Organically Designed Pool Inspired by a Lake | Lima House

Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam, maintains its historical charm and preserves numerous cultural heritage sites….

Located on a steep Cherimoya orchard in the foothills of Carpinteria, Shepard Mesa House is a new home for a young family of four. The neighborhood consists of dispersed homes along a single road leading up and around the crown of a hill. Sited diagonally to the contours of the hill, the house slopes with the natural fall of the land. Interior functions at three different levels are gathered under a single gable roof. Bedrooms at the lower elevations are nestled into the working orchard around them where the trees provide the most privacy. The living room, kitchen and dining area on the upper level opens downslope and affords the most expansive views. Neighboring homes are just out of sight as the view stretches out across the valley to the backside of Rincon Mountain. The siting, orientation, and plan take advantage of natural light and ventilation reducing the reliance on mechanical systems and creating a living experience in balance with the site.

The owner of this property came to Hoedemaker Pfeiffer looking for a personal retreat inspired by a home lost to fire decades earlier in the hills of Appalachia. The firm’s task was not to recreate that home but rather to give its spirit new form in the Pacific Northwest. Taking inspiration from its remote site in the San Juan Islands, our team envisioned a series of simple stone volumes. From that concept emerged the main house and a guest house, each responding to its own unique location on the site. Together they provide friends and family with comfortable accommodation while offering a sanctuary for the owner at the main home. Taking full advantage of sweeping views of Puget Sound, the main home is sited on a small plateau high on top of a steeply-sloping hillside. With a view on one side and a road on the other, the site suggested a stone plinth and stone wall to form the base and rear of the house. A pair of stone fireplace volumes support the concept, rising together to form the boundaries of a central stone staircase that separates the main level into public and private realms. Atop the low stone base then perches a light-filled wood structure. Its simple shed roof tips low in front to protect from the summer sun while offering space for a photovoltaic array above. Winter light in turn penetrates deep into the main living spaces through a wall of glass running continuously across building’s south elevation. The relative height difference between this wood pavilion and that of the adjacent stone volume also allows consistent north light to flood into the primary living spaces via a series of clerestory windows, which release warm air high on the leeward side of the structure. The site for the guest house came with more significant technical challenges. The concept begins with a stone tower set near the center of the small circular parcel. Rising high above steeply-sloping grade, it acts as a three-dimensional datum through which feature program elements are allowed to puncture. The main entry offers ease of access to the project’s public spaces through a simple, full-height opening cut into the stone volume’s north elevation. The stair, comprised of a concrete base below large casement windows, allows natural light to fill the main stairway as it leads guests toward the bedrooms located at the home’s lower level. Opposite the entry, the view deck extends from the great room, cantilevering far above grade. The dining room, finally, was conceived as a three-sided glass object floating in a forest of trees. Two steel beams carry its entire weight and extend deep into the floor system. To enhance the concept, our team preserved trees only a few feet from the dining room by developing custom retaining walls capable of avoiding critical root zones. Project Team: Hoedemaker Pfeiffer (Architecture) ​Schuchart Dow​ (Contractor ​Randy Allworth, Allworth Design​ (Landscape Architect) ​Malsam Tsang​ (Structural Engineer) ​LPD Engineering​ (Civil Engineer) Nelson Geotechnical Associates, Inc. (Geotechnical Engineer) Island Tree Doctor (Arborist) ​Kevin Scott​ (Photographer)

In most apartments across the world, you would find the living area, kitchen and dining space all on one level along with the bedrooms and the bathrooms neatly tucked into the rear section. But that is not the case with this small 52 square meter apartment in Łódź, Poland. The apartment was designed carefully for […]

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[embedded content] Tiny living looks increasingly like one of the easiest ways to fix the housing…