Guesthouse
Three years after completion of their main house, the owners of the Tsai Residence approached the HHF team and Ai Weiwei to commission a guesthouse. The Tsai Residence is a country house built for two art collectors on a forested slope in upstate New York, about two hours by car from Manhattan. The guesthouse brief asked for three main elements: a bedroom, a workroom and a gallery for the two collectors’ art.
Photography by © Iwan Baan
One simple and highly effective gesture – a Y-shaped ground plan – served to link these elements at isolated points and to define the overall appearance of the guesthouse. The small bathroom, kitchenette and walk-in closet – the latter of which conceals the staircase to the basement and garage – consist of compact, freestanding boxes that simultaneously constitute the rear walls of the bedroom and workroom.
Photography by © Iwan Baan
In contrast to the galvanized corrugated metal façade of the main house, the guesthouse is a timber structure clad in corrugated corten steel, which rusts over time and so merges unobtrusively with the landscape – particularly in fall, when the foliage of the trees turns into a riot of red and gold. The landscape also plays a major role in the interior design of the guesthouse, for each of the three main rooms offers a different perspective of the extensive grounds: the view is exalted at these points, and thus becomes a part of the house.
Photography by © Iwan Baan
The relationship of the Tsai Residence to the guesthouse reflects HHF’s philosophy, namely to use what already exists at a site as a source of inspiration. HHF sees every commission as an opportunity to innovate, and to deliver concrete answers to concrete problems in its signature architectural idiom.
Project Info :Â
Architects : Ai Weiwei +Â HHF ArchitectsÂ
Location : New York, United States
Year : 2011
Type : Residential
