Breeze Blocks House

BREEZE BLOCKS HOUSE

Tamara Wibowo Architects

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

DESIGN TEAM
Tamara Wibowo Architects

ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Tamara Wibowo

CATEGORY
Houses

AREA
180 m²

PHOTOGRAPHS
Arti Pictures

MANUFACTURERS
Toto, Aluplus, BATA GAPIT, Conwood, Ecofloor, Re-holz, Roman Ceramics

YEAR
2020

LOCATION
Semarang, Indonesia

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

The house is located at the furthest edge of a matured residential neighborhood in a hilly area of Semarang, Indonesia.

The site is bordered by tall retaining walls that act as boundary of the neighborhood on two of its sides along with wild vegetation behind them. The wall became the defining point of the early design process of the project.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

Instead of covering the wall with the massing of the house, the house was built away from the wall creating a small courtyard in-between the wall and the house.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

The wall was then re-presented in a fresh way, as it became an important element that established the meaning of the inner courtyard.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

The courtyard was further defined by the floating massing of the second floor that gave shelter to the back part of the courtyard creating a comfortable outdoor space that feels like an indoor space at the same time.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

Amidst the house’s simple programs, a spiral staircase was placed in the middle of the house unifying the spaces in the house rather than breaking them apart.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

It became a sculptural element of the house that created a sense of movement through the interior space of the house making the house more energetic.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

The form of the house takes the shape of a steeply angled roof creating an A-frame with a secondary skin made out of custom-designed cement breeze blocks as its façade along with protruded Corten frames around series of opening throughout the house.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

Besides acting as a passive cooling strategy, the breeze blocks also served to reduce visual connection from outside to inside maintaining privacy within the house.

Natural elements also took a significant part of the façade as a couple of trees were placed in the in-between space so its branches and leaves grew out through the breeze blocks’ small openings making the façade constantly changing with the naturally growing trees.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures

The present of the trees that were physically intertwined with the architecture of the house gave a dynamic character and a lively energy to the house.

Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures


Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures
Breeze Blocks House
© Arti Pictures


Breeze Blocks House
Ground Floor Plan

Breeze Blocks House
First Floor Plan


Breeze Blocks House
Massing Diagram
Breeze Blocks House
Façade Diagram
Breeze Blocks House
Cross Ventilation Diagram