The architecture of the Tri-fold House elaborates on geometry and materiality, on three layers: the curved, bare concrete wall; the vertical wooden shading slats; and the plaster-faced prism.

Urban integration

The project is built in south Athens, with exemplary integration into the dense urban fabric. The main volume is placed at the forefront of the property and develops on three levels, leaving enough free space in the back of the property for a garden, accessible only through the house interior, as a place of isolation and rest.

Wooden slat façade

The double curvature wall is designed in a way that benefits from the ground inclination to create a first cavity, allocated to the car, and a second curved surface that marks the house entrance. The wooden slats follow through the curved base, creating a visual filter between the house interior, and the city. The design is complete with the placement of the prism, which, through a signature fold, accommodates a large opening with a view of the city.

Interior layout

The house interior layout follows simple tracing lines. The living room, kitchen, and dining area are placed on the ground level, in an integrated space with large openings. The circular stairs follow the curvature of the wall and lead to the double-height free space upstairs. The top level accommodates the bedrooms and the bathroom, maintaining a visual connection to the garden.

Material selections

The materiality of the house is balanced: White walls and roofs highlight the volumetric arrangement, and black circular steps and railings around the stair add a color contrast. The kitchen furniture and the island are clad in wood, contributing an earthy tone.

ACRM

Thanassis Gatos

The post Tri-fold House was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.

The distinctive housing development, titled “Voronoi’s Corrals”, benchmarks from the local corral typology, processed with contemporary computation. The design employs Voronoi grids, which are organic and more easily adaptable to data. The house faces south; exposed concrete beams project beyond the facades, shaping Voronoi cells and supporting shading devices. Each cell is covered with soil, planted with a different herb species. Earth provides adequate heat insulation to the interiors, and the colors of the plants highlight the strategy at large. In the interior, the roof is formulated in successive funnels topped with a round skylight for natural ventilation. The idea of the “hourglass”, lending the house its name, informed the design of an architecture that is achieved with contemporary computational means and geometries, aiming to develop the landscape in a similarly natural way as the one that led, perhaps, the corral builders into their peculiar -yet absolutely goal-oriented and place-specific- choices.

DECA architecture

The post Best of 2020: The Hourglass Corral was originally published on ek magazine | Architectural Publications | ek magazine – Architectural Publications.