WIA_ISSUE2_2023

FIT-OUTS
3
around an outcropping of bedrock
and an unbuildable area cutting into
the property on the street side. By
necessity, the detached building houses
a two-car garage and a guest room,
which is situated on the east side —
where the elevation gap is smallest.
However, the client requested that the
main house weave around the difficult
site conditions.
At the first client presentation, a
plan of interconnected triangles was
proposed. But this design was not
rigidly fixed. The approach allowed for
the forms to be adjusted by ‘pinching’
the roof peaks as a more detailed plan
is developed. Continuing the design
process, the peaks were gradually
adjusted in response to the client
requests regarding the interior, so that
each roof segment contained a space
appropriately scaled for its use. The
architects’ Phase Dance project in 2019
employed a similar approach dubbed
‘modal planning’ — a flexible method
that allows us to vary the scale of
spaces according to how they are used,
instead of controlling the overall form
through a geometric principle.
The roof slabs, which amplified the
triangular shapes of the footprint, are
supported by polygonal columns that
vary in form throughout the home, and,
in places, by bearing walls. Interior air
volume requirements determined the
rhythm of the slabs and the volumes of
the spaces they enclosed. Rooms facing
the sea connected to one another,
twisting to the east and west to create a
sequence of spaces.
4
5 6
3 The roof slabs
amplify the
triangular
shapes of the
footprint
4 Parameters
such as the
relationship with
the landscape,
the size of the
rooms, and the
volume of the
spaces were
freely varied
5 Rooms facing the
sea connected
to one another,
twisting to the
east and west
to create a
sequence of
spaces
6 Interior
air volume
requirements
determined the
rhythm of the
slabs and the
volumes of the
spaces they
enclosed
By manipulating the complexity
of interlinked free-form triangles,
parameters such as the relationship
with the landscape, the size of the
rooms, and the volume of the spaces
were freely varied. The result is a
natural interior scale and a sense of
affinity between the buildings and the
site.WIA
62 WOOD IN ARCHITECTURE • ISSUE 2 – 2023