One of my predictions for 2013 has been”dividing the home,” by which smaller detached volumes are able to react to unique site conditions, such as existing trees, slopes and water’s borders. Smaller buildings also signify that specific functions may stand alone for reasons regarding demands (a flat to get a grandparent, for instance ) and electricity (heating and cooling systems may be reduced at a living area at night, whereas during the day the bedrooms may do exactly the same).
That notion received much resistance from subscribers, especially the notion of hiking outside to go from the living room into the bedroom. (I like the concept of being attached to the outside this way, but I know that it’s not suitable for many individuals in all climates.) One means of creating smaller footprints but using a conditioned path from one to another is via an enclosed walkway.
This ideabook looks at a variety of such paths, many of these with glass walls, which fortify the differentiation of these buildings they connect while keeping views throughout the site.
Remick Associates Architects + Master Builders
The Napa Vineyard House is a vacation house for a bunch of friends. With this situation it had been essential to make private suites in addition to the communal spaces. A glass-enclosed walkway joins both of these portions of the undertaking.
Remick Associates Architects + Master Builders
Nic Ehr, leader at Remick Associates Architecture, says,”We wanted to get a courtyard, but the planning commission needed everything under a single roof. The glass passageway allows us to be enclosed open to the perspective.”
Remick Associates Architects + Master Builders
This willingness is hauled in how in which the walkway follows the topography of the site. The measures really align with the terraced landscape, a thoughtful means of linking the two together.
Alterstudio
Alterstudio’s design for a home near Austin, Texas, has a courtyard created from the houses’ being split into two parallel bars. In the entrance and garage, the living area is the quantity to the right of the glass walkway, and the bedrooms are beyond the quantity on the leftside. The walkway then functions as the entrance, while also defining one side of the courtyard.
Alterstudio
Reflecting pools on both sides of the walkway help to create a feeling of calm for somebody traversing from one side of the home to another. In addition they reflect sunlight into the space, making a dappled effect.
WA Design Architects
In certain conditions glass paths can vanish, as in this courtyard home in Berkeley, California, designed by WA Design. Full-height panes with silicone joints are just one means of ensuring continuity of views in outside spaces.
The choice to do something such as this should be tempered by considerations for wildlife, especially birds. (I am speaking generally, not relating to this home, for which it might not be a problem.) To discourage birds from hitting glass, certain movies — or something as simple as cutouts of birds — may be put on the glass.
WA Design Architects
The glass walls are about as simple as could be, set to the ground and ceiling and framed with silicone. An outside column gives some extra support.
Poss Architecture + Planning and Interior Design
Views through a walkway could be amplified through the use of sliding doors, as in this mountain residence. The view from the walkway is phenomenal, so it’s easy to see why patios are situated on both sides of the walkway.
Poss Architecture + Planning and Interior Design
When shut the walkway joins either side of the home, but it does so in spectacular fashion. The cove lighting and subtle barrel-vaulted wood ceiling are all nice touches.
LaRue Architects
Here’s a walkway that does triple duty: It functions as a front door along with a walkway connecting either side of the home, and…
LaRue Architects
… it provides access to a patio overlooking a pool on the opposite side of the home.
McKinney York Architects
A walkway need not be only one story. This glass-enclosed walkway is two stories.
McKinney York Architects
As in the prior residence, doors on both sides of the glass walls offer access to the outside. Overhead the walkway is really a bridge, set back from the glass walls.
Notice the roller colors on the ideal side, what I am guessing is the southern exposure. A glass walkway, especially a two-story one, can act like a greenhouse, therefore cutting down on direct sunlight is a good idea.
Travis Price Architects
The previous instance is a glass-enclosed bridge that happens to also feature a glass flooring. The difference between the two buildings is small, which reduces the size of the structure required to bridge one side and another.
Travis Price Architects
The bridge is really two stories, meaning there’s a glass roof and 2 glass floors. From the brief walk from one building to another, the sky, trees, rain and ground have been grasped through the glass panes.