Marco Casagrande has created a house in armory with its surroundings. The house was built like a boat, wood is present inside and outside the building, and connects the house and to the closed forest. Thanks to the isolation of this natural material that is wood and the use of the thermal heating, Apelle is a house connected to the nature.
Description of the project by Marco Casagrande.
The interior space of Apelle is a continuous tube that grows gradually along the house and through the main opening and terrace into the forest. Along this axis the collective and private actions are tuned according to the times, functions and needs of the day and night. The same space is used for everything from sleeping to eating and from socializing to work as a studio space or a gym. This kind of multi-functional space of "tupa" or "pirtti" is common in traditional Finnish architecture. A free standing cube serves for water with a sleeping loft on top.
House Apelle is part of nature. The surrounding forest has been architecturally articulated into a shelter for a family of contemporary natives. The house is in the forest as much as the forest is in the house. The architecture is a mediator between the modern man and nature.
Like the structural masts between ship decks, a white metal stove separates one space from the next and serves as a division between the bed and the rest of the room. Three circular windows in series sit at the faade, alluding to similar lookouts on vessels at sea. The planked floors and parallel skylights create the sensation of the home at harbor among the surrounding woodland.
Apelle is well insulated with wood based materials and during the harsh winters it heats up by thermal heating supported by two fire-places. The main building volume is structurally supported by a smaller volume on the side acting as an outrigger.
Apelle is built by two local carpenters used to for building both houses and wooden boats. According to the carpenters, this is a boat.
CRÉDITOS. FICHA TÉCNICA.-
Architect.- Marco Casagrande
C-LAB.- Nikita Wu, Jan Luksic, Shreya Nagrath, Arijit Sen, Ingolf, Westerholm, Jens Nylund, Mirella Peltonen
Construction Manager.- Bengt Öhman / LU-Rakennus
Location.- Karjaa, Finland
Size.- 140m²
Materials.- Wood, black brick
Completed.- 2013.
