élevé

The location of the project site next to a major thoroughfare and lush streetscape presents conflicting design opportunities and problems simultaneously for the two houses design. On one hand, a full height glazing envelop will allow unobstructed “free” views of the lush streetscape to complement the limited greenery space within the residential site. On the other hand, doing so will result in privacy and solar heat gain problems for the residents.

Instead of compromising one for the other, the design strategy proposes a hybrid façade system, comprising of one layer of full height glazing and a secondary layer of louvre screen. Contrary to a conventional homogeneous louvre density, which cuts off a consistent percentage of view out, an alternate varied louvre density is proposed to offer users different degrees of porosity including moments of unobstructed views.  The varying density of the louvre screen also cuts out direct public sightlines and solar rays into the houses.

A basic palette of louvre modules with different densities is used repeatedly with a simple multiplication rule to generate the overall density pattern. This is to achieve greater economies of scale of fabrication and simplicity of installation and keeping to the idea of using a simple design means to transform conflicting site opportunities and problems into a resource for enhancing the houses design and users’ experience.