ARCHITECTURAL RESOLUTIONS

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Hideaki Ariizumi, Glynis Berry — studio a/b architects

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DIFFUSING (Reflective) HUT 

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Project

Small house for a residence/office/personal gallery,

29’ x 29’ square plan with a loft and detached garage.

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The site is in a coastal, woody, older subdivision of cottages on tiny lots.   The houses are closely hemmed in by boats, sheds, shrubs, fences, grills, and garden furniture. No calming, exterior views are expected at the first-floor level. Can any wall/window combination create new interior-exterior relationships? After several “skin/opening” explorations, we decided to shift the design focus from “experience of visions” to “physical light reflections”. 

The first floor is more enclosed, with only a few windows, but providing an expansive volume and large wall area for art display.  While the first floor became an internal, reflective space, the loft level resembles a crow’s nest with distant views of waters amidst the treetops.

Sunlight will be harvested from the loft level. The sunlight reflects off a light shelf onto the curved ceiling, which diffuses light to the ground floor. East and west walls have small windows placed to inject indirect light onto the north wall.  Under the curved, reflective ceiling, storage cabinets are silhouetted. Translucent railings between the cabinets filter the direct sunlight. The indirect light fills the space smoothly, evenly, calmly. And, occasionally, an unexpected light scene appears on the ceiling and walls.  A single box house became an experimental sunlight observatory.

The simple form fits a passive house strategy, which provided a highly-energy efficient building. 

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Project Information

  1. Project Type: Residential Single Family
  2. Project name: Diffusing (Reflective) Hut
  3. Project location: East Marion, NY
  4. Project Completion date: July 2021
  5. Architecture Team: Firm Name: Hideaki Ariizumi, Glynis Berry (studio a/b architects)
  6. Owner: architects own
  7. Contractor:                                                                         Chris Kyprianou, 631 885 5452
  1. Construction: 2×4 (double wall) platform, cathedral roof/ceiling with curvilinear collar ties; partial 2 story with a full basement.
  2. Thermal Construction: Roof Ceiling:       Closed cell spray foam + Mineral wool Batt Hybrid total R49

               Wall:                        Closed cell spray foam + Mineral wool Batt Hybrid total R48.9

               Basement wall:                  External mineral wool Board R12

               Under slab:         Rigid insulation R10

               Windows:             Alpen ZR-6/625, U=0.19, SHGC=0.24

               Swing Doors:      Alpen TR-6, U=0.17, SHGC=0.24

  10. Finishes: Exterior: Aluminum panels on roof, wall

                                      Interior Ceiling, wall:     GWB

                                      Interior Floor:                      Oak flooring, stained

  1. Building Area: House:                             841.00               sq. ft.

                                                Porch & Deck:    79.06                sq. ft.

                                                Garage:             380.23               sq. ft.

                                                TOTAL:              1,300.29            sq. ft.

  1. Floor area: 1 FL + Loft (2nd Floor) = 1,050        ft.
  2. Height: 2 story, 21.1 ft

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Small house for a residence/office/personal gallery, 29’ x 29’ square plan with a loft. A detached garage.

The site is in a coastal, woody, older subdivision of cottages on tiny lots. The houses are closely hemmed in by other’s boats, sheds and fences.

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There are no enjoyable views on the first floor. Challenge: How to create interior-exterior relationships that differ from the usual openings focused on views? Can we develop a different wall/window combination? Can any building skin configuration provide different in-out connections?

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After several “skin” explorations, we decided to shift the design from focusing on “visions” to “light reflections”. Harvesting the sunlight from the large openings upstairs, the ceiling surface reflects and diffuses the light down to the first floor. The first floor is more enclosed, has only a few windows, providing an expansive volume, large wall area for art display and privacy. The first floor became an internal, reflective space, while the loft resembles a crow’s nest with distant views of waters amidst the treetops.

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Small square foundation is still large on a tiny lot.

Circular ceiling framed with curvilinearly cut rafter ties, above double stud walls.

Sheetrock combined walls and ceiling, comb like cabinets on the Loft let lights go through. Indirect Light fills the space, corner to corner, very evenly.

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Once in a while, however, an unexpected light scene appears on the backdrop.

The light marks on the ceiling are reflected from the light shelf out of the window.

Receiving a winter low light directly, translucent railing panels made a message.

A small west window casts a line of light across the wall to the east window.

One of “Skin” scheme window configuration is adopted.

South windows on the first floor

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South windows on the first floor

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Windows on the loft. A glass door opens to a balcony.

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The light shelf reflects the south light into the loft. The balcony on top of kitchen entry also reflects the light through the glass door. 

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ARCHITECTURAL RESOLUTIONS

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Hideaki Ariizumi, Glynis Berry — studio a/b architects 

Visual & text content courtesy of studio a/b architects.

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DIFFUSING (Reflective) HUT 

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