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Sanjay Gangal
Sanjay Gangal is the President of IBSystems, the parent company of AECCafe.com, MCADCafe, EDACafe.Com, GISCafe.Com, and ShareCG.Com. House Studio Camp O in New York by MARIA MILANS I STUDIOMay 6th, 2020 by Sanjay Gangal
Article source: MARIA MILANS I STUDIO The Catskills are part of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York characterized by their forests and the great amount of water in the form of rivers, creeks and reservoirs. This region’s landscape inspired the Hudson River School during the mid 19th century1,2; under their three themes “discovery, settlement and exploration” their paintings depict the wild and changing beauty of these deciduous trees environments.  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano
 Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano The house is located In the middle of the Catskills’ preserved land, in a 15-Acre site at an elevation of 2,550 feet. Very tall oak, birch and maple trees flank a small driveway that ends in a small-sloped clearing4,5,6,18. This clearing was done during the winter of 1999 to donate firewood to the neighbors to help them get through the freezing winter. The difficult access to the site favors the use of wood as the main building material due to its abundance, low cost, lightness and ease of manipulation and transportation. The most common roofing system seen here is the double pitched roof due to its efficacy to keep water and snow away from the building envelope3. Lastly, in order to prevent having wood in direct contact with the ground it is common to see either a foundation built out of concrete walls or having an open wooden structure over sonotubes, letting water flow underneath.  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano MATERIAL RESTRAINT – EARTH, WOOD AND WATER This house-studio is the result of combining three materials: earth, wood and water. The floor and walls that are in direct contact with the ground are built out of concrete (cement, aggregates and water)8. We use wood in different forms both in the interior and exterior of the house. Inside, we use exposed PSL ribs and douglasfir plywood sheathing, joists, studs and girders9. The façade is a cedar rain screen treated with “Shou Sugi Ban”, a Japanese wood-charring technique that protects cedar from water, fire and insects and doesn’t require maintenance. The wood acquires an iridescent texture10 reflecting the light and colors through all seasons and different times of the day. Furthermore, the weathering of the façade tunes in with the surrounding landscape, constantly attuned with the woods. The second story floor and all surfaces in bathrooms and kitchen are covered with Viroc, a composite material built out of cement and wood fiber encompassing good thermal lag, water resistance and little expansion and contraction through time, key qualities to get the most out of the house’s radiant floor system and wet rooms.  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano We achieved virtually no impact on the site as the housestudio is located in the existing clearing and the existing driveway is minimally conditioned with bluestone gravel. Since there is a noticeable slope and to take advantage of the house’s location, instead of the standard double pitch roof13 and a square footprint seen in this area we build a long volume (24 x 58 feet footprint) in which the first 24 feet pitches towards one side, having the ridge to the West side and the eave to the East side; the following 34 feet have a single pitch roof sloping towards the opposite side; this is as if a standard house would have been cut in half and we would have located one half right after the other14,15. Since the site has a 10% slope along the driveway (North-South) and a 20% slope perpendicular to the driveway (East-West), we build a concrete slab and a U-shaped retaining wall that opens up towards the opposite side of the driveway, facing the best views of Wildcat Mountain and the valley17.  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano There are big temperature swings year-round and between day and night in this area as well as strong North-South winds and intense sun exposure during the spring and summer months. In order to maximize the interior comfort of the house and minimize its energy consumption we locate most openings on the East and West facades achieving cross ventilation along the house, maximizing the house exposure to sun’s radiation and protecting the North and South facades from the dominant winds. We build a rainscreen with all the insulation on the outside of the house envelope achieving a continuous insulated surface, minimizing thermal bridges and obtaining good thermal lag even though it is wood construction. We also install a radiant floor system supplemented by a fireplace on the coldest side of the house.  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano As we approach the site through the driveway, we see the South façade of the house with its only opening, the front door. As we enter into the building, the interior circulation is designed to mimic the experience of approaching the site, entering through a narrow and long space with indirect light coming from the staircase (the driveway) and where bedrooms and bathrooms are located in two stories. At the end of this corridor the space opens up to a double height space (the clearing), being at 22 feet its highest point and 16 feet its lowest. This space houses living, dining, an open kitchen and a studio, framing the view to the mountain towards the West side and the tree tops towards the East side. The structural rhythm is 4’, 8’, 4’… Using the 4 feet spans to locate doors towards the West and operable windows towards the East side; and the 8 feet spans for fixed glass openings framing the views.  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano Three openings and two pitched roofs16. The first large opening brings indirect light to the staircase and the main entrance on the ground floor, as well as opening to a bird’s eye view of the mountains from the master bedroom. The other two large openings flank the double height space showing two views of the site that are very different from each other: the mountaintop on the West side and the woods on the East side. The experience of this space changes through the day, receiving natural light from different sides from sunrise to sunset as well as throughout the year, with the radical change of the surrounding landscape each season, changing the experience of the materiality of the house with the different light exposures, leafiness and the forest’s colors11,12. The building becomes a resonance box that intensifies the experience of the outdoors indoors: Its insertion into the site, its volumetry and its materiality express the site’s calling into matter.  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © Montse Zamorano  Image Courtesy © MARIA MILANS I STUDIO  Image Courtesy © MARIA MILANS I STUDIO
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Tags: New York Categories: House, Private House, Residential |
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