The Hidden House Project by 123DV Modern Villas. A Study In Modern ECO Architecture.

The Netherland's 123DV Modern Villas entered Polish architecture firm Mode:Lina's competition in which they were asked to design an ECO house. The challenge was to design a standard residential home in a standard location that performs sustainably and 123DV Modern Villas came up with the Hidden House.

The project explained in their own words:
"In a time when words like sustainable, ecological and green are almost an obligation, they are often only used as a label. That is why one of our latest projects proved to be challenging, but also very exciting: we were asked to design an ECO House. Thanks to our friends from Mode:Lina we were involved in a Polish design competition.

The assignment was clear and simple: design a house for a standard family, on a standard location, but with a highly sustainable performance.




We had faced this topic before in previous projects, but it had not yet been used as core of the design. For this competition we were asked to be bold, to push to the boundaries of sustainability.




It took us several brainstorm sessions to find the right strategy, but at the end we all agreed on one thing: our answer to the question should be architectural. Since we are not engineers, biologists or scientists, we had to look at it from an architectural point of view: does the house contribute to the quality of daily life?





As architects, we deal with space, organization, shapes, light, materials… So we took a basic shape (rectangle), used an age-old natural and ecological recourse (geothermal heat) and combined the two.





The house is a rectangle of 28 by 9 by 4.3 meters that for two thirds has been plugged into the ground under an angle of 21 degrees! With one gesture, we created both a strong visual statement and a high performance energy standard.





Simple, strong and efficient, but not without consequence. We also had to deal with the psychological impact of living in a sloped house, underneath the ground and with little natural light.



The task wasn’t easy, but in the end I think we managed to transform the problems into opportunities and create a unique and special ECO house." - 123DV



About 123DV:
123DV designs and realizes modern villas. Their goal is to create a sense of home in a modern villa. They translate your story, tailored to your needs, into the modern form, with attention to detail.

123DV Modern Villas focuses on both architecture and interior. From product design to realization. Their disciplines include architecture and interior design - from kitchens to furniture.

123DV

New Underground Eco-friendly Hotel Bella Vista By Matteo Thun

We've seen a couple of very interesting eco-friendly, semi-submerged underground hotels and homes lately. (e.g. Villa Vals, The Underground home of Gary Neville)

And here's yet another one that I cant wait to see finished. Designed by architect and designer Matteo Thun, the latest KlimaHotel© in Bozen, Italy, is a redesign of the Bella Vista Trafoi, and is the first certified eco-friendly hotel that guarantees
 KlimaHotel© criteria and has a holistic approach to sustainability. In the catalog of criteria KlimaHotel© three pillars of sustainability are the concepts "nature" (Ecology), "Life" (socio-cultural aspects) and "Transparency" (Economy).

The design consists of 11 individual hostels built into the Italian hillside that utilize economical and ecological methods of heating, cooling and building. The project began in late 2009 and the new Bella Vista hotel is not expected to be up and running until 2011.



In this sense, the architecture of the new hotel BELLA VISTA reflects the local resources: it is the heart of the nature of the national parks around the Stelvio, with its towering mountains surrounding the city Trafoi, the hotel was built with materials from the immediate surrounding area. The architecture is fed by the local culture, interprets and proposes new solutions. Like the lives of local people is completely determined by the nature, followed by the architectural forms of nature and her contact simultaneously.



Bella Vista's dominance over the place transformed into a co-existence with the earth. Hence arises the architectural design of nature do not, but submits to her. BELLA VISTA so far has no dominant form, BELLA VISTA is the landscape itself - a soft, hilly terrain, which creates smooth forms in the meadows at the foot of the steeply rising mountain range Ortler place. At this location, the nature of their strength shows that the earth becomes a protective shell and thus the actual hostel.







above: Matteo Thun



images and information courtesy of Matteo Thun and casaclima

About Klima Hotels and Clima Houses:


A KlimaHotel helps the tourist to follow the path of sustainability - in all different phases of the project development, the project implementation and the realization of a welcoming structure. The quality seal acts as a guarantor of a secure and profitable investment. A KlimaHotel is also a guarantor for the guest - it not only establishes certain criteria relating to energy consumption, but extends this to the whole hotel life. The guest of a hotel with KlimaHotel-status is to guarantee the respect of nature. At the same time it is a unique and unforgettable vacation in the context of the nature of the direct environment of indigenous culture certainly. He has the opportunity to experience, tradition and customs of the place directly and coloration.

The evaluation is performed through a direct method of delivery points that correspond to achieve its sustainability goals in the related areas of legal proceedings.
 
The certification 
of accommodation facilities is based on the three pillars of sustainability: ecology, 
economy and socio-cultural aspects.

www.agenziacasaclima.it