With Pile Up, the 78-year-old Swiss architect Hans Zwimpfer has come up with what he thinks is a solution to the problem of suburban sprawl and the long commutes and pollution that come with it. Take single-family houses, whose benefits — space, privacy, light, a yard — suburbanites are loath to give up. Then simply stack the houses, one on top of another. Voilà: The comforts of suburban living, with the convenience and ecological benefits of urban density. NYT
8 Comments
am i the only one who has seen gazillions of examples of the same or similar arrangments? variations?
writers can bend things to a perfection, and all architect has to say is, "yeah i did it."
L's, slided I's, half H's, full E's, damn it let's be creative; how about reflected T's and W's? and, some really well done G's for the challenge, a real Voilà.
i think it is a lazy article wishing the wishful but not really understanding of suburbia and the complexities behind it, crediting a thing called 'balcony' to a single architect.
discovery ain't, it is a nicely stacked 8 unit apartment example, nevertheless...
Haha: 'Voila!'
I like the image of architect as mad scientist poring over shapes and drawings until that magic moment Eureka moment finally comes.
Nice Journalism, NYT!
The world is rife with great examples of dense, urban living. However, there will ALWAYS be a taboo associated with living in a housing complex, and the average american will forever aspire to owning a single family home.
It's a nice project, but there's no solution to urban sprawl other than smaller houses on smaller lots, in mixed-use communities.
this version is more appealing to me somehow.
the stacked project is pretty standard urban fare for tokyo - on its own merits its nice, but not the best example i could find of the exact same typology. think he should sue for copyright infringement? he would have to take on some pretty big guns....from west 8 to plot to oma, just to get started.
jump- I was thinking 'bout james wines too.
not to mention the original, corb's Unite d'Habitation - sort of an L in cross section rather than elevation
wasn't this talked about previously w/ patents?
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