Glasshouses can be havens for people as well as their plants, Caroline Donald discovers
Alan Titchmarsh speaks out in defence of the privet hedge
In the first of a two-part series Marcus Binney explores the park of Fawley Hill, Berkshire
Ian Morton lauds the intelligence of the much-maligned corvid
House 101 by Atelier tho.A. Photograph: Anh Chuong
Casa Ter by Mesura. Photograph: Salva-López
The private house occupies a unique position in both the history of architecture and human imagination. Beyond its core function of shelter, it is an object of fantasy, a source of delight, a talisman and a testing ground.
Bass Coast Farmhouse by John Wardle Architects. Photograph: Trevor Mein
Blockmakers Arms by Erbar Mattes. Photograph: Ståle Eriksen
Brillhut by Brillhart Architecture. Photograph: Bill Abranowicz
Casa Eva by Fernanda Canales Arquitectura. Photograph: Rafael Gamo
With Covid encouraging city-dwellers to emigrate to the suburbs and families looking for home offices and bigger yards, prices for the American dream home have skyrocketed. Home prices surged in March 2021 up 13% from the year prior, according to the S&P Case-Shiller index. With homeowners unwilling to sell, a record-low supply of homes for sale has forced buyers into intense bidding wars. At the end of April 2021 there were only 1.16 million houses for sale in the U.S. down more than 20.5% from the year prior. Higher costs for land, labor and building materials including lumber have also impacted homebuilders. With the 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovering near a 50-year low and strong demand pushing prices to all-time highs, why is the housing supply so meager? Watch the video to find out if the U.S. is running out of houses.
Dartmoor’s Baskerville Hall is one of the most famous country houses in English fiction. The arrival at its doors of Dr Watson, in the company of Sir Henry Baskerville, is a vivid piece of cinematic direction, artfully combining the Gothic horror tale with the more modern taste for detective thrillers.
Passing a ruined black-granite lodge, Watson and Baskerville go through the gates that are ‘a maze of fantastic tracery in wrought iron’ before reaching an avenue where ‘old trees shot their branches in a sombre tunnel’. The hall is a ‘heavy block’, with a projecting porch, its façade ‘draped in ivy’ within which the odd window or heraldic display can be seen.
This publication rounds up 100 of the world’s most interesting and pioneering homes designed in the past two decades, featuring a host of talents both new and established, including John Pawson,Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, Daniel Libeskind, Alvaro Siza, and Peter Zumthor.
Accommodating daily routines of eating, sleeping, and shelter, as well as offering the space for personal experience and relationships, this is architecture at its most elementary and its most intimate.
Designing private residences has its own very special challenges and nuances for the architect. The scale may be more modest than public projects, the technical fittings less complex than an industrial site, but the preferences, requirements, and vision of particular personalities becomes priority. The delicate task is to translate all the emotive associations and practical requirements of “home” into a workable, constructed reality.
Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His TASCHEN books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on Tadao Ando, Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Richard Meier, and Zaha Hadid.
Long Island. In 1912, she commissioned the Gilded Age architect William Adams Delano, of Delano & Aldrich, to build her a neoclassical studio on the grounds of the Whitney estate in Old Westbury. From a Dwell.com online article:
Situated on a sweeping two-acre lot, this 452-square-foot abode is just right for two.In order to create a small yet comfortable vacation home for a young couple, the multidisciplinary workshop TACO, or Taller de Arquitectura Contextual, sited it in the corner of a two-acre lot, then employed built-in elements for an “intuitive” interior layout.
Rough stucco mixed with artisanal paint conveys warmth and texture, while precisely placed apertures connect the interior to the remote setting. “The objective was to achieve a reflective and contemplative place that links the occupant with the surrounding wild landscape,” said the firm.
To rad more: https://www.dwell.com/article/monte-house-taller-de-arquitectura-contextual-264baeaa
From an InsideFestival.com online release:
“The jury was unanimous in celebrating this inventive solution to reconfiguring a dilapidated Japanese colonial house.
A dynamic whole in constant flux, the house in unusually in tune with the differing and sometimes contradictory needs of a young family. Every space can be negotiated and adapted, encouraging the house to be an incubator for positive difference in the family unit.
Sensitivity abounds, both in the design process and the outcome. Local craftspeople were drafted in when needed; recycled elements were mixed freely with new. The result has a uniquely sloppy fit for its inhabitants, a fit that can evolve freely over time.
Ladders to the roof level encourage ongoing hide and seek. Internal space leaks into a garden, itself an outdoor room. Light penetrates in unexpected ways, and occasional views of the sky offset the otherwise congested urban setting.
Against the background of rapid development in Taipei, this project has the potential to be a ‘prototype’ that may help reevaluate the existing stock of Japanese houses.”
Website: https://www.insidefestival.com/interior-of-the-year-2019
This model is going to be completely off-grid in its seaside location. On the roof are 6 x Trina 270w Honey Poly Module panels. A storage box over the tow bar stores the inverter and 4 x C&D 12V 192Ah c20 FT Lead Carbon Cyclic Batteries that will power the home. A new feature in this home (requested by the client) was a folding shelf in the bathroom above the toilet.
This can be lifted up to store clean clothes etc while showering. The bookshelves and lift-up cubby storage in the loft are super practical, as is the tall wardrobe, and walking platform which allows you to stand comfortably in the loft.
Boomers Daily 