LEVRAT DESIGN

Project:

University of Geneva/European Space Agency Research Office

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The first planets discovered outside of the solar system were found by a group of scientist using an ISDC System in the Versoix/Geneva Observatory. To further their research, the European Space Agency has sponsored the construction and launch of a new satellite. The data provided by the satellite would need a new high-tech satellites data analysis building. This new program is integrated into an old existing wooden barn, where the vertical structure, the roof and the upper floor had to be preserved. 

The addition of a new façade, based on a rigorous repetitive module, permeate the entire project. It operates as a rhythmic raw data, from which all part of the project are defined. The module is clearly visible on the façade, but also operate on the inside partitions. The new rigorous texture offers a strong dialogue with the existing wooden structure. The moments of exception, such as the stair space offers a double height space and a curvilinear movement activating the modular intervention.  

Project:

A new fashion showroom in the Garment District of New York City.

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Reliq, an international manufacturer of jeanswear, launched a new showroom in New York in 2005 as part of a global brand re-development. For this project, Frederic Levrat and De-Spec collaborated to create a sculptural space to house the showroom’s lighting and display system.

WHITE ON WHITE

A fragmented and faceted monolithic wall functions as the main animator and divider of the space, and also provides the surface from which all supporting furniture and display mechanisms protrude. The thickness of the wall is carved into, allowing a dynamic system of display using extruding rectangular shelving. Each face of the wall relates to the room it simultaneously occupies and divides. The floors and ceiling connect to the monolithic wall and are washed in a bright white finish appropriate for their surface material. The all-white surfaces respond to the varied exposure of light throughout the day, changing shades as the direction of sunlight moves, and illuminating the different depths and surfaces of the room.

The space, due to its complex geometry, cannot be understood purely visually, as the oblique angles of the walls as well as the white-on-white nature of the space blurs our usual visual referentials. The space therefore needs to be experienced, where the body of the observer needs to provide multiple visual locations for the mind to be able to understand the space.  It is a discovery of the space with the body for the pleasure of the mind.

Project:

A “materialization of Information” pavilion in Mumbai.

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Frederic Levrat’s design studio designs and builds a “materialization of Information” pavilion in Mumbai.

‘our environment today is increasingly influenced by nonmaterial conditions, from which we interpret material equivalences. from the stock market to urban regulations law, the tension between the virtual and the physical is increasingly richer and complex. most of the time, the rules defining architecture are based on the physical condition of gravity and the economical condition of construction cost. but other forces are shaping our society, from social to informational. are there other forces to be expressed in architecture than responding to gravity?’ these are the thoughts posed by professor frederic levrat and director phillip anzalone of columbia university. with these questions in mind, a group of six students from thegraduate school of architecture, planning, and preservation (GSAPP) and narsee monjee institute of management studies (NMIMS) developed ‘space + image pavilion’, a small structure which would explore the relation between the virtual, the visual, and the physical.

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/columbia-gsapp-mumbai-nmims-space-image-pavilion-08-12-2014/

Project:

121 E 37 Street Townhouse

Phase:

Renovation Under Construction

Description:

The townhouse in Midtown Manhattan is located between Lexington and Park Avenue on 37 Street. Its central location next to the headquarter of the United Nation and Grand Central Terminal makes it a very valuable residential project. The five stories building has 12 apartments to be entirely renovated. The gut renovation replace all the mechanical and plumbing system, while reconfiguring the distribution of most of the floor plans. The first floor has 14 feet tall ceiling, allowing the inclusion of a mezzanine for the apartment 2A, 2B and 2C. The generous double height space over the living room is spatially impressive, while the denser space of the kitchen, bathroom and the loft bedroom is rationally designed to offer a maximization of the usable space.

The renovation tries to reveal the historical features of the original building, by exposing one brick wall in each apartment, exposing the wooden ceiling joist over the living rooms and restoring the original chimneys. Working through contrasts, the new mezzanine floor steel structure is revealed to offer a strong dialogue with the existing framework.

Project:

Writing and Teaching a Contemporary Theory of Architecture

Description:

Writing and Teaching have been an important part of my exploration of the constructed environment. Exploring the boundaries of what constitutes architecture and more specifically how the VIrtual - Visual - Physical Environment layers overlap and influence each other. The relationship between the constructed physical material environment and the just as constructed non physical environment are a fascination I have explored through numerous architecture studio at Columbia University and Pratt Institute.

Additional description of each individual publication can be found in the THEORY tab.

Project:

Exhibition at the Van Alen Institute

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The Swiss Exhibition, at the Van Alen Institute, is an original installation design, supporting the content collected by Nina Rapapport. The premise of the show is in regard to the complex topography of Switzerland, influencing the architecture and urban condition of Swiss cities in a positive three dimensional way.

The exhibition design follows this concept by challenging the flat space of the exhibition wall, folding it into space. The entire folded surface becomes its own structure, interlocking itself with its adjacent components. The hundred of pieces were all drawn in the computer and automatically produced through laser cutting. The translucent effect of the Plexiglas questions our perception of the space, its depth, the surface and the volume of the exhibition.

Project:

A 2,500-square-foot restaurant and bar, located in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Located at 425 Troutman Street, The Rookery lies at the heart of Bushwick—a former industrial neighborhood which has been transformed into a popular arts and entertainment district. In this post-industrial landscape of rough steel and brick structures, the rezoning of old, industrial warehouses to mixed-use buildings has seen a number of bars, restaurants, shops and galleries emerge. The Rookery is housed in a former truck storage building, with an 18-foot-tall ceiling, and an additional 40 feet of open space on the side of the street. The unbuilt front space on the street was transformed into an enclosed garden, screened off from the street by a porous fence, which leads from the sidewalk, through the indoor portion of the restaurant, and into the rear outdoor space.

The existing exposed steel beams were the aesthetic inspiration for a new layer of structure which encloses the kitchen and bathroom on the ground level, while providing a mezzanine space for the office and storage. The new columns and beams, which wrap around the indoor space on all sides, are also exposed, and continue the expression of an architectural style. The industrial aesthetic of the large, horseshoe-shaped bar and the 18-foot-tall steel cladded back wall contrasts with the refinement of the Moroccan patterned tile floor and the antique wallpaper applied around the banquettes. The Rookery was designed to express the power of architecture, while still maintaining a relaxed and comfortable environment for socializing, drinking and dining.

Project:

Addition to an existing house - South Mountain Road - Gardiner

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The addition to a modest existing house in Gardiner was an opportunity to reposition the house with the landscape. On a large flag lot, the new project duplicates the existing two story house with a similar volume and add a long single story connection. The intermediary space is low and horizontal, establishing a link between the two residential volumes. But more importantly it constitutes a link between the natural landscape and the interior landscape. A large terrace extends the entire front of the house to the generous garden, swimming pool and the forest in the background. The horizontal and resolutely modern element operates as a transition layer, with transitional programs such as the entry foyer, the open studio and the Argentinian “quincho” or barbeque space.

The verticality of the existing trees contrast nicely with the horizontal layers of the new roof, terrace, and swimming pool, all slowly negotiating as large plateaus the gentle slope of the existing terrain.

Project:

Design and construction supervision of Eight Schools in Northern Afghanistan

Phase:

Completed - Designed and Built

Description:

Eight Primary Schools – Northern Afghanistan

After forty years of war, the public institutions of Afghanistan are thoroughly destroyed. Under the sponsorship of USAID a program to rebuild primary schools was launched by the Ministry of Education and the International Office of Migration. Frederic Levrat worked with a construction company which was producing an interlocking brick system, initially developed in Bangkok Institute of Technology, Thailand. The interlocking brick system is made of pressed earth bricks, containing only 10% of cement. The bricks are part of a modular system, where the Lego-like brick interlock precisely, without the use of mortar. Internal void columns are created by stacking the bricks and reinforcement as well as a minimal pour of cement is integrated within the bricks. The main advantage resides in the production of a reinforced concrete structure – essential in a earthquake prone region like Afghanistan – without the need to have large wooden planks for the formwork. Special U-shaped bricks were used for the lintels, integrating horizontal reinforcement steel bars. The small construction company produce also reinforced concrete beams, which works with the exact module of the interlocking bricks dimensions. Levrat was instrumental on drawing and supervising the entire construction set, solving the connection of the interlocking bricks with the stone foundations, as well as the village urbanism. Since the large classrooms were requiring a longer span than what the prefabricated concrete beam could achieve, an intermediary pour-into-place beam was build to reduce the span in half.

Eight Primary school were designed and build by Levrat’s office in Kabul, in the Northern part of Afghanistan. There are school in Pul-e-Khumri, Baghlan, Kunduz, Samangan, Mazar-e-Sharif and Balkh.

As qualified professionals, applying our knowledge to humanitarian work is quite important and, in many ways, satisfying.

Project:

Levrat Design Exhibition in Pratt Institute main Gallery

Phase:

Completed

Description:

A large exhibition of Fred Levrat and Zolaykha Sherzad’s research and buildings was held in the main Gallery of the Pratt Institute School of Architecture. Following the concept that images are questioning our understanding of spaces, where the primacy of the physical world is challenged by the consumption of visual material, the exhibition display refuse the conventional hierarchy of the display walls. The conventional structure would be for the wall to be there first, and the images hung onto its surface respecting the hierarchy of structure and gravity. Instead, the display is the space, where continuous bands of information are hung from the ceiling with transparent nylon threads. Liberated from gravity, the display can then be following a radically different geometry, flowing into space at a diagonal angle, moving up and down freed from any wall, floor or traditional construction constraints. The long linear display is structurally mounted on foam-core panels. In opposition to the free flowing and floating space of the image, the models are rooted to the ninety degrees geometry of the gravity, perpendicular to the floor and aligned to the orthogonal geometry of the walls. The combination of these two systems of geometry creates an intricate flow for the visitor of the exhibition.

Project:

A proposed eight-­story residential building in Dubai.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

A proposed eight-­story residential building in a new development zone of Dubai was designed in response to the demand for balconies and external shading devices. The integration of balconies into a gridded facade pattern allows the residential building to operate as a large abstract sculpture. The triple layers of the balconies correspond to the triple layers of the grid. The grid extends from the balconies beyond the top floor, creating a frame for the sky. The distribution of space within the building is pragmatically-­oriented, with a central corridor offering each apartment unit a private balcony and view. The abstract and puzzle­like nature of the facade offers an interesting contrast to the building’s domestic function.

Project:

A large white Y sculpture in Zurich

Phase:

Completed

Description:

The large white Y sculpture has recently become a well-known public art element of a culturally rich city.  Zurich had decided to improve one of its toughest neighborhood, by building an urban park and a new school. The Hardau is mostly populated by Balkan refugees and to animate the park they invited Balkan related artists to a Design Competition. The New York based conceptual artist, Sislej Xafa was invited and decided to work in association with Frederic Levrat, an architect and a Swiss citizen. Xhafa and Levrat won the competition with a very large sculpture, a 20 meter tall Slighshot, entitled ”Y”. The translucent sculpture is refusing to be clearly quantifiable, too big to be a swing, too small to be a catapult, too playful to be a visual symbol, too bright to be solid.

It is an exercise in “escapism” and “deconstructivism”, continuously diverting the possible meaning of the build object, oscillating between its representational meaning and its physical presence. It is an unusual design strategy where physical elements are resisting what they appear to be. The visual symbol of street resistance is transformed into a comfortable swing, illustrating the trajectory that some refugees have been forced to take. At the urban scale, the trajectory of a hypothetical projectile launched with the Slingshot would land straight at Zurich City Hall, which at the local scale explains the 6-degree angle shift between the sculpture and the rest of the surrounding buildings. The 66-meter-tall sculpture – as tall as 6 stories building -  needed serious engineering and is built in robust steel on a concrete base, to absorb the generous swing movement of the users. Nevertheless, the translucent outer shell appears as a soft urban light, colored in the pastel yellow, white and orange inspired by the typical children “rocket” ice cream, as the user activate the light sitting in the giant ludic swing.

Project:

Singapore Management University

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

This proposal was submitted to an international competition for the design of a new university campus, located in Singapore’s city center. Frederic Levrat’s team considered the challenge of the program, interpreting the notion of the campus as a new typology based on maximum connectivity and synergy. The design of the campus master plan, including the seven different plots of land for faculty and administrative buildings, was based on this idea of interconnectivity. The buildings were arranged in a linear fashion within a generous circulation of space. Informal meeting points along the pedestrian promenade were reinforced by the numerous intersections of different volumes of the building, as well as the surrounding parks and streets.   

Project:

Residential Renovation of a Brownstone Apartment in Manhattan

Phase:

Completed

Description:

An entire floor of a brownstone residence on 49th street of New York City was redesigned. The long and narrow typology, offering light at either end of the building called for an elongation of the central spaces to reach both sides for access to natural light and ventilation. A single very large piece of build-in furniture crosses the entire residence as an organizing spine. Tilted with a three degrees angles from the existing walls the “Grand Meuble” affirm its spatial and geometrical autonomy. Opening slightly towards the public space it invites the visitor towards the living room, while constraining the space in the directions of the bedrooms. It also creates a slight visual ambiguity, as the tapering of the space creates a cone of vision forced perspective, questioning the precedence of the visual or the physical perception of space. The single linear Grand Meuble incorporate all the elements of the house, from the dining table, projecting into the living room, the kitchen counter, the storage and display of the many musical library of the owner, while the inner side of the Grand Meuble becomes the bathroom closet and linen closets for the master bedroom. The Grand Meuble defines all the spaces in the residence, but visually try appear as an object, not touching the ceiling or any other walls. The few perpendicular walls are therefore constructed in glass blocks letting light go through, while the top of the spine is also reaching the ceiling with the help of glass blocks. The small three degrees angles is enough to generate a strong dynamic and fluid circulation to the apartment.

Project:

A proposed multi-­use urban tower located in Aznavour Square in Yerevan.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The proposed Yerevan City Center Tower, the tallest building in the country if built, is composed of a twenty-­five­-story hotel and seventeen-­story office, both of which are covered by a veil of modulated horizontal louvers. The layering of the glass curtain and the louver system allows for a separation of functions. The glass curtain wall is made of simple vertical elements, effectively protecting the building from external weather conditions. The modulated louver system operates as a shading device, allowing winter and morning sunlight to penetrate the building, while filtering out summer sunlight. The horizontal louvers change density in relation to the accessibility of views, as the layering of bands opens to allow a full view of the Opera House to the Northeast, and Mount Ararat to the Southwest. Additionally, because the louver system is not responsible for providing a complete weather enclosure, it can more freely stand as an iconic design element.

The City Center Tower operates as a reflection of the city’s visual landscape, as the gaze of the pedestrian is redirected back to the viewpoints indicated by the pattern of the tower’s skin. Though the outer layer of the louvers is highly decorative and expressive, it also effectively reflects this simple process of transformation. It operates as a covering overlaid on the mass of the two towers, akin to the style of traditional Armenian interlaced embroidery (also referred to as Marash embroidery), in which a fine layering of decoration is applied onto a fabric.

Project:

Transformation of an abandoned industrial site into a new residential and hotel complex at the edge of Zurich City.

Phase:

1 Prize - Winning International Competition

Unbuild

Description:

The site is conveniently located next to the main ring highway and has access to a tram stop at the back of the site. The old graphite industrial hall is to be preserved as an important artifact of the industrial era, and its enormous dimension and structure becomes the backbone and the rhythm of the new intervention. The Old industrial hall becomes the lobby for the new group of towers inserted within its structure, delivering a number of semi-private programs such as the reception, conference rooms, lobby and restaurant.

The new project proposal takes the old industrial structure rhythm to grow vertically and horizontally. A new residential linear aggregation continues the existing massing, while the large open-space located in front of the new residential bar becomes a sculpted and striated garden, sometime staying as a garden, sometime emerging as a community space- such as a library, kindergarten, community hall.

The continuing technological progress have allowed us to extend our control over the dimensions of time and space. The “mechanical machine” made progress in compressing the space with the acceleration of speed, but the step proposed by the “electro paradigm” is even stronger in its influence of compressing the spatial and temporal understanding of our environment. The “non-immediacy” condition in which we are more and more involved have forced us to re-think our spatial relations. The possibilities offered by such a mediated condition is not fundamentally unpleasant: we can actually listen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra “live” from our bath tub, as well as watching the american landing in Somalia “live” from our living room. The electronic transportation of information has

allowed us to have a partial view of just everything, all the time. It seems that the present desire for an ideal urbanism would be to include this paradoxical “everything, all the time” notion, which need to be addressed in the real physical world, but not at the level of the remote controlled media environment. A continuous mode of “zapping” seems to shape some of our urban landscape and our shopping malls to respond to a clear desire of ideal urbanity of “Everything all the time with a remote control.” The desire of trying to devise strategies for an actual physical construction that would respond to these virtual conditions is the impossibility to resolve the problem. but rather to propose new scenarios and relations of habitation. The strategy to offer an urban density with a spark as well as a totally private set of space, combined with historical traces and new buildings seems to be a constant state of paradoxical conditions or a striation and compression of events.

Project:

Restaurant on Saint Marks Place

Phase:

Completed

Description:

Saint Marks Place is one of the most active pedestrian street in Manhattan, with dozen’s of restaurants, bars and coffee shop lining both side of the East Village main cultural axis. Taberna, located between First avenue and avenue A, is occupying the lower floor of an old building with direct frontage on the street as well as a generous garden space. The space is used intensively over a 24 hour period, with a catering business from the early morning hours until noon, and a Portuguese restaurant during the afternoon and the evening.

The highly functioning kitchen is connected to the basement storage with a new concrete stair, while supplying the restaurant with excellent food. The continental atmosphere of the restaurant is achieved by the use of handmade tiles and furniture imported from Portugal, while the existing stone and brick century old wall is left visible. Due to the low ceiling, the existing joist structure is revealed generating additionally a smooth acoustical environment.

The project received a Gold rated LEED classification, with special attention taken care for the ecological qualities of the material used as well as the efficiency of the ventilation system. The long Onyx bar as well as the oak bench unify the space to create an intimate while colorful environment.

Project:

Bagrami Industrial Park in Jalalabad Highway, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Phase:

Built

Description:

To develop Afghanistan economical infrastructure, an Industrial Park has been proposed at the periphery of the capital by USAID. Two hundred lots were offered to investors with the common amenities such as the main access road, guard house, parking, electricity, waste and water provided by the Park management. ArX Kabul involvement with the project was the design and the illustration of the future development.

The design included the definition of the lot partition strategy, the relation between the private spaces and the public spaces, the design of the shared spaces such as the front wall, the entrance gate, the guard house, the sidewalk and main access road. Three dimensional rendering and architectural plans, sections, elevations and details were provided by ArX Kabul.

Project:

A proposed 35-story residential tower on Shams Island in Abu Dhabi.

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

This project consisted of a new, 35-story tower to be built on Shams Island, a new development zone off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Located on a unique corner at the edge of a park, the site demanded a striking design. The idea of an inscription of rising movement inspired the design, as the horizontal and vertical planes give the impression of a tower soaring toward the sky. The notational system of the window grid registers the multiple positions of the five repetitive volumes, establishing an internal dialogue which suggests a vertical displacement. The incremental shift does not end at the vertical position, but rather continues upwards and begins to tilt backwards, presenting a dynamic, seemingly uncontrolled inertia.

Project:

143 Avenue B - DB Residence

Phase:

Finished construction 2014

Description:

Two apartment are combined to create a spacious apartment. The privileged position of the Cristadora as the only tall building in the East Village allows some stunning views. The design take advantage of this condition by creating a fluid and open space along the perimeter of the building, letting a maximum amount of light and view penetrate the apartment. The North master bedroom has a fantastic view of the Empire State building and Midtown, while the East and South view are overlooking the Lower East side and the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The apartment is build around a central core of the master bathroom, the guest bathroom and the kitchen. The kitchen is open to the living room with a floating island. The strong light is reflected on the white wall, while it is absorbed by a dark stained Oak floor. The door and door frame are in similar dark oak tone.

The guest bedroom and the living room are separated by a rotating library, made of black steel, pivoting as two large doors, allowing the space to vary from a large living room to a more intimate two bedroom.

Project:

The National Museum of Afghanistan

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

The concept for the National Museum of Afganistan operates between the ‘CONTAINER & CONNECTOR’ accumulating and preserving material as well as disseminating the image of its content to the visiting public. The vertical wall embodies that mission becomingthe element able to negotiate this paradoxical condition, offering a separation and a protection for the content as well as a system of exhibition for the collection. The perimeter wall's is used for security to solidity, the separator provides the space for displaying niches of the gallery wall.

In Afganistan 2012, the architecture of a National importance must provide a ‘SEPARATION & PROTECTION’ for the museum, its contents and its guest. The design strategy is one of Peeling the walls to find the galleries at its nucleus. Within this multiple layering of perimeter wall, space is defined sometimes as an inside as well as an outside. The potential reversal between the inside and the outside, is inherent in the traditional Afghan architecture, where gardens are walled in and courtyards are the inner center of the "Qala". The garden becomes an active part of the building and successive courtyards offer light and protection to the galleries. In the proposed museum, at the end of the exhibit sequence , the central courtyard becomes the most inner space of the museum, while remaining open to the sky, distributing natural light throughout the adjacent spaces. Within the layers and in the interstitial spaces between inside and outside is the garden. The primary exhibit space is framed by a ramp that wraps around this gallery

Presence of the Absence

The void making the courtyard is the central space in the National Museum, mirroring somewhat the current contextual condition of Afghanistan. The courtyard and the void becomes a positive and insular exterior space.

Carving from the land

The National Museum is an expression of the national identity, directly emanating from the depth of its land. While integrating the garden into the design of the museum, the visitor enters right into a garden, slowly immersing the visitor into the earth and into the layers of its walls and exhibit space.

Sequence of Spaces

From the entrance into the lobby, the visitor moves slowly up in a spiral form, transgressing the basic logic of the containment walls. Passing from the Hypostyle foyer to the double height space of the Main Gallery, the sequence continues with a ramp enclosure where smaller artifacts are displayed until one arrives on to the next level, where the Archaemenid, the Great Kushans, the Early Islam, the Timurid, the Ethnographic and the Contemporary galleries are displayed in succession, before reaching the intense light of the Central Courtyard.

Project:

New Housing Project for the Underprivileged in South Africa

Phase:

Completed

Description:

72 housing units have been built in one of the most dangerous and underprivileged shantytown of the planet. Over a period of ten years, involving the participating community, Frederic Levrat and Urban Think Tank have developed a model of incremental improvement for the local residents.

Housing becomes much more than just a roof over one’s head. Housing is the generative fabric of the city and the starting point of the urban community. The constitution of a community is a complex multi-parameter process, and it builds up slowly and incrementally. The “Community Fabric” is typically not included into the financial equation of a housing development, accepting that it will emerge somehow spontaneously. Urban_Think_Tank values and respects the immaterial but essential human cultural fabric of the urban citizens and wants to empower these existing human communities. Even if these communities are not sanctioned by the city’s authorities and invisible to the conventional real estate business calculations.

Project:

Community Center for Underprivileged Community in South Africa

Phase:

Currently Under Construction (2024)

Description:

Urban_Think_Tank_Empower is offering a higher density of housing then the single story shack or the proposed government housing, constituting a more integrated community, allowing the existing complex community of the shantytown to continue its development within a sound environment. By densifying the housing structures, space is freed for communal activities such as a children’s playground, green spaces with trees, a children creche, and a community center. Collectively, with solar panels on the roofs, the neighborhood can become a sustainable power plant.

The Community Center is built on three levels, with a generous double height space for the main ground floor space. The main space program will vary from an indoor soccer pitch, theater and music performance, allowing the youth of the community to generate creative activities rather than hanging out in the street. A Creche, changing rooms and bathrooms, will occupy the side of the main space, with offices on the second floor. On the third level, an urban aquaponic farm will allow the local community to grow fresh food and empower their participants in self-sustainable practices.

Project:

Geometric Roofscape - Southold Beach House

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Architecture is a language of elements that relate to each other, in rhythms, repetitions, iterations and transformations. The sculptural quality is ever present as the triangular roofs dance gracefully above the natural landscape, connecting the existing house to the new pool house addition. Due to the legal regulations and the narrow plot of land, beautifully located above the beach of the Long Island sound, the new house needs to be an extension of the existing one. The legal requirement of the enclosed pathway connecting both structures is used to its full advantage, stretching the new building as a set of flying roofs, emerging into a larger volume as it culminates by the top of the ridge. The triangulated roofs insert themselves under and above the adjacent one, creating an angular wave, emerging from the floor with a grand diagonal stair and a large outdoor terrasse encasing the outdoor swimming pool. The trapezoidal plan is framed on both sides by two solid walls while in the direction of the sea, from the entry stairs to the outdoor terrace, the façade is entirely glazed. The composition feels dynamic as the triangular roofs express an unknown language of pure geometry, a tectonic rigor which would house a most pleasant pool house, connected between the natural landscape and the roofscape.

The project was developed in collaboration with the client: Helene Calle-Lin and Local Architecture.

Project:

Terrace Housing Overlooking the Caribbean

Phase:

Unbuilt

Description:

Located on the south side of Antigua Island, perched on the hillside above Old Road village, the project offers fantastic views of the Caribbean seascape. The steep slope is carved into terrasses for the insertion of eight concrete volumes. The simple cubic volumes are duplexes with the entire face of the cube facing the sea glazed. A mezzanine above the double height living room offers a bedroom with a generous view. Each volume adjusts to the slight angle of the topography creating a repetition and variation, while the roofs of the lower volume become the framed terrasse of the next residence. The contrast between the dramatic natural topography and the artificial geometry of the rigorous repeated simple volumes generates a dialogue full of tensions and subtle adaptations.