Architects’ personal properties are particular, revealing as a lot about what conjures up them as their willingness to experiment. In Henri Sayes’ most up-to-date abode, there’s some homage to Aalto’s Maison Louis Carré on the outskirts of Paris (1956), the place a sinuous, curved ceiling deftly guides friends from entry to dwelling. Right here, too, there’s a layering of kind with operate, which creates each privateness and a spot to current artwork.
Nevertheless it’s Sayes’ urge for food for experimentation, seen throughout a sequence of moments, each exterior and inside, that stands out. The home kind is an uneven gable with sturdy, angular geometry, cranked brick partitions and an amplified, black, cedar-clad soffit. In distinction, the inside is far softer, with round and arched motifs repeating in each plan and part.
Break up ranges and gradients of ceiling top work cleverly to delineate area throughout the open-plan space of the compact home, with a curved ceiling emphasising the spatial shift from the acquainted 2.4m dimension in the lounge, raking upwards to a lofty 5.0m at its peak, above the kitchen and eating space. Beside this area, a curved stair proves an environment friendly strategy to transition the 11 steps from one degree to the following in a restricted footprint.
With out an architrave or a skirting board in sight, the partitions of this home develop into a seamless backdrop throughout which the sunshine traverses and performs with magical impact. By some means, regardless of their 10mm thickness, these partitions appear to have heft and but it’s the lightness of fabric which enabled Sayes to create such a sculptural expertise.
“You may lower or moist the again of GIB® and it basically bows itself and curves actually properly, like a dwelling gypsum paper,” he explains. “It appears a really pure factor to do.”
The curve motif builds an inside language that runs by way of the whole undertaking, from the landscaping to the kitchen island, the entry space and the stair. “It’s about how one can roll from one area to a different,” says Sayes. “It provides a softness to how you progress, reasonably than encountering a sequence of abrupt transitions.”
After such obvious success — the home gained a Te Kāhui Whaihanga Nationwide Structure Award for Housing final yr — will we see extra of the curve in Sayes’ work? “In my world, you do one thing and then you definately’ve achieved it,” says the architect. “And then you definately wish to do one thing else.” We look ahead to the following instalment.
The Inside Areas sequence is dropped at you by GIB® in partnership with ArchitectureNow.
Be taught extra about GIB® Customary plasterboard within the video under:
ArchitectureNow works with a variety of companions within the A&D provide sector to supply acceptable content material for the location. This text has been supported by GIB®.