* Residential Architecture: De Wet 34 House by SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects

Residential Architecture: De Wet 34 House by SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects: “..The site is positioned in the heart of Bantry Bay in Cape Town, South Africa, on the slopes of Lion’s Head overlooking the bay. The brief was to create a home with all the spectacle of an Atlantic Seaboard showpiece but also to respond to the practical needs of family life and to create a feeling of sanctuary..Built over four floors, the living areas are open-plan yet have distinct identities. A minimalist weathered redwood and grey-shale street façade opens on to a sculptural arrival courtyard which in turn leads to an entrance gallery. Dramatic volume, far-reaching views, sculpture and raw textures – rock, timber, concrete – are the cornerstones of this house, designed to form a canvas for the setting and develop a patina over time..The Family room, placed on the mountain side of the courtyard garden, provides for cocooned living while the double volume Living and Dining area on the sea side is more dramatic, with its rippling concrete feature fireplace wall and commanding views. This ocean fronting section is a soaring space anchored by concrete and rock – a five-tonne cocktail bar of rough-hewn granite holds down one side of the living space. Although sea-oriented, with the pool terrace to the west, the main Living area also opens onto the courtyard garden on the east, with access to both by the way of sliding glass doors which open up so completely that it’s little more than a roofed outdoor space..One descends through a double volume ‘under water’ atrium to the Bedroom floor and down another level to the Guest and Playroom areas..The interiors create an emotional and sensory journey when moving through the house. Furnishings are minimal and lines are kept simple & neutral. By utilising a restrained and raw base of textures and finishes, the décor feels natural and subtly organic; the overall ambiance is one of calm and serenity. Colour is kept to a bare minimum; the interior works predominantly with a light and shade tonal range, allowing views of the mountain, the ocean and sky, and also the artwork to introduce colour..”  Extensive glazing, natural light, views; interesting form, interior volumes, details and materiality; indoor / outdoor sensibility..

See our posts on other homes by SAOTA:

• Residential Architecture: Cove 6 House by Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects (SAOTA)
• Residential Architecture: Plett 6541+2 House by SAOTA
• Residential Architecture: Glen 2961 House by SAOTA and Three 14 Architects
• Residential Architecture: 6th 1448 Houghton ZM House by SAOTA and Antoni Associates
• Residential Architecture: Voelklip House by SAOTA and ANTONI ASSOCIATES
• Residential Architecture: Montrose House by SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects
• Residential Architecture: Nettleton 198 House by Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects (SAOTA)
• Residential Architecture: Victoria 73 House by SAOTA and Antoni Associates
• Residential Architecture: La Lucia House by SAOTA and Antoni Associates

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image: © Adam Letch; article: “De Wet 34 / SAOTA – Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects” 06 May 2013. ArchDaily

* Residential Architecture: Omnibus House by Gubbins Arquitectos

Residential Architecture:  Omnibus House by Gubbins Arquitectos: “..Chilean architect Pedro Gubbins designed this concrete residence as a rural retreat for himself and his family and has balanced it on top of a dry-stone wall..Named Omnibus House, the long and narrow residence is constructed on the side of a hill and the wall beneath it functions as a retainer against the sloping landscape..Gubbins wanted the house to be visually linked to the outdoor spaces of its woodland location, so he designed the concrete volume with lengths of glazing stretching across its longest facades, allowing views right through the building..”All the issues with privacy are solved because of the slope of the location,” said Jose Quintana Cabezas, an architect at Gubbins Arquitectos. “There are neighbours, but they are far away enough to not to have visual contact, plus all the tree trunks help.”..One of the most prominent features of the house is a concrete staircase that cuts through its centre, connecting the rooms on the main floor with an entrance on the storey below and a terrace on the rooftop..Corridors run along both sides of the building, while rooms are arranged in sequence between. Glazed partitions divide the living and dining rooms, either side of the staircase, while wooden boards separate the bedrooms at the western end..The concrete walls are exposed inside the building, plus polished concrete floors run through each room..”  Extensive glazing, natural light, forest views; interesting interior volumes with glass walls; interesting materiality, contextuality, details; visual sensibility; indoor / outdoor sensibility; lovely dry stone wall; 18-image slideshow in original article..

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image + article: Dezeen

* Residential Architecture: Bunker House by Estudio Botteri-Connell

Residential Architecture: Bunker House by Estudio Botteri-Connell: “..The house has been built in a suburban neighbourhood and has been thought for someone who will live there permanently and whose children, friends and couple will visit them from time to time. From meetings with the client, many concepts arise that seek architectonical answers: “a house which can integrate social life in direct relation with the outside, having a space in it which hosts and protects intimacy. A space where one can stay while the rest of the house remains asleep. An introspection space; a temporal oasis.”..In response to these concepts, at first sight the house is built along two different elements: the Bunker that is solid, hermetic, almost impenetrable; and the open, permeable Action area  that dissolves  the limits in constant movement..The Bunker is a singular poetic image, a primitive shelter, a home for lonely dreams and an intimate  space. Practically void of the outside, it “opens up” a larger universe, holding  the Dweller in their complete reality. The Bunker presents itself to the outside as stony, still, immemorial as a carved rock. However, there are lines that cross it through, that mold it and engrave it…GRAVITY, LIGHT, WATER and AIR outline TIME and SPACE. Its inside layout- “heartbeats of the one who lives in it”- defines a warm, soft and expandable heart… Geometry is surpassed..The spiral staircase stops being a mere connection element between distant points to become an entrance to a cosmic and mysterious universe, an escape from ordinary life from time to time and a feeling of “ascension” drawn by the development of the axial focus… The Infinite..The Action Plan – made up of transparent membranes, white walls and  large tiling surfaces-defines  areas embedded in a larger one which in fact are  the actual  limits of  the  plot of land. The neutral Green and its different degrees of seizure. The Water, with its leading role in everyday life, is sometimes a mirror and sometimes entertainment but always a connection between the World and ME. The Light passes gently through the concrete walls. The Gravity permanently facing challenge..And there come Lines Again: Family Lines, Friendship Lines and Work Lines making space  constantly flow. It is a place for social life. Among them, overlooking the scene, concrete walls rise..”  Interesting form, at times elongated rectangular geometry; extensive glazing, natural light; indoor / outdoor sensibility.. don’t be put off by the architect’s description; many interesting details and features..

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image: © Gustavo Sosa Pinilla; article: “Bunker House / Estudio Botteri-Connell” 27 Feb 2013. ArchDaily

* Residential Architecture: BB House by BAK Architects

Residential Architecture: BB House by BAK Architects: “..The ground of 20m x 30m located in the forest of Mar Azul, Argentina, has the particularity of a very important unevenness respect of the two streets it faces. While this complicates the resolution of access to the site provides the advantage that, if the house is located high, it is very little exposed to the gaze from the street, and also from the inside you can get views of the landscape above the neighboring buildings. This difference in level is more or less smooth to the back of the lot, but it is very sharp towards the opposite front and in this area the forest is also thinned..The order of the client was a three-bedroom house that did not exceed 120m2, designed to be used not only in summer but on several occasions throughout the year. In particular was pointed out the need for a generously sized main bedroom, which should have a private bathroom and a certain independence from the rest of the house. The other two bedrooms could share a bath and have a minimal surface, so as to give the social area as much space as possible. The kitchen (a very important space for the client) should be fully integrated into this area and was especially highlighted the need for generous outdoor expansions. It also required a deposit for storing of different elements for beach sports..Regarding the formal requirements, while requested a concrete house, i.e. aesthetic and constructive proposal similar to the other houses built by the studio in Mar Azul, this commission gave permission to try any search that characterize the experience..On the client’s permission expressed in the phrase “you may risk proposing a variant of the built houses,” and in the particularity of the lot and the required program, lay the uniqueness of this house. The search for formal variants was not easy since it does not involve change of technology, nor conception of spatiality (that stay more than clear in the first talks) but it intended to make some kind of new contribution without giving up those premises. The proposal could have been testing with new textures of concrete, even with the addition of pigments, but all these procedures appeared to contradict our posture rather austere and non aestheticist of architecture. The solution came by chance when we notice that in the process of producing works of exposed concrete, there is an important remaining of wooden planks used to make the formwork. It seemed then interesting, and also conducive in order to take advantage of every resource available, to reuse these tables in the execution of some wooden walls. This is how we started to think the project from replacing some exterior and interior concrete walls with partitions of tables and wooden structure..In relation to the volume, the house was resolved as two prisms at different heights and perpendicular to each other, united by a ladder that saves the difference, and located between pine trees in the highest sector of the lot. In the volume parallel to the direction of the slope, with one side partially buried and the other in situation of balcony, are placed the gathering activities of the family group plus the two small bedrooms. The volume perpendicular to the slope enjoys proximity with the foliage of pine trees that rise from the ground and there is placed the main bedroom with bathroom and terrace..Using a ladder hidden in the dune’s natural slope, the volume is accessed through a main terrace that develops along the longest side, so that by opening the sliding carpentry, full integration is achieved between inside and outside. In this housing sector, the package formed by the household and shared bathroom separates the social zone from the two small “bedroom cabin” and marks the beginning of the soft descending stairway leading to the main bedroom in a very quiet situation. From this room are presented views in high, screened by walls of concrete and the pines foliage, from the forest surrounding the house. It is also possible to go outside through a small terrace that, along with the stairs, links the two volumes which form the house. Under the main bedroom is located the water tank with access from one of the streets..The outdoor activities were posed following the principle of “scatter on the ground” so that their impact is as small as possible: thus was proposed a grill and a concrete table and benches at the top of the lot with views of the environment and, in the lower zone, shower facilities in the manner of sculptural object..The house is constructed with three basic materials: exposed concrete, glass and pine wood tables and beams. The exterior walls made from this material were protected with burned oil. This seemed the most appropriate finish to facilitate maintenance of the pinewood and to harmonize with the colors of the forest..The slabs of the different partitions and volumes are supported using concrete beams and are finished with a minimum slope in order to produce a faster runoff of rainwater. H21 concrete was used with the addition of a fluidifiant so that this mixture, with little amount of water to harden, results very compact and does not require sealing. The few interior walls of hollow bricks are finished in concrete screed; floor cloths are also from concrete screed divided with aluminum plates. The openings are of dark bronze anodized aluminum. The heating system, since there is no natural gas in the area, was solved with a system that combines a fireplace, bottled gas stoves and electric stoves..Except the beds, couches and chairs, the rest of the equipment of this house is solved in concrete..”  Extensive glazing, natural light, views; interesting form, contextual sensibility; board-formed concrete, re-utilisation of form timber..

See our posts on three other homes by BAK:

• Residential Architecture: Costa Esmeralda House by BAK Arquitectos
• Residential Architecture: BA House by BAK Arquitectos
• Residential Architecture: Casa Levels by BAK Arquitectos

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image: © Gustavo Sosa Pinilla; article: “BB House / BAK Architects” 05 Jan 2013. ArchDaily.  <http://www.archdaily.com/310633&gt;