Project Description

Location; 8 degrees south (SE Asia)- more detail to come, confidential for now
Climate; tropical (approx 24-32 degrees c), wet season at end/ begining of year SE trade winds, dry season middle of the year NE trade winds
Site; 1.5 hectares, 2 small shrines on site (remnant rice paddy), view to temple on point to east interesting topography, river on east, ocean and small cliff south; imposing, beautiul volcanoes to the north
Materials; local black stone; recycled teak, off form concrete, water
Strategy; to site the bed room boxes along the contour (heavy/ enclosed) and the living perpendicular as a 1st level to orientate to sun and view (east- west); living open light, adaptable to weather, views, mood using sliding screens. courtyards used for entrance sequence + abstract landscape views/ connection to selected rooms

a first attempt; at least it gives an impression....struggling to convey using sketchup

ground level and court walls made from local black stone
vertical screens from recycled teak
off form internal walls + fllor and roof for 1st level
the two service pods on the 1st level are light weight clad in a flat iron wood shingle and stain with ink; no glass on the 1st level

site photos

site

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the remnant contours of the rice paddies are visable

black sand beach

small shrine and beach to the west

overlooking the river valley to a small farmers hut and paddy

towards the temple on the point

part of the site plan showing location of house

some screen shots

another

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Seems to me that you have a very clear idea of the project, materials, relations to the site, etc., but your model is definitely not helping. Add some textures/background/furniture/people/vegetation. I feel a beautiful design here but still can't see it.

thank you; I am working on it....hopefully have some thing soon

Seems to me that you have a very clear idea of the project, materials, relations to the site, etc., but your model is definitely not helping. Add some textures/background/furniture/people/vegetation. I feel a beautiful design here but still can't see it.
ditto!
We are waiting for the model in situ for crits :D
Otherwise it's just a nice model... :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

welcome and thanks for posting.

ditto regarding not really understand what you are doing and how this 'model' works with the site.

i am going to be brutally honest... i don't think it's even a nice model!
all the faces are orientated wrong and there really isn't much to it at the moment.

this is definitely a 'back to the drawing board' one though... keep developing it and good luck

i am going to be brutally honest... i don't think it's even a nice model!

indeed! I am certainly not a proud father of this one!

The design is in early stages though moving along well; hope to able to convey this in the model sometime soon...

welcome and thanks for posting.

ditto regarding not really understand what you are doing and how this 'model' works with the site.

i am going to be brutally honest... i don't think it's even a nice model!
all the faces are orientated wrong and there really isn't much to it at the moment.

this is definitely a 'back to the drawing board' one though... keep developing it and good luck
Haha
Don't be shocked, nicholas :eek:
It's the Kevin's way to say welcome :D
In this case, I must agree your faces are perhaps wrongly orientated (blue faces) and you'll have problems with 3ds exports if you want to render in another 3D package...

To be honestly brutal, I'd say better have nice and honest crits rather than have "cool project", "mmh very nice!", "waow that's quite modern" comments, alla 'AtLast-forums-style' , so don't be scared when Swank says your thread is 'BTTDB' (back to the drawing board) :cheers:

I'll seccond Ryo on that one! Do you need so many drawing lines?

Seems everyone is criticizing the undeveloped model.

I appreciate the fact that it looks "bad" because it tells me we are seeing the process in action.

It takes courage to post early in the process. I certainly would not be quick to post some of my early attempts and design studies.

Keep up the good work and keep us posted because I, like the others think there is the opportunity for an outstanding project here. :cheers:

I am more interested in the site at this moment. This is a fantasic locale. Confidential but ..black sand .. thesea foam spray. slightly overcast at the black sand beaches. MMMmmmm.

I hope the house as it evolves says something BOLD about the site's relation to the sea.

thank you for sharing your progress.

I am more interested in the site at this moment. This is a fantasic locale.

i guess that's why it frustrates me to not understand what the proposition is, i really don't even know where and how the building is sited and the design decisions (apart from what's written at the start) relating to the existing design.

do you have any hand drawn plans or diagrams at least to explain the design?

that is why there is really nothing to draw the critique on apart from what we CAN see... a very undeveloped model floating in space

thank you all; happy for the honesty- I have no illusions (a luddite using drawing software for the first time [all my cad work is outsourced]) sketchup viwed through pushpullbar is the first inspiraton to put the pencil down for a moment

lots of detail to fill in; the client is exceptional- the first time I have spent a five hour session with a client communicating in drawings...a clear conduit without the usual slow explanations

getting a client presentation together; will be able to post something meaningful by early next week...

looking forward to the response; as it comes!

a few scribbles to help explain...

plan

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from south east

from south east

your sketch image looks really much like you are inspired by the work of Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza (http://www.campobaeza.com/_total00.htm), especially the De Blas House (http://www.campobaeza.com/_obras/_2_total_obras_66_deblas.htm) in Madrid, 2000. Is that correct? did you know this house?

photo: Hisao Suzuki

Well I must say you have a very cool site - what an opportunity!

Your plans and sketches are much more informative than your model...you probably posted too many and too prematurely there - but it's going to look good when it's done, I can't wait.

Input: From your plan I would suggest trying to work a couple more intersecting boxes into the planning to bring a bit more 'zing' into it. Break up the form of the building even more (IMO).

This would then allow you to respond to the fall of the site instead of treating it as flat - bring some variation into the floor plates.

I think you're onto a winner here - keep going!! :rock on:

Is that correct? did you know this house?

Yes I did think of that house; though the form was driven by the clients strong desire for intense experience; the 1st level will have screens (no glass!) that can be stacked behind the service pods (open as shown); not sure how that will work yet... the screens can be used in part to shelter and frame views or closed for the abstracted light/ shadow experience (like the idea laplastrier embodies making reference to sailing; adjusting the instrument to the conditions)

Input: From your plan I would suggest trying to work a couple more intersecting boxes into the planning to bring a bit more 'zing' into it. Break up the form of the building even more (IMO).

have a look at the plan (you may be able glean something from it!); essentially two parellel boxes (7200 wide, 7200 apart)- with a sequence of entrance courts- a court perpendicular to the guest bath (breaking up that box?) and the terrace from the sitting (corresponding to the court on opposite side)

primarily the heavy black stone boxes are enclosed or open to courts (restricting ocean/ landscape views- intensifying sky views); the two primary beds have ocean views (+ screens to control) and the sitting + terrace has views to mangrove flat, river, paddies, long view of beach (inside barrelling waves [huge swells in dry season]) towards the temple on the point

This would then allow you to respond to the fall of the site instead of treating it as flat - bring some variation into the floor plates.

good point; the first strategy was to differ the heights of the two boxes- though at the moment I am making reference to traditional forms using the stepped plinth. The guest bath court will be dug in slightly- then the plinth will be revealed gradually with the natural gradient (gate to entrance will have a step up- another traditional reference) until the land drpos more steeply at the edge of the master bed box with the height of the edge of terrace being determined by the slope. I am hoping to be able to convey this clearly. The house in space comments earlier are succint; the siting + materials and local craftsmanship are where I hope to ground the house so it is from (of) the 'place'

...and thank you both for the comments; both valued

hi Nicholas,
Sorry I can't help/contribute on this project, . . .

My thought after seeing your model:
You need to organize your model better with 'group'(s), 'component'(s) and 'layer'(s). I think it would help you to easily edit, modify and exporting the model to other applications (especially rendering applications). It'll help you to apply materials on the model.


regards,
~un~

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i guess what strikes me most when seeing this project in 3d is that continuous stepped plinth of which this building sits on. it really suggest a uniformity of treatment and conditions around the site (which the flat 3d model or drawing suggest). i feel the composition and the treatment shouldn't be so uniform and i am sure if it actually sits on the site, the stepped plinth might actually look strange. i would suggest only doing that to part of the building rather than all the way around

Agreed; this part is still not clearly expressed- the building actually beds into the ground on the west (no plinth showing; bath court wall slightly dug in) and as the land slopes down to the east the plinth is gradually revealed (on step into the entrance court then 3 steps as you see on estern edge of m bed)

I will look for another image

thank you again for youre comments

any instruction on how to import a .dwg to sketchup would be very helpful...

nicholas

Some comments

The idea of an enclosed inward-looking ground level and an open outward looking upper level is almost a hallmark of design in tropical and subtropical climates. Its been around since colonial times and has a great legacy of tradition and of rich and flexible environments backing it. Still I think your approach is bent on the interplay of the openings along your ground floor, which I feel your presentation and images don't do justice to.

Your outlook feels very rigid, which is not good or bad in itself, yet it seems more a resource to use when you wish to feel more confident or in control of things. Perhaps you could examine other possibilities, say something like the Arango house in Acapulco by Lautner. The idea of enclosure should come out the way you have envisioned it, although I feel you haven't translated it effectively into your images.

My two cents

Saludos

Juan

any instruction on how to iport a .dwg to sketchup would be very helpful...
What kind of dwg?
You must know SU can't import splines, and usually Autocad drawings uses splines. So you must use spl2pl.vlx (if I remember well: it's a free lisp plug-in for autocad) to convert splines to polylines and then re-import in SU.