Element House by MOS architects

This little house that use the system of passive construction, is placed in Star Axis, near to the architectonic sculpture and naked eye observatory of the artist Charles Ross in the middle of the desert of New Mexico.

Element House, designed by MOS architects, has the shape due to the Fibonacci sequence. This mathematical series was applied in order to explore the idea of expansive geometric system of growth in building forms and get by this way the economics of spatial compartmentalization.

Description of the project by MOS architects

The Museum of Outdoor Arts Element House is a structural insulated panel (SIPS) modular building designed to operate inde-pendently of public utilities by integrating passive systems and on-site energy-generation. The house functions as a guest house and visitor center for Star Axis, a nearby land art project by the artist Charles Ross in New Mexico.

Using simple sustainable building practices to increase environmental performance, everything is stripped down to basic components. The organization of the house is based on an expansive geometric system of growth, radiating and aggregating outward, one module after another. A decentralized field of solar chimney volumes replaces the tradi-tional solid mass of the domestic hearth.

CREDITS. DATA SHEET.-

Architects.- MOS architects.
Program.- Visitors center, residence.
Client.- Museum of Outdoor Arts.
Collaborators.- Michael Meredith, Hilary Sample, Ashley Bigham, Jason Bond, Ryan Culligan, Gideon Danilowitz, Michael Faciejew, Steven Gertner, Jason Kim, Kera Lagios, Ryan Ludwig, Gabrielle Marcoux, Meredith McDaniel, Elijah Porter, Michael Smith, Mathew Staudt, Marrikka Trotter, (Design Team), Edward Stanley Engineers (Structural Engineer), Paul Stoller Atelier Ten (Climate Engineer).
Area.- 140 sqm (1,500 sqf).
Dates.- 2014.
Location.- Star Axis, New Mexico.

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Inside view. Element House by MOS architects. Photograph © Florian Holzherr.

Aerial view. Element House by MOS architects. Photograph © Florian Holzherr.

Outside view. Element House by MOS architects. Photograph © Florian Holzherr.rior. Casa Element por MOS architects. Fotografía © Florian Holzherr.

Ground floor plan. Element House by MOS architects. Image © Courtesy of MOS architects.

Section.Element House by MOS architects. Image © Courtesy of MOS architects.

Axonometric view. Element House by MOS architects. Image © Courtesy of MOS architects.

Outside view. Element House by MOS architects. Photograph by Florian Holzherr.

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More information

Michael Meredith + Hilary Sample. MOS architects

MOS architects is an internationally recognized architecture practice based in New York. MOS has been honored with numerous awards including: The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award in Architecture in 2015, a 2014 Holcim Award, an Academy Award for Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Architectural League’s 2008 Emerging Voices Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant and the P/A Award from Architect magazine.

Michael Meredith. Co-founder of MOS Architects in New York City. Meredith received a Master of Architecture with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (2000) and a Bachelor in Architecture from Syracuse University (1994). With partner Hilary Sample, they founded MOS Architects in 2003. Meredith teaches at Princeton University , and their academic research occurs in parallel to his job as an architect.

Hilary Sample. Co-founder of MOS Architects in New York City. She received a B.Arch. from Syracuse University (1994) and an M.Arch. from Princeton University. She is currently an Associate Professor, at Yale University. Prior to joining Yale, Hilary Sample taught at SUNY Buffalo, where she was awarded the Reyner Banham Teaching Fellowship, and the University of Toronto. In 2010 Hilary Sample received the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was a visiting scholar at the CCA in Montreal. Her research focuses on the intersection of architecture, health, environments, technology, and design.