Studio 804’s Sustainable Prototype is a collaboration between the well established graduate student comprehensive studio at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Planning and The 5.4.7 Arts Center in Greensburg, KS.

The construction and delivery of The Sustainable Prototype was provided to the 5.4.7 Arts Center on the one year anniversary of the tornado that devastated Greensburg, Kansas. Although the building was developed for the long term use by the Arts Center, its immediate use as the first completed public facility serving as a beacon for the community and its ambitious rebuilding efforts was a motivating factor in its design.

This extension to an original cabin from the 1800’s is located on the shore of the lake Övre Gla in the nature reserve Glaskogen in Sweden. According to Swedish building regulations an extension is not allowed to exceed a maximum floor area.

A second priority for the building regulations is its proximity to the border of the estate. The building should stay 4 meters clear of the site boundary. In this case the extraordinary location is along a stream, which forms part of the site boundary.

 








The home gently rests on a knoll in a neighborhood located in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The east and west ends are supported by steel columns, making the structure appear as if it is hovering above the desert floor.


The entry to the home is a promenade enclosed by the walls of the 4 car garage to the north, and the walls of the residence to the south.  This feature directs the home owner or visitor to the main entry door.  The axis of the cantilevered overhang above the entry continues to the opposite end of the house, above the south patio and deck.

Photographs by Bill Timmerman

 












Located on a valley to the east of Quito, within an area that enjoys a temperate climate all year round. It is quite a privileged setting due to the proximity of the local mountain ranges.


Unfortunately, the surrounding built context consists mainly of colonial style houses with a total disregard for the local topography, landscape or climate.


The site is relatively small, enclosed by three roads, with mandatory 5 m (15 ft) setback, a strong negative gradient and an unavoidable location due to road levels and accessibility to the garages.

The Salt House is a rare example of a contemporary UK sea-side house.  Described by The Guardian’s Architecture critic Jonathan Glancey as “one of the best new houses in Britain today”, the building has been hailed as a prototype for flood-proof residential construction and reinvents the Modernist tradition of the 'experimental' beach house.


In 2006 the project won the Grand Designs Award for the Best New Build House of the Year and in 2008 was awarded the 2007 RIBA Manser Medal.

 









This site is in a traditional single-family neighborhood with large mature trees in front and a busy thoroughfare in the rear. These opportunities and limitations became the genesis of the design of the house.



The plan of the house is a U-shape that turns its back toward the noisy thoroughfare and opens to a courtyard that is shaded by the existing canopy of trees. The mass of the house shields and protects the courtyard from traffic noise beyond. The courtyard is the soul of the house with most of the rooms on the ground level opening directly onto it.

The Surfhouse appears as an abstract block of ebonized cedar a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean in Hermosa Beach.


The site is very small. While typical lots in the area measure 120’ x 40’, the allowable building area for the Surfhouse measures just 33’ x 24’.

The architects approached the project by subtracting the larger program areas from a solid volumetric form that conformed to the zoning regulations and sought to maximize space, light, and views while also creating a sense of privacy and retreat for the young owners on a busy beachside street.

Economically and geographically, the rapid expansion of Beijing has had a profound effect on the city’s periphery, subjecting areas within one hour’s drive of the capital to furious residential development.

The undulating beauty of the landscape in these areas exists in marked contrast to the repetitive, planned efficiency of the suburbs rushing out to meet them. The challenge of this project was to create an architectural expression that could respond to this natural context.