XS House / UNI
Architects: UNI / Chaewon Kim + Beat Schenk
Location: Cambridge, MA, USA
Constructed Area: 102.2 sqm
Project Year: 2006
Photographs: UNI
The final piece to the residential compound, XSmall, what the hell is this is, three rotated 16-by-22-foot boxes with four-corner-skylights, giving rooms natural light with minimum windows and maximum privacy, something that is all too important when there are four houses on just two lots, especially when the designs draw as much attention as they do.
diagrams
The house is finished in marine plywood, usually used in boat-building. The grain is broad and pronounced, creating the appearance of a huge piece of furniture. Each floor of XS has a different look and feel (marble on the first floor, oak plywood on the second), but all are connected by a pared-down wooden staircase that threads through the space.
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- diagrams
A very interesting concept, but the overall result is one that I could definitely live with.
hell dardy ayy boys
sanaa?
I like the idea of twisting the blocks in order to create skylights, but further than that it becomes a very visual/sculptural piece, dynamic and quite interesting. The interior has a very homely quality to it, specially the kitchen area. Very nice project.
A funny video about this house and the interview with the architects:
http://arkinauta.blogspot.com/2008/07/uni-xs-o-la-casa-de-contrachapado.html
It has cool livable interiors! But it lacks a good relationship between itself and its context. This is basically your average ugly neighborhood plus two weird contemporary architect boxes. I don´t agree in that they have a sculptural quality to them, they are both boring even if one is twisted and the other one is dark. Perhaps it´s the context fault, in such place architecture has a difficult almost impossible task to achieve.
Simple, interesting, pretty and I wanna live there
You gotta love the first diagram on this page with the Jenga and Lego blocks!
obsolete idea..
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/07/31/house-in-minamimachi-by-suppose-design-office/
nice, nice and nice.
The execution is really bad. The interior spaces are dry and dull (may be because of the bad photographs that has no view towards outside). Those terrible photographs render the interior as a prison cell. Suppose-Design-Office’s house is way much better; airy and delightful.
I like the idea of twisting the blocks in order to create skylights *****
So do I
This is excellent – the wee patch of light that illuminates the corner is beauitiful.
it’s looks like the books on the table. very nice.
The impression of movement from the exterior and the staircase is great.
Details details …! We all know where the devil is !
i really like what happens whit the projection of the shadows of the street tree on the facade.
and from the inside , the projection of sun light trough this triangular skylight on the floor. I would like to see the travel of this triangle during the year according to the sun.
The blocks angled to create skylights is an excellent idea and I second all the other positive comments made. It is a unique and refreshing departure from the usual forms.
But those walls upon walls with no windows! Difficulty about the sightlines and privacy do not make skylights admitting light a substitute for windows offering a view, whatever the view. There have been other solutions to that problem, for instance, situating long, narrow, wall-wide windows up high. To avoid that solution suggests adherence to the integrity of the design without compromise.
Call it my bias if you will, but it seems a bit too prison-like. I can easily envision the occupant becoming stir-crazy during the long months of winter, or, just the same, cut off from those many Spring, Summer and Fall opportunities to throw open the windows.
I’ve lived in such a situation: one is either completely ‘in’ or completely ‘out,’ with an inadequate sense of the outdoors while inside. It amounted to an enervating tension ‘built in’ to the structure.
To be fair, they allude to necessary extremes in the description. It is a small place. There are many people who don’t give a fig for the outdoors. Cambridge Massachusetts is largely claustrophobic and noisy.
But to not have a choice seems unfortunate, and to not be able to immediately see the state of the weather an acceptance of the site limitations without putting up enough of a fight.
There are windows. Have a look the pictures.
just a copy of Habitat 67 in Montreal =/
And dun even know how to copy a project without loosing the proposal
why do you think this is the copy?
I cannot see the point.
Different projects, different concepts.
I hope no one rapes this project the way the S House has been…
Before: http://www.uni-a.com/project_s.html
After: http://www.joeschutt.com/Listing/ViewListingDetails.aspx?ListingID=1607850&ShowCompact=false&Preview=false&new=false&LastTabIndex=-1&BackEmailID=-1&BackEmailTypeID=NONE
this stacking blocks sh*t has got to go people!
way to go!!
nice job! simple and… simple..lol
kim je won!
btw, Mr kim must love comic books..
I see a lot of dragon ball and other comic books in the pics.
semplice, pratico e geniale a mio avviso.
still prefer the one in left on the first pic.
would love to see some drawings, not just diagrams and photos.
Always fun to find built designs http://bit.ly/3ivdQS like my projects, this time my house http://twitpic.com/1zet24
I would prefer the darker one. Because the plywood boxes seems like container house (and not being this): too primitive concept.
I was the superintendent for the company that built this house. It is one of my prouder moments. I actually did the framing and finish with a crw of 3 plus myself.
6:22 PM Sep 21st
XS House / UNI http://bit.ly/Njyjc
2:10 AM Sep 22nd
XS House / UNI | ArchDaily – http://shar.es/1rBs9
10:20 AM Sep 22nd
How did they detail those skylights to prevent them from leaking? http://bit.ly/1PX5ps
3:50 AM Jun 10th
XS House / UNI | ArchDaily http://t.co/ikmCsRe via @archdaily
3:18 PM Jan 15th
3 rotated boxes | XS House / UNI | http://t.co/9bzQGEKq via @archdaily #architecture #interiordesign