OUT OF THE BOX
These projects blur the indoors and out
Blurring the boundaries between indoors and out goes next level with these clever takes on form and function.
The idea of blurring indoor and outdoor spaces has been a recurring theme in architecture and interiors. Having the comfort of the indoors while being immersed in the great outdoors is the stuff dreams are made of. I mean, who doesn’t want to have their cake and eat it too?
Perhaps it’s our collective fatigue from the fast pace of urban living, the saturation of screen culture, infinite new technologies or a combination of all three, but we’re definitely seeing a rise in projects that really push these boundaries. A superb example comes in the shape of a holiday house in a forest at the foothills of a mountain in Monterrey, Mexico. Designed by acclaimed Mexico-city architect Tatiana Bilbao, Los Terrenos (The Terrain) appears as a mesmerising illusion made up of three fragmented volumes based on function. The living room pavilion is encased in mirrored glass and rendered almost invisible among the trees. The second pavilion incorporates two bedrooms with rammed earth walls. Each room features a retractable wall that opens to the outdoors. The final, yet-to-be-built pavilion will be the main bedroom contained in a timber house on stilts, with views across the treetops. Yes, please. Also in Mexico is Casa La Quinta by architects Pérez Palacios and Alfonso de la Concha Rojas. This blissful sanctuary is located within San Miguel de Allende’s urban context. The house is squeezed into a site surrounded by walls, so the architects had to be exceptionally resourceful in creating an illusion of openness and space. The team designed a home with no internal boundaries, with all rooms facing three inner courtyards, flowing outdoors through generous openings and sliding glass panels. Closer to home, Austin Maynard Architects has conceived one of its latest projects, King Bill, as a love letter to Fitzroy in Melbourne’s inner-city. The architects were commissioned to design a family of four’s “forever house” by renovating a two-storey terrace, an old stable to the rear, and incorporating an adjacent empty garden site. Austin Maynard flipped the terrace concept on its head. The entry was moved to the side, becoming a corridor that links the old house with the stable and the new pavilion. “With the entry moved, the original terrace entry porch is now a garden, and the corridor is now a bathroom, which brings delight to the owners as they watch visitors scratch their heads while they figure out how to find their way inside,” says Maynard. Although many of us may crave exceptional architecture to live in, it’s often the un-designed outdoor spaces that tap into our basic instincts for being immersed in nature, for spending time in uncomplicated settings that support and enhance the concept of ‘togetherness’ — an essential element of any home.