All About Construction

A teardown on a small hill 50 miles north of the city in Waccabuc, New York, hit the mark. When architect saw the view into the woods from the roof of the existing house, he decided that living spaces should be at that level, where abundant trees would provide privacy. The couple razed the old structure but saved the foundation for the new 2,170-square-foot house. The second floor, a rectangular volume, cantilevers dramatically 20 feet from each end of the house. These cantilevers, supported by two steel trusses integrated within a two-by-six wood frame, extend from a pedestal-like base to shelter a carport at the east and a porch at the west. “I was keen on developing something whose characteristics were determined by a structure,” says Architect. Enclosed by cedar walls that are stained black, with shiplap joints, the second floor contains the kitchen, living spaces, and a bedroom. Two more bedrooms are located on the ground floor, the front of whic...

On the first day on the project, we decided to fly it off a cliff,” says Brian MacKay-Lyons, describing the simple wood and steel–frame residence his firm designed. The two-story, 970-square-foot house juts out from its perch on a bluff overlooking Nova Scotia's windswept Atlantic coast. “We thought, 'we can be boring and build on land, or we can do it this way.' ” And so the Cliff House was born T he owners, a young family that shuttles between a primary residence in California and their native Nova Scotia, didn't want their summer house to upstage its dramatic site. To that end, Halifax-based MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects (MLS) hewed to their practice's principles, choosing simple materials: an envelope of cedar acts as a kind of “wood lampshade,” wrapping a steel frame, explains MacKay-Lyons. The area's ubiquitous fishing shacks served as inspiration for the Cliff House, and the architect expects the house's cladding, like that of the...

Program:  The client, a businessman with a young family, wanted to experiment with unusual construction methods for his new house on a steep hill overlooking the sea and mountains outside Barcelona. He had three requests—large windows to take advantage of views, privacy from the neighbors, and the use of a new concrete technology that, if successful, could be marketed and used in future projects Solution:  The architects designed an X-shaped, two-story house on a relatively flat step in the hillside and sprayed high-density concrete at high pressure to single-sided formwork, a technique usually used for tunnels and bridges, not residential work. Glazed portions of the structure were angled to allow privacy from the neighbors and to take advantage of views of the landscape. The family parks its cars and enters the house at the upper level—with a master suite and studio—and descends to the lower level for a double-height living area, three bedrooms, and a combined kitch...