine House by Drew Mandel Architects

Residential Architecture: Cedarvale Ravine House by Drew Mandel Architects: “..This house in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by Drew Mandel Architects features pale grey stone walls and an overhanging top storey..Home to a family of four, the two-storey residence sits at the edge of Cedarvale Park, a steeply sloping ravine surrounded by woodland..Drew Mandel Architects used locally quarried stone blocks in three different sizes to create irregular courses on the building’s exterior. To contrast, zinc clads the cantilevered first floor and richly coloured walnut covers a selection of surfaces inside the house..”The restrained and limited material palette avoids unnecessary ornamentation in order to focus one’s attention on the site, natural light, and movement through modulated open spaces,” say the architects..The volume of the house is broken down into modules, which step back and forth on both floors to create two patios at ground floor level and a vegetable garden on the roof..The architects explain this as a “pushing and pulling” that mediates between the residential context at the front and the woodland area at the rear. “The sculptural expression solves programmatic requirements, maximises views, provides natural light, and enhances the promenade and transition from suburban streetscape to very primal forms of nature,” they add..A glazed single-storey block at the back contains the living room and offers a view back towards the park..The overhanging first floor cantilevers out beside it and hovers above an outdoor swimming pool. To support the weight of the cantilever, the architects added a single concrete wall and a series of concealed trusses..A double-height dining room is positioned at the centre of the house and splits the first floor into two wings. A mezzanine corridor runs between..Extensive glazing, natural light, nature views; privacy; interesting form and volumetry, interior volumes, materiality..

image + article: Dezeen

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* Residential Architecture: C+P House by Gonçalo das Neves Nunes

Residential Architecture: C+P House by Gonçalo das Neves Nunes: “..The house intends to interpretate the relations between indoors and outdoors through yards, terraces, balconies and lightshade slabs. The implantation takes advantage of the plot’s morphology that permits two entrances (main and garage) at different altimentric levels..The house is apparently monolithic but it shows itself to South and East finding views and exposition. The main entrance is done through a recess in the Western façade where you can find a distribution area framed by a courtyard. The private zones are organized in the upper level and the social zones at the entrance level..As you go down to the garage level, that is partially underground, you find an exterior covered space that continues the social use of the house by its relation with the swimming pool..The facades are in Travertino stone and the slabs are marked by its beam boundary that is concrete coated. The lower level walls are in raw concrete. The interior comfort is sought by the Walnut wood panels and floors..”  Extensive glazing, natural light; indoor / outdoor and materials sensibility..

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image: © FG + SG; article: ”C+P House / Gonçalo das Neves Nunes” 09 Jan 2013. ArchDaily.<http://www.archdaily.com/316009&gt;

* Residential Architecture: La Luge House by YH2 Architecture

Residential Architecture: La Luge House by YH2 Architecture: “..Mostly dedicated to the enjoyment of Quebec’s winter, La Luge is a secondary home lying in the midst of the forest. Nestled on its site, surrounded by dense vegetation preserving the house’s privacy, La Luge integrates a private spa which occupies almost a third of the useable area, adding on to the traditional countryside living spaces..While La Luge is as a compact scheme meant to accommodate a large number of guests, the house’s spaces can be reconfigured into diverse geometries: using large sliding doors, the users may transform the children bedroom into a playground or a guest bedroom, more or less opened onto the main living spaces..The project is made out of two embracing volumes set on different levels –one dark, one light, thus creating distinct spaces, freely merging one into the other..In this wood shell made of essences of cedar, oak and walnut, the atmosphere is soft but bright, soothing..”  Ample glazing, natural light, nature views; abundant interior and exterior wood: horizontal wood cladding, wood flooring, wood walls and ceilings..

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image: © Francis Pelletier; article: Cifuentes , Fabian . “La Luge / YH2 Architecture” 27 Sep 2012. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/275993&gt;

* Residential Architecture: Hill House by Johnston Marklee & Associates

Residential Architecture: Hill House by Johnston Marklee & Associates: “..Hill House was designed under challenging conditions generated by modern problems of building on a hillside. Located in Pacific Palisades, California, USA, while the site for the house offers panoramic views from Rustic and Sullivan Canyons to Santa Monica Bay, the irregularly shaped lot is situated on an uneven, downhill slope. With the canonical Eames House nearby, the 3300 square foot Hill House provocatively continues the Case Study House tradition of experimentation and reinvention of Los Angeles lifestyles..HILLSIDE ZONING: Increasingly in Los Angeles, local hillside ordinances, building codes, coastal regulations, and design review boards have imposed restrictions on hillside construction, with the goal of preserving the profile of the natural hillside terrain by limiting building heights, location and massing. The Hill House sets a new precedent for hillside building by liberating itself from these restraints – not through evasion – but by strategically transforming these stringent criteria into a sculptural and efficient design solution, that seamlessly engages with the surrounding site..The massing of the Hill House subsequently results from two economically driven development criteria: To maximize the volume allowed by the zoning requirements; and to minimize contact with the natural terrain. Recalling Hugh Ferriss’s vision of a Manhattan skyline literally interpreting the zoning laws as building form, the Hill House adopts the maximum zoning envelope as its form. The initial envelope is shaped from a combination of property setbacks in plan and hillside height restrictions in section, and is further refined three-dimensionally according to structural criteria..PLANNING: Within the building enclosure, individual programmatic components are assembled to fit into the fixed envelope, much like a contortionist, artfully compressing the mass of their body into unique configurations. By eroding all non-structural walls and partitions, the program flows effortlessly between three levels stacked within the exterior skin. An upper semi-private loft space and a more secluded lower bedroom suite sandwich the central public living and dining area. An open, sculptural, steel and glass stair vertically stitches the three levels together. The smooth polished interior skin is shaped and curved selectively to accentuate the geometry of the house and to accommodate storage and mechanical services..APERTURES: The aperture strategy results from a desire to both minimize the quantity for privacy and efficiency in terms of environmental performance, and to maximize size for views, ventilation and light. With the relationship of the site and building to the street, the conventional rear of the house in essence becomes its front with spectacular views of the canyon and ocean to the north, east, and south. Large sliding glass doors in the living area retract into concealed pockets, erasing boundaries between interior and exterior. Where windows and doors are recessed into the building volume, the exterior material membrane folds into the house to form deep sills and thresholds respectively. The recessed windows of the private rooms frame specific views to the exterior while limiting views into the house. The placement of skylights in both the flat and sloped roofs further blurs the conventional differentiation between roof and wall. Indirect light sources and unanticipated views from these openings further enhance the three-dimensional quality of the space and form..MATERIALS: To express the continuity of the building skin and minimize the conventional distinctions between roof and wall planes, an elastomeric, cementitious exterior coating material was used requiring no control joints. The embedded lavender color of the coating was sampled from the pigment of eucalyptus bark, prevalent at the site, re-enforcing the house’s connection to the site from which its form is derived. The material’s iridescent quality results in dramatic color variations with changing light conditions throughout the day. Similar to the monolithic exterior coating, the interior materials are detailed to suggest spatial continuity. Materials in varying shades of white, including polished Carrara marble, smooth Corian countertops, lacquered wood, and enameled steel seamlessly meet throughout occasionally accented by darkly stained walnut flooring and cabinets. A meadow of various native California grasses forms a blanket covering the slope surrounding the house. Highly detailed succulent plants such as aloe and agaves accent the soft grasses and reflect the crisp lines of the house..STRUCTURE: The structural assembly is composed of concrete, steel, and timber. The foundation, based upon nine 35-foot deep reinforced concrete piles, is anchored into bedrock and tied together by a network of grade beams. Rising up from this foundation, inclined concrete walls project orthogonally to the grade – instead of vertically – taking on the figure of prevented fall. A braced steel frame with timber infill framing emerges out of the concrete base to form the circulation core and cantilevered overhang at the entry..”  Extensive glazing, multiple skylights, abundant natural light, views; interesting form, fenestration, interior volumes and materiality; mezzanine; stylish furnishings..

See our posts on two other homes by Johnston Marklee & Associates:

• Residential Architecture: Scale House by Johnston Marklee & Associates
• Residential Architecture: View House by Johnston MarkLee & Diego Arraigada Arquitecto

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image: Eric Staudenmaier; article: Saieh , Nico . “Hill House / Johnston Marklee & Associates” 29 Oct 2008. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/8138&gt;