* Residential Architecture: House on the Cliff by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

Residential Architecture: House on the Cliff by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos: “..We like the virtue of architecture which makes possible constructing a house on air, walking on water… An abrupt plot of land overlooking the sea, where what is best is to do nothing. It invites to stay. A piece that respects the land’s natural contour is set in it. Above, a shadow, the house itself, looking calmly at the Mediterranean. Under the sun, the swimming-pool brings us closer to the sea, it becomes a quiet cove. In the inflection point, the stairway proposes a evocative path, a garden in the basement…Due to the steepness of the plot and the desire to contain the house in just one level, a three-dimensional structure of reinforced concrete slabs and screens adapting to the plot’s topography was chosen, thus minimizing the earthwork. This monolithic, stone-anchored structure generates a horizontal platform from the accessing level, where the house itself is located. The swimming-pool is placed on a lower level, on an already flat area of the site. The concrete structure is insulated from the outside and then covered by a flexible and smooth white lime stucco. The rest of materials, walls, pavements, the gravel on the roof… all maintain the same colour, respecting the traditional architecture of the area, emphasizing it and simultaneously underlining the unity of the house..”

See our posts on two other homes by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos:

• Residential Architecture: Casa del Atrio (Atrium House) by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
• Residential Architecture: Casa en la Ladera de un Castillo by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

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image: © Diego Opazo; article: Cifuentes , Fabian . “House on the Cliff / Fran Silvestre Arquitectos” 20 Nov 2012. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/295703&gt;

* Residential Architecture: Barrier Island House by Sanders Pace Architecture

Residential Architecture: Barrier Island House by Sanders Pace Architecture: “..This project is located within a waterfront neighborhood of modest 1950’s era houses alongside many more recent supersized replacements. Our process began by evaluating the client’s goals with their existing property in order to determine whether or not the existing single family residence on the site could accommodate their needs. After an early visit to the site it was determined that any improvement to the existing residence would require the demolition of the original terrazzo slab on grade, perhaps the property’s best asset..Once the decision to replace the existing structure was made a series of design options were explored which maintained the scale and character of the original house while accommodating new programmatic goals including a loft level, a detached workshop, and an abundance of outdoor space. A desire to preserve as much of the natural vegetation on the site as possible including many beautiful live oak trees meant containing new construction within the footprint of the original building..Improved efficiency within the layout allowed us to provide the same interior program within a smaller amount of conditioned space, again a nod to the scale and character of the original historic neighborhood. Hurricane codes dictated our structural system which consisted of concrete with CMU infill. As with most projects within this context, stucco clads the primary volume of the house. Dark brick and cedar are used as secondary materials cladding accessory volumes and surfaces while an abundance of glass lends transparency to the primary public spaces while offering uninterrupted views to the waterway beyond..”  Interesting materiality, sense of contrast and colour, form and details; extensive glazing, abundant natural light, views; indoor / outdoor sensibility..

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image: © Bruce Cole; article: Alarcon , Jonathan . “Barrier Island House / Sanders Pace Architecture” 03 Oct 2012. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/277879&gt;

* Residential Architecture: Wooden House by Schlyter/Gezelius Arkitektkontor

Residential Architecture: Wooden House by Schlyter/Gezelius Arkitektkontor: “..Large folding doors open this woodland house outside Stockholm onto a decked terrace that is shaded by a folding fabric canopy..The house by Swedish studio Schlyter/Gezelius Arkitektkontor is entirely clad in larch, milled into striped patterns by local carpenters..Inside the pine-framed building, walls are lined with stucco and have rounded corners..A timber staircase in the central kitchen and dining room leads to a first-floor loft with oversized windows..”  Interesting form, interior volume, fenestration, and vertical wood cladding; extensive glazing, natural light, views..

image: Luc Pages; article: Dezeen

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* Residential Architecture: Clara House by Inês Cortesão

Residential Architecture: Clara House by Inês Cortesão: “..Embraced by the village, a stone house with two floors is found at the end of an alley. The intervention starts by removing all contents of the former inhabitants life experience there. The base for this project is a stone box of gold granite, connected to a contiguous volume of plastered brick, where the kitchen and the bathroom were built..The openings on the thick stone walls are filled by thin white frames, allowing the interior to show and giving a sense of lightness and balance to this pile of equipped stones. On the ground floor, wide white doors close the house patio. The house’s roof in white straw tiles, that were determinant to complete the “bright” harmony of the ensemble, stands out from the surroundings and stages the snow days, moment of conceptual acclaim of the project..On the contiguous volume the principles are reversed: the traditional construction with gable cover is replaced by a simple volume with pure forms and a flat roof all, in white. The content of the stone box, stuccoed on the interior, is in chestnut wood. On the first floor, a square plan room with a fireplace in the middle is where it’s possible to warm up the chilled body in the winter and socialize..In a symmetric way, whether talking about the space organization or the furniture design and use, the rooms are distributed. The segregation between the living room and the bedrooms is made by wood walls that follow in a vertical direction the alignment of the floor boards, cut to size. These walls hide the structure that supports the roof, the cabinets and the doors to the bedrooms..The design for these openings is matching, in a rigorously way, the scale and dimension of the “stone shell”, revealing several asymmetries and the house’s reduced human dimension. This is an intervention that tries to, through principles and traditional construction processes, instill an image of contemporaneity, that makes this house an exception on the mountains landscape..”  Interesting fenestration and interior volumes and details for this renovation of an existing predominantly stone home..

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image: © FG+SG; article: King , Victoria . “Clara House / Inês Cortesão” 09 Apr 2012. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/222581&gt;