Four Houses Four Stories - Flipbook - Page 71
If
the
clients
wanted
to move
throughout
the
public interior side of
house naked
with
the
shades open—
they
could—
most of the time.
Would their secrets be exposed?
Yes and no. We evaluated view angles and
corridors from various
street positions and interior locations. The objective
was to shield visibility of the
occupants from the exterior
while allowing them the oppor-
tunity to view the exterior undetected. No Star Trek
cloaking systems but simple consideration of view angles, locations and sill heights. However, the mirrored
living room window wall does in fact act as a one-way
mirror masking close on-site views while its 90-degree
location from the street and the positioning of the
driveway screen and fountain walls force acute angle
views from the street and the driveway. A planting
area buffers the “slit windows” in front so it is difficult
for someone to peak inside yet it is simple for the
clients to use them as .a sort of a “door viewer.” The
upper level bridge is exposed clearly to the street—
this is a gesture to the fun side of living. The clients
can leave the window unshielded with the roller binds
up and wave to approaching friends below as if they
were on top of a lookout tower. This window although
exposed and large, allows no internal views of the
house core beyond the bridge sitting area itself, Yet
there is one special and convenient view angle from
the upper game room where the front of the garage
courtyard, driveway and street can be monitored with
little detection from the those locations. The house is
friendly and reserved at the same time!
DESIGN
SOLUTION
