Guesthouse by HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei

Residence Tsai´s owners decided to make a house for their guests organized from three main spaces, articulated as a Y-shaped ground plan, relating them in the meeting point of the three extensions. In this way, the architect achieved independent spaces. With this architectural formality achieves to merge nature with each space, a perfect exterior longitudinal view in its longitudinal axis, to become in inspiration spaces.

Memory of project by HHF architects

Three years after completion of their main house, the owners of the Tsai Residence approached the HHF team and Ai Weiwei to commission a guesthouse. The Tsai Residence is a country house built for two art collectors on a forested slope in upstate New York, about two hours by car from Manhattan.

The guesthouse brief asked for three main elements: a bedroom, a workroom and a gallery for the two collectors’ art. One simple and highly effective gesture – a Y-shaped ground plan – served to link these elements at isolated points and to define the overall appearance of the guesthouse. The small bathroom, kitchenette and walk-in closet – the latter of which conceals the staircase to the basement and garage – consist of compact, freestanding boxes that simultaneously constitute the rear walls of the bedroom and workroom. In contrast to the galvanized corrugated metal façade of the main house, the guesthouse is a timber structure clad in corrugated corten steel, which rusts over time and so merges unobtrusively with the landscape – particularly in fall, when the foliage of the trees turns into a riot of red and gold.

The landscape also plays a major role in the interior design of the guesthouse, for each of the three main rooms offers a different perspective of the extensive grounds: the view is exalted at these points, and thus becomes a part of the house. The relationship of the Tsai Residence to the guesthouse reflects HHF’s philosophy, namely to use what already exists at a site as a source of inspiration. HHF sees every commission as an opportunity to innovate, and to deliver concrete answers to concrete problems in its signature architectural idiom.

Text.- HHF Architects.

CREDITS.-

Main architect.- Herlach Hartmann Frommenwiler.
Designer.- Ai Weiwei.
Team collaborators.- Mio Tsuneyama, Jeffrey Mansfield (design team).
Date.- 2009-2011.
Material.- Metal clad wooden construction, the façade is out of Cor-Ten steel.
Site.- Ancram, New York. USA.

Award.- American Architecture Award 2013.

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Interior view of Guesthouse by HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

Access detail and stairs inside. Guesthouse by HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

Viewpoint of the house. Guesthouse by HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

Facade detail. Guesthouse by HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

Site plan, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.use por HHF Architects y Ai Weiwei. Cortesía de HHF Architects.

Ground floor, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

First floor, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

Geometric scheme, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

Section, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.itects y Ai Weiwei. Cortesía de HHF Architects.

Section, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

Section, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects. rchitects y Ai Weiwei. Cortesía de HHF Architects.

Elevation, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.cts y Ai Weiwei. Cortesía de HHF Architects.

Elevation, HHF Architects and Ai Weiwei. Courtesy of HHF Architects.

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More information

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is a chinese conceptual artist, also works as an architect, photographer, curator and globally recognised human rights activist. Born in 1957 in Beijing, he began his training at Beijing Film Academy and later continued at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.

His work has been exhibited around the world with solo exhibitions at Stiftung DKM, Duisburg (2010); Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2009); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2009); Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Cambelltown Arts Center, Sydney (2008); and the Groninger Museum, Groningen (2008), and participation in the 48th Venice Biennale in Italy (1999, 2008, 2010); Guangzhou Triennale in China (2002, 2005), Busan Biennial in Korea (2006), Documenta 12 in Germany (2007), and the 29th Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil (2010). In October 2010, Ai Weiwei's "Sunflower Seeds" was installed in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, London. Ai Weiwei participated in the Serpentine Gallery's China Power Station exhibition in 2006, and the Serpentine Gallery Map Marathon in 2010.

The last solo exhibitions included Ai Weiwei in the Chapel, on view at Yorkshire Sculpture Park through November 2, 2014; Evidence at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 2014; and Ai Weiwei: According to What?, which was organized by the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, in 2009, and traveled to North American venues in 2013–14. Ai collaborated with architects Herzog & de Meuron on the “bird’s nest” stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and on the Serpentine Gallery, 2012 London. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation in 2012.

HHF architects. Tilo Herlach, Simon Hartmann and Simon Frommenwiler

HHF architects is an architectural firm established by Tilo Herlach, Simon Hartmann and Simon Frommenwiler.

Tilo Herlach. He born in 1972 in Zurich, Switzerland. Between 1992 and 1998, Studies in Architecture at ETH Zurich and ETH Lausanne; Masters at ETH Zurich with Prof. Ruggero Tropeano. 1998-2003 Collaboration with d-company, Bern and Rolf Furrer Architekten, Basel. 2003 Founding of HHF architects, Basel. Since 2006 member of the "Board for Urban Planning SIA Basel". Since 2007 Board member of the Berlin Chamber of Architects. 2010 BSA member. 2011 Visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Simon Hartmann. He born in 1974 in Bern, Switzerland. Between 1994 and 2000, Studies in Architecture at ETH Lausanne, TU Berlin and ETH Zurich; Masters at EPF Lausanne with Prof. V. Mangeat. 2000-2003 Collaboration with Rolf Furrer Architekten, Basel. 2002-2007 Teaching assistant at the ETH Studio Basel with Prof. Jaques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Roger Diener, Marcel Meili. 2003 Founding of HHF architects, Babel. 2009-2011 Professor at the HTA Fribourg. 2010 BSA member. 2011 Visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Since 2011 Professor at the Joint Master of Architecture course, Fribourg, Switzerland.

Simon Frommenwiler. He born in 1972 in London, United Kingdom. Between 1994 and 2000, Studies in Architecture at ETH Zurich; Masters with Prof. H. Kollhoff. 1997-2003 Collaborations with Bearth & Deplazes, Chur and Skidmore Owings & Merrill, New York, USA. 2003 Founding of HHF architects, Basel. 2005-2007 Teaching assistant at ETH Lausanne with Prof. Harry Gugger. 2010 BSA member. 2011 Professor at the Joint Master of Architecture course, Fribourg. 2011 Visiting professor at the ENSA Strasbourg, France.