Glass House Snagov

West Group Architecture was founded over 20 years ago and from early beginnings it was involved in large scale projects with a high level of complexity. For WAF 2018 we want to present to you a project designed at a smaller scale which was approached as a high complexity project. This design will be built in the vicinity of the beautiful lake Snagov, near Bucharest -Romania. the name Glass House Snagov was not chosen by chance, the name makes a willful reference to the project designed by the great architect Philip Johnson. Our intention is to reinterpret some of the design principles and adapt them to climate needs and new technologies in such a way that meet the Client requirements. The shape of the house is a rectangle, which grows 3 levels above the grass line. Each level has a height of 3.20 meters. The plot is surrounded on two sides by tall vegetation that gives a certain privacy to it. The structure of the building is made of steel beams and columns with a thick concrete slab that gives an accurate construction details and time efficient process. The grid of the structure is 4.80 m by 4.80 m and is enclosed by panel made of transparent or opaque surfaces. The ration of the façade panels is 5 to 1 in favor of the glass surfaces. Also half of the glass surfaces slides to the sides so that the living space is integrated within the natural surroundings. We designed the façade panels to be as wide and as tall as each structural frame so the panels either made of glass or made with ventilated terracotta ceramics will be assembled in the factory and installed on site with high accuracy and fast installment time. An important role in our design is the glass, for which we chose Forster steel joinery and Saint-Gobain glass, that has three major functions: 1. With the active glass technology, the owners can switch between transparent and translucent at a push of the button and so there is no need for drapes to be installed. 2. With the Forster steel joinery thermal break and active-glass technology, more that 30% of the heating is provided by the windows. 3. The Saint-Gobain EGLAS technology reacts to direct sunlight by becoming darker and so diminishes the need power consumption for cooling during summer. We were particularly concerned about eliminating of thermal bridges and the efficient thermal insulation of the building. That is why we used both the mineral wool for the thermal insulation of the opaque façade panels and the rigid cellular glass insulation for the thermal insulation of the foundations and the terrace. Thanks to the rigid cellular glass insulation technology, the function of providing rainwater slopes to the receptors is taken over by the second layer of rigid boards, also the terrace is a green roof solution. The house also has a circular glass elevator that provides access to all floors and up on the green roof. The stair is also made out of glass. The concrete slab has also the function to heat up the home through a grid of water heated pipes placed in the superior face. The cooling of the interior spaces is done also through a network of cold water piper that run in the bottom part of slab. To interior finishes are in tone with the transparent vibe of the home: - 2 cm thick Cotto ceramic flooring - The few walls that are within the home are made of terracotta bricks and support the family art collection - The bathrooms are cladded entirely with white composite Corian, creating a homogenious and fluid space. The lighting solution is supplied by Fagerhult and can be adjust the color temperature and light intensity.