This project is part of a series of houses that we have designed and built in the span of 3 years and that are the result of the exploration of the premises of democratic design - a term that is based on optimizing the resources available to achieve a product. Good design that is affordable to more people.
The study of this methodology allowed us to establish guidelines that largely reflect aesthetically in the study of the Farnsworth House (Plano Illinois 1946) by Mies Van der Rohe, of the unadorned spaces made of SKIN AND BONES. The pure prisms obey the concept of “formal economy” necessary in the implementation of prefabrication. The standardization of the windows and façade based on the harmony with the modulation of the finishes allow us to get closer to the expectations of the clients economically and generate a replicable matrix.
This matrix allowed us to simultaneously develop and build more than one house at a time - SERENDIPITY 2015 -, implementing economy of scale, but adjusting to the specific determinants of the client and the place. This piedmont lot was originally broken by a runoff. For this reason, the design concept was based on the house working as a joint that weaves the levels and resolves the continuity of the surface.
For this we decided to divide the program into two floors articulated by a parallel ramp at ground level, which would create a direct “first floor” relationship from the different levels. The house is anchored in a stone base - the only one built on site - where a gym is located. The remaining covered area is useful for parking or garden activities.
The upper floor, with a 4.70m axle modulation, is a prefabricated rectangular metal structure with glass facades. The volume out of phase towards the front is finished off with a large butterfly roof that collects the rainwater, at the same time that it flies over the rear façade to ensure that the ramp is covered.
After ascending the ramp, the living room is accessed by a pivoting module that blends in with the façade. The plan is assembled from four spatial elements. The first is the glass box that wrapping the main structure forms the interior space. The second is the nucleus composed of 2 rooms and a shared bathroom that, emulating the partitioned floor of the Farnsworth house, produces on the one hand the space of the social area, and on the other that of the main room.
The third, the services attached along the rear façade, where the bathrooms and laundry are projected, enjoying privacy while allowing the outside to be seen. The fourth and last, is the terrace on which the kitchen side stands out and connects the volume with the land. Under the conceptual framework of achieving more with less, the projective exercise was translated into decision-making aimed at combining logics that privileged the optimal relationship between the projected design and its materialization.
Material Used:
1. METAL STRUCTURE
2. PINE WOOD FACADE
3. PVC WINDOWS
4. STANDING SEAM ROOF
