Before I mention Y House, I want to emphasize that this research was too significant to learn most characteristic buildings spacial qualities and their architectural opinions. While we were searching the house, we though how our friends can understand our house clearly and easily. Therefore, we produced small hand poster for each friends.In this, it has more general and fundamental qualities of our house.
Steven Holl:
He was born in 1947 in America. He has graduated from Seattle University and he has studied in London and Rome. In 1976, he has established Steven Holl Architects in New York. He is one of the most influential architects of the contemporary architecture and his projects took place mostly in New York, China, Japan and South Korea. At the same time, he wrote an essay about designing with light and space. Also, in this essay, he tell us all his strategies and opinions. Thus , provided that you want learn more detail information about Steven Holl, please, you should visit libary and look “Architectural Lighting Desingning with Light and Space ” by Herve Descottes.
The Y House:
Y House by Steven Holl Architects in the Catskills Mountains, New York, was built between 1997-1999. The Y-shaped house splits into two forms, both with south-facing balconies. The houses balconies are facing the valleys of Catskills Mountains. The house occupies the hill and site through three primary relationships: in the ground, on the ground and over the ground.
Looking from the entrance view, the form of the house flows onwards and outwards and splits into braches with a double-height stairway.
The steel framing and roof are iron-oxide red, the siding is red-strained cedar and the interiors are white with black ash floors.The red color of the Y House is a link to the ancient lead-red paint used barns in the surroundings of Catskill Mountains. The interiors in white and natural ash only pick up a pink-red glow from exteriors when the sunlight is in certain positions.
What’s more, the Y House is very connective and in harmony and coherences with environment because of materials of the house.
According to Steven Holl space is nothing without light, so the most important building material is light to him. Seeing that the behavior of light guided many decisions for him. He used the changes in naturel lighting conditions to create variety of interior experiences. Thus, the Y shape of the house is designed to use the natural light efficiently.
The suprising things about light are often experiences in daily changes. On account of two arms facing to different directions of Y shape, it can observe daily sun light more. Furthermore, the geometry of the ‘Y’ contains a sectional flip of public (day) or private (night) zones.
The relationship between intimacy and distance of a light source is studied in terms of private and public spaces. In the entry hall private/day and public/night zones are intertwining and overlapping.
The braches, however, are showing both of private and public features and these zones were placed reverse to each other due to arrival of the natural light with different directions during a day.Therefore, the daytime and nighttime spaces are reversed .On the first flour; a kitchen at left as public space and bedrooms at right as private spaces. On the second flour; a master bedroom at left as private space and living area at right as public spaces.
The intensity of light is controlled level by level with Y shape of the building and the windows. At the entrance, it is low and does not overwhelm one’s eye.
The private and public zones are in need of high intensity of light.This is satisfied with wide windows and big balconies. Hence, luminous intensity are inceasing from entrance to the balconies.
Also, you can look skecth which show different quality of the house of Y house .
Furthermore, while being desingned by Steven HOLL, he inspired from Le Corbusier. Thus, this shows us that Steven Holl carry modernizm ideas of Le corbusier.
ARCHIST 