pine architecture Archives - Page 3 of 7

Knotty Pine Creates a Contrast with Clear Poplar Plywood in This Wooden Studio

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Jeff Easterling

Every piece of wood is unique, bearing its own markings that tell the story of how and where it grew. Pine lumber with plenty of knots has some of the best character of any species, and it’s always fun to see how people use it. In this case, it’s given all the more visual interest in contrast with a much smoother, almost marking-free plywood.

Architecture firm Madeiguincho created this unusual structure as a reception and studio for a wood supplier called Diagonal Proporcional. In tribute to the company’s name, they made the building a little asymmetrical, with four defining diagonal lines.

“The 90º degree angle as the pinnacle of the project. We chose to work the model as a sculpture and object, so after many studies we reached the final geometrical shape. Since its a reception and studio we decided to let it be very minimalistic in order to let the decoration take place and fill the space as needed and as versatile possible according to the different situations.”

“The material was supposed to be resistant since it will have many hours of sun exposure, also the Portuguese climate is very hot in the summer so it needs a good insulation and no openings to the south side. The floor it’s all in Viroc panels with a matte varnish.The vertical walls are in poplar plywood to have the look of wood but still ‘clean’ in contrast with the angular walls that are in pine and have many knots.”

Those angular walls are really what make the structure stand out, both in terms of their shape and material. Don’t you think the pine brings a gorgeous natural pattern to the space?

This Cool Timber Home Features an Unusual Layout

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Jeff Easterling

When it comes to vacation homes, the outside is just as important as what’s inside. Indoor/outdoor spaces and outdoor living areas let us enjoy the setting, whether it’s the woods, the beach, a ski resort or a quaint village. The more decks, terraces and porches, the better, right?

A family retreat with an unusual look offers a brilliant balance between bright, cheerful and comfortable indoor areas for family gatherings and all the outdoor space you could ask for. Designed by Austin architecture firm Low Design Office, the 2900-square-foot home features a wrap-around second floor deck, a third floor terrace with views of the woods and several covered areas under the house. All that, and it was completed on a tight budget.

“River House” has its primary living areas elevated one story above the ground. The slatted timber volumes it sits on provide storage and give the home the feel of a treehouse. Low Design Office designed and built it for three siblings who wanted to use it as a gathering point for their families on the Guadalupe River Floodway in Texas, so the design is functional in other ways, too. It’s made of wood sourced from local timber suppliers.

“The house is comprised of two generic rectangular forms rotated to weave around existing trees while maintaining river views. The rotated geometries act upon one another, defining living space and carving out porches in a fashion that strengthens both the connection between the two volumes (guest bedrooms and main living spaces) and the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces.”

“Floor to ceiling sliding glass doors and exterior glazing over hardi panel serve as the connecting elements, wrapping the living space with transparency at the interior while reflecting nature at the exterior. Clerestory windows in the double height living space look onto a rooftop deck outside the ‘kids’ loft at the floor above. Serving as the builder for the project, we took advantage of deals on materials where we could find them; all the interior wood finishes are off the shelf products from lumber suppliers, and we collaborated with small Texas shops for affordable windows and sliding glass doors.”

Creative Cabin Facade Made of Logs Transforms When it Snows

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Jeff Easterling

Skigard Hytte Cabin facade summer

Have you ever seen a cabin that looks quite like this? Diagonal siding is pretty rare as it is, but for a modern getaway in Kvitfjell, Norway, Mork-Ulnes Architects created something that’s even more unusual than it appears at first glance.

The Skigard Hytte Cabin sits at the top of a mountain about 3,100 feet above sea level. Its high altitude and exposure means it gets a lot of snow in the winter, and as far as its owners are concerned, that’s not a bad thing. From November through April, they can put on downhill skis to reach the local market and return home using ski lifts, or use cross country skis to access hundreds of miles of trails leading to country lodges.

Skigard Hytte Cabin mountaintop

The rough facade of the cabin is made of skigard, a quarter-cut log traditionally laid out diagonally by Norwegian farmers as fencing. Not only does it help the cabin blend into its forested environment, it has a transformational quality. In the winter, the gaps in the siding fill with snow to give it a “new and softer expression.”

Skigard Hytte Cabin facade detail

Skigard Hytte Cabin snowy landscape

Skigard Hytte Cabin snow

“The grass top of the cabin also recalls the traditional sod roofs, common on rural log houses in Scandinavia until the late 19th century. Listed by the local planning regulations as one of the few materials allowed for roofs (in addition to slate or wood), the fuzzy top, moving with the wind, helps soften the otherwise rigid rectilinear geometry of the cabin. The cabin has a regular plan – an enfilade sequence of rooms in a row, following a central corridor – called Trønderlån in the Trøndelag region of Norway where Casper’s mother was born.”

Skigard Hytte Cabin grass roof

“The architects have designed several other buildings on piers or raised foundations, like Moose Road (constructed on steel stilts to avoid severing tree roots) and Trollhus (lifted on concrete legs to protect it from snow), where they learned that it was an effective way of dealing with high snowdrifts and not needing to shovel the house out when the snow accumulates around doors and windows. Here, they decided to raise the cabin not just to have some protection from the elements while maximizing natural light and views, but also because they didn’t want to ruin the terrain with the earthwork required for a conventional foundation.”

Skigard Hytte Cabin pine interior

Skigard Hytte Cabin verandah

Plus, almost every surface inside and out is clad in wood. Inside, “light and smooth solid pine paneling creates an intimate and cozy feel, offering few distractions to take the eyes away from nature outside.” All of the cabinetry and custom furniture is also made of pine, as is the open portal-like verandah in the center of the house.

Vertical Pine Gives This Fun Home Addition a Modern Look

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Jeff Easterling

Green House FAB Architects

Here’s an architectural style you don’t see paired with more traditional houses very often. In the UK, it’s become popular in recent years to add extensions to row houses that might be more than two centuries old, extending the homes into their fenced back gardens. But this one stands out from all the rest for its unusual proportions and vertical pine siding.

Pine siding detail

Designed by FAB Architects, the Croydon extension “reinvigorates” the existing house to create more space for a growing family. Fittingly, it has a playful, youthful feel. The simplicity of its shapes and the natural tones of the wood provide a nice contrast against the older white home.

Green House interior pine battens

Green House FAB Architects modern pine

“The design extends the living space, creating a high vaulted space at the rear drawing with porthole windows bringing much-needed light into the open-plan kitchen and dining area. Arched openings are used to obscure structural elements whilst serving to zone the space into a cook, eat and play. Timber cladding inside and out adds definition to the simple, playful geometries which are designed to excite and inspire the client’s children.”

Green House modern vertical pine siding

The interiors are just as striking. We especially love how they carried the vertical pine inside, laying battens against the finished drywall to create a striped pattern. It’s a creative use of affordable materials that are easy to find locally!

Cantilevered Modern Home Clad in Pine

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Jeff Easterling

Slenio Villa cantilevered modern pine home

Pine is one of the most popular choices for modern architecture and interior design. This dramatically cantilevered contemporary home shows off the versatility of this natural, sustainable material.

Clad entirely in vertical pine, “Valley Villa” is a residence located in Vilnius, Lithuania by architecture firm Arches. The clients wanted a relaxing residence highlighting the beauty of the surrounding hilly landscape. The elongated gabled shape of the house paired with the simple, streamlined siding gives it an angular look that perfectly complements the contours of the land.

Slenio Villa pine outside Slenio Villa from back

The ground floor, covered in black shale, is tucked into the earth toward the back of the home, while the upper story juts out into the air to make the most of the views. Pine louvers shade parts of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Slenio Villa pine detail

“Just a few hundred meters from the busy city street, you will find yourself in a unique park setting. Peace and harmony of nature. This sensation is further enhanced by the natural valley, the old ragweed. Sunny slope of the valley. The rainforest. The site of a former wooden homestead. Regional Park Area. Limitations of the architectural expression of the area and the clients’ vision to live in a modern house are the main starting points. How do you balance all of this?”

“The proposed solution maximally retreats to the sunny slope of the forest. The new volume is being designed at the site of the former homestead. The existing slope and all valuable trees on the site are preserved. The building “hangs” above the valley, opening into continuous windows. The plinth floor partially hides the slope. Thanks to its black slate finish, it thrives in the shadows of the forest. Only the ground floor volume is finished with natural wood. The laconic, sculptural form of the volumes interprets the silhouette of a traditional gable house. Volume partitioning, changing volume shapes, humane proportions, the harmony of glass and wood create the impression of lightness. Internal spaces echo volume shapes. The seamless natural finish of the façade and roof creates a sense of form integrity. Material and colorful, the building is set against the backdrop of a forest and a slope.”

Slenio villa vertical pine siding Slenio Villa modern pine house

“Volume splitting creates micro spaces – yards. It is a house in nature. Therefore, all the main premises have exits to outdoor spaces – patios. They are located at different levels. Creates a sense of immediacy and privacy, allowing you to enjoy both the morning and evening sun. The first floor cantilevered volume creates a covered patio. The first floor showcase is partially covered with vertical wooden blinds. They protect the building from overheating, make the façade lively and become an integral part of the interior. To minimize intervention in the natural valley, a lawn and natural granite access to the building have been designed. Only a narrow track is exhibited. The plot is surrounded by a maximum openwork metal fence, existing trees are preserved. Exclusively natural finishes have been selected for consistency. The main volume finishing material is Kebony treated pine wood. It is an attempt to interpret the traditional wooden Lithuanian farmhouse building.”

Bookworm Cabin: A Pine Home Away From Home in the Forest

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Jeff Easterling

Bookworm cabin view

If you had your very own vacation cabin designed to maximize your reading enjoyment, how could you ever leave? “The Bookworm Cabin” is exactly what it sounds like, a home away from home surrounded by peaceful natural scenery with interiors that prioritize plenty of bookshelves and natural light.

Designed and built by its owners, Bartlomiej Kraciukand and Marta Puchalska-Kraciuk, the 377-square-foot cabin is located about 31 miles outside Warsaw, Poland. The couple took inspiration from both the forest and nearby sand dunes for the design, which features a dramatic sloping roofline.

Bookworm Cabin exterior

While being immersed in nature is enough for some people, interior designer Puchalska-Kraciuk wanted to make sure she wouldn’t get bored.

“I just loved staring at this landscape – but how long can you do that for?” She told Dwell. “Maybe longer if you are indoors facing a big window, sitting on a comfy chair. Still, how long can you endure this? That’s when the idea to fill it with books came in. That way one can sit, stare, and have a reason for it – the reason being reading a book.”

Bookworm Cabin shutters

Bookworm Cabin interior

The Bookworm Cabin features a pine and spruce exterior and one wall that consists almost entirely of glass doors and windows, with two enormous shutters that can close to protect it when the owner aren’t there. The 16-foot ceiling lets light stream into both the main level and the loft. The cast-iron wood stove, an Iwaki model by Invicta, acts as a focal point inside – at least, if you can tear yourself away from the views.

Bookworm Cabin kitchen

Pine was used throughout the interiors as well, even in places you might not expect at first glance. The custom-made pine plywood cabinetry was “hand-impregnated” with micro cement to give it a unique finish. See more photos and get additional details at Dwell.