Villa Metamorphosis

Saugerties, NY, United States

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Villa Metamorphosis

Saugerties, NY, United States

Firm

Ben Ryuki Miyagi, Architect

Type

Residential › Private House

YEAR

2008

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

VILLA METAMORPHOSIS

There was a house originally built in 1960.
In 2006, renovation and addition to the original house was designed, and its construction completed in 2008.

The original house was transformed into a grotesque form entirely covered in a dark skin. The manner in which an ordinary house is transformed into a mysterious object is inspired by the symbolic narrative strategies found in Franz Kafka’s novel “The Metamorphosis”. Thus this house is named “Villa Metamorphosis”.

The house is located at about 100 miles north of New York City, near Woodstock, near Catskill mountains. The rear of the house is very private with views of trees and Catskill Mountains beyond. The front of the house is very open and there is a view of a lake far beyond.

Most visitors to the house today, however, does not realize that the house is an addition and renovation of what was once an ordinary house.

The landscape of geometric mythology

In addition to Villa Metamorphosis, other structures such as House of Solitude, Sky Mirror, and Gate Towers are designed to formally define the relationship between the house and the larger landscape in which the house is situated.

As one approaches the house from the parking, one experiences the sequence of these objects as a choreographed theme, an idea named “The Landscape of Geometric Mythology”. It was designed as if a series of mysterious objects from unknown planet have landed on this peaceful landscape with a story to tell. Various symbolic geometries found in this project are meant to play integral parts of the whole as a myth, a contemporary architectural myth.

Flatness of facades

The house and its surroundings are designed with fluid arrangements of three dimensional intents. Whether one is inside of a house or outside in the landscape, depending on a location, spatial experience changes qualitatively from one location to the next, ranging from enclosure to openness, symmetry to asymmetry, flat to volumetric.

The house has 3 facades. Seen as elevations, they can be represented in strategically two dimensional compositions. Each facades of south, east and west wall, is independent from each other, and each is meant to be seen as an autonomous system of its own.

However, this ‘flatness” of façade does not mean this project is a mere graphic exercise, but the intent is quite contrary to being flat. “Flatness” in space in turn emphasizes the three dimensional depth of space created between 3 facades.

The interior

While formally very sculptural, the design was based on pragmatic needs to provide privacy from neighbors, while admitting light to make the interior bright. Thus, there are no windows facing west and east, where neighbor’s houses can be seen. Large windows were placed on south wall where a desirable view of open field beyond need to be emphasized. These new large fixed windows were placed where there were originally a series of double hung windows in the original house. Designs of these new windows are abstract, yet still reminiscent of what was there originally.

Light

Light and silence are the main substance of the interior at this house. Curved wall with folded roof in the addition space is shaped in such relation to the angle of the sunlight that it collects sunlight all day long. In a peaceful silence, one can spend a day in this house observing how the light quality changes throughout the day.
The ceiling was framed by 43 wood trusses of different shapes generated by computer modeling. The exterior was made by custom fabricated asphalt shingle with vinyl batten providing additional protection against wind forces. The interior of the curved ceiling is made of stucco with popcorn texture with the interior line texture that is the reverse image of the exterior skin texture.

Movement of body

As one enters the house, the ceiling of the existing house is an average height of 8’. The new, high ceiling space created with the addition can be seen beyond openings made to the existing wall. Its ceiling is hidden from view seen from the existing house part, but as one enters the addition space area, the space becomes larger horizontally and vertically, while revealing the design of ceiling.

Louver

Four cantilevering planes out of bedroom wall collect light and bring them into interior by diffusing the light, like a brush catching lights.

Custom designed operable louver made of translucent corrugated polycarbonate panels were attached to the wall at the bedrooms facing west. A neighbor’s house to the west can be seen from bedrooms, so these louvers provide visual privacy. But when desired, panels can be opened for viewing.

When it rains, the sound of rain hitting the louver can be listened as a sound. One may simply enjoy it as a therapeutic background sound, or even go further to interpret it as a convergence of everyday life and art, reminiscent of John Cage’s music or Junichiro Tanizaki’s writing.

カフカ小説の家 Villa Metamorphosis

この作品の題名は"変身"から来ている。この小説のように、この建築作品はもともと平凡であった家がある日突然グロテスクかつ詩的な真っ黒な家に変身したという過程をあらわしている。
この家は米ニューヨーク郊外の避暑地ウッドストックの近くにある。家は北は山脈に面しており南は平野と湖に面している。西と東は隣接する家に面している。これは1960年築の家の改装、増築である。西には４つの半透明のルーバーが、東には３つの曲線のスカイライトが増築され、これらは光を吸収すると同時に隣からのプライバシーを保っている。
この家以外にも"孤独の家"、"スカイ　ミラー"、"ゲイト　タワー"などの構造物が庭につくられている。家を含めたこれらの作品群の個々の形、スケール、位置はこのランドスケープの特有性をいかにして建築として再定義するかという課題から考慮されてデザインされている。一見、非常に個人的な言語でつくられた彫刻のように見えるがこれらの構造物は東西の隣の家からのプライバシーを保つと同時に家からの望ましい景観を強調するという役割をもっておりあくまでも基本的、普遍的な建築のテーマに従ってつくられている。
この土地のあらゆる場所を歩きまわると刻々と視覚的、空間的にイメージが物語りのように変わる。作品全体としての造形言語の一貫性を保ちながらも、どの場所も似たような空間ではなくそれぞれの場所が他とは異なった体験となるように空間のヒエラルキーをつくっている。建築家はこの手法を"図形的神話のランドスケープ"と呼んでいる。