August 6, 2010

villa mecklin ver. nina

The simplicity of the sloped section of villa mecklin made it really fun to rethink.  How would I have done the plan differently?  Of course I'm designing for myself and what was missing in the house was a separate study -- for our household, we just have to have a room for books/work/music...

Due to the limited images from the post, I had immediately imagined high ceiling roofs on my designated north facade for the ambient north light to pour in.  (Yea to southern facing roofs -- solar PVs!)

As a typical Cornellian, I've always loved water components and using its reflection to light up the inside of the room.  The water component should be great for the various angles of sunlight throughout the year.


The steps in the middle corridor of the original design is a lovely feature too. That tends to create a nice little spatial transition between the 2 regions of the house -- private sleeping quarters vs the entertainment region.  This reminds me of the Taiwanese villa by the Great Wall -- I remember walking through the criss-crossing transition corridor and it was just breathtakingly theatrical -- the heaviness of the heavy concrete in the private side opening up to the social quarters.  It also had a lovely skylight for the shower in the middle corridor.


Note: the scale of the plan is likely not a superb estimation especially in the bedrooms. I probably need to add another row of closets to widen the bedrooms to match the width of the kitchen, dining, living and study. But hey, who wouldn't want more storage space, eh?

Since I extended the plan lengthwise, especially with my wider middle corridor, the slanted roof may no longer make sense; the roof would then slope back down on the north facade...
Perhaps there would then be room for an attic eh? :)

On the other hand, the middle corridor could still remain narrower where the facilities can each be compartmentalized.  I wonder what that would look like...

No comments:

Post a Comment