Upper two levels - house 1 (art collector):
-Entry to house 1 is on ground level straight off the street. Alternatively one can walk straight up the grassed ramp to the left and on to the roof, which features a garden and the entrance to the main gallery.
- As you enter house 1 on ground level, a corridor leads straight towards the rear of the house, with doors leading off of it on the left and right. To the left is the bedroom and storage, and to the right is the bathroom.
-The corridor opens up on to a large living and dining area with doors leading off to the office and laundry, as well as the kitchen. Another door leads to a smaller gallery. A large glass facade separates the living area from the shared garden balcony to the very rear, while a staircase on the right leads directly up to the main gallery above.
Lower two levels - house 2 (artist):
- Entry to house 2 is down the stairs from street level. Alternatively, it can be accessed via a ramp from the shared garden balcony at the rear of the house.
- The layout to house 2 is similar to house 1. From entry through the front door, a corridor leads directly towards the rear and opens up into the living and dining area. Two bedrooms, the laundry and the bathroom lead off from the corridor, while the kitchen is accessed from the living space.
- From the living area, glass doors lead on to an internal wading pool with stepping stones and then a small garden.
- Stairs on the left of the living area lead down into the workshop below.
See the pictures and drawings below for a visual representation of this description.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Concept
The house is occupied by two business partners and friends - an artist, who lives in the lower house, and an art collector, who lives in the upper house. Together they produce and sell nature-themed art, with the work the artist creates displayed by the art collector in the gallery.
My house draws from two main themes found within the Villa Savoye:
- The blurring of the boundaries between inside and out through the use of glass facades.
- The notion of an upwards journey through the house, from the ground floor to the roof top garden, symbolising an ascension from the earth to the sky, or from a lower to a higher plane of existence.
The extensive garden spaces of the house are integrated as much as possible with the interior areas through the use of glass curtain walls, and at times the garden does actually physically enter the house, as seen on the main floor of the artist's house. This immerses the residents within the natural world, and provides an ideal setting for the creation of artworks inspired from nature.
More importantly, the idea of an upward journey has been taken and transformed into a representation of the journey an artwork produced by these residents undertakes. The entire back end of the two houses (that furthest from the street) has been separated out from the rest of the house using materiality, effectively creating two distinct "zones" - one an area of functional living (the front end of the house, featuring the kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc) and one an area of higher living (the rear end of the house, featuring the living areas, studios, gallery, workshop, etc).
This zone of higher living is that which represents this upward journey of artwork. A process of refinement of materiality symbolises this journey. The lowest level of the two houses, the workshop, is embedded within the cliff face and roughly hewn from the rock, representing the earthen roots of the artwork produced by the residents. As one travels upwards through the levels, there is a noticeable refinement in the stone from level to level, leading to the light, smooth marble and glass of the rooftop gallery. This light-filled room represents the highest position an artwork can attain, that of display for the cultural benefit of the population.
Slit windows and skylights are placed adjacent to many of the walls in the zone of higher living, allowing light to shine along their length and exacerbate their level of refinement.
My house draws from two main themes found within the Villa Savoye:
- The blurring of the boundaries between inside and out through the use of glass facades.
- The notion of an upwards journey through the house, from the ground floor to the roof top garden, symbolising an ascension from the earth to the sky, or from a lower to a higher plane of existence.
The extensive garden spaces of the house are integrated as much as possible with the interior areas through the use of glass curtain walls, and at times the garden does actually physically enter the house, as seen on the main floor of the artist's house. This immerses the residents within the natural world, and provides an ideal setting for the creation of artworks inspired from nature.
More importantly, the idea of an upward journey has been taken and transformed into a representation of the journey an artwork produced by these residents undertakes. The entire back end of the two houses (that furthest from the street) has been separated out from the rest of the house using materiality, effectively creating two distinct "zones" - one an area of functional living (the front end of the house, featuring the kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, etc) and one an area of higher living (the rear end of the house, featuring the living areas, studios, gallery, workshop, etc).
This zone of higher living is that which represents this upward journey of artwork. A process of refinement of materiality symbolises this journey. The lowest level of the two houses, the workshop, is embedded within the cliff face and roughly hewn from the rock, representing the earthen roots of the artwork produced by the residents. As one travels upwards through the levels, there is a noticeable refinement in the stone from level to level, leading to the light, smooth marble and glass of the rooftop gallery. This light-filled room represents the highest position an artwork can attain, that of display for the cultural benefit of the population.
Slit windows and skylights are placed adjacent to many of the walls in the zone of higher living, allowing light to shine along their length and exacerbate their level of refinement.
Drawings, 1:100 Model and 1:50 Part Sectional Model
The part sectional model cuts through the zone of higher living at the rear of the house, displaying the refinement in materiality as one passes up through the workshop, lower level, ground level, and gallery.
The 1:100 full house model displays the house in the context of its site, representing how the house would sit in reference to the landscape (note the house is partially embedded within the earth), as well as its relationship to the neighbouring buildings.
Sections, plans, elevations, perspectives and site context drawings, demonstrating the themes discussed in my concept, particularly the idea of the refinement of materiality within the rear zones of the houses.
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