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Programmable housing

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Interactive aspects of parametric design
This new concept for a catalogue house is elastic in all directions · In height, depth and width · Hence its name Variomatic · The unicity of the project is that the clients are co-designers of their own house · Not only do they define the final form of the curves (of the façades or the roofs) but also, as they wish, the overall dimensions of the house, the place where the kitchen should be or the installation of a solar water-heater · They can moreover choose among many materials and colours to finish the volumes: reed, wood, metal, tiles, pvc · Through the streamlined communication between the buyer and the architect, the architect and the builder, and the advanced construction methods, it is possible to build the Variomatic very quickly, while keeping the unicity of the house · The buyers being co-designers, it is virtually impossible to have to identical houses · Variomatic offers actual styling instead of selling architectural clich ·

Relaxed living: the beginning of a project
This project has originally been developed for a Dutch study (end of the 1990's) which basic idea was to show that landscape development, architecture and consumer-friendly building can actually go together · The research results are a response to mass-production housing and ready-made houses of master builders' catalogues · They show indeed that catalogue housing in architecture can be one way to re-affirm the identity of a region, of a village, to strengthen a culture landscape while providing costs, rapidity and freedom of choice consumers really want ·

The Variomatic family
The object type of the Variomatic family, the Variomatic S(culpture), is placed on top of the landscape · The landscape type, the Variomatic L(andscape), is literally embedded in the landscape · Moreover there is a Variomatic Classic S (two floors with roof) and a Variomatic Cabrio L (ground floor with convertible rooftop), The contourlines of the house continue in the relief of the landscape · Architecture and landscape merge into a new synthesis · The landscaped wings enclose the gardens as to enhance individual privacy of the inhabitants

Building up the Variomatic
The standard plans of the Variomatic are organized in such a way that the warm middle house on the ground floor has two side buffers · These relatively cold zones comprise the garage on one side and, on the other, the storage-room and the entrance hall · The roof stretches as far as possible down to the upper side of the front and rear facades, with an overhanging cantilever of about 50 cm · The curved forms of the house offer the biggest possible interior room with regard to the enveloping surface and provide its inhabitants a enhanced spatial experience · The interior house on the ground floor is made of stone materials · Around it, a primary steel construction with secondary wood construction is finished with multiplex on the outside and plasterboard on the inside · The roof is clad with an ultra light yet very strong and durable sprayed skin (all RAL-colours are available) · With the ground floor facades, the clients are given another opportunity to choose · For the surfaces between the wooden facades, all carried out in horizontal lines, they can for instance opt for a brick facade, a western red cedar facade or a facade with profiled steel ·

Durability
Durable building starts with urban planning and landscape · The mere fact that the Variomatic L(andscape) is embedded in the landscape by earthen edges stabilizes the inner climate of the house and, like a dune, gives better protection to the garden · Passive solar energy can be obtained through the south-oriented glass panels and optional PV panels on the roof · The organization of the plan is also important · Thanks to the heat buffers on each wing of the ground floor living area, the house has less energy-loss during the winter and does not get overheated in the summer · Furthermore, the warm central core enables a stabilization of the inner climate · Durable building also means compact building · Through its rounded shape (in plan as well in section), the house can retain its own energy as long as possible · Durability also means flexibility of usage in the long run · In principle, the warm middle house can be sub-divided; only the position of the staircase, the toilet and the technical room is fixed

Randstad Nieuws/News