Contemporary Interiors: A Source of Design Ideas

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AA House Architects OAB

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Location Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain Year 2009

Set near a golf course in the Vallès Occidental area

to the idea of a ‘house’ as an authentic archetype, as

near Barcelona, this structure has an orthogonal

understood by Gaston Bachelard and Luis Barragán,

layout and was compared by the architect, Car-

with a basement and an attic. This house, rich in

los Ferrater, to a “boat anchored in a green sea of

intensity and meaning, contains a multitude of sym-

grass.” This metaphor extends to the four narrow

bols. It is a house on a lovely piece of land, all gar-

staircases that are hidden “like those on a boat.”

den, that floats above the grass.” Other architectural

Service facilities are concealed below the living

references include houses by Louis I. Kahn, Alison

spaces, while a lower-level garage houses a collec-

and Peter Smithson, and Ray and Charles Eames.

tion of cars. Above the main space, the client’s map

The design is based on a 23-foot square (7 by 7 me-

collection is kept in a loft that can be reached via a

ters) orthogonal network on which forty-five-degree

folding ladder in the library. The kitchen, the focus

diagonals are “overlaid as in a musical staff, which

of much attention, is described as “a world opening

serves as a base for the composition of the project.”

completely onto the garden and bathed in natural

Large by any standard, the house is 12,917 square

daylight, a systematic laboratory of nutrition, care,

feet (1,200 square meters). Based in Barcelona, Fer-

cleaning, and work.” According to the architect,

rater was born in 1944. He founded his current firm,

“This is a house that is contrary to itself: telluric and

OAB, in 2006 with Xavier Martí—with whom he

anchored at the base, and yet light and floating like

designed this house—Lucía Ferrater, Borja Ferrater,

a balloon about to leave the ground. It takes us back

and project director Núria Ayala.

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Palm Beach Residence Architects Peter Marino Location Palm Beach, Florida Year 2010

Hidden from the road by dense vegetation, this large 27,500-squarefoot (2,554-square-meter) house overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and was built for a New York couple with an interest in Southeast Asian art, Art Déco furniture, and modern paintings. The architect’s design was inspired by jungle houses in the part of the world that so interests these collectors. He employed Indonesian wood, even for the ceilings, which rise as high as thirty-five feet (ten and three-quarter meters) in the entrance area. A dining pavilion, a library, a living room hung with works by Francis Picabia, Franz Marc, and Man Ray, and a master bedroom suite where the couple’s interest in Art Déco furnishings is

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highlighted are located in the main part of the house.

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Toward Landscape Architects Susanne Nobis Location Berg, Germany Year 2010

The main materials of this 3,487-square-foot (324-square-meter) double house are spruce, aluminum, and glass. Two long structural timber shells recall the traditional boathouses seen on the shores of nearby Lake Starnberg, a rather chic residential area outside of Munich. Says the architect, “One aim was not to compete with nature and to preserve the view onto the lake, as well as the valuable vista into the countryside with its old tree population.” The first half of the double house contains living, dining, and cooking spaces. Here, the entire wood-clad volume is open with no partitions, while shelving gives a rhythm and visual richness to the sidewalls. In the second volume, there is a ground floor office and an upper level with a bedroom, LEFT This is a caption Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum.

bathroom, and “installation room.” The sidewalls of the house volumes are closed to maintain a sufficient degree of thermal insulation.

Wooden terraces are situated at the end of the fully glazed lateral openings of the two volumes. A continuous skylight band brings natural light into the entire 57-foot (17.4-meter) length of the buildings.

The living area volume was built with a glue binder construction technique, while the bedroom volume is a timber post-and-beam design with a thick wooden ceiling. A folded titanium sheet shell encloses the rough timber exterior. According to Susanne Nobis, “The architectural concept is based upon an absolutely consistent appearance of the roof and facade that blends into a single visual unit.” The two volumes are connected by a simple glazed passageway.

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