Tom Kundig's Sublime House - "The Brain"
On Saturday I was hanging around the architecture section of my local Barnes & Noble, looking for something new. I found a nice book on houses by Tom Kundig of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects. I also just caught this post on Shedworking covering several of the firm's brilliant cabin-like houses.
I resisted buying the book, though I'd really like to have it. It's very nice and Kundig's work is amazing. The house on the cover, Chicken Point Cabin, has been shown everywhere, and for good reason. It's pretty spectacular, and that giant, tilting window and the unusual mechanical folly for opening it are sublime.
Visiting the OSKA site, I found that the house I liked most wasn't one of the groovy cabins I'd spotted in a lot of the blogs and architecture mags. I was taken by the "The Brain," a fascinating concrete monolith built for a filmmaker.
That's wonderful. I love the way the house rests on its site, half hidden, with creeping vines growing all over it. I hate big ugly garages hanging off the side of a house, parasitic, distorting proportions, so I was delighted to see this house with the garages tucked neatly underneath, buried into the slope of the landscape. No yard either - excellent!
"The form is essentially a cast-in-place concrete box, intended to be a strong yet neutral background that provides complete flexibility to adapt the space at will." - OSKA site
The austere concrete exterior belies a more playful space inside: wonderful bookshelves (just look at 'em!), interesting lighting, a fireman's pole, and an amusing custom staircase.
Yes, this is a house I can see myself living in. The only exception I take with it, and with most Kundig houses frankly, is that they all look like bachelor pads. I'm married with children. But I think the wife and kids could adapt. Who wouldn't want to live in a house with a fireman's pole?
_____________________________________________________
Addendum:
I should have pointed out this very good Seattle Times article about "The Brain." I've realized since writing this post that "The Brain" is a garage/studio, not intended to be a residence. Thanks to those who left comments pointing that out. It is also worth noting that Kundig received an AIA award for "The Brain" in 2004.
Oh well, even though it's not technically a house I'm still very inspired by it!
Image credits - Amazon listing (book), OSKA Architects site
6 comment(s):
I'm also taken with that house. I've not read any background on it, but when I looked at it I thought it was a garage and study, and I assumed it sat next to a larger house that was the residence. But I may have that all wrong. Perhaps its a remote get-away where you could leave daily life behind to work on a project.
You may be right about that - it could simply be a detached garage/studio and we can't see the primary residence. I'll have to dig a little to be sure.
It's funny, people (me especially) always fall in love with the guest house, garage/studio, writing shed, tree house, etc. There's some element of simplicity, scale and space - the personality of the building - that so often gets lost in a big house with lots of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.
"The Brain" is a detached structure not intended as a residence. There is no way you could leave the concrete walls exposed if it was a residential dwelling - the energy code doesn't allow it in Seattle. [not without getting real creative]
Yep, I guess so. Not an actual house, just a brilliant studio. Oh well.
I was wondering about those walls - if they were solid or insulated. Looks like they are just thick, solid walls. I found a good Seattle times article about "the Brain" and I will post it up.
FWIW, Dow promotes a pretty neat system for creating tilt up concrete panels with their insulation in the core, so you do get an insulated wall with concrete exposed inside and out.
The Brain is also in the book you mentioned - you must have skipped over it (you mentioned finding it on their website)). I assure you that the book is worth buying. I actually bought it impulsively on a very rare trip to Barnes & Noble, so your post was a bit ironic for me.
Post a Comment