A HOUSE IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL FILTER
Throughout both designs materials are similar and often very simple. The use of naturalistic materials allows for both an environmental filter, but also a delightful experience to made in the design. Glass in both designs were key in allowing for allowing the best source of natural lighting and to help direct ventilation movement.
Reinforced concrete is used as the exterial wall material. This is due to reinforced concrete being an economic perspective for a low budget and creates a symbology of the construct being naturally placed in the terrain. The trees in the surrounding area also give a symbolic response to the cabin design being built upon columns.
A HOUSE IS A CONTAINER OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES
The cabin design has been arranged that its living quarters create the main circulation of the building, connecting the main public areas. The private areas are secluded behind the kitchen walls following the hallway, that enter the study and stair access to the master bedroom. The staircase was used as successful divide between public and private domains creating optimum privacy.
My cabin design also follows Alavaro's "square design". By using cube development, the floor plan is a conctruction of three, four and five meter squared blocks placed parallel and co-linear to each other. So that it creates a strong structural balance throughout the building and creates a spacious, yet simple form. (Saieh, 2008)
A HOUSE IS A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE
With the living room being the main accessed area i wanted the room to be lit up well and have access to a view. This is done through he varandah leading out fom the living room providing the occupants with a view of the landscape and natural light pouring in through the windows facing the north-east.
Keeping the public and private areas also gives the cabin some delight especially with the second floor being used mainly for the master bedroom. The master bedroom has large floor to ceiling windows that allow for natural light, however they can be covered by curatins. During the night, the master bedroom is able to look out through the windows towards the scenery and enjoy the luxuries of the spa, secluded varandah or bed.
The materials are very simplistic, concrete and wood are used together to create a very organic and delightful experience. During winter, the concrete is used to heat the interiour due to being heated in the sun all day.
Anaylsis :: Cabin Design
Site Analysis & Development :: Cabin
When I started to choose my site location and context for my cabin design, I first wanted to understand Alvaro Siza's context choice for Casa Tolo. 
He directed Casa Tolo's rear facade to face the south, this way he positioned the building to recieve the maximum efficiency of natural sunlight and ventilation though the five major floors.
Alvaro uses the five major floors to interlink the entire building so that there are different uses usually on alternating floors. This creates a number of different containers of activities for the household. However, my cabin design is restricted to 75 squared metres.
When I started thinking of designing my Cabin i wanted these features to be evident. Somehow i wanted to create an interlinking cabin space with a vast use of natural lighting to activate the main areas of the building. I also wanted to feature the use of interlinking staircases and build the object into the ground, so that it is unified with the terrain to make it work well with the environment.
Knowing all these features and restrictions, i created a number of diagrams to help with this problem. My final diagram is shown below.
I worked out that because my cabin has a very constricted space compared to Casa Tolo, I was to interlink the main used room in the center of the building and have all the other rooms branching off from it. I used the living room as this main interlinking space, with the kitchen, entrance, study and varandah all connected with it.
I was also able to create the use of an interlinking staircase by using one to access the varandah from the rooftop and the staircase below to join the study with the master bedroom. This was able to be done because of recessing the second story into the ground below the first story. By doing this i unify the building with the terrain and also allow the rear facade to recieve natural sunlight by facing the north-east.
Using the weather aspect I was able to create, (picture above) I was able to start positioning my rooms into places they were most suitable. I chose to position the study to face the north so that it collects good light and hardly any glare. It is warm generally all year and only moderate heat.
The bedrooms are positioned so that they are cool in spring and cold and hot in summer and winter. The garages and bathrooms face the west because it is the worst side to face due to the dusty weather, glares and bad temperatures. It is due to these rooms being hardly used. All the other rooms i fit in to match a correct temperature and light quantity.
Once I worked out the direction and position where I wanted to place my cabin design, i started focussing my attention on working out the contours and environment that surround it. I decided to place it on the north side of Mount Methology, with the rear facade facing the north-east on a sloping hill construct. This way it was able to imitate some of the qualities featured in Casa Tolo's design, (eg- binded with the hill side, rear facade facing the direction of most natural sunlight).
I used the contours of the land to make my cabin design on a hill construct. This way it creates an open design with a delightful experience. The delightful experience would be because of the organic interlinking mixture of the terrain and the materials of the design, the view out towards the north-east and the circulation and spatial arrangement around the living room.
Analysis :: CASA TOLO Exemplar House
Figure 1: "Casa Tolo" (Guerra, F.)
ARCHITECT: Alvaro Leite Siza
LOCATION: Portugal
Conforming to the steep hillside in Northern Portugal Casa Tolo, the structure is hidden from plain sight. With a minimal street frontage the house creates an intimacy and sense seclusion creating a unique user experience. Because of the difficult site, the rooms are described as a connected series of pods, which is a more appropriate and cost effective means of construction when compared to a cut and fill site. These concrete formwork volumes appear on the hillside as monolith boulders, nestled between thick foliage.
The roof structure of one pod becomes the terraced area for the room above creating several outdoor areas, creating a unique vista from each of the roof terraces. The building is stretched down the hillside in a narrow strip to help minimise the impact on the site, with its location determined by a corridor of vegetation free site. (Saieh, 2008)
As the structure follows the natural topography of the site, the house forms a pedestrian link using the terraces and additional concrete plinths to create circulation on the exterior, whilst the interior stairs of the house follow a similar path in timber.
In terms of materials, the use of reinforced concrete although not the most sustainable method of construction, it is from an economic perspective the most suitable for the limited budget.
A HOUSE IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL FILTER
Alvaro Siza designs this house around all pre-existing trees to preserve continuity. He also decides to build the construct into the ground so that it is unified with the terrain. This creates an interpretation of massive stones appearing naturally on the site. This works quite well with the landscape also due to it's open plan. 
A HOUSE IS A CONTAINER OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES
Casa Tolo was designed as a "cube development", meaning that all areas of the building is sectioned. This sectioned living was Alvaro's way of bringing people together through interconnected living spaces. The roof also functions the same way, throughout the levels the staircase on the roof and corresponding interior stairs are simultaneous. (Saieh, 2008)
A HOUSE IS A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE
The Design for this building is delightful. The way it is constructed, with the terrain so that it is at harmony with the earth as well with providing a view, creates a number of different feelings / emotions. I added this video to help describe this feeling. (Sutipatanasombon, 2010)
Exemplar House :: ST LUCIA HOUSE
Figue 3: "St Lucia House" (Gollings, J)
ARCHITECT: Elizabeth Watson Brown Architect
LOCATION: Hiron Street St Lucia, Qld
What sets the St. Lucia House apart from most is its minimalistic design, a small-lot house, with a subtropical focus (N.A. (2006). The house has a zero emissions design, containing no artificial heating or cooling (Tsukamoto. 2009). Factors such as the light materials used as well as the large open windows allow the building to heat and cool naturally during the day.
A HOUSE IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL FILTER
The St. Lucia House was intended to be in sync with the environment, designed around 3 existing trees the façade of the building contains a long wall height window which merges the boundary between the outside and the inside (Tsukamoto. 2009). This innovative design also provides 50% of the ventilation needed for the house. (Skinner 2004)
A HOUSE IS A CONTAINER OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES
The house is designed for free flowing air and therefore the living room is designed as one large room which connects to the kitchen as well with only a few island counters to separate these rooms. Due to this interesting play on semi-independent and well-connected spaces, the St. Lucia House allows a very flexible lifestyle (Skinner 2004). Upstairs there is a private office which unlike the downstairs area is hidden and private (Tsukamoto 2009). All the utilities are divided into even zones alternating from structure and cladding, service and served zones. The flow of movement has been thought through, from the arrival to the exploration through the house, there is always focus on an immersive visual experience (Skinner 2004).
A HOUSE IS A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE
The St. Lucia House like other houses focus much on views, designed around three existing trees on the site, the house features them with large windows along the façade of the house. The house has a simple open designed, with the living area as the centre of the house. The building orientation and form allow each primary room a northern orientation. As well as capturing cool summer breezes (Skinner 2004). The natural colours and finishes combined with the simple and ecofriendly design add to the unique design which is the St. Lucia House. The St. Lucia house is designed for outdoor living; this is evident in the design of the open areas of the house as they all interrelate easily (Skinner 2004).
Exemplar House :: GOLD COAST HOUSE
Figure 2: "Gold Coast House" (Crosbie, M)
ARCHITECT: Innovarchi
LOCATION: Mudgeeraba, QLD
A HOUSE IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL FILTER
Gold Coast House sits on an elevated site among the grasslands appearing to be in the middle of nowhere. The high grassland plays an important role in the design of the house by the Innovarchi architects aiming to create a number of contrasting moods and environmental variances inside the design. The lower level of the house accommodates an art gallery, art studio, and a ballet studio and is somewhat opaque, with masonry block construction. While the upper level in contrast, is open and airy, with panoramic 270 degree views of the surrounding grassland environment.
Despite the glassy, transparent nature of the upper floor, the upper level houses the pavilions more private and intimate precincts. The design incorporates moveable floor to ceiling screens and walls to offer temporary privacy when needed. This enables the client to essentially vary the environmental filter levels and hence either bring in or take out the surrounding environment from the home. (Fitzgerald, 2010)
Gold Coast House has been designed with mechanical cooling to make the house comfortable in its quite hot tropical region. The glass windows are again an important aspect of the houses ability to filter the environment and ventilation in or out. They also help to offer a clean way of opening the glass walls, while on the other side of the house entire glass walls can be moved to provide an unrestricted flow of cooling breezes. (Fitzgerald, 2010)
A HOUSE IS A CONTAINER OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES
In addition to the house providing a private apartment for the occupants, the design also offers places to display art or private dance tutorials, all within the sweep of the grassy Queensland environment. The open living plan allows for communal activity throughout the day, while the flexibility of the design incorporates moveable floor to ceiling screens and walls to offer temporary privacy when needed. Architects Stephanie and Ken McBryde of the Sydney based firm, innovarchi, explain that the house was conceived as “a fishbowl with somewhere to get dressed” (Innovarchi, 2009).
A HOUSE IS A DELIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE
The two pavilions executed in glass, steel and concrete combine to produce a fine modern pedigree. The client uses this house for entertaining friends as well as for practicing her craft as a dancer and teacher, and the house accordingly dedicates the ground floors of the two unequally sized pavilions to these activities. Conceptually we might see these spaces as the ‘earth bound’ delights of the house that act to remind us that it is these pleasures which act as the foundation of which ones life is built. (Fitzgerald, 2010)
Cited Work
Info Resources
The Architectural Review. (2009). Young Practice Owen and Vokes Deals with the Relationship Between Inside and Out by Creating Bold Garden Rooms. http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms_file?page=12336/ARSept09OwenAndVokes.pdf (Accessed March 24, 2009)
Fitzgerald, Nick. (2010) Gold Coast House. Blogspot: http://thearchitecturalapprenticeshipproj01.blogspot.com/ (Accessed March 23, 2010)
Innovarchi. (2009). Gold Coast house. Innovarchi Architecture: http://www.innovarchi.com/innovarchi.html (Accessed March 6, 2010)
N.A. (2006) St Lucia House, RAIA Robin Dods Award for Housing http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:3544. (Accessed March 15, 2010)
Saieh, N. (2008) Tolo House / Alvaro Leite Siza, Arch Daily: http://www.archdaily.com/893/tolo-house-alvaro-leite-siza/ (Accessed March 10, 2010)
Skinner. P.S. (2004) Claims to the significance of the St. Lucia House. http://docs.google.com/viewerv&q=cache:bF1yDGYJ:espace.library.uq.edu.au/e-serv/UQ:1634House.pdf+significance (Accessed March 10, 2010)
Tsukamoto, Y.T. (2009) Cubes: back to basics. http://studentbiennale.com.au/i-cms_file?page=12336/Cubes_May_2009001.pdf. (Accessed March 15, 2010)
Wallace, M., Stutchbury, S. (Ed.) (2008). PLACE MAKERS: Contemporary Queensland Architects. Brisbane: Queensland Art Gallery.
Picture Resources
Figure 1: Guerra, F. (2008) Casa Tolo, http://www.archdaily.com/893/tolo-house-alvaro-leite-siza/ (Accessed March 16, 2010)
Figure 2: Crosbie, M. (2003) http://www.architectureweek.com/2003/0326-images/12099_image_3.334x250.jpg (Accessed March 16, 2010)
Figure 3: Gollings, J. (1998) http://3.bp.blogspot-com/_0XHKP2ceWtk/SL-KTy91XUsI/AAAAAAAAARA/lyAwfG9Pmpw-/s1600-h/PlaceMakers_StLuciaHouse (Accessed March 18, 2010)
Video Resources
Sutipatanasombon, A. (2010) Casa Tolo - Alvaro Siza, http://www.youtube.com/watch-?v=5mg4UJbJpZQ&feature=player_embedded (Accessed March 16, 2010)