30 Photos of The Spectacular Solis Home on Hamilton Island by Renato D'Ettorre Architects

This Hamilton Island house, known as Solis, was designed by Renato D’Ettorre Architects. Solis was created from concrete imprinted with a timber grain and the floors are a cool limestone to suit tropical living. The pool stretches almost to the living area for a relaxed holiday feel.




The residence is sculpted from concrete, stone, block work and glass resulting in a sequence of dramatic volumes incorporating airy living spaces and private sheltered outdoor zones.





An open living and environmentally integrated home on Hamilton Island, it’s all about tropical living.




Terraces are fluid extensions of internal spaces capturing cooling breezes. Swimming pools, reflection ponds and strategically positioned trickling waterfalls soothe both indoors and outdoors.
The house is also built to withstand the destructive forces of tropical cyclones. The client had asked for low maintenance materials – so concrete became the primary material.





The ready-made finish eliminates the need for render or paint, as well as lending the project an instant patina. Finishes such as polished concrete, unfilled honed travertine tiles and textured internal renders were selected for their durability and tactile qualities; the irresistible urge is to experience the house bare-feet whilst enjoying the touch of the smooth, cool stone.







The house is approached through an unremarkable, albeit leafy, suburban precinct. Down a steep driveway, the buggy garage frames the first views of the waters below and a hovering balcony reflection pond provides the first experience of the house.





An open living platform cut into the hill is separated by another reflection pond, while hovering above the sea and further living spaces below. The experience as you navigate the various levels of the house is of seemingly endless water encounters: reflection ponds, lily ponds, swimming ponds and constructed views of the azure ocean.






The house changes its mood on descent. The upper living areas are light-filled and airy, with little distinction between indoor and outdoor space. In fact, only a small section of this floor can be closed down by screens to provide security, particularly during tropical storms. The lower reaches of the house are more cavernous – cool bedroom chambers, again formed on the ocean views. The palette is concrete and travertine, designed for easy, maintenance-free, cool living in the tropics, while acting as a calm counterpoint to complex spatial and sculptural interactions.







Every level of this house, every turn and every vantage point provides enormous surprise and delight. Corners of the house float above the terraced landscape, garden terraces and nooks set into the hillside, which feature natural stone retaining walls and continuing encounters with water pools and ponds.

The house was the recipient of the House of the Year project at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2011 Central Queensland Regional Architecture Awards.

Team:
Architect: Renato D’Ettorre, Assistant Architect: Thomas Wagner, Interior Designer: Belinda Brown

Photographer Mads Mogensen
Architect Renato DEttorre Architects

Description and some images courtesy of dedece
additional images:
http://www.concrete.net.au/
http://www.australiandesignreview.com/designwall/2046-architecture-solis

Craig Steely's Island Sanctuary, The Lavaflow 7 House.

The Lavaflow 7 - Mayer/Penland House on the Big Island of Hawaii by San Francisco- based architect Craig Steely.




Located on five acres of dense Ohia forest, this cast-in-place concrete house frames indoor and outdoor living spaces along with views of the forest, the sky, and the coastline. It continues Steely's exploration of a reductive architecture that enhances the experience of living in this compelling environment.





The main feature of the house is a concrete beam, 140 foot long, 48 inch tall x 12 inch wide running the length of the building with only three short concrete walls supporting it along its massive span. The concrete beam allows for sizable spans of uninterrupted glass and covered outdoor space, creating a permeable edge between the man-made and nature, amplify the sensation of living in the Ohia forest.




Craig Steely was interviewed about the home by John Hill for American Architects who selected the Lavaflow 7 Home to represent Hawaii in their 50x50 project:

Can you describe your design process for the building?
The building is located in a dense Ohia forest. It was important to us to create a building that complements and embraces this environment. The main feature of the house is a 140 ft. long concrete beam with only three short walls supporting its massive span. The concrete beam allows for sizeable spans of uninterrupted glass and covered outdoor space, which creates a permeable edge between the man-made and nature. These huge expanses of openness amplify the sensation of living in the Ohia forest.

How does the building compare to other projects in your office, be it the same or other building types?
It continues our exploration of a reductive architecture that enhances the experience of living in Hawaii.

How does the building relate to contemporary architectural trends, be it sustainability, technology, etc.?
The thinness of the house provides passive cooling through cross ventilation allowing for the elimination of mechanical air conditioning, consistent and diffused light quality in the rooms through out the day, and a view of the forest, sky, and ocean from every room. Other sustainable features include a rainwater catchment system that supplies all water used along with a solar heating system for domestic hot water. A loose distribution of spaces around the few solid walls creates a house that is equally open in all directions and welcomes nature in.

Are there any new/upcoming projects in your office that this building’s design and construction has influenced?
Certainly. Each project we do builds on where the last left off. Emily’s house on Maui and our Philippine Eagle Lodge on Mindanao in the Philippines are two where I see the most obvious influence.

How would you describe the architecture of Hawaii and how does the building relate to it?
I find inspiration from the simple single wall houses that have existed for the past 100 years on these islands. They are reductive in nature, satisfying the basic requirements for shelter in this climate – while focusing on the beauty and bounty of the tropics. These vernacular buildings, essentially open spaces, are cooled by the trade winds and cross ventilation. They use a large roof that shades from the sun and protects from the rain. I think the majority of contemporary Hawaiian architecture has forgotten these things, using air conditioning and more conventional mainland building processes. With each of our buildings we are trying to turn back this process and reengage modern life with the island environment.




Lavaflow 7 - Mayer/Penland House, 2013
Pahoa, Big Island, Hawaii

Client: Craig Mayer and Richard Penland
Architect: Craig Steely Architecture, San Francisco, CA
Design Principal: Craig Steely
Project Team: Luigi Silverman, Mary Barensfeld, Chris Talbot
Structural Engineer: Ray Keuning
Concrete Contractor: Michael Lynch
Contractor Supervision: James Johnson
Site Area: 5 acres
Building Area: 3,100 sf
Photographs: Bruce Damonte
Renderings: Craig Steely Architecture

Tepoztlan Lounge Bungalow by Cadaval & Sola-Morales

The Tepoztlan Lounge designed by Barcelona-based Cadaval & Solà-Morales is a new communal residential development which will consist of 15 bungalows in total when the project is complete. This is the first to be finished and has already won the 2012 BIAU (Ibero-American Architecture Bienal) Prize.




The concrete lounge is sculpted into the landscape - housing an open bar and kitchenette, living areas and dressing rooms - with its layout even incorporating two trees. Each of the bungalows will be different. 'We will work almost as artisans, finding the spots for every bungalow and doing a unique design for each of them,' says Eduardo Solà-Morales.






Tepoztlan, is a small town nestled between rocky cliffs located to the south of Mexico City, 50 kilometers away from the vibrant metropolis. With its well preserved historic center and wild countryside, Tepoztlan is a town of legends and deep cultural roots that has been appreciated by writers, poets, artists and musicians over many decades, turning it into their hometown or weekend retreat. Located in this incredible context and surrounded by an astonishing landscape, the Tepoztlan Lounge is the first building completed of a larger project that also includes a series of bungalows of different sizes and designs, which can be rented by years, months or days. The lounge is set to be a central communal space for leisure in nature, and is located in the perimeter of an incredible lawn; the idiosyncrasy of the project relies on enabling the experience of the carefully manicured lawn while promoting the experience of the wild nature existing in the boundaries of this central space. The project is a negotiation between interior and exterior, a construction of an in between condition, an inhabitable threshold, which becomes the main space of the project; the limits between the open and the content space merge to produce a single architectural entity.





The design establishes three separate living quarters designed in accordance to the 3 activities planned; each of them is a set space defined by its use, but also by a very clear and simple architectural container: the first holds an open bar with a kitchenette, together with a couple of restrooms and dressing rooms; the second is a play area for children that can also be used as a reading room when temperatures drop at night; and finally the largest container is the living area, an enclosed, tempered and comfortable space for conversation, TV, etcetera. But it is the desire to give continuity between these three separate areas where the project is empowered and becomes meaningful; a continuous space, in full contact with the nature but protected from its inclemency is set up not only to expand the enclosed uses, but also to allow new activities to arise.





And it is through the definition of this central space, through the definition of its shape, that the contiguous courtyards are defined; those are as essential to the project as it is the built architecture, and allows constructing as a whole, single spatial experience. At the same time that the three built containers give continuity to the central space by mans of their use and space, the adjacent patios qualify it, while providing diversity and idiosyncrasy to open space. The design of the swimming pool is part of this same intervention, and responds to the desire to characterize the spaces; its formalization necessarily resonates the layout of the lounge, while incorporating to its nature the possibility of a multiplicity of ways of using water, and plunging on it.





The building is located as a plinth valuing the views of the mountains. The building wants to be respectful to the existing context, and understands that the vegetation and life at open air are the real protagonist. Two impressive trees that are in place are incorporated within the layout of the lounge, as if they were part of the program itself. The Tepoztlan Lounge is constructed in concrete not just for being a inexpensive and labor intensive material in Mexico and to minimize its maintenance, but also to expose its structural simplicity and neutrality towards the astonishing nature.



Project Data:
Name of the project: Tepoztlán Lounge.
Name of the Office: Cadaval & Solà-Morales.
Project: Eduardo Cadaval & Clara Solà-Morales.
Collaborators: Eugenio Eraña Lagos, Tomas Clara, Manuel Tojal.
Structural Engineering: Ricardo Camacho de la fuente.
Location: Tepoztlán, Morelos, México.
Área: 250sqm.
Photos: © Diego Berruecos, © Sandra Pereznieto, © Cadaval & Solà-Morales