Find High Architecture When Home Gently Meets Ground
The way the building sits on the ground can determine much of its own character, particularly if it’s aggressive toward the landscape or subservient to it. For the past, a site may be leveled to construct a base, while the latter will probably occur after the landscape and have a minimal footprint.
As green construction becomes more common, approaches to sitting lightly on the landscape, if you will, are also more common. What follows are examples which discuss reverential, and frequently striking, ways of fulfilling the earth.
Charles Rose Architects Inc..
This house from Charles Rose Architects is not striking in the way it meets the ground, but I am struck by the way even the smallest incline is accounted for in the base and design of the house.
Charles Rose Architects Inc..
A closer view of the house shows the subtle stepping in the aluminum cladding, which follows the gentle slope of the property.
Estudio MRGB
More striking is that this house in Brazil from Estudio MRGB, which seems to stop at a steep slope and allow part of the house extend beyond the foundation. Instead of being constructed on the slope, where erosion is a concern, the house appears to hold itself.
Estudio MRGB
A perspective from the side reveals that the house is built to a slope, merging itself with the landscape.
Hufft Projects
This house by Hufft Projects orients itself toward prized views of a nearby lake, walling itself off from neighbors. The house is also a split-level. Here we view it from the front, the very top floor.
Hufft Projects
This opinion hints at the way in which the house orients itself into the opinion: Cantilevered bays project past a wall which marks the house in the landscape.
Hufft Projects
The wall and cantilevers are apparent in this view from the water. Of course the slope that creates the split-level condition is also apparent.
Hufft Projects
One final view of the house reveals the opening to the bottom floor, which provides access to the yard. The openness of this side of the house is remarkable, particularly in comparison to the very first photo presented here. From inside, the connection to the landscape is one of floating over it as the house is strongly rooted to it through the walls onto the lower amount.
Ike Kligerman Barkley
Reaching out toward the landscape as it falls away is a common theme here. The aptly called Lookout House from Ike Kligerman Barkley builds up a significant stone base, but its roofline gives it a definite external focus.
Ike Kligerman Barkley
The house is perched on a high point and follows the landscape, reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design.
Ike Kligerman Barkley
This last view illustrates the balance that’s potential in two dramatic approaches: a rootedness into the earth and the flight implied in the roof shape.
WA Design Architects
The aptly called Napa Ledge House by WA Design sits on a stunning, rugged picture. The plan responds to the context by varying the masses of the house; instead of a plan under a single roofline, each room occupies its own quantity, creating a jagged profile.
WA Design Architects
A Cor-Ten steel quantity anchors the house to the rugged environment.
WA Design Architects
On another side, the softer landscape is restricted by stucco volumes that seem to melt the slope.