via:Plataforma Arquitectura
& Alvaro Ramirez + Clarisa Elton

• Passive Ventilation – eliminating the need for a forced air system the shaded front living area naturally ducts cool air up thought the house and stairwell, then out the temperature sensitive skylights.
  
• Solar Energy – an array of 20 solar panels on the roof supply around 70% of the home's energy needs
  
• Photovoltaic Panels and Flat Plate Collectors – providing hot water to the water heater and subsequently the radiant heating system in the concrete floors. David says to heat the place, with these panels installed takes about as much energy as a 60w light bulb, all taken from his solar array.
  
• Vacuum tubing on the roof, which uses a parabolic collector to focus the sun’s rays, provides additional hot water
  
• Recycled FSC certified sustainable woods such as Ipe, Mahogany and Fir
  
• That Syndecrete®, a light-weight concrete that uses 41% recycled content - it also holds various pigments and textures to form furniture throughout the house, like the kitchen bench, table and bathroom sinks.
  
• Zero VOC paints
  
• High performance heat-mirror glazing
  
• The pool system uses an ionization and silver filter, eliminating the need for chlorine

via: Many thanks to Christina at Studio EA

Overview

"At the end of 2002 the clients approached us to design the house.
They wanted to build this new house next to their one, in the garden facing the lake, and they were after something typically razionalismo comasco, architecture of the thirties driven by architect Giuseppe Terragni. So they chose the project that best met their expectations, ours. The project's main idea gave the name to the building: casa del masso." Marco Castelletti.
The house, set on a steep slope above the street, can be clearly seen across the lake.
The building stands by the side of the client's old house designed by engineer Luciano Trolli in 1955, and it takes advantage of a little tract of flat land, as does the original residence.
The house is linked to the street by a long flight of steps which wind along the slope and down to the house, which is organised over two floors.

Layout
The composition is based on the intersection of two volumes:
The first - facing the lake, is an horizontal structure supported by pilotis houseing all the living and bedrooms.
The second - is vertical holding the staicase and the services rooms.

On the first floor the living room crosses the house and is directly connected with the slope behind. Here the presence of a erratic boulder, in italian language "masso" (here is where the name of the house comes), protrudes into the dwelling as the characterising element of the space, so that it seems that the house is anchored to the slope at this point.
The boulder can be seen through the glass floor of the living room.

From the parking area you reach the main entrance via a flight of steps or an elevator running on the side of the garden.
After reaching the main entrance a footpath covered by a overhanging volume introduces a little hall where you can see the landscape and the monuments of the city.
From here, a large staircase takes you to an atrium with the large glass window which frames the erratic boulder. The internal layout of the main dwelling faces the kitchen, the living room and some other rooms towards the lake, while bathrooms, services and the laundry are put towards the slope.

The materials used to build the house enhance the volumetric composition and the difference between the horizontal volume, suspended and completely covered by white marble dust plaster, and the vertical covered with a natural stone called Iragna, laid down in horizontal layers with different length and thickness.

The same stone was used for the external pavements, the main entrance staircase and the terrace floor on the highest level.

The large windows are divided in sliding parts with electrical rolling shutters made of aluminium.

Solar exposure is optimised wit hteh building orientated with its largest windows and rooms to the south, and services and bathrooms facing north.

ResultsThe clients were really satisfied of the project and followed all the phases of the building that, because of the particular nature of the steep land, involved many challenges.
The crane to build the house was placed on the slope with an helicopter used to transport heavy weights. None the less, the house was completed in seventeen months, from May 2003 to December 2004, as stipulated.


Slideshow

via: Studio di Architettura Marco Castelletti

Overview
The project is located on a small, 37 foot wide lot on a pedestrian only street in Venice, CA. Rather than create one solid object, David followed his residential design signature of two, two story units. The upper levels of the units seeming to float above minimal tilt up concrete walls and pillars of the lower levels. The two upper levels being attached by an open-air bridge. The larger of the structures is used as a residence while the other is used as an art studio and guest room over a garage.

The glazed panels, central to the floating effect are also large, sliding doors that conceal themselves so that the ground floor appears to be open to the exterior courtyards, thus blurring the definition of interior and exterior spaces. A large 2-story chimney wall frames the rear of the courtyard while blocking the overlooking 2-story neighbours. The exterior fireplace at the second floor flanks an outdoor sleeping porch and seating area off of the perforated breezeway bridge. Ipe, and black steel are used throughout the house to complement the Syndecrete® prefabricated concrete panels.

Walls on the first floor are intentionally held from touching the ceiling of the second floor to allow for a clear line of site over neighbouring residences and giving the illusion that the second story is floating above the first floor. These clerestory windows also bathe the lower level in light. The mass of the second floor elevations is divided into sections of positive and negative spaces that reinforce the destabilisation of the wall plane. Some of the vertical slices are specific to selective views of nearby palm trees.

A central floating stair divides the spaces and leads to a usable roof deck framed by high solid parapet walls providing privacy and strategically edited views of the distant landscape.

A continuous skylight, that opens to serve as a shaft to facilitate stack effect ventilation, frames the stairs that float from the ceiling of the second story. The exterior walls of the second story are covered in a smooth, steel trowel, integrally pigmented, stucco. These are connected seamlessly to the interior ceiling of the first floor, their continuation internally to form one single mass, further emphasises the weight of the "floating" block above.