Omer Arbel's Pacific North West house is built on concrete ‘lily pads’
Construction progresses fast at OAO's new residential design in Canada's Pacific North West, where Bocci creative director and practice founder Omer Arbel's sculptural concrete and experimental methods take centre stage
![bocci house construction](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zfoC7cDMcmWCzQCjfdzBqR-415-80.jpg)
A new residential project under construction in Canada’s Pacific North West is a beguiling blend of ornament and minimalism, emphatic curves and defined lines.
Designed for a private client by Vancouver-based OAO, 75 (as the house is called) is built on a constellation of fluid and organic fabric-formed concrete ‘lily pads’ with hollow tops that can accommodate the roots of trees. ‘These "reverse trumpets" are each a different footprint and height and composed relative to each other with an intent to weave domestic space in a cinematographic manner over, under, and through them,' explains Omer Arbel, founder of the practice, who was inspired by the way archaeological ruins are often presented within modernist boxes in museums. ‘I was interested in considering the fabric formed concrete almost as if they were found artefacts on the site, with our task being to enclose them. I enjoy the contrast and tension between these different expressive languages.'
As a studio OAO is committed to developing experimental and innovative methods of making derived from a material’s intrinsic chemical, physical or mechanical properties. With 75 they set out to explore methods of pouring concrete that would acknowledge the material’s paradoxical qualities – plasticity and hardness – and formulate a process that acknowledged its dynamic and sculptural aspects instead of forcing it into a conventional linear application.
Model
The uncommon concrete forming process they landed on to make the nine ribbed ‘lily pads’ involved stretching sheets of geotextile between plywood ribs erected in a radial configuration on a foundation. ‘Traditionally, concrete is poured in several lifts, allowing each to cure before the next is poured, however in our case this was impossible because of the risk of one lift seeping between the extents of the previous lift and the fabric,' says Arbel. ‘In collaboration with our engineer we developed a very slow continuous pour schedule, with the formula for the concrete adjusted so that it cures at the same slow rate as the pour. In this way the base of the stem gains enough strength throughout the duration of the pour to support the subsequent volume of fresh concrete higher up.'
The house is located on a flat hay farm in an agricultural suburb of Vancouver and the architects treated the field like a carpet to be draped over the house, with the lily pad forms (also appealingly described by Arbel as Chanterelle mushrooms) punching through a cedar-clad façade that will eventually turn silver. Instead of contrasting or offsetting the region’s oft grey rainy skies, the architects chose to embrace it with an exterior palette of different greys (in the form of grey timbers and metal). For three weeks a year however, the flowering magnolia trees planted in the lily pads on the house’s inhabitable roof will bloom, providing a memorable flush of colour.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Giovanna Dunmall is a freelance journalist based in London and West Wales who writes about architecture, culture, travel and design for international publications including The National, Wallpaper*, Azure, Detail, Damn, Conde Nast Traveller, AD India, Interior Design, Design Anthology and others. She also does editing, translation and copy writing work for architecture practices, design brands and cultural organisations.
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
A dramatic new lakeside cabin in the Canadian wilderness rises above the trees
Kariouk Architects' lakeside cabin ‘m.o.r.e. CLT’ explores new material approaches while making a minimal impact on a precious landscape
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Forest Retreat is a new low-energy family house in the forests of Ontario
Set beneath a vast roof, Forest Retreat is a rich mix of local materials, craftsmanship and space for an extended family to get together in the heart of nature
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Join the West Coast Modern Week's Home Tour 2024 for modernist architecture and more
West Coast Modern Week 2024 comes with its annual home tour courtesy of the West Vancouver Art Museum, offering an extensive, immersive showcase of Canada's modernist architecture
By Hadani Ditmars Published
-
A modernist lakeside cottage in Ontario provides a perfect backdrop for family vacations
A lakeside cottage by Canadian studio Dubbeldam Architecture + Design has been shaped as a modest multigenerational retreat to accommodate the surrounding wilderness
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Remembering Alexandros Tombazis (1939-2024), and the Metabolist architecture of this 1970s eco-pioneer
Back in September 2010 (W*138), we explored the legacy and history of Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis, who this month celebrates his 80th birthday.
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Sun-drenched Los Angeles houses: modernism to minimalism
From modernist residences to riveting renovations and new-build contemporary homes, we tour some of the finest Los Angeles houses under the Californian sun
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit a cubic Canadian cabin in the woods: welcome to Rustic Grade
Maurice Martel has designed a contemporary cabin in the woods, Rustic Grade, to make the most of a sylvan plot to the north of Montreal
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Whistling Wind is a remote Canadian cottage retreat to reconnect with nature
Whistling Wind house is an elegant escape on a remote Ontario island that offers up a contemporary reinterpretation of the local vernacular
By Ellie Stathaki Published