Treading lightly: this holiday house in Big Sur is a highly tactful and inventive response to stringent local environmental regulations.Big Sur Big Sur Scenic region along the Pacific coast of California, U.S. It comprises a ruggedly beautiful stretch of seacoast 100 mi (160 km) long. Popular with tourists and naturalists, it extends southward from Carmel to the Hearst Castle at San Simeon. , a rocky outcrop on the shore of central California Central California can refer to one of several divisions or regions of the U.S state of California:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] New construction near Big Sur is stringently regulated, and the architect spent nearly four years dealing with ten different agencies before being granted a permit. The look of the house was never an issue for the county or the Coastal Commission, but rather its impact on the environment, and its avoidance of seismic faults and the habitat of protected species. Setbacks and the amount of nighttime illumination were precisely specified, and the builders had to drill 500 feet down into bedrock to secure drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. . Fougeron immersed herself in the spirit of place, noting the course of the sun, and getting a feeling for the land, before sketching her design. 'I didn't want the house to loom too large or look as though it had flown in from another galaxy,' she explains. 'It needed to reach for the sky because the sun drops below the edge of the canyon in the early afternoon. At night, it's completely dark outside and you can gaze up to the stars through the high windows This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details. This article has been tagged since August 2007. .' The house is set back from a dirt road dirt road n (US) → camino sin firme dirt road n → chemin non macadamisé or non revêtu dirt road dirt n behind a screen of cedar battens, closed at the centre to conceal bathrooms and kitchen, and feathering The appearance of jagged edges on moving objects in an interlaced display. Also known as "combing," this artifact is created because the image moves from one video field (odd lines displayed) to the next video field (even lines filled in while odd lines still present). out to either side. A thin butterfly roof seems to float over a deep clerestory clerestory or clearstory (both: klĭr`stōr'ē, –stôr'ē), a part of a building whose walls rise higher than the roofs of adjoining parts of the structure. of ribbed channel glass, and is supported at one end by two slender bowed steel columns. The house is raised nearly a metre off the ground to reduce its impact on the land and protect it from flooding if the nearby creek overflows. The rear facade is much bolder and open to nature. An expansive corner window and a projecting glass bay that serves as a solarium cut through copper-clad walls. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A grey stuccoed stair tower containing a steel moment frame anchors the house, structurally and visually. A ramp leads to the entry. Bedrooms at either end bracket the communal space, which rises full height to cable-braced fir joists. The transparency and the high ceilings of the living area are accentuated by a snug inglenook with benches flanking a fireplace. Stairs ascend to a slatted mezzanine gallery that contains a library, overlooks the double-height master bedroom, and leads to a room of bunk beds for visiting children. On both levels, spaces are interwoven in·ter·weave v. in·ter·wove , in·ter·wo·ven , inter·weav·ing, inter·weaves v.tr. 1. To weave together. 2. To blend together; intermix. v.intr. and interconnected through glazed openings or over a glass balustrade. Mitered corner windows dissolve the structure and open it to the canyon. The steel-framed glass bay opens onto a deck, from which you step down into the wilderness and its abundant wild life, or walk a mile to the beach. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The house is so well composed that it neither competes with nor is overpowered o·ver·pow·er tr.v. o·ver·pow·ered, o·ver·pow·er·ing, o·ver·pow·ers 1. To overcome or vanquish by superior force; subdue. 2. To affect so strongly as to make helpless or ineffective; overwhelm. 3. by the canyon. An earth-toned, radiant-heated concrete floor, yellow cedar joinery joinery, craft of assembling exposed woodwork in the interiors of buildings. Where carpentry refers to the rougher, simpler, and primarily structural elements of wood assembling, joinery has to do with difficult surfaces and curvatures, such as those of spiral and anigre panelling warm the interior. The cast glass pixellates the foliage and its channels create a vertical rhythm, almost concealing the delicate steel rods that support the roof. The details are refined without being precious, and there's an intelligent mix of standard and custom components. It is easy to see the influence of Pierre Chareau's Maison de Verre Coordinates: The Maison de Verre (French for House of Glass) was built from 1928 to 1931 in Paris, France. Constructed in the early modern style of architecture, the house's design emphasized three primary traits: honesty of materials, variable in Paris and Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses, but Fougeron has brought her own experience and artistry to this elegant retreat. She was born in Paris, but has spent most of her life in the United States, and opened her office in San Francisco in 1986. Best-known for a much grander urban house in Palo Alto, she is currently working on two public libraries, a loft remodelling, and a house-studio. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion