cube shaped house

[ooopie]

I am just barely starting what I will take as a long and tedious process of building a house. I am documenting every thought along the way on a new blog, and I would love all of your thoughts as well at http://theopenhouseproject.blogspot.com/

To begin with, I am inclined to believe that a cube-like shape is the most practical form for a house to take on. Do you know of any good examples of cube shaped houses? or thoughts on the matter? thanks for the guidance as I begin this journey.

-jon

[Madimel]

A home that is has an essence of a cube is the Nomad House by Rick Joy in Tucson Arizona.

[csintexas]

It looks like a fun project, you seem to have some design experience?

I did something similar with my modern texas home project but didn't quite start at the beginning.

Yes a cube is a very efficient shape, probably a cylinder would be between a sphere and a cube. I would also try to relate the shape to the site pretty soon.

[lekizz]

There was a "White Cube" house recently featured on the UK TV series "Grand Designs"

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/houses/B/Grand-Designs-Bristol-Gallery.html

Though obviously a cubic house doesn't need to be white! White cubes were popular with the architectural purists of the 1920's.

Personally I'm not a fan of flat roofs, they have a reputation of leaking and requiring regular maintainance. But modern technology makes that less likely. Maybe you could have a 'green' planted roof, which work well on flat roof systems, protecting the roof structure from the elements at the same time.

[birgco]

Check out Bauhaus - Achive Museum of Design or International Style on Google. You will see many examples of the this style. You may also want to consider Federal and Italianate architecture. Although these two 19th century styles have varying degrees of ornamentation, they are still basically cubes.
Don't let the flat roof concern you. There are several companies selling 60 mil PVC roof membranes which are long wearing (20 -25 years) and can take foot traffic and deck furniture (Dec-k-ing from California is one company). You need to pitch the roof, about 1/4 inch to the foot, but this amount of pitch still feels "flat" underfoot. The roof is a bit expensive but it's the only material I would use on flat roof and a roof top entertainment area is an especially nice feature and efficient use of space. Good luck.

[Kevin]

A lovely example of a cube house, the Rapson Cube:

ArchitectureWeek No. 347 . 29 August 2007
http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2007/0829/index.html

[phansford]

I always like Greg La Vardera's Porch House . Greg posts mostly in the PowerCADD forum. He has been developing Modern Stock Plans that are pretty cool. He seems to be having some success of late getting them built.

The classic stuff

[ooopie]

Thanks for all the replies. Some great inspiration!
Funny thing is that I randomly drove past a great cube house this past weekend as well!

cstexas - you got some good points. The site will determine a lot about what will work best. I'm waiting until I get a little bit further, so that my house can also determine what kind of a site I should look for. A cylinder is a very good cube alternative - I will look into that too. I ran the math to see exactly how the surface area relates to the volume for various shapes and I posted the results to my blog
ps. I would love to see your similar website to give me ideas for what I should be doing with this.

[csintexas]

I addressed some of the issues of exterior surface area here:

http://www.inspiredhabitat.com/community/showthread.php?t=117&page=2

the link to the main page is also in my sig.

[mx2]

The FORM of a HOUSE is something that has been studied for a very long time and is an interesting debate in itself. I would lend to this particular discussion to only say that in typical Modern design, the form of the house is a result of the function of the house in relation to the occupant(s). Doorways and window openings serve the human body as it circulates through the spaces. I make this simplified point to argue that a cylinder is not necessarily the most appropriate shape for a house, nor is it structurally easier to construct. For if we were truly looking for the most "efficient" shape, I would point to the ellipse. But mere effeciency of shape in relation to the void/space is not nearly enough to justify adhering so strictly to shape. In other words, that's the tail wagging the dog...to pick a random shape and squeeze everything inside of it.

But I agree with Chris and would even stress further that you shouldn't simply begin nor end with the site, ie property limits. Start with the community or natural features (ie, sun, wind, views) and take note of the best aspects of the site. Where is the approach to the house, what's the landscape, site utilities, or maybe just a personal vibe (feng shui anyone?)

mx2.5

[csintexas]

Normally I would say that designing a house and then finding a site is backwards but in this case I think you can learn a lot from designing a house and then designing another once you find the land.

That is to say -if the aim is to design the perfect house than it can't be done unless it is designed for it's unique location and in my view at least, no house can be perfect unless it makes maximum use of nature.

[Dawn80]

I like the idea of a cube house but with one wall much larger than the one facing it. This would mean that the roof would be slanted and it would give the building more definition. It would have a definite 'front' and 'back'.

[Toronto-modern]

Found a really cool residential design firm that is doing some really cool "modern" stuff

www.linebox.ca

[mx2]

I've always wanted to know how to "find myself"...



mx2.5