Innovative Screens Add Architectural Wonder on 3 Modern Homes
Formerly I’ve looked at louvers and wood slats as devices for controlling sun and adding texture to an exterior. Screens can also be a strong formal gesture, giving a home an aspect of beauty while also filtering sun. The three examples gathered here are as distinct from one another as they can be, but every one exploits the potential of screens positioned in front of different walls, mostly glass. One is in Los Angeles, one is in Seattle, and one is on New York’s Long Island. Each one is amazing in its own right.
Kevin Daly Architects
Venice, Los Angeles
A screen can function as a brand new wrapper in front of something old. This is true with Daly Genik’s transformation of a home and garage/studio in California to a home for a young couple, with accommodations for their in-laws. The architects added to the home on the courtyard side (seen here) and wrapped the facade in perforated metal panels.
Kevin Daly Architects
This view appears from the kitchen toward the in-laws’ flat throughout the courtyard; the latter can be covered in metal that’s folded like origami. The metal screen’s use as a filter to get natural light comes across clearly in this photo, as does the intimacy of the lawn.
Kevin Daly Architects
The perforated screen bows out to the home facade to pay a second-floor terrace in the master bedroom. An opening cut to the screen allows views from the home to the in-laws’ flat; everybody can communicate across the lawn throughout the apertures.
Kevin Daly Architects
This last view indicates the one-room apartment above the garage. A sliding glass wall extends the interior to the massive terrace and its opening facing the home. It is a jewel-like exterior which helps to specify a distinctive outdoor space between the two buildings.
Vandeventer + Carlander Architects
Seattle
This home in Washington state is made from wood rather than metal, is orthogonal rather than brushed and is new structure rather than a renovation. Vandeventer + Carlander Architects divided it into three components: two volumes (one large, one small) comprising the various spaces and a cantilevered wood screen. The last, of concern here, is lifted above the ground, allowing access to the home from the west.
Vandeventer + Carlander Architects
This view is looking in the opposite direction in the former photograph; here we view toward the road from the home. This perspective shows how the design of the horizontal wood members fluctuates: It is tighter above the windows to provide colour but looser in front of these to allow viewpoints and entry of low winter sunlight.
Vandeventer + Carlander Architects
The screen extends across the south past the smaller second volume and to the yard, once more turning the corner. In this photo we can see the shadows cast upon the exterior wall by the wood slats. Additionally, it illustrates the privacy that the screen affords from certain angles.
Vandeventer + Carlander Architects
To cantilever the cedar screen off the exterior wall, a few substantial construction was required. The architects utilize galvanized members that are orthogonal, minus some diagonal bracing for lateral support. Additional shading is visible on top of the cavity.
Vandeventer + Carlander Architects
The clients wanted a roof patio, and the architects capped it with a wood trellis that’s aesthetically in accord with the wood screen covering the south east facade. As noticed in the preceding photo, in parts the two actually meet, when the screen turns to turn into the trellis. These wood pieces work together to unify the job and provide it a nice bit of detail on the exterior.
aamodt / plumb architects
Long Island, New York
This last example has a much smaller screen than the first two projects, but it makes up in layout for what it lacks in policy area. Obviously, the very first question taking a look at the home, designed by aamodt / plumb architects, could be,”What screen?” Well, it is adjacent to the doorway at left, parallel to our view .
aamodt / plumb architects
The home is blessed with water views on two sides, the north and the south east west. This means that the east and west sides face the neighbors, hence the architects used screens to offer privacy for the glass walls.
This is a close-up of the screen close to the entryway in the previous photo. The floral-like pattern provides a bit of art nouveau flourish to quite a modern residence.
aamodt / plumb architects
The floral designs saturate the entry space when the sun is in the east. Wallpaper isn’t required.
aamodt / plumb architects
The most striking effect is definitely created when the sun hits the screens, painting floral designs in mild on the wood surfaces.
aamodt / plumb architects
The home’s floor plan is basically a square having a narrow rectangular light nicely cut to the center. Some of the screens cover the ends of the light nicely, allowing the dappled light to refract through the glass walls and, in this view, the stair’s glass guardrails.
aamodt / plumb architects
Here’s a view looking into the light nicely from in front of a screen. Reflections off the glass unite with the patterns throughout the screen to make this a hard-to-understand photograph. Suffice it to say that the screens provide lots of interest on the interior. With their place on the east and west facades, the screens behave as a sundial, tracking the sun as it rises and sets.