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House designed for a family of eight divided into three because of the plot slope

Architects: White Cube Atelier
Location: Damavand, Tehran Province, Iran
Year: 2015
Area: 6.458 ft²/ 600 m²
Photo courtesy: Farshid Nasrabadi
Description:

“This project is located in hasht-behesht town, Damavand- 45km far from Tehran and is designed for a family of eight. Topography of the site and view to the Mount Damavand were the principal factors which created the form. The 10% slope resulted in dividing the site to 3 parts.

Ground floor is formed at the level of the south yard. Basement is located at level of the middle yard and is connected to the upper yard by ramp and stairs. The third yard is at the lowest level; so the entire volume is a combination of 3 cubes. A part of the lowest cube is buried into soil whereas to the north the swimming pool and sport facilities open to the middle yard, it also forms a terrace related to the living room. The middle cube is divided to two shifted part; western part –including rooms- is oriented to the Mount Damavand and as a cantilevered box has created a big terrace for the 1st floor. Eastern part, housing the kitchen, is shifted toward the south yard and the main entrance. The highest cube is added to integrate the whole building.

The building’s organization is a combination of two spatial zones, private zone of rooms and public zone made up of social spaces as living rooms and diverse open spaces. All of spaces enjoy day light and natural ventilation. Master bedroom and the social space of 1st floor enjoy view to Mount Damavand through the cantilevered box and the elongated window. Interior design indicates an interaction of cool materials as seranit and gray furniture and warm materials like wood and yellow accessories.”

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Bold, sharp and textural design of the Rhyll Villa by Jarchitecture

Architects: Jarchitecture
Location: Rhyll, Victoria, Australia
Year: 2015
Area: 3.875 ft²/ 360 m²
Photo courtesy: Shannon McGrath
Description:

“The site is engrossed by nature and aspect, therefore the design competes by being bold, sharp and textural. This boldness and form is also an expression of the clients and their family expanding out of their current holiday house, a caravan.

A solid black box expands out of the ground from nothing into a duality of aspect and function, picking up more materials as it expands toward French Island and Western Port Bay. The top storey acts as a self-sufficient lookout for when it is in use by a single couple, while downstairs acts as a family extension, with focus placed on play around the pool, spa, barbeque deck and cinema. Upstairs is decadent in its finishes and complex plan while downstairs is laid out and finished more simplistically; there is a play off between warm rustic materials and contemporary decadence.

The design aims to be bunkered down and of the site, then grow, expand and lift from it. The views, planning setbacks, site orientation, prevailing winds and land fall all promoted an Easterly aspect; so we acted accordingly. We then went about making the most of the less than ideal solar orientation of the house by exposing the slab to the North, blocking the Westerly winds and sun, limiting openings to the South/street and controlling the morning sun.

The design has a highly efficient layout and a more complex aesthetic than the inhabitants might have expected. In both ways the design breaks from their current conventions and provides a new way of being. The clients constantly say they can’t wait to get back to the house; what more could a designer want?”

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Avalon House by ArchiBlox: contemporary eco friendly prefab home built in just 6 weeks

Architects: ArchiBlox
Location: Avalon Beach, New South Wales, Australia
Year: 2015
Area: 1.141 ft²/ 106 m²
Photo courtesy: Michael Wickham, Tom Ross
Description:

“Beyond ArchiBlox’s speedy construction time of 6 weeks, prefab suited the clients desire to tread lightly on the land with the Avalon House project.

With modular building the impact on the surrounding environment is heavily reduced during construction. The dwelling is outfitted with a number of green features, including a living roof that minimises rainwater runoff and solar penetration. The green roof also acts as a thermal mass, an east-west orientation that allows cross-ventilation.

Avalon House is beautifully wrapped in FSC certified external blackbutt hardwood timber milled from sustainably forestry methods. By fabricating off-site, ArchiBlox also had careful control over material usage with minimal wastage.

As with any buildings procurement, it’s not so much about the construction methodology that would affect the relationship with sustainability but more the direction of the architect and the client’s appetite.

The major consideration for any sustainable response falls on the siting of the building, i.e. in the southern hemispheres opening up the windows to the north and reduction to the south. Once this is achieved, there are numerous other techniques that can be incorporated which may steadily increase the project budgets and, as such, the client’s appetite.

At ArchiBlox they believe that they have the ability of educating their clients to best maximise their sustainable response to their particular site. With this particular project, the main facades face north and given the type of footings used with this particular project, reduction of water flow across the site was a consideration with its proximity to the cliff edge and potential erosion. Building with a concrete slab or strip footings would have been problematic as would have created a barrier to water flow.”

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