south face, ponderosa pines at centre of site bedroom plaza, looking north
i n the foothills of the Andes, surrounded by Argentina’s most famous vineyards, lies the city of Mendoza. It was levelled in the 1860s by an earthquake and rebuilt following a master plan that is still in force, resulting in one of the most liveable cities I know. All buildings are built to the property line and form one or more interior courtyards; thus privacy, calm and even reasonably good air can be enjoyed by every dwelling, shop or office building. Street and private space are separated and each clearly defined. Entry- ways connect the two with a rich variety of gateways. This concept always made more sense to me than the typical North American house in the centre of a lot, with useless side yards, a windswept and noisy front yard, and a junkyard in the back. With the design of our own house in BC’s south Okanagan I played with this principle: a group of beautiful Ponderosa pines made it difficult to place a house in the centre of the site without
florian maurer sustaining life | Naramata, BC
cutting them down. We built a small village around them, breaking the building into four small pieces. The studio and the single ga- rage form a gateway through which everyone must walk to reach the inner garden and the main building. Nobody can drive up and we surely don’t miss the sight of cars. The main house is built on a ridge of bedrock with splendid views of Okanagan Lake to the west and the tranquility of the sheltered garden to the east. The many saved Ponderosa pines on both sides of the building give shade and bird habitat, the afternoon lake breeze blowing through the house from west to east makes air conditioning unnecessary. The bedroom is a separate pavilion to the southeast. With the main house and the bedrock ridge it cre- ates another, more intimate patio. Mature trees close to the northern border precluded closing it with building components, so we planted a dense forest of Russian Olives and will build a trellis for a big wisteria this year.
26
on |site 13
housing | houses | house
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator