Larch

Base Street Trio is a three-apartment row house situated in Tammisalo neighborhood of eastern Helsinki, Finland. Tammisalo is an old residential area with mostly single family homes and row houses built after 1950’s, but the history goes beyond that as the area was a part of 19th century mansion grounds. Being an island Tammisalo is surrounded by water and small forests. Nature is present everywhere as characteristic old and tall pine trees grow on many yards of many homes.   As the city grows and needs more space for it’s recidents, properties in the loosely built residential areas are being coped with denser land to building ratio which allowed building three apartments to a small lot instead of two. On the steep site, approach was for ho... More

It all started with our clients’ purchase of a house over a hundred years old. The traditional building with a gable roof was at its end. Its stone basement was still in a good condition so we decided to take down the rest of the house and use the stone socle in the basement as a foundation for the new house. Our courageous and somewhat risky plan worked out and today, the clients live in a beautiful, modern house which combines the historical soul of its predecessor and nordic esthetics with a touch of industrial style. What can we say? The road to success is not always an easy one but it’s worth it to put in a little extra effort.   The lot borders a busy road which serves as a starting point for tourists heading to the... More

The site of Daylighthouse 2 is next to the huge lake IJsselmeer. In between the lake and the house is a beautiful swamp for birds. Almere planned row houses on this location and the town house is the end of a row facing south west. Mirck Architecture translated the wishes of the client into a wooden cube of 9 by 9 by 9 meter. The facade, inner space and climate are influenced by sunlight and daylight. The particular structure of the cube is shown everywhere and continued in the plot wall and the shed.The ground floor living space is fully glazed to the south and west side. The sun protection is created by the cantilevered bedroom volume above. To the north, a split level opens the inner space, creating voids. In the voids special shiny roun... More

The lookout tower is a result of several years of collaboration with the local ski resort Kraličák. It is situated at the highest point between Hynčice and Stříbrnice on the hilltop Štvanice 866 m.a.s.l. The supposed center of the resort, on the hill in the forest amongst ski slopes. Around it is a beautiful dramatic vast landscape. The old town, a view of the entire Jeseníky mountains, on the other side, the heavily wooded hillside of Králický Sněžník where the Morava river springs from.The assignment has been fulfilled, a year-round accessible, 35 meter tall lookout tower, situated at the top station of the chair lift – the center of the resort.The tower stands here as a confident slim round obelisk. A center-point. A simple structur... More

The design and construction of the Y House has evolved over a 5 year period, the result is a bespoke home designed to the specific needs and requirements of the client. The site is a large corner plot in the garden of the client’s existing home. It has extensive views through pine trees, over fields to the west and north, and residential neighbours to the south and east. Adjacent to the site on two sides is a 3m deep storm drain. This constraint resulted in a pile foundation design solution. The building form and layout evolved through close collaboration and discussion between the client and architect. During the concept design stage, ideas would be communicated using 3-dimensional computer models and walk-through animations... More

Estonians have historically been “forest dwellers”. Their experience in building from wood goes back to the 3rd millennium BCE when the first timber structure was built – the koda (chamber). Through traditions and customs, this dwelling unit with archaic and simple architecture laid the foundation for a complex ethos that could be called the soul of the Estonian identity.Koda is one of the oldest Estonian words, originally meaning “place for living”, and it is linguistically very close to the words kodu (“home”) and koht (“place”). The archetypal koda in its original form is still in use, even though its basic purpose has changed. Over time, completely new types of koda have appeared: places for makin... More