When I look at the “Four Houses and a Future” in a magazine, they look more expensive than the other neighboring houses because they seem to be special and unique. Beat Schenk and Chawon Kim, two of the hardest working architects in America, had many problems to overcome from costs to zoning laws. Yet they successfully built X-small, Small, Medium, and Large in the Cambridge area.
They did not have much money nor were they licensed. In general, if people don’t have enough money to build, they look for cheaper land. However, they did not give up. They started building themselves in almost all cases. For example, they did not employ laborers, so they could save about fifty percent of their money. However, if I had to build a house of that size without laborers, I probably could not build it. The couple tried to use recycled wood, such as old joists from one of the consulted house in the four houses. The houses made of wood look like the part of nature.
There are very strict zoning laws in the Cambridge area. However, they found a way to sell the house they made and they bought another house nearby again. Then, they made four houses in the two lots area. The properties are connected to each other through a translucent Polygal corridor. They remind me of a traditional Korean house, because a Korean house has four or five buildings.
The couple is concerned about the landscape. In Korea, there are a lot of high buildings, so people argue with their view. However, the duo saw the empty space between the neighboring houses and they seized an opportunity to see the landscape twisting the each floor of the X-small. So, the problem of landscape in Korea can be solved in the same way of twisting the each floor toward its own view.
I am glad to gain new ideas I didn’t have before. We can build the buildings with a hand-on approach, and even though there are a lot of buildings in the area, we can solve the problems presented by the landscape.
by yunji Jeong
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Efficiency seems to have been the main issue of architecture through the years. Like my article (the title is ‘Roadside Attraction’.), this one is all about the money and the quality of the house. In this case, they have one more thing – ‘experiment’. When I saw the article at first, I could feel the passion of two young architects in spite of their handicap as foreign people. They actually have experimented on their style in the buildings and have learned about what tenants want.
I am interested in the translucent corridor connecting houses because it seems to disturb privacy, but it does not. Yunji’s thought that the corridor reminds her Korean traditional houses is also interesting. Of course, the basic structures and some places that link between other buildings are different, but the main concept with the organic connection might be same.
However, in this project, they had to focus more on the money and the Cambridge zoning law. The houses look great but it is hard to feel their unique style. I hope to see their step by step growth in other buildings and it would be good if they reflect their identities – Korean and Swiss.
Post a Comment