Stair House

The Stair House in Oda-City, Japan, was built by y+Mdo architects for a small family.

from http://www.archdaily.com/84612/stair-house-ymdo/

The house is essentially a large staircase.  There are a number of green features incorporated into the building.  For instance, the stairs face the south, and have small slit windows in between some, with larger windows under “benches.”  The windows work to minimize direct sunlight during summer, but allow it to warm the house in winter.  The low south entrance is also surrounded by a garden, which helps to cool the air at the entrance.  As the air warms, it rises to the top of the building due to its open floor plan, and can escape through the ventilation system.

from http://www.archdaily.com/84612/stair-house-ymdo/

I really like the interior of this house.  The large wood posts forming the underside of the steps give it a very solid look, amplified by the steel ties.  The integrated bookcases make a very efficient use of wall space.  The openness of the plan makes a simple single-family home feel like an urban loft.  It also makes it so that almost all the rooms are essentially south-facing, and receive at least some natural light.  I don’t like the exposed wiring leading to the hanging lights, but that’s about the only thing I can complain about from what I’ve seen of the house.

from http://www.archdaily.com/84612/stair-house-ymdo/

The roof, I think, looks like a lot of fun.  From up here you can see into the recreation area at what appears to be a high school across the street, and although the pictures I’ve seen don’t include it, there is probably a pretty wide sweeping view to the North as well.  I like that there are little things like guard rails along the edges and balconies—a common-sense item that I have seen lacking in the work of some of the architecture students here at Penn.  It seems like a great gathering place, and even in the architect’s drawings it mentions having a barbecue on the roof.

This home, whether intentionally or not, employs a number of Alexandrine patterns.  The three-story, south-facing slope resembles a single-family housing hill.  The garden is on the south side of the property.  The pergola defines the main entrance.  The roof has integrated stair seats.  There is plenty of indoor sunlight.  The kitchen is large and integrated into the living room area.  The open shelves create thick walls and include a waist-high shelf.  The floors use different materials to reflect relative formality.

This is not a house that I would have designed, and I’m glad to see something I like so much come from somewhere I never would have thought of.  A great house, and a great addition to architecture.

Millbrook House

Thomas Phifer built this house outside of the small village of Millbrook, New York.

from http://www.archdaily.com/79028/millbrook-house-thomas-phifer/

First, the house is very much a procession, and it must be explained as such to be understood.  It took me a little while studying the layout of the house for it to make sense.  The first thing one sees as they come up the driveway is the guesthouse, perched over the parking area.

from http://www.archdaily.com/79028/millbrook-house-thomas-phifer/

From here, one walks up the stepping stones to the left of the picture and up onto a flat grassy area that connects the guest house to the glass pavilion of the main house.

from http://www.archdaily.com/79028/millbrook-house-thomas-phifer/. Guesthouse is in the foreground left, glass pavilion is in the background center.

From inside the pavilion, one travels down a flight of stairs and underground to reach the individual “cabins” (in the first picture) which house bed and bathrooms.

My first thought when I saw this was that it was some sort of contemporary take on rowhouses, which probably led to my confusion about how the entire place was linked together.  I am always a fan of using wood as a material, but the boxiness of the cabins puts me off a bit.  Having lived in an apartment where we only got light from one direction, I can say that I’m not a big fan of it, and generally prefer to have light on two sides of every room, as Christopher Alexander recommends.  The gardens of the cabins though are quite beautiful and give each person their own little green space.  Also I was more enamored with the glass front of the cabins when I thought they were rowhouses and that the front room would be some sort of public room.  When I found out they were bedrooms, I was a little disconcerted, because I would feel uncomfortable about changing and such in front of that much glass.  However, the house is on a two acre site, and considering the area, there is probably sufficient foliage to provide privacy from the nearest street or neighbor.  Phifer also has set the bedrooms on the east side of the house so that they will receive morning sunlight, something else that Alexander recommends.  It’s probably a great place to wake up and go to bed, but not great for other activities.

from http://www.archdaily.com/79028/millbrook-house-thomas-phifer/

The grassy area above the cabins presents me personally with some big questions.  Do the residents here have kids, or do they ever plan to have kids?  The area is protected from the drop-offs near the cabins by glass guard rails, but I worry about how well they would stay intact with rambunctious children (or adults, for that matter).

from http://www.archdaily.com/79028/millbrook-house-thomas-phifer/

The panoramic views of the glass pavilion are beautiful, and this is the great advantage of any glass house.  However, it does raise some questions.  How energy efficient are these windows?  Double-glazed windows with argon inside them can be very efficient, but the architect doesn’t state anywhere in this article that they used such elements.  Also, I always worry about roofs that are completely flat, because they don’t shed water well and have a tendency to leak.  I don’t know if the architect has taken measures to mitigate such effects, but I prefer a sloped roof, preferably with wide overhangs.

Another interesting feature I think is the wall that holds back the earth of the grassy area, as can be seen in the second picture.  The wall is faced in patinated steel panels, which blend in very well with the color of the wood and look very natural.  I understand that there are many that may feel that this aesthetic is not appropriate for a residence, but being from the Steel City, I really appreciate it and think it works very well in this context.