HOUSE kn by Kochi Architect's Studio

Another Japanese wonder, HOUSE kn by Kochi Architect's Studio. Beautiful [sigh]. The floor plan is very nice and the outdoor space is wonderful.


Nice treatment of parking space too. My pet peeve is nice homes ruined by ugly attached garages and bad driveways. HOUSE kn gets it right.

Via the girl in the green dress. It's a wonderful design blog, so please do click over and take a look. You'll be delighted.

Image credit - Kochi Architect's Studio site.

Cool Modern Homes from Bark Design

I have an announcement to make. I'm in love with Doris. Actually, I should point out that Doris is not a woman, Doris is a house. And she's beautiful.

Doris is the work of Bark Design, a firm with a modern bent that FHN reader Mike was kind enough to point out (thanks again, Mike!). Doris is swell gal, with lots of attractive features. In particular, I adore her flat roof, her expansive banks of windows - and she's got a carport! Oh, I really like carports.




Doris also has a wonderful floor plan with possibly the greatest kitchen in the world - made so by the overhead door out to the patio. It incorporates a screen that can be rolled down when the door is up to keep bugs out while letting breezes flow. Perfecto! My wife would love that.





Doris has a brother, Boris, and a good friend in Leroy G. Cooper.




Here are a few pics Bark shared with me of the Burbank, another model that isn't shown on their site yet. I really like the window placement on this house - it looks like it has pretty good solar orientation.





I must say, I find a whole lot to like aesthetically about Bark's homes. There's definitely a signature style with the flat roofs, carports, window arrangements and the way outdoor living spaces are approached. But what I like most is their attitude and approach to bringing modern homes to the market. I e-mailed Bark, and was very impressed with what they had to say about their direction.

"We are a team consisting of a developer, architect, and
contractor who were getting frustrated by the dismissive response to
modern design by clients and real estate professionals in our area,
so we decided to do our own thing with incredibly positive results.

We couldn't understand why people would seek out the latest design
and technology in cars, electronics, etc., but new builder/spec. home
construction seemed to be stuck in the year 1900. How many people
would go to a store for a new computer and happily walk out with a
univac the size of a refrigerator that only did addition and
subtraction? Yet people were making a similar decision every day with
a new home. We just didn't get it.

So, we design and build homes that respond and complement modern
life, are extremely efficient in terms of energy, space, livability,
constructability, and are affordable."

I've had exactly those same thoughts for a long time. I like what Bark is doing, and they must be hitting the mark - they have seven projects "on the board" for 2008!

Very exciting!

Image credits - Bark Design

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.

Tom Kundig: 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.

"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

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 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?

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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