OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen . + Biennale Interieur
Solo House INTERIOR is an interpretation of Solo House by architects OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen. The house is a self-sufficient home under construction in an immense and remote nature park in Spain. For the original Solo House in Spain as well as for the installation at Interieur, the architects collaborated with designer duo Muller Van Severen and artists Pieter Vermeersch and Richard Venlet.
Solo House INTERIOR at INTERIEUR 2016 features full-size fragments forming a kind of ‘ghost’ setting for the furniture, the architecture and the installations.
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Solo house is a country residence in a large untouched forest in the mountainous region of Matarraña, two hours south of Barcelona. The house frames the top of a plateau that overlooks the surrounding forest and dramatic landscape. Given that the scenery is so impressive, we felt the architecture should be invisible, merely emphasizing the natural qualities of the surroundings.
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A simple circular roof with a diameter of 45 meters underscores the qualities of both the plateau and its edge. The roof functions as a shelter and forms the perimeter of the inhabited surface. It is supported by four straight rows of eight columns which cut chords from the circular base. Only these four areas are inhabited, with varying levels of protection. Large stretches of the curtain facade on the outer edge of the circle are operable, allowing the living areas to fully open and provide an intimate relationship between the inhabitant and the surrounding nature. Since the terrain is not connected to any services, the house will be completely self-dependent. Photovoltaic panels will provide thermal and electric energy which will be stored in buffer tanks. Water is claimed on the site itself and purified after use. Each of these devices are arranged as abstract objects on the roof.
Solo house is an exercise in making architecture out of only devices. Its spaces are defined by machines. The roof provides shelter, the comfort of the interiors is provided by specifically designed pieces of furniture.
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