“Less is More.” - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Designing a minimal space isn’t just creating a white space with less furniture. There’s intentionality and strategies to create a stunning space. In architecture and interior, minimalism focuses on creating a simple and uncluttered space by stripping things to their most basic form. Shapes, color and texture are typically simplified to create clean lines.
Characteristics of a place that applies a minimalist design
Monochromatic color palette: White, gray, black, or other calm neutrals, such as tan, are used extensively.
Less Texture: Choose materials that have consistent textures and are framed in clean lines. Eg: steel, polished stone, concrete, and glass.
Form = Function. Keep the core of the building as simple as possible, omitting any unnecessary ornamentation.
One of the biggest strategies in creating minimal space is concealing everything to emphasize pure geometry. Here are a few examples from House 13 on how we have concealed elements to create a modern and minimal house.
1. Door Frame
Expression of door leaf and the door frames can provide a definitive expression to the interior. In House 13, the swing door frames and hinges are made to be concealed and invisible to the eyesight. The result is a stark minimalist door bare of any decorative element. Additionally, hardwares are chosen to supplement the overall expression of the interior.
2. Staircase
Creating detail for this staircase was a challenge. We wanted to eliminate the traditional handrail and thick closed stringer. Each thread is tied onto the wall, while the tempered laminated glass functions as both a handrail and surface to tie the stair treads.
https://www.archdaily.com/894075/house-13-insada/5af1f05af197cce6170002af-house-13-insada-photo?next_project=no
3. Air Condition
On top of creating a working cross ventilated house, we have detailed and designed VAC systems to conceal the split duct system and custom linear AC grill as supply and return grill.
4. Walls
Eliminating any unnecessary walls as wall as substituting it will Glass walls where possible, are used to create transparency to extend the space visibility in House 13. For example, dumb waiter was needed to transport objects between floors, especially the kitchen and living room which were located on the second floor. Instead of concealing the dumb waiter, we have highlighted its functionality by placing glass walls.
5. Facade
The main façade is made out of operable low-e glass curtain wall consisting of aluminum extrusions, perforated metal sheet acting as insect screen, and sliding glass door. The sliding doors are also used for cross ventilation by allowing breeze to come in, while perforated metal sheet acts as an insect screen and aluminum extrusions used for additional security.
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