8/30/2023 0 Comments Curve house roofs![]() Mansart is remembered by architectural historians as the Father of French Classical Architecture, but he clearly had a practical nature as well. The emblem of the style is the distinctive mansard roof, a device attributed to the 17th-century French architect Francois Mansart (1598-1666). This 1870s house in Rhinebeck, New York, has traditional Second Empire features, with distinctive window ornaments and lintels. Not all mansard houses were spread out many were designed to fit narrow lots while keeping their hallmark rooflines and towers. The Second Empire style, with its ubiquitous mansard roofs and heavy ornament, remained the first choice of wealthy homebuilders and their architects because it was, in their eyes, not only thoroughly “modern,” but also fashionably flashy in what was a very flashy era indeed. Even after the Franco-Prussian War ended in 1871, Second Empire-style buildings continued to ride high on a tide of huge, newly minted, post-Civil War fortunes that were amply equipped to handle these extravagantly decorative houses. It is a type that might be found anywhere from Maine to California in the 1870s and 1880s.įor a time in the middle of the 19th century, what set the pace of architectural taste for well-heeled Americans was not some ideal of the ancient past but all things in vogue during the regime of Louis Napoleon (1852-1870), or the era called the French Second Empire. The design of the two houses, inspired by the topographic particularities of the site, allows optimal integration into the existing estate and leaves enough presence, space and views for the villa.Typical of a towerless middle-class house is this Red Hook, New York, example with a handsome veranda across the front and a projecting upper bay in lieu of a tower. The relation between the new buildings, the existing villa and the landscaped grounds were essential. The project is an example of a modest densification of villa plots in rural living areas. An economical and considerate use of housing space contributes to sustainability, as well as the use of uncoated materials and efficient building services with heat pump, thermal solar panels and comfort ventilation. The curved ceilings are indicated with hard concrete bands – the light filling in between is composed of ceiling-high windows and curtain walls covered with translucent polycarbonate panels. Also on the outside, the facades were developed to support the volumetric concept. The effect of the curved ceilings in the interior is enhanced by the reduced and honest choice of materials concrete ceilings, dyed concrete floors and white plaster walls. It also allows daylight into the translucent bathroom cubes – which are built out of glass blocks and divide and structure the lower floor. The dynamic and open staircase creates a strong reference between the two floors. On the inside, a single-flight staircase provides the spatial connection between the entrance hall on the upper living floor and the sleeping floor below. ![]() ![]() The curved shape of the roof creates its own topography, which connects the two floors and turns the location on a slope into a part of the design concept. The buildings are situated across the slope and are accessed from the north on the upper floor level, which offers a beautiful view towards the first hills of the Jura Mountains. ![]() “The two houses “Im Wygärtli” are located in a villa garden on the southern hillside of Hofstetten. Curved shape of the roof connects the two floors and turns the location on a slope into a part of the design concept ![]()
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