Exhibition 01 / Residences
Twenty-eight residences carved from cast concrete and northern light, presented as a catalogue of plates. Atelier Vellum treats the dwelling as exhibition — each unit a composition of mass, void and oxidised steel along the headland.
Location
Cape Drøm
Architect
Atelier Vellum
Units
28 Residences
Completion
MMXXVI
I
Plate 01
Medium — Cast concrete, glass, oxidised steel
Dimensions — 1:50 working model
A study of stacked volumes negotiating the slope. Each residence is offset to claim its own horizon, the cantilevers reading as drawers pulled from a single monolith.
Plate 02
Medium — Board-formed concrete, bronze fin
Dimensions — Bay detail, 2.4 × 3.6 m
The grain of the timber formwork is retained as a deliberate record of making. Vertical bronze fins shade the western glazing and oxidise toward the colour of the headland clay.
II
III
Plate 03
Medium — Polished concrete, oak, linen
Dimensions — Principal volume, 6.2 m ceiling
Light enters as a single measured slot and migrates across the floor through the day. Surfaces are left raw and unadorned — the room is finished by weather rather than ornament.
Plate 04
Medium — In-situ concrete, weathering steel
Dimensions — East block, 11 storeys
Seen from the water the development reads as a single excavated mass, fissured by recesses that the studio calls 'rooms for the sky'. The brutalist register is softened only by time.
IV
Wall Text 02
A palette of four substances, specified without compromise and left to age in public view.
Material
Board-formed Concrete
Finish
Raw, sealed
Origin
Local aggregate
Spec
C40 / 50
Material
Oxidised Steel
Finish
Weathered patina
Material
European Oak
Finish
Brushed, oiled
Det. 01 — Concrete grain
Det. 02 — Joint & shadow gap
Architect's Statement
“We did not design a building so much as a sequence of weathers. Vellum is concrete left honest enough to record the light, and the light is permitted to do the decorating.”
— Ines Marlow, Principal
Atelier Vellum · Founded MMVII · 14 built works
Fig. B — South block at dusk