Slice House Project

This design project contributes to research into modern interpretations on contextual, traditional architectural solutions to climatically responsive small-scale residential sub-tropical architecture. The Slice House is the result of testing the daylight consequences of the inter-relationships between three elements: court-yard house typology, building envelope apertures and shading devices. It demonstrates the possibility of designing an environmentally sustainable naturally ventilated house, for a sub-tropical climate, with a significantly lower internal than external temperature in the summer and higher internal temperature in the winter.

The house is built using new construction techniques, such as the use of resin on raw concrete for the pool and the pool terrace area of the building and aims to test these new building techniques in the context of residential architecture.

Research in environmental architectural design, carried out during Rihl's PhD work, led to the use of daylighting studies to develop a narrow, 2 storey, courtyard house type. The daylighting and artificial sky simulation software Skylite was used to develop and test the overall design scheme and a number of alternative designs. These explored and tested the employment of a series of design solutions such as shading devices, light filters and light shelves.

The house makes a series of references to Brazilian modern architecture as well as adding a new element with its complex prismatic geometry. This complex geometry generates a series of spatial illusions in the interior spaces which illustrates procter-rihl design language.

The house deals with an universal subject of urban residues in cities. The changing nature of the urban context generates through time a number of odd residual sites. Residual sites can be extremely interesting because they impose difficult questions to solve in terms of planning and programme. This project is placed on a site 3.7m wide x 38.5m long.

The project was conceived as a SLICE built on an urban residue leftover after the opening of a new road on the west side of the site. Space is defined by a series of non-orthogonal design decisions. The space folds and unfolds within the prismatic form. It develops a series of spatial distortions, which create an illusion of greater space on this narrow plot. A series of tilted 70deg walls extend the spaces where the eye of the beholder is displaced to further planes achieving an illusion of a larger space. The tilted ceilings create forced perspective also distorting the spatial perception. People are accustomed to perceive and understand orthogonal spaces. In a more complex geometry, the eye tries to understand the space and is constantly defied by it. The space becomes richer as the user perceives conflicting information from different viewpoints.

• http://www.e-architect.co.uk/brazil/slic...