Novak Residence

Novak Design Group PLC

Recognitions: 2007 Newspaper Insert

Project Description

This project is a refuge situated in the prairie away from busy city streets. Conceived as the intervention of pure Cartesian geometry into the untamed natural landscape, this minimalist design warrants calm things in a cluttered world. Cubic in plan and elevation, the simple geometric form is carried into the building's details as the indented and extruded cube is wrapped in a grid of 42"x42" composite metal panels. The pristine form is punctured and dematerialized, allowing sunlight to animate the simple white interior walls and bleached wood floors with shade and shadow. Openings are created on the facades in asymmetric order, placed within the grid of the metal panel module with views to the landscape beyond. As a response to the making of architecture as refuge, a constructed berm visually shields the entry level from surrounding traffic. The walled berm is a natural sculptural feature on the site. It mediates between the soft and the hard, the natural and the man made. The living spaces are on the second level, for observing the surrounding landscape from an elevated plane. The circulation slices through the floor planes, spatially and visually connecting private quarters with the living space. The selected furniture, of bold hues and quirky forms transforms the corridors and corners of the house into social zones as it is positioned as singular artful elements. With its absence of color, the building envelope is poised as a neutral backdrop to the changing colors of the seasons on the outside, and the colorful furniture, artwork and the idiosyncrasies of everyday life within.