Build a Tiny House in Your Backyard Because of New Building Code
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Javier Campos is an architect and principal at Campo Studio and they designed the Point Grade Laneway. Trying to achieve what is called soft density – a way of densifying an area without adding towers or changing the fabric too much – the city of Vancouver in Canada had already its history of trying out different ways. An earlier attempt to get there was to build narrow houses, but eventually the owners of these got upset as the properties’ values went down. Therefore, they considered different key components in the new planner of the Laneway house. One of them was to roll out the program equally across the city, so that the capital would not flow into one single neighborhood and speculation would be avoided. The other component concerned tenure: the houses cannot be sold but only rented out or inhabited by oneself, also to prevent speculation.
One of the team members, called Tamiko, was a fourth generation Japanese Canadian and hence they decided to incorporate some aspects of Japanese tradition and to make them part of the essence of the building. They made it as environmentally friendly and efficient as possible. By the standards of today, the house just meets the requirements – however, the requirements were exceeded while it was being built. For the rooftop they used metal sidings with no gutters on it, so that the water could fall onto the concrete ground they built underneath, not taking any earth away.
The outside part of the house is made out of cedar shake Shingles, which are irregular and have been split and hand-stained. The difference to regular shingles is found in how they each have a slightly different color and how they also pick up the light differently. The cement found on the site has been reused as a dry stack for the garden. On one wall, we find a single round window: even though they usually don’t do there, it seemed to be the best fit here. It turned out to be their first and only round window integrated into a building. To fulfill the security requirements of the city, they had to put a small red light, which goes on if there’s a fire, so that the firemen could find which house in the lane is concerned.
The change in elevation when coming in marks the transition between the entrance and the living room, while keeping a smooth, continuous space. On the ceiling are numerous lines and ceiling changes, defining the boundaries between the different spaces. Javier says that this makes the whole space flow slowly from one side to the other, which is also part of Japanese tradition. When there were a lot of people in the house, the elevation at the entry as well as the stairs would be seated on, as everything had been designed to have a multi-purpose. At the elevation they put an extra step, a Japanese stool out of bright wood which brightens up the space a little bit and prevents the area to get too crowder or unaccessible.
Relaxing on the sofa in the corner, one has the view over the whole space, except the kitchen that is closed off by a wall. The sofa can be extended in order to serve as a bed for guests and also has a lot of storage space underneath it, something like a big closet. In general, as there is no mechanical room, there are many hidden spaces. Down the stairs it looks like there is only a wall, but behind it are all the mechanics for the heating and all of the electrical panels. The interior is white, which is to be in contrast with the heaviness, width and black texture of the outside, where only the carved-out parts are white. They liked the idea of a much softer and more controlled interior.
The dining space between the living room and the kitchen is lightened up by big windows and attached right to the courtyard. Even though the neighbor´s house is very closer – 16 feet away – they put plants in the garden that would grow so big in summer one would barely see the house anymore. The kitchen ride beside also gets all of the light through the big windows and even through an additional skylight. Not seeing the living room from the kitchen was designed on purpose, in order to get the feeling of being in a different room when cooking.
Upstairs are the more private parts. There is one small bathroom, where a lot of light gets in through the windows and the skylight. Just one step further up lays the bedroom, full of built-in closets. The angular walls were made after the idea of asymmetry and balance, which is often found within Japanese architecture.
All of the projects Javier is involved with are very different, it all depends on the history and ideas of their clients. Building this Laneway, they learned a lot as they realized during the process that even though it was smaller, it was more complex to build than a regular house.
“Everything has to have a multi-purpose and be accessible, it’s like designing a boat”, Javier says. “What was really important for this project to be successful was not to constrain things and to actually let them develop. It is always really important to understand that the project will take an identity and develop in the process, and you have to nurture that and let it come to something.”.
Watch the full video here to know more about the Laneway!
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