Stretto House
A House is an Environmental Filter
This house is a direct result of its surrounding environment, Steven Hool has projected “...the character of the site through a series of concrete “spacial dams” with metal framed “aqueous space” flowing through them” stated on Steven Holl’s Website stevenholl.com (2011). There is a constant overlapping between the water pouring over the dams outside and the overlapping stretto in music; Holl has brought these two together as water reflects the landscape outside and the spaces overlapping within (stevenholl.com, 2011). The spaces created within are different filters that pull the house together; the floor planes pull one space to the next, roof planes pull space over walls and an arched wall pulls light from a skylight (stevenholl.com, 2011). It is the difference in filtering of each space that creates special places within. From the stevenholl.com (2011) website is this statement; which I think shows the essence of a house being an environmental filter:
“Rather than imposing a style upon different sites and climates, or pursued irrespective of program, the unique character of a program and a site becomes the starting point for an architectural idea.”
A House is a Container of Human Activities
“Arriving at the house visitors enter at a stone courtyard and a struck with a view through thew entry of the overlapping spaces of the house, with glimpses of the flanking gardens (Holl, 1996).” Occupiers are lead through the architecture of a fluid continuity which is expressed by the construction in material and detail (Holl, 1996). The exterior shows a more heavy and light contrast with masonry and metal. The house holds very fine articulated details customized to the owner; who had grown up in a Frank Lloyd Wright house and had a family history with appreciation of fine architecture (Holl, 1996). The house contains spaces of varying qualities, with intimate finishes. Substantial rooms designed to hold a large art collection, grand and boisterous entertaining areas, charming reading and reflecting nooks and elegant meaningful landscaping that is brought right into the house. With all these complex ideas shaped into one architecture, it is still a beautiful, reserved house that does not contain extravagancy that demands attention.
“All the polishing, shaping, and framing recedes into a kind of visual white noise, eluding definition instead of demanding attention, and giving the clients the freedom to enjoy the masterful evocation of dwelling and creek that provides the house’s basic diagram (Progressive Architecture, 1992).”
A House is a Delightful Experience
This house has a strong design based around music bringing the beauty of music into the architecture. “Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste has a materiality in instrumentation which the architecture approaches in light and space (stevenholl.com, 2011).” The result is a symphony of interconnected masonry and limestone pavilions whose arched roofs rise like musical crescendos, then dip with the undulating landscape (Iovine 1994). In an essay by Muecke M and Zach M (2007) Holl’s contrast between music and architecture is examined:
“Holl acknowledges the importance of rhythm, form and proportion in architecture and music but focuses on the translation of unknown qualities, such as composition arrangement and manipulation. Holl examines the contrast between Bartok's expression and technique and attempts to recreate it in the formal and spatial treatment of the Stretto House.”
We can see that Holl has not just taken the music and made a house, he has interpreted it and has created something that is meaningfully beautiful. The experience of this place produce thought and sense-provoking qualities through the use of natural materials, such as glass, stone or wood (stevenholl.com, 2011). Steven Holl has won many awards for his designs, one in particular relating to delightful experiences is the “America's Best Architect, for 'Buildings That Satisfy The Spirit As Well As The Eye’ (Iovine 1994). It is obvious that the Holl team are very experienced meaningful designers.
