Stretto House by Steven Holl - The Phenomenon of Spatial Sequence

Sofia Kouni

AR3006 Humanities 3: Contemporary Practice and Precedent Figure 1: The ascending ramp towards the terrace of the last spatial dam

THE PHENOMENON OF SPATIAL SEQUENCE The composition of architectural elements into an “aqueous” spatial procession

Abstract The Stretto House marks the transition in Steven Holl’s design method from “typology” to “topology”, while his interest in phenomenology initiated a reaction to retinal architecture.

Treating each site as a source of inspiration, not just relying on his evocative and literary references, he creates a unique architecture that depends on circumstance rather than a specific style.

Each site sparks an idea-force, organising disparate thoughts and elements. Holl then compiled them into an architectural composition and anchored this composition

Figure 2: The end of the Stretto House Spatial Sequence.

onto the site. While externally the different spaces are easy to distinguish, internally architectural moves both unite them into an “aqueous” spatial sequence and subtly separate them.

What architectural moves does Steven Holl make to achieve an “aqueous” spatial sequence in the Stretto House?

To answer this thesis, the essay will analyse the transition from place to space and the tools used for connecting architectural spaces .

Introduction

4

The Transition: Typology, Topology and Phenomenology

6

Employing a Concept: Music as Method

8

Anchoring to Place: Building the Site

14

Sequence of Space: The Perceptual Field

16

Conclusion

21

Bibliography (still to add)

22

Introduction At Steven Holl and Emilio Ambasz’s exhibition opening at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in February 1989, the Stretto House clients introduced themselves to the architects and hired Steven Holl. Although they prefer to remain anonymous it was later revealed that they were the Prices, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s favourite patrons, for whom he had designed several buildings.

Holl had the good fortune to study under a professor who led his students with focussed passion through the works of Wright. 1 According to Juhani Pallasmaa, an architect-theorist who also inspired and influenced him, Frank Lloyd Wright’s kinaesthetic architectures are based on a full recognition of the embodied human condition and of the multitude of instinctual reactions hidden in the human unconscious. The multitude of sensory experiences is something that Steven Holl addresses in his work. 2 For the Stretto House, built in Dallas, Texas in 1992, the clients, who were art collectors, set no conditions on the architect. This enabled him to grasp the possibilities arising from the flexibility of the design, while considering their needs, and address this multitude of sensory experiences. When presenting him with a site he rejected it as being too small and then discovered the final site in Dallas which led to a series of explorations.

Figure 3: Model including landscape and three concrete dam ponds

After visiting the site, consisting of three concrete dams and ponds, what captured the architect was the constant sound of water overlapping, which became a reoccurring theme in his design process.

He started off with Texas vernacular concrete blocks and metal roofs, exploring shadow and overlap in his sketches. After discussions with his former pianist student, he decided to explore the musical 1 2

Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 1.

Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 70.

concept of “stretto”. 3 For Holl, there was a strong analogy between “stretto” and the sites overlapping ponds. 4 Moreover, as a member of a new generation of architects of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Steven Holl ascribes to the principles of the phenomenological, place-based design set forth by Norburg-Shulz and Relph, as does Juhani Pallasma. 5 As a result, in the Stretto House, emphasis was given to the phenomenological link between building and site, using the musical concept of “stretto” as a tool to organise the experiential phenomena into an “aqueous” spatial sequence.

Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 7.

Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 7.

5 Korydon Smith, Introducing Architectural Theory (Routledge), 363.

3 4

The Transition: Typology, Topology and Phenomenology By the mid-eighties, Steven Holl had become bolder, surer of his own philosophy and architecture. As a result, during the second half of the eighties he undergoes a shift from “typology”, the study and documentation of a set of buildings which have similarities in their type of function or form, to “topology”, the mutation of form, structure, context and programme into interwoven patterns and complex dynamics. 6 Nonetheless, something of his old "typology” would linger on in the Stretto House, which may be seen as transitional work, since it is one of his only buildings that demonstrates this underlying tension between the typological and the organic. 7

Figure 4: Servant spaces identification on existing plan

The typological appears in the orthogonal “servant” elements, the spaces that serve the utilised, containing the vertical circulation plus kitchens and bathrooms, while the organic appears in the “served” elements, the spaces that are actively used, containing the living spaces with vaulted roofs leaping over them. 8 The “servant and served spaces” is a concept first articulated by Louis Kahn in his design for the Trenton Jewish Community Centre of 1957 (derived in large part from the similar tartan grids found in Wright's early Prairie Period Figure 5: Plan of the Trenton Jewish Community Centre by Louis Kahn

Kenneth Frampton, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 11-12; Architecture, All About. “TOPOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE.” Medium, Medium, 1 Nov. 2018, medium.com/@AAA_Publication/topological-architecture3e7e4288dc27 ; “Building Typology.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_typology.

7 Kenneth Frampton, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 15.

8 Ibid.

6

works). 9 Therefore, against his own teachings in the 1980’s, Steven Holl,can be seen here as using a typological precedent for his design, in contrast to his belief at the time “that to be able to create something new from scratch, you only needed imagination.” 10 In the book Steven Holl, the author argues about the Stretto House that while “there can be no doubt as to evocative energy of this volumetric sequence, …, all of this graceful rhythm is somehow lost on the exterior largely because the concrete block prisms deny in some absolute sense the athletic origin and spring of the roof origins.” 11 This contrast is where that tension lies, something Holl would stray away from the following years. He states in his book Parallax that “the problem with a theory of architecture that begins in type is the impossible gap between analysis 12 Consequently, new topological Figure 6: The concrete orthogonal blocks and the curved and synthesis”. openness became his theoretical frame. 13 metal roofs of the Stretto House Around this time, Steven Holl also introduced his new interest, phenomenology, particularly philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception. Phenomenology is the interpretive study of human experience and, as described by Holl, a discipline that puts essences into experience. 14 Norburg-Shulz had described how natural and constructed environments, together as a set of complex and "concrete phenomena", affect human experiences, perceptions and emotions, while Holl mentions that sensory, perceptual, conceptual and emotional experiences illuminate phenomenal architecture. 15 Essentially, architecture affects the human experience while the consideration of human experience in design affects the resulting architecture. This realisation led him to reject the disengagement of design methods from the tactile, auditory, and haptic experiences, which had resulted in the privileging of a retinal architecture. 16 Considering the visual appearance of a design has been thought to be devoid of intellectual content, a subjective task that does not bear close examination. If one is misled by the physicality of what is visible, there is a chance of being side-tracked into missing the real “picture”, which is embodied meaning that is there to be sensed, not seen, its invisible essence more valuable than its visible presence.17 Juhani Pallasmaa mentions that this new awareness is projected by architects who are attempting to re-sensualise architecture and transcend the relative immateriality and weightlessness of recent technological construction into a positive experience of space, place and meaning. 18 Arguing for an experiential, hence fragmentary, approach, what Steven Holl needed to organize all the parts in his projects was some thread of thought, which was fluid enough but only allowed to unfold according to its own internal rules. 19 This was the “limited concept”, a defence mechanism the Robert McCarter, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 92.

El Croquis SL, El Croquis 172, 1st ed. (El Croquis), 19.

11 Robert McCarter, Steven Holl (Ellipsis London Pr Ltd), 9.

12 Steven Holl, Parallax (Birkhäuser – Publishers for Architecture), 302.

13 Ibid.

14 Steven Holl, Parallax (Birkhäuser – Publishers for Architecture), 68.

15 Korydon Smith, Introducing Architectural Theory (Routledge), 362; Steven Holl, Intertwining (Princeton Architectural Press), 7.

16 Robert McCarter, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 6.

17 Korydon Smith, Introducing Architectural Theory (Routledge), 393.

18 Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 37; Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 32.

19 Steven Holl, Architecture Spoken; Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 8.

9

10

architect uses against the opposing arbitrariness and stylistic consistency, as well as a catalyst to unleash experience. 20

Employing a Concept: Music as Method

Figure 7: Stretto House initial watercolour sketches by Steven Holl

In the first phase of Steven Holl’s work, in the late 80s and 90s, the theme of the house is already presented as a mixture of two categories: the American vernacular tradition and his mainspring of research, the “limited concepts”. However important the references to traditional typologies may be, Holl combines them with and adapts them to the client requirements and his own evocative and literary impulses.

21

In the case of the Stretto House, inspiration began with the four masonry dams existing on the site. Holl wanted to use concrete block which is Dallas vernacular; many buildings in Dallas are made of concrete block and metal roofs. 22 Additionally, the need for protection from the Figure 8: Existing spring fed scorching Texas sun led the architect to explore the ideas of shadow and ponds overlap. 23 Nevertheless, this house most exemplifies the poetic nature of Steven Holl’s architecture, as well as his method of following an initial concept to its fullest realization. 24 Subsequent to its completion, in Parallax, published in the year 2000, he says that “Concepts, the tools one uses to drive design, transcend ideological arguments. We work from a limited concept, unique for each site and circumstance.”. 25 So, in his attempt to release the form of his architecture from the shackles of the modern he now based it on references to music, in this case the fugue stretto, where the imitation of the subject in close succession is answered before it is completed. He imagined that this dovetailing musical concept could be an idea for a fluid connection of architectural spaces. A piece of music was

Figure 9: The composition of the roof form according to the musical composition.

Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 7; Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 22.

21 Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 14.

22 Steven Holl, Yukio Futagawa, Toyo Ito, Global Architecture (GA) Architect 11: Steven Holl, 1st ed. (A.D.A. Edita), 22.

23 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), page behind cover.

24 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 7.

25 Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson).

20

chosen for its extensive use of stretto - Bela Bartoks Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste. In four movements, the piece has distinct division between heavy (percussion) and light (strings) with bold overlapping between them. 26

Figure 10: Site Plan of the Stretto House and Guest House

Figure 11: Elevations, Plan and Section of Guest House 26

Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 7.

Similar to the Bartok score, the building has four sections, and the plan is purely orthogonal, while the section is curvilinear. The guest house is an inversion with the plan curvilinear and the section orthogonal, like the inversions of the subject in the first movement of the score 27. Furthermore, beginning with a “limited” concept did not invalidate using principles of proportion or deliberation on rhythm and numbers. 28 In one of his concept sketches he prescribes the ordering proportions as 45 percent by chance and 55 percent by mathematical ordering. 29 The mathematical proportions were finely-tuned according to the Golden Section ratio of 1:1.618 (It is no coincidence that Bartok composed according to the Golden Section.). 30

Figure 12: The sketches prescribing the ordering proportions by Steven Holl (top left)

Figure 13: Own Diagram identifying the Golden Section in Plan and Elevation

The materials and method of construction follow the heavy/light and orthogonal/curved rhythm of the concept. 31 As the contrast in mass of the bass is emphasized by the physical separation of the light and heavy instruments on stage during the performance, likewise the architectural composition alternates from heavy masonry blocks to lightweight metal roof structures. 32

Figure 14: Own diagram associating the construction principles to musical composition principles

Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 7.

Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 12.

29 Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 22.

30 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 8.

31 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 8.

32 Steven Holl, Parallax (Birkhäuser – Publishers for Architecture), 255.

27 28

Figure 15: Image of the building under construction revealing the now hidden tubular light-weight roof structures

Figure 16: Own drawings of the roof structural detailing in combination with the concrete-block walls and the glazing

Figure 17: Section of the Stretto House

Figure 18: An exploded view drawing of the Stretto House.

Walking through the house, one experiences that oscillation between, and overlapping of, heavy and light, straight and curved, which Holl derived from that syncopated musical pattern. 33 A gradual fluid movement descends through the “dams”, propelled by the curving roofs, a continuity which is achieved by slightly revealing the method of construction in material and details. 34 However, the selective suppression of the spanning structure through is not being consistently exposed. In this instance, there is a resemblance to Wright’s belief that the spatial character imparted by the materials was of more importance to our experience than the literal exposure of structure. 35 Accordingly, carefully selected materials and rich details are essential to the sequential balance.

Figure 19: Details

From the initial concept to finest detail, Steven Holl has expressed that his aim is for idea and phenomena. Such “abstract principles of architectural composition take a subordinate position within the organizing idea”. 36 He believes that: An overall idea is like a chain of causes and effects working with functions and physical elements.

Unlike a beginning in form, the concept transcends the abstract, organizing the experiential phenomena. In a way, the concept that drives a design like the Stretto House disappears completely in the phenomena of the physical reality and yet intuitively the abundance of the idea may be felt. 37 In Robert McCarter’s opinion, author of two books named Steven Holl, Holl's musical heuristic essential will remain a double-edged device, for while it will allow him to render his interior volumes in harmonic colour, there is also the risk of forcing the working into simplistic musical analogies, as in the so-called "spatial dams". He claims that the exterior is called to do more than merely contrast and modulate the flow of the vaulted roof forms, but as mentioned in the previous chapter this might have to do more with the typological remains of his method, rather than his “limited concept”. 38 Today that term has assumed a negative connotation and at the time the Stretto House was built it could still barely be a polemical target, as it was in the 80s. 39 What allows Holl to avoid locking his work into being forced or simplistic analogies is that the starting point for an architectural idea is the unique character of the site. Following this approach, Holl’s work is recognised for its contextual sensitivity, since the relationship between the site and the project is established in a seed germ that drives the whole creative process. 40 Robert McCarter, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press).

Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 8.

35 Robert McCarter, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 93-95.

36 Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 12.

37 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 9.

38 Robert McCarter, Steven Holl (Ellipsis London Pr Ltd), 9-10.

39 Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 9.

40 El Croquis SL, El Croquis 172, 1st ed. (El Croquis) 33 34

Anchoring to Place: Building the Site Unlike music, a construction is intertwined with the experience of a place. 41 The tools that Holl uses – research of the vernacular, the “limited concept”, proportion, and attention to details - are only means to establish, develop, and enhance this phenomenological linkage between building and site. 42 Context is embodied in his work. Thus, Mario Botta's polemic phrase, "building the site", assumes a certain character in Holl's architecture, wherein landscape, type and building method are synthesized into a new challenging whole. 43 One of the fundamental principles that underlies his architecture is the anchoring of the building in its site, although, like the Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, he believes that the architect has as much responsibility to challenge the site as to harmonize passively with its form, since “architecture does not so much intrude on a landscape as it serves to explain it.” 44 Ideas cultivated from the first perception of the site, meditations upon initial thoughts, or a reconsideration of existing topography became his framework for invention.45 For the Stretto House, the concrete dams and ponds on site constituted that framework. After "recycling" the site and retaining much of the existing landscape, the house was set on a sloping ground and gently terraced down the hill, while it was constructed by small dams, rectangular and introverted blocks. 46 As a literal dam operates as a barrier that restricts the flow of water, likewise the “spatial dams” of the house restrict the flow from outside to inside and from one space to another. The spatial transitions, rather than occurring at the massive dam-like walls, take place between them, stitching together the staggered, sheared sections of floor. 47 In that way, Steven Holl’s intention is for the floor to seemingly “hug the site, layering the house into the topography”, allowing the house to relate to its environment by resting on the ground and rising towards the sky, and to be experienced as a spatial distillation and abstraction of the stepped ponds of water that run parallel to it in the landscape. 48

Figure 20: Elevation showing the stepping landscape

,5; El Croquis SL, El Croquis 172, 1st ed. (El Croquis) 9.

41 Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 9.

42 Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 6.

43 Ibid.

44 Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 8; Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 9.

45 Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 9.

46 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 7.

47 Robert McCarter, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 92.

48 Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 6; Robert McCarter, Steven Holl, 1st ed.

(Phaidon Press); Korydon Smith, Introducing Architectural Theory (Routledge), 366.

Figure 21: Own diagram indicating with blue colour the "pools" of activity and with grey colour the "dams" restricting the flow

So much architectural critiques as people visiting the site appraise how sync the building is with nature, with an individual comment mentioning that “everything seems to flow.” 49 This partly relates to the phenomenal attributes of nature, especially water, which are engaged when inhabiting the house, from the "frozen" water of the cast-glass fountain at the entrance, to the mysterious flooded room that merges with the largest of the spring-fed ponds at the end of the sequence. Both become the centre of two sequences of space, one from the landscape and site, the other from the aqueous space of the architecture, which Juhani Pallasmaa says is “essentially an extension of nature into the man-made realm.” 50

Figure 22: The mysterious flooded room at the North end

Figure 23: The cast-glass fountain at the entrance

wsmith94. (2020). Stretto House. [online] Available at: https://wsmith94.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/stretto-house/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2020], n.p.

50 Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 41.

49

Sequence of Space: The Perceptual Field

Figure 24: Own editing and compilation of images with overlapping perspectives following the spatial procession from the South end of the building to the North (first set of images) and from the North end to the South

Steven Holl’s work here, with his focus on the experiential and tactile dimensions of architecture, takes a turn beyond questions of detail and materials to spatial perception and procession, a filmic sensibility. 51 The basic architectural experience of the building has a verb form rather than consisting of nouns. For instance, one approaches or confronts the building, rather than the formal apprehension of the façade and entering becomes an act and is not simply described by the visual design of the door.

Architectural space here is intended to be lived space rather than physical space, and lived space always transcends geometry and measurability as Juhani Pallasmaa preaches in his book Eyes of the Skin. 52

Figure 25: The entrance porch

The experience starts upon approaching the first “spatial dam” from the south with terraces leading to the entrance porch, which is covered by a downward-curving canopy that emerges from within the house. The act of looking through the main entry composition of glazing provides a diagonal view through the entire length of the house, revealing its overlapping spaces, with glimpses of the flanking gardens along the perspective of the major rooms. This teaser urges the hand to press the door handle, “an image of welcome and hospitality”, as if it is “the handshake of the building”. 53 Despite the suggestion otherwise of the outward projecting canopy overhead, it is now irresistible to penetrate the concrete-block walled volume. Stepping inside the door, the tall enclosure of the exterior overlaps the flowing gallery space through the first spatial dam

Figure 26: A view through the main entry

Figure 27: The bespoke door handle of the entrance

Steven Holl, Anchoring, 3rd ed. (Princeton Architectural Press), 4.

Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 63-64.

53 Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 56.

51 52

The "aqueous space" in-between the “dams” is developed by several means: floor planes pull the level of one space through to the next and roof planes pull space over walls. 54 This is apparent after passing through the foyer, where the roof curves over interlocking rectangular walls and diagonally across it the corner is opened, allowing a view across the large living room, the first major room, to its glazed outer corner. At the same time, when looking down, the white terrazzo floor carries the entry foyer level until it steps down in two Figure 28: The hearth of the house adjacent directions, each with three steps, onto a black reflective to the alcove terrazzo floor. Stepping in the east direction, one occupies now “the sphere of warmth” 55, the hearth of the house. The living room, however, does not separate itself completely from the first “spatial dam”, since another set of steps circulate space back to the alcove, where another set of steps leads up to the foyer and study, overlooking the living room.

Figure 29: Image showing the interlocking rectangular walls under the curving roof and the two sets of steps

54 55

Kenneth Frampton, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 358.

Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 63-64.

Beyond the living room the volume of the house shears and shifts to the west and the second “spatial dam” makes its appearance. Before one passes through its wall, black wood stairs lead west up to the private spaces.

Continuing and passing through the library it contains, the floor changes from black to white, with three white steps leading down to the black floor, either of the dining room to the east or straight to the tallest part of the gallery.

The space of the dining room opens to the landscape, and, as in the living room, its corners are opened, in this instance to the adjacent spaces of library, gallery, and breakfast room, respectively. 56 This last part of the “aqueous” interior spatial sequence also opens to the landscape to the east Figure 30: A view to the through a glass wall and to the gallery library and the steps to the west through a corner leading to the dining room doorway. Inside the third “spatial dam”, at the edge of which the floor changes again from black to white, is the rest of the kitchen behind the extending counter and separated from the end of the gallery by a stepping group of walls. A glass-walled recessed back porch leads from the end of the gallery, down a shifting series of white terrazzo steps that cascade in several directions, and out Figure 31: The dining room with its glazed to the pool terrace. corners opening to the landscape

Figure 32: Own diagram of alternating white and black terazzo floors including the steps that mark the change

The swimming pool frames the eastern side of the terrace and a concrete ramp ascending in one turn beneath two overlapping curved roofs frames its western side. With two elements, the curved roof that spill space of the walls and long pool that extends through the concrete masonry wall, Steven Holl succeeds the spatial overlap of the terrace with the last “spatial dam”. The fourth and last “spatial dam” is the culminating step in the cascading spatial sequence of the house. It contains a room flooded by the largest pond, with the long pool cantilevering over it, with the water of the pool hovering over the reflective surface of the pond, fusing architecture and nature.

56

Robert McCarter, Steven Holl, 1st ed. (Phaidon Press), 96.

Figure 33: The pool terrace

Conclusion All in all, Steven Holl seems to understand space in terms of dynamic interaction and interrelations. 57 He interacts with the user and interrelates the interior with the exterior, while navigating the sequence of movement through the house through overlapping perspectives. Both stimulating the conscious and the subconscious the Stretto House gives the user an all-rounded experience. The stepping gallery that flows into the rooms guides the movement of the user, opens to the landscape and relates to a stream flowing into ponds. The alternating black and white polished floor surfaces mark changing space, while the floor levels with the rippling stairs at their edges direct the user from one space to the next, flowing like water. The curved roofs with their concave surfaces draw attention to the spatial overlapping with their edges resembling arching waves, while the suppression of their structure gives emphasis to the spatial character. Deriving by a combination of his methods of employing a concept, anchoring to place and his focus on the phenomenon of spatial sequence rather than on the visual appearance of the house, all these decisions result in the “aqueous” character of the space that is ultimately felt, rather than seen.

57

Juhani Pallasma, Eyes of the Skin (Wiley Academy), 64.

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Architectonicsofmusic.com. (2020). STRETTO HOUSE - Architectonics of Music. [online] Available at: http://architectonicsofmusic.com/stretto-house [Accessed 18 Feb. 2020].

“Building Typology.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_typology El Croquis SL, El Croquis 172, 1st ed., El Croquis, 2014.

—, El Croquis 141, El Croquis, 2008.

Frampton Kenneth, Steven Holl, 1st ed, Phaidon Press, 2003.

Garofalo Francesco, Steven Holl, Thames and Hudson, 2003.

Holl, Steven. “STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS.” STRETTO HOUSE. Accessed February 18, 2020. http://www.stevenholl.com/projects/stretto-house.

Holl Steven, Anchoring, 3rd ed., Princeton Architectural Press, 1991.

—, Intertwining, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996.

—, Stretto House, The Monacelli Press, 1996.

—, Parallax, Birkhäuser – Publishers for Architecture, 2000.

—, Pallasma Juhani, Perez-Gomez Alberto, Questions of Perception, a+u Publishing Co..Ltd., 1994.

—, Futagawa Yukio, Ito Toyo, Global Architecture (GA) Architect 11: Steven Holl, 1st ed, A.D.A. Edita, 1993 McCarter Robert, Steven Holl, 1st ed., Phaidon Press, 2015.

—, Steven Holl, Ellipsis London Pr Ltd, 1994.

Pallasma Juhani, Eyes of the Skin, Wiley Academy, 2005.

“A Sensation among Architects - the Stretto House of Dallas.” A sensation among architects - the Stretto House of Dallas, March 13, 2015. http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/stretto-house/.

Smith Korydon, Introducing Architectural Theory, Routledge, 2012.

Web.archive.org. (2020). STORIES OF HOUSES. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20060501170041/http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/#1118758762 21998436#114544321748374730. [Accessed 18 Feb. 2020].

Figures

Title

Source

1

The ascending ramp towards the terrace of the last spatial dam.

“House by Steven Holl.” Designboom, 8 Feb. 2013, www.designboom.com/books/house-by-steven-holl/.

2

The end of the Stretto House Spatial Sequence.

Stretto House | Datum Engineers. (2020). Stretto House | Datum Engineers. [online] Available at: https://www.datumengineers.com/our-work/stretto-house.html [Accessed 18 Feb. 2020].

3

Model including landscape and three concrete dam ponds.

"Browse All : Images From Contemporary - NCSU Libraries Collections".

2020. Images.Lib.Ncsu.Edu. https://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/servlet/view/all/when/ Contemporary?widgetFormat=javascript&os=1650&widgetType=thumbnail&showAll =who&embedded=true&cic=NCSULIB~1~1,NCSULIB~2~2&res=2.

4

Servant spaces identification on existing plan.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [image editing].

5

Plan of the Trenton Jewish Community Centre by Louis Kahn.

Waite, Richard, Richard Waite, and Richard Waite. 2020. "Great Detail: Alan Dunlop On Louis Kahn’S Trenton Bath House". Architects Journal. https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/great-detail-alan-dunlop-on-louiskahns-trenton-bath-house/10015559.article.

6

The concrete orthogonal blocks and the curved metal roofs of the Stretto House.

"Stretto House". 2020. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/my_fake_plastic_earth/albums

7

Stretto House initial watercolour sketches by Steven Holl.

"Wayback Machine". 2020. Web.Archive.Org. https://web.archive.org/web/ 20060501170041/http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/ #111875876221998436#114544321748374730.

8

Existing spring fed ponds.

Steven Holl, Intertwining, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. (scan of p.32)

9

The composition of the roof form according to the musical composition.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [image editing].

10

Site Plan of the Stretto House

Steven Holl, Intertwining, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. (scan of p.30)

/72157629135533847/with/6935150455/.

and Guest House.

11

Elevations, Plan and Section of Guest House.

Steven Holl, Intertwining, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. (scan of p.42)

12

The sketches prescribing the ordering proportions by Steven Holl (top left).

Steven Holl, Intertwining, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. (scan of p.32)

13

Own Diagram identifying the Golden Section in Plan and Elevation.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [diagram].

14

Own diagram associating the construction principles to musical composition principles.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [diagram].

15

Image of the building under construction revealing the now hidden tubular lightweight roof structures.

Steven Holl, Intertwining, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. (scan of p.37)

16

Own drawings of the roof structural detailing in combination with the concrete-block walls and the glazing.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [diagram].

17

Section of the Stretto House.

18

An exploded view drawing of the Stretto House.

"An Exploded View Drawing Of The Stretto House | Steven Holl, House, Architecture".

2020. Pinterest. https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/434175220305355366/?lp=true.

19

Details.

House-20-AdobeRGB.jpg, Stretto. 2020. "Stretto_House | Sean Gallagher Photography". Seangphoto.Photoshelter.Com. https://seangphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/StrettoHouse/G0000bdq9g470BCA/I00007eFNEZsUQCs/C00008f7CQMj0lKA/.

“A Sensation among Architects - the Stretto House of Dallas.” A sensation among architects - the Stretto House of Dallas, March 13, 2015. http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/stretto-house/.

"Dallas". 2020. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/j0n6/albums/72157600954345572/with/6922057355/.

20

Elevation showing the stepping landscape.

"Browse All : Images From Contemporary - NCSU Libraries Collections".

2020. Images.Lib.Ncsu.Edu. https://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/servlet/view/all/when/ Contemporary?widgetFormat=javascript&os=1650&widgetType=thumbnail&showAll= who&embedded=true&cic=NCSULIB~1~1,NCSULIB~2~2&res=2.

21

Own diagram indicating with blue colour the "pools" of activity and with grey colour the "dams" restricting the flow.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [diagram].

22

The mysterious flooded room at the North end

"Dallas". 2020. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/j0n6/albums/72157600954345572/with/6922057355/.

23

The cast-glass fountain at the entrance

Steven Holl, Pallasma Juhani, Perez-Gomez Alberto, Questions of Perception, a+u Publishing Co..Ltd., 1994. (scan of p.81)

24

Own editing and compilation of images with overlapping perspectives following the spatial procession from the South end of the building to the North (first set of images) and from the North end to the South.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [image editing].

25

The entrance porch.

Flickr. (2020). Stretto House Restoration. [online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74818134@N08/albums/72157653310922411/with /18000420612/ [Accessed 18 Feb. 2020].

26

A view through the main entry.

"Stretto House". 2020. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/my_fake_plastic_earth/albums /72157629135533847/with/6935150455/.

27

The bespoke door handle of the entrance.

Steven Holl, Pallasma Juhani, Perez-Gomez Alberto, Questions of Perception, a+u Publishing Co..Ltd., 1994. (scan of p.112)

28

The hearth of the house adjacent to the alcove.

"Dallas". 2020. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/j0n6/albums/72157600954345572/with/6922057355/.

29

Figure 28: Image showing the interlocking rectangular walls under the curving roof and the two sets of steps.

Architects, Steven. 2020. "STRETTO HOUSE - STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS". Stevenholl.Com. http://www.stevenholl.com/projects/stretto-house.

30

A view to the library and the steps leading to the dining room.

House-07-AdobeRGB.jpg, Stretto. 2020. "Stretto_House | Sean Gallagher Photography". Seangphoto.Photoshelter.Com. https://seangphoto.photoshelter.com/image/I0000DGXyRVgJiKg.

31

The dining room with its glazed corners opening to the landscape.

"The World's Best Photos Of Architect And Strettohouse - Flickr Hive Mind".

2020. Hiveminer.Com. https://hiveminer.com/Tags/architect%2Cstrettohouse.

32

Own diagram of alternating white and black terazzo floors including the steps that mark the change.

Kouni Sofia, 2020 [diagram].

33

The pool terrace.

Tour, Dallas. 2020. "Dallas Modern Homes Tour". Housesgardenspeople.Com. http://www.housesgardenspeople.com/2012/01/dallas-modern-homes-tour.html.