An axonometric crayon drawing of the Glass house expresses contrast between the front and the rear, and occupies a separate space from its rainforest surroundings, which were painted on a separate layer.
A section looking towards the front of the house. The "rainforest" was cut out and overlaid onto the sheet that the simple lines of the house were drawn onto directly.
A section looking towards the rear of the house, related to the previous section drawing. It is opposite to the other, with the house cut from paper and applied over the sheet that the surroundings were drawn directly onto.
A model that condenses an important space in the house to explore ideas of inside and outside.
In the same model, the tree that punctures the centre of the house's living space is shown.
A view set up in the model summarizes a key concept of the Glass House; here a viewer stands inside, looking into an enclosed outside, through that to inside the house again, and past that to outside.
Another model explores the relationship of the house to its inclined site, and the perceived tension and compression. The steel columns of the actual house are depicted here instead as weighted wires, pulled up and out of the ground while the heavy back sinks into it.
Moving into a new phase of the project, I created this conceptual model with the ideas of tipping, gravity and tension. I was drawn to the idea of water as an active and reactive counterpoint to the timeless and motionless house. The model is manipulated with the hands to tip the pan in all directions, so that the flowing water becomes an extension of the body.
The placement of a rectangular container in the conceptual model provided the building block for the rest of the project: poured concrete bricks in wedge shapes of various angles.
The wedge bricks developed into beautifully curving walls.
The brick walls are permeated by light.
Plan, section and elevation of the proposed addition for the Glass house. Like the axonometric drawing from earlier in the project, the plan was drawn across two layers, with the house mostly occupying a different level than the rainforest. The addition, which includes a natural swimming pool, a camp-fire and gathering space, and paths following the flow of water into lower pools, is drawn across both layers, and connects the two different spheres of house and surroundings.
House and addition drawings minus the upper layer.
A 1:100 scale model of the house and the addition.
A vignette shows the permeable nature of the walls, which are in high contrast to the impermeable and abstract house. The water spills over from the main swimming pool into the partly enclosed space of a fish pool, and then through the walls to a lower collection gutter.
The courtyard dining area and main swimming pool, with an infinity edge detail that makes the solidity of the concrete house and base seem to dissolve into the forest and sky.
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Pool and Garden Addition at Lina Bo Bardi House
This project began with research and analysis of the Glass House (1951), by architect Lina Bo Bardi. Initial drawings and models communicate and explore aspects of the house that I found remarkable. I discovered and moved forward with a concept of accentuated gravity, sensed through a tension between contrasted elements, and in particular through the relationship between the house and its inclined site. The Glass House seems to defy gravity, while my proposed addition does the exact opposite