reference website

http://mincasa.com

Bamboo Huts

Origami Bamboo HutsOctober 23
The Chinese government, looking for something good to do, have been looking into creating 1.5million temporary homes, primarily to be used after major disasters, earthquakes and the like. In response to that and a Re:Vision competition, Ming Tang has designed these origami inspired, folding bamboo huts that can be produced cheaply and efficiently. They can also easily be folded into a number of different forms, all remaining structurally sound.

The traditional japanese house

Sampling - Traditional

The traditional japanese building

The distinctive feature of a traditional Japanese building is the way in which the house is open to nature. The main materials used are wood, earth, and paper, and the construction spreads out sideways rather than upwards.

Image:
Japanese Old style wooden house.
Seems that the house used to own small Tobacco shop in the past.

The unique small house

The unique small house

Sampling - Small & Contemporary

The Unique Small House by Plan B Architects in Clyde

Using the pre-existing materials found in the ruined structure, the small house that Plan B Architects was the challenge face by them in overcoming the contingencies of a restrictive architectural program, to create innovative solutions. With the said pre-existing materials, the company was able to create a modern and innovative house that surprisingly reconciles the effectiveness of its aesthetic constructive dimension to the term. Part of the walls of the house uses used slabs of cork to the surface and finished by sheets of polycarbonate cellular to ensure an effective thermal insulation and ventilation as well which is a good feature of the house.

Sampling - Small & Contemporary

DAS House [architects] Atelier Bow-Wow [location] Mitaka, Tokyo [site area] 94.46sqm [building area] 36.00sqm [total floor area] 74.00sqm [structure] wood

Le Cabanon

sampling - Small & Classic

Le Cabanon, Le Corbusier

When you walk around Cap Martin, that exclusive stretch of land that pokes into the Mediterranean Sea between Monaco and Menton, you'll notice the village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin high above, the wide-angle views of the Mediterranean Sea below, the elegant villas that dot the cape behind tall fences, the private gardens that brim with the rubbery leaves of century plants, with lemon trees, with olive groves and swimming pools.

What you might not notice is "le cabanon". After all, the "cabanon" cabin is a mere 3.66 square-meter cube tucked under the cape's footpath.

The little house sits behind a carob tree. Dark brown pine logs cover its outside walls and give it the appearance of a mountain shed. Don't let its diminutive looks trick you. This cabin is a castle.

"I have a chateau on the Côte d'Azur, It's for my wife. It's extravagant in comfort and gentleness." -Le Corbusier

The cabin was architect Le Corbusier's holiday hideaway on the Côte d'Azur. The Swiss-born architect, possibly the best-known modern architect of the 20th century, loved the Mediterranean region. He often visited the French Riviera. For a while, he would stay in Eileen Gray's E1027 house on Cap Martin, enjoying the taste of fresh sea urchins at the nearby "Etoile de Mer" restaurant.

"I drew the plans in 45 minutes. They were final. Nothing much changed afterwards." -Le Corbusier

In 1951, on the side of the restaurant's table, Le Corbusier scribbled the plans for a beach-side cottage. They were rough plans, but Le Corbusier liked to say that the core of the cabin's design never changed much from those initial sketches.

“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.” - Le Corbusier

Behind the chestnut wood door runs a narrow hallway. It leads to a room that to feels large in comparison. All is laid out functionally within the open room: two beds arranged in a T, a hidden toilet, a large closet, storage space tucked in the ceiling, a table made of walnut wood, shiny and checkered like a chess board. A simple pillar separates the main room from the bathroom. Behind the pillar, a sink and a mirror. Three windows open up to three primal materials. Through the back window, set low to the ground, you see the cliff and its rusty rocks. Through the central window, a postcard view of the Mediterranean Sea and of Monaco comes alive. By the bathroom sink, the carob tree hangs its branches in front of the third window.

"The home should be the treasure chest of living." - Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier was also a painter, in addition to architect and urban planner. The cottage's entrance walls and window shutters are painted with rounded human shapes in yellow, red and blue in a style reminiscent of Picasso's and Miro's. A coat of yellow paint covers the floor planks. The Etoile de Mer restaurant, with which the cottage shares a common wall, sports a painted mural signed by Le Corbusier with his hand and foot prints, set alongside those of restaurant owner and friend, Robert Rébutato.

"A house is a machine for living in." -Le Corbusier

The architect enjoyed taking his showers outside the little cabin, under the carob tree. He worked on the slick checkered table or under the shade of the tree. He ate with his wife next door at the Etoile de Mer. He walked the cape. He swam off the Cabbé and Buze beaches below.

"Our own epoch is determining, day by day, its own style. Our eyes, unhappily, are unable yet to discern it." - Le Corbusier

In all of its simplicity, the cottage encompasses most of Corbu's core design principles, his five points of modern architecture:

1. a construction supported by reinforced stilts
2. a façade of non-supporting walls that gave architects more design freedom
3. an open interior floor plan
4. windows that pull the exterior into the living space
5. a roof garden, although this principle wasn't applied in the cabanon given given the lush scenery that surrounds the site

"I feel so fine here... this is likely where I will breathe my last breath." -Le Corbusier

On August 27, 1965 Le Corbusier swam off the coast of Roquebrune as he so enjoyed doing. He was found lifeless later that morning on the beach, likely a victim of a heart attack. He is buried alongside his wife in the village of Roquebrune, in a tomb he designed himself after the death of his wife.

Sampling - Experimental

effective surfaces

http://www.presidentsmedals.com/Project_Details.aspx?id=1240

Dictionairy

wood

pre-fabrication

type

prototype

module

energy

city block

urban regeneration

projet 3 roof pet

Project: Roof Pet
Format: Model 1:500, 1:100, 1:50-1:20, Drawings 1:500, 1:100, 1:50-1:20
Medium: Model: Cardboard, Wood, Foam, Drawing: Pencil, Ink
Dates: Hand Out: MO02March, Crit: THU05, MO09,THU12, MO16, THU19
Hand In: MO23March

Who wouldn’t like to have a garden in the sky?

The task of this project is to design a wooden house/ shelter/ shed on a rooftop in Bertrams, Johannesburg.
The underlying idea is to develop prototypes that can exploit large, flat city roof areas that have hitherto remained unused as outdoor recreational space.
In this specific case, your client is Zola Maseko, a re-known South African film director. He lives on the top floor of the mixed used industrial building and wants to develop the roof directly above his loft into a garden, with the roof pet as integral part.
You are free to design within the following requirements:
Material: wood
Programme: meeting place for 4-6 people
bar/ small kitchen
storage for garden tools, outdoor furniture, golf equipment
seating area, shadow
a place to sleep inside under star sky
WC, bassin
fire place
outdoor shower
projections
views
Size: enclosed space: ca 40 – 60 sqm
Special: the structure has to be used inside-out: one should be able to use it from the outside when the inside is closed and open up the inside so it becomes part of the outside.
Attention: make sure all material is easily transportable onto the roof.
carefully integrate possible winds, sun and rains into your spatial and material development
Process: concept/ idea, sketch design, design development, detailed design
Production: models
site model (w/roof pet)1:500, min. Bertrams Road, Bezuidenhout Ave, 1st Ave, Gordon Road, wood or foam, one model for the whole class
building model(w/roof pet) 1:100,
1:50 wood or white/ grey cardboard, one model for the whole class
roof pet model 1:50-1:20, wood
drawings
site plan 1:500,
roof garden w/ pet 1:100,
plans, sections, elevation roof pet 1:50-1.20
3 perspectives – eye height
3 concept sketches/ diagrams
section 1:10 (construction hand in)

The project will be judged on

a) development of understanding of wood as a structural building material

b) concept/ structure and space

c) spatial qualities of roof pet based on programme and context.

d) quality of spatial representation in model

e) quality of spatial representation in drawing

All submissions have to be pinned up before 13 o’clock in the studio on Monday, 23 March 2009.

Late entries will not be accepted and be marked 0%.

roofpet/ plan