elemental

This project in Sardinia by elemental is the adaptation of a utility building set among abandoned olive trees to serve as a country home. With a limited budget and working with local building methods, this was a collaboration with the owner to create a living and working space that demonstrates careful attention to its own form, space and detail, while drawing much of its character from its particular sense of place – land forms, plants and the interaction with climate.

Elemental’s recent project, for the primary living space in a Soho loft with 14-foot ceilings, replaced continuous white-painted cabinets along 52 feet of windowed wall. The layout of the cabinets bore no relationship to the windows and was visually unconnected with anything else is the in the loft. The cabinets enclosed three fin-tube radiators with limited grilles under three of the seven 6-foot by 10-foot windows resulting in significant drafts during the cold months. The goal was to unify the space by the choice of materials and layout based on the window module, and improve the heat distribution. The overall approach called for a solution in which the cabinets remain in the background but demonstrate a strong design sensibility. Heat distribution was achieved by creating a continuous insulated plenum at the back of the cabinets. The top of the plenum is a strip of dark wood matching the windows and having CNC milled openings. The rest of the millwork is maple to match the existing floor. The cabinet pulls are concealed grooves in the tops of the doors with the locations marked by small inlaid circles of dark wood.