2nd place
Lisa Silbermayr & Isa Wolke
Imagine you could go to IKEA and buy partition walls and everything you need to completely reconfigure your home; creating a different home interior for when you become parents or your retired family member moves in with you. How would such a system work, how easy would it be to install, how can you customize it and how expensive would it be?
The Plus House shows how such a system could work throughout the lifecycle of one person or family and their changing needs over time.
The initial renovation will realign the major infrastructure, utilities (plumbing, heating, energy, lighting), and necessary exterior features to allow future adaptation along two axes:
- The flex wall combines major infrastructural connections and functions into one system adaptable to different uses, needs and lifestyles. The system can incorporate closet-modules, door-modules, shelf-modules, as well as kitchen and bedroom modules. It can be reconfigured as needed much as one can replace cabinet fronts or the position of shelves. Its customizable parts can thus become an individual feature or characteristic of a home. The flex wall is also a ‘guideline’ for secondary walls that might be attached or detached during the lifetime of a smaller house.
- The second axis (garden passage) connects the interior with the exterior, the ‘public’ and the private. An accessible path of travel runs from the street through the house to the garden. Spaces that make use of the qualities of the different transitions cluster along it. On the street side a ‘public’ zone can increase neighborhood and community exchange. In the front of the house seating steps as well as a new terrace-sized deck correspond with this idea. A similar deck including a new roof will be installed at the back of the house, as well as a garden storage shed and compost area.
The Plus House provides the means for the home to adapt to future uses, even as far as the creation of two separate units. We are planning for the financial resources of the family to improve over time by making possible the necessary adjustments in the home: e.g. building out an additional bathroom, moving secondary walls, installing solar panels or even just building raised gardening beds.
We believe this system can work in many different conditions, for different people.
Imagine you could go to IKEA and buy partition walls and everything you need to completely reconfigure your home; creating a different home interior for when you become parents or your retired family member moves in with you. How would such a system work, how easy would it be to install, how can you customize it and how expensive would it be?
The Plus House shows how such a system could work throughout the lifecycle of one person or family and their changing needs over time.
The initial renovation will realign the major infrastructure, utilities (plumbing, heating, energy, lighting), and necessary exterior features to allow future adaptation along two axes:
- The flex wall combines major infrastructural connections and functions into one system adaptable to different uses, needs and lifestyles. The system can incorporate closet-modules, door-modules, shelf-modules, as well as kitchen and bedroom modules. It can be reconfigured as needed much as one can replace cabinet fronts or the position of shelves. Its customizable parts can thus become an individual feature or characteristic of a home. The flex wall is also a ‘guideline’ for secondary walls that might be attached or detached during the lifetime of a smaller house.
- The second axis (garden passage) connects the interior with the exterior, the ‘public’ and the private. An accessible path of travel runs from the street through the house to the garden. Spaces that make use of the qualities of the different transitions cluster along it. On the street side a ‘public’ zone can increase neighborhood and community exchange. In the front of the house seating steps as well as a new terrace-sized deck correspond with this idea. A similar deck including a new roof will be installed at the back of the house, as well as a garden storage shed and compost area.
The Plus House provides the means for the home to adapt to future uses, even as far as the creation of two separate units. We are planning for the financial resources of the family to improve over time by making possible the necessary adjustments in the home: e.g. building out an additional bathroom, moving secondary walls, installing solar panels or even just building raised gardening beds.
We believe this system can work in many different conditions, for different people.
For more information
on this winning design, contact Helen Malani at
hmalani@nnwa.us
Lisa Silbermayr
Lisa Silbermayr is an architect and researcher from Vienna, Austria. She lives in New York, where she works as a designer of corporate interior environments. Her personal research and design projects focus on housing and all related issues. She has a Msc in Architecture & Building Science from Vienna University of Technology, and a MA in Design Research, Writing & Criticism from the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Isa Wolke
Isa Wolke is an architect living and working in New York. She has worked in various scales of architecture often with a focus on building transformation. In her work, she is currently pursuing her growing interest in the public realm, urban and city planning. Isa received her BA from the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf and has a Masters in Architecture from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In 2015 she received the Tische fellowship which supports young architects to work in innovative offices internationally.
Lisa Silbermayr
lisa@pleasureboat.studio
lsilbermayr@theswitzergroup.com
Isa Wolke
isawolke.com
isawolke@gmail.com