Solar Umbrella House

Architect/Firm: Pugh + Scarpa Architects

Location: Venice, California, United States

Poetry of Living Within the Environment A circumstance of being one with the surroundings Subject to the ever changing environment; The setting and rising of the sun, the varying weather patterns, the changing seasons Association with movement of the evolving world, Unpredictable nature Each experience differentiates but relationship remains constant Continuity of architecture and environment Penetration through open plan layout; Connection between form and space Organic and undistinguishable Succession from exterior to interior And back again Blurred Filtered through progression of planes In no way closed off Never separated Linked by means of unified change and adaptation Transposition of light and nature through progressive space; Each entity subject to the adjacent other Building of structural form with growth of successive surroundings Accommodating to alteration Working for and with each aspect Two entities live as one Occupy one space Harmony of conjunction Fluid transitional process Impositions are nonexistent as interactions allow a differentiation of spaces to be less than visual Fewer than experiential Simply unrecognizable Architecture sits lightly on the land Made on nature, for nature and by nature What is taken is given back Reuse and recycling of energy; An entity that can never be created or destroyed Possibility of transformation into altering forms Solar rays absorbed into panels Light a house Run appliances Make a space a livable area A home Housing both man and nature Interaction of interior forms Bringing what was once static to life Both entities filtered through area Absorbed and reflected Making each space one of a kind Unique For only a moment A new existence is created Returning after an unknown span Prolonged by time or may never again subsist Uncontrollable metamorphosis Alteration that happens in unison Together house and habitat grow Evolve Working to keep the other alive Never existing on its own Intimate symbiotic relationship Present within the interlocking solids and voids Understood between the lines Breaking down of structural and orthogonal forms Geometry and shapes The basics of line filtrate into space Subjects to its forms and figure Taking character Absorbed into its nature Seamless union A poetry Living within the environment

A1- 100 words of concept

Hard copy availible in studio

Poetry of living within the environment

Concept in form of a word web.

Since image is small and I am not so good at working this site yet here is a list of the words that are ”webbed” within my conceptual image:

Transparency, Layering, Filtering, Sustainable, Reused, Recycled, Environmental, Natural, Duel uses, Modern, Unconventional, Juxtapositions, Natural order, Global regionalism, Change through time, Change through season, Open, Sit lightly, Boundary-less, Subtropical climate, Off the grid technologies, Inside and outside as one, Innovation, imagination, Beyond function, New language of materials and environment, Proto-green inspiration, Green, Avant-garde aesthetics, Playful design, Organic, Orthogonal forms, Sit eco friendly, Frugality, Brise-soleil, Sense, Awareness, Trash to treasure.

Analogous to a wildflower garden; the building changes character depending on night and day as well as through different seasons. The  order of a wild flower garden may seem chaotic at first glance, but revealed through time and exploration effective and rational orders reveal themselves, making clear the unity of elements, forms, technologies and presence.

A2-  Another 100 words of concept

Hard copy availible in studio

Filter- clarify, clean, distill, drain, escape, exude, filtrate, penetrate, screen strain. Transparency- translucence, lucidity, openness, perceptibil-ity, purity. Change- conversion, metamorphosis, modification, refinement, transformation, transition, accommodate, adopt, adjust, transpose. Adapt- accommodate, comply, conform fashion, fit, habituate, harmonize, reconcile. Transition- alteration, passage, progress. Green- unfinished, unformed, un-matured, unpolished, unsorted, untaught, environmental. Eco-Rich- bountyful, clean, flowing, full, natural, plentiful, pure. Succession- sequence, alteration, chain, continuation, cycle, order, progression, series. Continuity- chain, cohesion, connection, constancy, continuance, continuousness, flow, interrelationship, linking, perpetuity, persistence, prolongation, stability, unity, vitality, whole. Connection- association, attachment, bond, combination, conjunction, fastening, joint, junction, linkage, network, partner-ship, seam, union.

Interlocking solids and voids allow natural elements such as light and materiality to penetrate and fill the interior space

Interior and exterior boundary becomes one

Transition of space is fluid

Blends environmental concerns with sustainable technologies to create an architecture both aesthetically pleasing  and ecologically sound

Constant change of spacial atmosphere due to nature; similar to the wildflower garden which lives at the whim of its surroundings

Scarpa + Pugh architects integrated a seamless transition of space by allowing viewer to see from one end of the house to the other through the use of an open plan and limited closed off vicinities.  The Solar Umbrella’s blend of organic perceptibility, orthogonal forms and renewable energy technologies allows it to become one with its surroundings; adapting to and with the environment.

How the Solar Umbrella House came to be.

Resources:

Bonta, Dave, and Snyder Stephen.  “Solar Umbrella.”  In The New Solar Home, 126-135.  Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2009.

Cohen, Edie.  “Hall of Fame: Gwynne Pugh and Lawrence Scarpa.”  Interior Design  79, no. 15 (December 2008): S14-S16, S18.

Hawkes, Dean.  The Environmental Imagination- Techniques and Poetics of the Architectural Environment.  New York: Routledge, 2008.

LeBlanc, Sydney.  “Solar Inspiration”. Dwell, vol. 06, no. 02 (December, 2005).

McLeod, Virginia.  “08 Pugh + Scarpa- Solar Umbrella House, Los Angeles, California, USA.”  In Detail in Contemporary Residential Architecture, 38-41.  London: Laurence King, 2007.

Archinnovations.  “Pugh + Scarpa- Solar Umbrella Residence in Venice, California.” Archinnovations, June 01, 2009. http://www.archinnovations.com/featured-projects/houses/pugh-scarpa-solar-residence-umbrella-california/ (accessed September 16, 2009).

Pugh and Scarpa, Lawrence.  “Pugh + Scarpa: Solar Umbrella House, Venice, California, USA.”  UME: 49-51, no. 20 (2006).

Pugh and Scarpa.  “Solar Umbrella.”  Pugh and Scarpa Architecture.http://www.pugh-scarpa.com/projects/solar.umbrella (accessed September 15, 2009).

Ryker, Lori. “Bungalo Remodel.”  In Off The Grid: Modern Homes + Alternative Energy, 40-53. Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2005.

Solomon, Nancy, and Rober Ivey.  “The Death of Theory.”  In Architecture: Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future, 52.  New York: Visual Reference Publications, 2008.

Webb, Michael.  “Solar Umbrella”  The Architectural Review, 218.1301 (July 2005): 84-87.