Monday, 12 August 2013

Wildcat Ridge Residence

America has many spectacular sites but that of Wildcat Ridge Residence is unique among them. The site is located at an elevation of 9,200 feet and had already been excavated for a discontinued residential project. Voorsanger Architects‘ normal preoccupation with not impacting the landscape reverted here to rehabilitating and reforesting the uprooted site. This was not a situation where capturing the landscape was the challenge but providing a major sustainable architecture in such a fragile but challenging environment. The landscape itself is so dominant, spectacular, and immediate, with its alpine vistas on the horizon the design called for an architecture that moved the scale of the exterior into the interior.



The design evolved by following the longitudinal parallel of the crest of the mountain, with the public rooms, study, and master bedroom oriented west toward dramatic views. The guest bedrooms have an eastern orientation with views of the receding mountain ranges. The house is two hundred forty feet long, bisected down its length by a twelve-foot stone wall of moss rock. Entering the house, the major rooms are on the left, accessible by a gallery parallel to the wall, on the right. This area is entirely free of columns, structured in long spans by a folded plate design with ceiling heights starting at twelve feet and ascending to thirty feet. The floors, walls, and ceilings are clad in black walnut, and the exterior of local sandstone and stucco.

The house’s energy sources are seventy-two geo-thermal wells and a generator, meaning that it can virtually function independent of outside support services. The wells heat the driveways, pool, and house during the coldest winter months and cools during the summer without depleting any fossil fuels.



Tuesday, 6 August 2013

3D Art

This amazing 3D art is the work of John Pugh. It's painted on a building in Los Gatos CA. Pugh calls this work Siete Punto Uno, named after the 7.0 earthquake that struck the city.
The statues in the mural are jaguars. In ancient Maya, the jaguar was thought to cause all earthquakes.

3D Art

This amazing 3D art is the work of John Pugh. It's painted on a building in Los Gatos CA. Pugh calls this work Siete Punto Uno, named after the 7.0 earthquake that struck the city.
The statues in the mural are jaguars. In ancient Maya, the jaguar was thought to cause all earthquakes.

Monday, 29 July 2013

Shore Vista Boat House is located on a bend in Lake Austin across from Canyonland Nature Preserve in Austin, Texas. The site is suggestive of the elliptical form that maximizes the beautiful views of the undulating hills beyond. Rounded edges of the dock, along with the curved glass railing, peel away, allowing more of the landscape to be captured into the visual frame. Access is provided to the lake level via a series of stepping‐stones and a sweeping, gently inclined, curved stairs to the second level. A lowered beach area, allowing one to ease effortlessly into the water, is strategically located at the basin of a waterfall, providing endless hours of enjoyment for the owners’ young children.

La Casa Della Musica / Geza


© Massimo Crivellari
Architects: Geza
Location: Cervignano del Friuli, Udine,
Architect In Charge: Stefano Gri, Piero Zucchi
Design Team: Stefania Anzil
Structural Engineer: Studio Nuttassociati
Area: 750 sqm
Year: 2010
Photographs: Massimo Crivellari

© Massimo Crivellari

From the architect. The project deals with the construction of a new music hall in Cervignano del Friuli inside an existing building, which is then totally renovated and transformed. The new destination incorporates different functions related to several groups and associations and is meant to be used in different ways. The music hall includes areas for public gatherings and refreshment, rooms for music practice and teaching, exhibition, performances and conferences, as well as a recording studio.
© Massimo Crivellari
The project consists in creating two floors in the existing building. The extant brick structure will be preserved and reused to support the roof, while a new independent reinforced concrete volume will outline a new area inside the building, and guarantee soundproofing. The latter structure is composed of four volumes for the rehearsal rooms on the first floor, the only enclosed and independent areas in the two-storey volume. The saddle roof of wooden beams is rebuilt with a greater pitch and higher than the previous one. The first floor, partially opening onto the double-height ceiling, is occupied by a multipurpose hall seating 100 people.
© Massimo Crivellari
The main facade is completed by five large protruding floor-to-ceiling window frames, containing the glazed and blind panes on different horizontal and vertical plans, so that the town-facing front looks “deeper”.
Floor Plan