MacGabhann Architects

Private House on Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal, 2006-2007. Winner of: Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Public Choice Award and Best house 2008 Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Irish Architecture Awards 2008.

From RIA Press Release:

Best House & Public Choice Award: MacGabhann Architects for Tuath na Mara, Portsalon, Portsalon, Letterkenny

” This is an example of a one-off house in the countryside that sits lightly in its setting and yet has a strong presence. The house has dark elements, just as the surrounding land does, and yet respects and provides a platform for the beauty of the scenery by letting it shine through the building. Tread softly for you tread upon our Donegal.”

Popularity: 7% [?]

ABK Architects

Extension and refurbishment of the original house designed by Ahrends Burton & Koralek Architects in 1979-1982.

Built on a beautiful and remote site in Glencree, High in the Wicklow mountains south of Dublin, the aim of the design was to insert the house unobtrusively into the landscape whilst shaping the house to take full advantage of the varied views from the site.
Although only 20 miles from the centre of Dublin, it is still largely unspoilt mountain scenery.

Popularity: 8% [?]

From Ignacio Montaldo Architects

“This house is located in Mar Azul, Province of Buenos Aires, on a 600m2 plot at the seaside, with parts of the same on the dunes and the rough slope leading to the forest. The project was developed having in mind the least possible effect on the landscape, by means of conceiving the house, as a finished object in itself , perched on the site, maintaining natural vegetation of the dunes in the area. The house of approximately 180m2 comprises three floors, in a prismatic volume of 4 x 15 x 9 mts., which is permeated in order to generate a void, that makes room for two staggered terraces. They work as an extension of the living-room and the master bedroom.

They solve a contradiction between the good orientation to the sunlight in the afternoon, coming from the West, and the view of the ocean. The deck becomes a solarium-gazebo, from which there is a view of Villa Gessell City and the flashes of Querandi light-house. The project starts in March of 2001 and, after going through several building solutions, it is resolved in dry precast construction to reduce construction time. This was done in a workshop located in Batan, Province of Buenos Aires, (some 100km from the site.)

The construction starts in mid October and by December 15th, 200,1 the home assembling is done on site, where the H°A° foundations have already been built. The building is assembled from seven space modules and two closing panels for the terrace. Each one of these modules are three-dimensional structures, formed by columns with square-section corners of 122mm., made of zinc-iron, support and secondary beams and galvanized steel bars, linked with phenolic plates in walls, and roofs and cement plates in floors. The house external facade is made of cement plates, and the internal one of plaster drywall. A deck floor is assembled on the sloping deck, to allow the use of the deck and also to contribute to thermal insulation.”

Popularity: 8% [?]

From Jetson Green

” Reader and recent commenter Raedia just sent over details of her and her husband’s green home being built in Vermont.  They were able to secure an in-town lot and decided to design and build something that was affordable, sustainable, and stylish.  In looking at the images, I think they were able to do just that.  With a super-insulated structure and passive heating and cooling, the home uses less of the mechanical systems for temperature control.

To further reduce the use of fossil fuel in powering the house, the owners installed a geothermal heat pump system and heat recovery ventilator (to keep the air filtered and fresh).  The contemporary home ended up with some of the following green features:

• 2000 sf small footprint
• R40 walls, R50 roof, R20 slab
• Recycled denim insulation
• Triple glazed windows
• Deep overhangs to block direct sunlight
• Energy Star appliances throughout
• On-demand hot water heater
• CFL or pin based fluorescent lighting
• No-/low-VOC paints and finishes

Raedia and Ian’s home was design by Ian’s father and the landscaping will be done by Ian’s mother.  Between everyone in the family, they’ve sure found a way to build a cool green home.” Jetson Green

Popularity: 9% [?]

WALLPAPER

” The Amalia House started life as a request for a humble holiday cottage. Briefed by their clients to create a holiday house on a family estate, Grid Architects ground the parameters down to create a simple low-budget structure that didn’t compromise on visual innovation. Containing just two bedrooms, one for adults, one for children, plus an additional sleeping space in the living room, the Amalia House is compact but dynamic.

Amalia House: exterior
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The house is set on a gentle slope, meaning that the ground floor is arranged on two separate levels, with the kitchen and dining area raised up above the living room. ‘This way the different functions are separated, and the rooms themselves seem wider,’ says Grid Architects’ Isabella Straus, adding that ‘from the dining table you have a view of the valley through the window on the north façade but there is still a cosy niche in the living room.’

Amalia House: exterior
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Amalia House: exterior
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Straus co-founded the office with Ric Thill and Gerhard Klocker in 2005. Now with offices in Nospelt, Luxemburg and in Vienna, Austria, the studio is working on a variety of offices, houses and urban planning jobs. Amalia was a small project for the studio, but one that required intense investigation in order to satisfy all the client’s criteria within the available budget.

From outside, the Amalia House looms menacingly, its hunched, dark shape blurring into a solid monolith from some angles, but a strikingly angular structure from others. Up close, the origins of the strange reflection-absorbing coating suddenly becomes clear; artificial glass. Chosen by the architects for its tactile qualities, as well as the way it helps the structure ‘nullify the optical differences between roof and wall,’ as well as make a connection between the building and the surrounding landscape. It also allows the first floor roof slope to be used as a comfortable terrace.

The first floor cantilevers out to create a covered space for a lawn mower and garden furniture, doubling up as a car port if need be. The living room façade contains two large window openings, dynamically angled to exaggerate the contours of the surrounding meadow and designed to bring the landscape into the heart of the living space. Heat is provided by a wood burning stove in the living area.

From the kitchen/dining area a simple spiral staircase leads up to the first floor accommodation, past a compact WC and shower room. To the rear is the children’s room - with its sloping floor making a fun play space for cars and trains, while to the front of the structure - housed in a cantilever that mimics the cab-over bed of a camper van.

Everywhere one looks the detailing is simple and unpretentious, reflecting the fact that this is a functional structure that will be used in heavy rotation by three couples and their children. A place that will hopefully house many happy memories in the generations to come, the Amalia House shows that in the right hands, a simple shelter need not be banal or generic.” Wallpaper

Amalia House: living room
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Amalia House: kitchen
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Amalia House: dining room
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Amalia House: the living space
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Grid architekten

Website:http://www.thegrids.net

Telephone:43.1 925 31 96

Address: Grid architekten -Vienna

Popularity: 11% [?]

Sporadical

” The house is situated at the highest point of the northwards slope of a former arboretum, with a total area of 1.57 ha. Both the location and size of the building were essentially formed by the structure of the original weekend house (part of the foundation of which was used for the new house) and the close proximity of a mature oak and fir tree.
The wish of the investor was to create an economical residence with light and spacious rooms, closely linked to the natural surroundings. Read the full story

Popularity: 21% [?]

By Leon van Schaik - Architectural Record

” Eighty percent of Australians live within 80 miles of the sea; 50 percent of the country’s houses sit less than 8 miles from a beach. When Sean Godsell Architects began its latest experiment with an ecofriendly, rectangular residential form, the Glenburn House, it naturally built a first prototype on the coast. The precursor to this scheme, the St. Andrews Beach House, located on a peninsula south of Melbourne, is raised up on stilts above the dunes, oriented at right angles to the sea, and acts as a telescope to the horizon, where sky and ocean meet.

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At Glenburn, a rural area 90 minutes northeast of Melbourne, the relationship between the house and the water is reinterpreted. The box is presented as a ship slicing through swells of earth. Instead of facing water, here the house’s long, northeastern flank provides views from the living areas and the guest room to the distant heights of Australia’s Great Dividing Range—the mountains that separate the populated eastern littoral from the desert interior of the island continent.

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In contrast to the house’s straightforward shape, a looping, picturesque arrival route from the Melba Highway (named for a 19th-century opera star from Melbourne, Dame Nellie Melba) leads you to the building through a valley to the northeast of the site. Viewed from a distance, the rust-red steel box looks huge as it breasts the slopes. The winding road, however, leads to high ground behind the house, where, down a long gully, you see the volume’s midsection opening to the southwest. Parking the car, the house has remarkably shrunk to the size of a two-car garage.

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You can enter the house through the garage via a mudroom, or stride along the northeastern front to the formal entry placed midway along the box. This entrance cuts through the plan along a central axis and leads to another opening, which allows access to that long gully earlier glimpsed. Inside, the program of the residence should be simple—the living, dining, sleeping, and bathing areas are meted out within a rectangle—and yet, much as the procession to the house plays with your perception, the interior is equally surprising.”  Architectural Record

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SEAN GODSELL ARCHITECTS - Website: http://www.seangodsell.com/

Popularity: 10% [?]

Gianni Botsford Architects

Client: Keith Botsford - Copyright: Christian Richt - Awards: RIBA International Award

” By coupling indigenous techniques and materials with modern design technologies and aesthetics GBA has created this intimate double pavilion for a writer in Costa Rica.

A main studio space, with library, writing desk and grand piano, is the writer’s daytime space. The pavilion’s wooden structure, sourced from local timber, sits on a simple foundation of wooden stilts on small concrete pad foundations.

Roof beams of up to 10 m long and 355 mm deep allow for an interior with no vertical columns. The mono-pitched roof elevates towards the sea shore, while the interior is through ventilated via a completely louvred glazed end façade.
Read the full story

Popularity: 14% [?]

FARO Architecten

” A 150 year old farmhouse located in the rural area between the nature areas of the Veluwe and the IJssel has been renovated and expanded.

The pavilion represents modern rural architecture: it’s simple, practical and eloquent.

‘The pavilion shows how minimal means can lead to large results. The building leaves a poetic impression of purity. The structure of lamellas make it appear that construction has been easy. Read the full story

Popularity: 12% [?]

3LHD

“House “V” was designed in order to satisfy the needs of a family. Applying communication between the common and individual rooms, the facilities and functions of the space have been connected into a single unit that creates a comfortable living area for a family.

The house is situated beneath Zagreb mountain Medvednica, on a relatively mild hill that stretches from south to east. The formed building direction and the quality of the landscape have directly influenced the position of the house.

The house is closed on the north side along the street and opens up into a large private garden thus creating a sense of intimacy for family life. The ground floor is intended for the common activities of the inhabitants, with a gradual staircase connecting the serene living area to private rooms on the first floor.

Read the full story

Popularity: 11% [?]