Malaspina Design

M2 House is partof a series of projects developed for Malaspina Design, a leading company inthe design of sustainable housing in the State of Oregon, on the West Coast ofthe USA, which contacted us to explore the limits between the Pacific Northwestdream house and contemporary architecture.

Geography

The project has a deep link with the environmental conditions of the site. The first homes are located in the city of Bend, east of the Cascades, a strip of territory between the coniferous forests and mountains of the Pacific Northwest and the first foothills of the Great Basin, an arid inland basin that runs from southern Idaho to the Mojave Desert. This dual condition between the views of the mountains and a semi-arid ground triggers the design strategy, which has to resolve the relationship with a majestic and protected landscape, on the one hand, and the construction of more controlled, domestic exteriors, on the other.

Compact and porous

M2 House is designed as a continuous space around a series of patios of different sizes that mix the exterior areas with the interior spaces. The house is both compact and porous, minimizing the footprint and thus allowing the landscape to take over the area.

The house is organized on a single floor that displays the main uses on different levels, providing diverse views of the distant landscape. This allows several relationships with the outside at different levels, generating different ways of interaction and a certain independence between uses.

The landscape proposal is based on a minimal footprint strategy. The patios are planted with domestic species, creating very special backgrounds for the different areas ofthe house, whether public or private.

Systems

The house is built using a traditional wooden frame structure -balloon frame- on a terraced concrete slab-on-grade under which the main facilities run.

The exterior façade, very closed, is finished with an aluminum composite panel cladding in earth tones with slight nuances according to the incidence of sunlight. A few exterior openings are framed by modified fir frames.

The patios facades, very transparent, are finished with a light-colored stucco applied tothe paneling of the framework.