civil engineering

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Small House Centred around a Rectangular Courtyard

F-White by Takuro Yamamoto

Japanese studio Takuro Yamamoto Architects have completed a small house in Kashiwa, Japan, centred around a rectangular courtyard that has been rotated at an oblique angle to the rest of the building.

Named F-WHITE, the one storey house has few outward-facing windows with most of the natural light coming from the courtyard, a private space with views only to the sky.

The angle of the courtyard divides the surrounding space into smaller rooms.

Here is some more information provided by Takuro Yamamoto:

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F-WHITE is an independent one-storied house with a courtyard for a single family.

This house is located in suburb of Tokyo, and its neighborhood was developed 30 years ago. But no house had been built on this site, because the size of the site happened to be 1.5 times larger than typical size for suburban houses, though the width is not so big.

So this place had been unpopular, and used as a parking lot for a long time.

Though the site was unusual –larger than standard–, the budget for the house was usual. We had to find a way to make a good use of character of this site, with limited floor area.

Thanks to the size of the site, the sky above the center part of the place was so beautiful, because it is separated from electric wires over streets and windows of neighbor houses.

So we decided to put a courtyard (which doesn’t cost so much) with privacy, on the center of the site. This decision made this house one-storied, because lower height is suitable for the courtyard style, and larger footprint of one-storied house is suitable for the size of the site.

But if you put an outside space on the middle of the site whose width is limited, inside space of the house would be separated, and unified feeling of the house would be spoiled.

So we decided to put the rectangular courtyard at an unusual oblique angle to outer walls rather than a right angle. Because by locating like that, spaces around the courtyard can have enough area to stay, and be chained each other at their corners, without aisle.

This arrangement creates not only sense of unity of the spaces, but also spaciousness of the house, because this oblique angle makes the courtyard look like a box which happened to be thrown out on one very large internal space. And in spite of the spaciousness and simplicity of the plan, each space has it’s own function and different level of privacy. You can find new and different scenes, whenever you turn the corners around the courtyard.

Credits : Takuro Yamamoto Architects
Location : Kashiwa city, Chiba prefecture
Use : independent residence
Site Area : 259.31m2
Building Area : 122.03m2
Total Floor Area : 118.99m2 ( in Japanese Regulation)
Completion : April 2009
Design Period : August 2007-October 2008
Construction Period : November 2008-April 2009
Structure : Wood
Client : a married couple + a child
Architect : Takuro Yamamoto
A person in charge : Eiji Iwase (Takuro Yamamoto Architects)
Structure Design : Masuda Structural Engineering Office
Construction : Nagano-Koumuten
Furniture : tallman STUDIO

Gymnasium in Freiburg

Dieter-Wetterauer-Halle by Böwer Eith Murken

Architectural photographer Roland Halbe has sent us his photographs of a gymnasium in Freiburg designed by German studio Böwer Eith Murken.

Top and above images are by Roland Halbe

Called Dieter-Wetterauer-Halle, the building comprises a single-storey, double-height court and two-storey entrance hall housing changing facilities and lockers.

Above photograph is by Roland Halbe

Here’s some more information from the architects (in German):

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Dieter-Wetterauer-Halle, Freiburg

Bereits zum Schuljahresbeginn Ende September wurde diese dreiteilbare Sporthalle des Montessori-Zentrums Angell Freiburg e.V. eingeweiht.

Above photograph is by Roland Halbe

Der Entwurf für die Dieter-Wetterauer-Halle stammt von dem Freiburger Büro Böwer, Eith, Murken Architekten.  Der Neubau gliedert sich in den langgestreckten, eingeschossigen Hallenteil und das zweigeschossige Eingangsgebäude, das neben einem großzügigen, hellen Eingangsfoyer die Umkleiden und einen Gymnastikraum beherbergt.

Above photograph is by Roland Halbe

Eine Besonderheit ist die doppelte Nutzung der Hallengrundfläche: Das Dach des Hallenteils ist Pausen- und Sportfläche des benachbarten, städtischen Rotteck-Gymnasiums.

Above photograph is by Roland Halbe

Die Sporthalle ist mit einem eigenen Blockheizkraftwerk ausgestattet, das neben Strom auch Wärme produziert und die Primärenergie optimal nutzt.

Der Energiebedarf wird zusätzlich durch die Wärmerückgewinnung aus der Abluft und durch die Grundwasserkühlung drastisch reduziert.

Eine mechanische Be- und Entlüftung steuert automatisch, in Abhängigkeit von der Personenzahl, die Raumtemperatur und Raumfeuchte, so dass der Energieaufwand minimiert wird.

Planung und Bauleitung:
Böwer Eith Murken
Architekten BDA
Freiburg

Bauherr:
Montessori Zentrum Angell Freiburg e.V.
Kenndaten: HNF: 1.650m², BRI: 16.150m³
Kostengruppen 300+400: 3,7 Mio ¤ (netto)
Bauzeit: 2008-2009
Bearbeitete Planungsphasen: 1-9

Corten Steel Artist’s Studio into a Ruined Victorian Dovecote

The Dovecote Studio by Haworth Tompkins

London architects Haworth Tompkins have inserted a Corten steel artist’s studio into a ruined Victorian dovecote in Suffolk, UK.

Called The Dovecote Studio, the structure has a pitched rood and occupies the same space as the original building’s interior.

A skylight in the north side of the roof illuminates the plywood interior, which includes a mezzanine with a desk and corner window overlooking marshes towards the sea.

The steel was welded together to form a watertight box, constructed on-site and lifted into the brick shell by a crane.

Here is some more information from the architects:

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The Dovecote Studio

The Dovecote Studio forms part of the internationally renowned music campus at Snape Maltings, founded by Benjamin Britten in derelict industrial buildings on the Suffolk coast.

Britten was inspired by the almost abstract landscape of the reedbeds at the boundary between the land and the sea: the ruins of a nineteenth century dovecote sit directly on this boundary, looking out across the marshes.

The Dovecote Studio inhabits the ruins and expresses the internal volume of the Victorian structure as a Cor-ten steel ‘lining’, a monocoque welded structure that was built next to the ruin and craned in when complete.

Above: the ruined dovecote before the project began

The building is fully welded in a single piece, like the hull of a ship, to achieve weather tightness, and then fitted with a simple plywood inner lining.

Above: inserting the new Corten structure by crane

A large north light roof window provides even light for artists, while a small mezzanine platform with a writing desk incorporates a fully opening glazed corner window that gives long views over the marshes towards the sea.