Tag: pine architecture

This Modern Pine Home Takes Inspiration from Traditional Barn Raisings

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

Mountain House by Amalgam Studio

Traditional barn raising, the process by which communities come together to assemble a timber frame barn, informed the process of constructing a beautiful new home made of pine near Rhinebeck, New York.

“Much like the traditional community barn-raising events of the past, the entire timber structure of the home was raised as ‘bent’ frames in one day,” says Manhattan-based architecture firm Amalgam Studio of the project.

Mountain House by Amalgam Studio Modern Pine Mountain House by Amalgam Studio Modern Pine 5

Tasked with creating a spacious 5,000-square-foot family home with a small environmental footprint on an elevated site in the lush Hudson River Valley, the architects wanted a design that’s thoroughly modern in its feel and functionality without sticking out like a sore thumb in the idyllic rural area.

Mountain House by Amalgam Studio Modern Pine 2 Mountain House by Amalgam Studio Modern Pine 3

Their solution was to mimic the shape of the area’s barns with a low, rectangular plan, pine-clad walls and a gabled roof.  For warmth, richness and sustainability, Amalgam Studio chose to wrap the entire facade in pine slats infused with bio-based liquid to make it stronger and more insect resistant. They left the wood unpainted and unstained so it will weather over time, just like those barns.

“It was applied as a rain screen to all outside walls and also covers the roofs, using a unique, innovative clip system to the standing seams of roof sheeting – a first in North America,” the architects note.

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This roof is punctuated with skylights to give the interiors a light and airy feel. Wide expanses of glass on the longer sides of the home enable sweeping views of the landscape, and some of these windows can be covered with louvers for privacy.

All photos by Oliver Mint

Pine, Inside and Out: Pinwheel-Shaped Modern Cabin Frames Wintry Views

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

Pinwheel Cabin

Now here’s some cool modern cabin style! Clad in pine inside and out, this compact residence by Mork Ulnes Architects features a pinwheel-shaped plan to frame four different views of the wintry landscape. Not only does this result in a highly unusual house shape, it gives each individual wing of home additional privacy along with its own private outdoor space.

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Measuring just 940 square feet and surrounded by towering pines, this home outside Oslo was designed as a retreat for a geologist and his family. The architects explain that “Mylla Hytte” takes its shape from the forces of the landscape around it.

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“Though planning regulations required a gable roof, Mylla splits the gable in half to create four shed roofs that radiate in a pinwheel configuration. Two sheltered outdoor spaces are created which are protected from the wind and from snow shed. The exterior is clad simply with untreated heart pine planks, which register the seasons as it grays and weathers with time.”

“The compact interior, finished in plywood and unified with a continuous roof canopy, can house up to ten people across three dedicated bedrooms and two full bathrooms. Custom plywood furniture, including bed frames, bunk beds, couch, dining table, benches and shelves are found throughout.”

“The wings of the house engage four distinct characters of the landscape: the great room looks onto Mylla Lake, the guest room looks toward the rolling hillside, the kids’ room looks up at the sky, and the bedroom has a private view of the towering forest beyond.”

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It’s always cool to see how different architects interpret pine and all of its possibilities, and there’s no denying that the material really shines in this simple yet playful form.

House in the Vineyard: A Minimalist White Pine Showcase in Spain

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

shelter in the vineyard 1

Conceived as a series of pine boxes visually connected to the pine forest outside, this modern home in Spain frames its striking wooden interiors like works of art. That’s fitting, because they pretty much are. Designed by architect Ramón Esteve, the home is set in a vineyard in Fontanars dels Alforins, Spain on the outskirts of an urban area. Esteve says he took the traditional typology of the rural house with a gable roof and applied it to “a new spatial concept.”

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The result is unlike anything you’ve ever seen: a monolithic cathedral-like volume with a concrete exterior shell and high, pine-lined ceilings. The interiors are interspersed with individual pine-clad volumes holding various private spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms, each one feeling like a showcase of wood – warm and yet minimalist.

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The furniture, cabinets and fireplace surrounds are made of the same pine, all custom-crafted for the project. A large, open-air room on one end creates a breezeway effect, with views of the forest in one direction and the vineyard in the other.

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“Environmentally, it follows the guidelines of a passive house. It has suitable means to take advantage of renewable energies through the use of panels for solar collection, energy supply from biomass or the collection and sustainable storage of rainwater suitable for consumption,” says Esteve.

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“The access to the plot is a path wrapped in olive trees. In the background you can see the house, hidden among clusters of cypresses, poplars and pines. The entrance to the house is through one of the boxes. The central concrete space forms a common fluid area to which the rest of the rooms turn and is presided over  a large chimney. Inside, the views are framed in the pine volumes that invades the central space. When conceived as a second residence, both the boxes and the porches are completely closed when the house is not inhabited.”

Dramatic Black Exterior Contains a Cozy Modern Pine Cabin

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

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Black-painted building exteriors certainly aren’t for everyone. But what some onlookers might characterize as harsh, dark, drab or even creepy, others find stylish and soothing, a beautiful contrast against the vivid greens and blues of the forest and sky. The striking black exterior of this modern cabin, with its asymmetrical silhouette and seemingly impenetrable facade, is a bit intimidating from the outside. But check out the interiors, and you might just fall in love.

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From the outset, architects Ruca Proyectos had their work cut out for them. The cabin is set within the a forest outside Coyhaique in Chilean Patagonia along the River Simpson, and would have to stand up to year-round harsh conditions, including heavy rainfall, severe cold and lots of snow, even in spring and autumn. They raised ‘La Quimera House’ off the ground to protect it, and painted it black to help it absorb and retain warmth from sunlight.

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Inside, the house is made almost entirely of local pine wood, which covers the walls, floors and ceilings and makes up much of the furniture, including a line of built-in bunk beds. You wouldn’t guess from the photos, but every choice the architects made was based on the clients’ low budget, scarce labor availability and a lack of modern building technology in the area. Much of the pine you see in these photos is grooved plywood.

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With all that warm pine and floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the mountains, this sweet modern cabin in the woods manages to feel pretty luxurious. It’s a beautiful testament to what you can achieve when you think creatively, even if you don’t have a lot of funds to work with.

The Definition of Cool: Angled Pine Facade Adds Modern Style & Shade

Posted on by S.A. Rogers

pine facade 1

Here’s an example of an architectural project using pine lumber in an extraordinarily simple yet beautiful way. The ‘Green Pine Garden’ by Scenic Architecture started out as an old factory building with a less-than-attractive exterior, located close to a highway. Not only did it need a serious facelift, but the clients wanted more privacy, shade and a sense of separation from the noise and activity of the road.

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The solution didn’t require expensive materials or prolonged labor. It’s natural, recyclable, efficient and high-impact. And, it’s part of a growing trend that renovates existing structures by adding a secondary envelope that can easily be removed or updated down the line.

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The architects created a buffer space between the new facade and the original structure, topped with glass, to bring in natural daylight while preserving privacy and keeping it cooler inside. This reduces the need for air conditioning and creates the opportunity for strategic views looking out onto a park newly planted with hundreds of juvenile trees.

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The facade itself is made from simple local pine battens arranged in angled planes inspired by tectonics, giving the building a more dynamic and visually interesting visual effect.

The Definition of Cool: Angled Pine Facade Adds Modern Style & Shade

Posted on by Jeff Easterling

pine facade 1

Here’s an example of an architectural project using pine lumber in an extraordinarily simple yet beautiful way. The ‘Green Pine Garden’ by Scenic Architecture started out as an old factory building with a less-than-attractive exterior, located close to a highway. Not only did it need a serious facelift, but the clients wanted more privacy, shade and a sense of separation from the noise and activity of the road.

pine facade 2

The solution didn’t require expensive materials or prolonged labor. It’s natural, recyclable, efficient and high-impact. And, it’s part of a growing trend that renovates existing structures by adding a secondary envelope that can easily be removed or updated down the line.

pine facade 3 pine facade 5

The architects created a buffer space between the new facade and the original structure, topped with glass, to bring in natural daylight while preserving privacy and keeping it cooler inside. This reduces the need for air conditioning and creates the opportunity for strategic views looking out onto a park newly planted with hundreds of juvenile trees.

pine facade 4

The facade itself is made from simple local pine battens arranged in angled planes inspired by tectonics, giving the building a more dynamic and visually interesting visual effect.