Comments on: The Wolfe Den by MJ Neal Architects

By: Dennis

Dennis — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:47:47 +0000

absolutely unbelievably amazing! but… showering on a timber surface… tricky!

By: hZ!

hZ! — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:17:46 +0000

do NOT run up or down those stairs! to slip could be fatal

By: Viviane Vives

Viviane Vives — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:10:38 +0000

the house has a garage in the back, I didn’t photograph it because the access to it wasn’t finished… that’s were the geothermal slush goes…

By: Miroslav Stefanovic

Miroslav Stefanovic — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:41:23 +0000

very, very, mmmmmmmmmmm slick
great details and great interlocking of spaces

as a coleague to coleague BRAVO

By: dUFFY

dUFFY — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:09:50 +0000

Typical American worried about his car, nice one Thomas. Lets not let the motorcar dictate the programme because that’s sad. A lovely house, i love the use of natural light, lourves etc. I think formally it plays the right game to achieve meaningful spaces. Well done great job.

By: thomas

thomas — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:45:31 +0000

I love contemporary design, but the house seems like a fishbowl. The patio/yard appears a stage for the neighbors…lacks privacy. The shower is a neat concept, I’ve always wanted an outdoor shower for these Texas summers, the outside air evaporating the water on the skin is refreshing beyond description. How do you restrict soap residue in the shower area, a clean up nightmare. The house needs a bigger, more comfortable lot and a garage or carport is a necessity here in the sun broiling texas summer.

By: Viviane Vives

Viviane Vives — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:15:05 +0000

Actually Kate, the floor does look very much like terrazzo, but it’s actually diamond blade polish. MJ worked with the foundation guys to get the right mix of aggregate in the foundation, and the right color and then had it diamond polished.

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:33:21 +0000

i also thought of the eames house, considering the rectangular footprint. i really dig the sandy brick wall/outdoor fireplace. very 1950s. i’m loving the contemporary take on the mid-century style. it’s fantastic. the materials seem well-chosen and the dimensions are wonderful. not small at all, but not too big, with plenty of natural light that is not too glaring. it’s inspiring — i have that same shade of terrazzo flooring; naturally i think it’s a clean touch.

By: Greg Baker

Greg Baker — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:05:59 +0000

Tom, I’m with you. I would love to see another house like this get done. Now is a fantastic time to build a MJ Neal house, with construction and lot costs so low. I’ll put together the location and the construction financing, if anyone is interested in owning it. If you put the right site and client in front of MJ, I don’t think he even has a way of holding back the creativity. I love to see great architecture come to life, and not just get talked about. http://www.mjnealblog.com if you’re interested. His team knows how to contact me. I’ll bring the wine to the house warming!

By: Dave the Puller

Dave the Puller — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:02:17 +0000

@ Will
The shower floor is removable decking pannels, floating above a fiberglass basin. The deck on the outside patio next to it is as well, but drains to the outside wall of the house.

By: Viviane Vives

Viviane Vives — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:39:41 +0000

I LOVE showering outside… I think that’s the whole point, MJ loves to open his showers and baths to the outside to get the wind and the light mixed with the water, the feeling is so relaxing… if you want total privacy just lock the door to the master suite area and you got it.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:06:03 +0000

Oh I know that the bathroom is completely private to the master suite, but even at that I’m not sure if I personally like the open-ness of the bath tub to the deck (although it would be quite relaxing to sit in the bath tub at sundown and have the sun penetrate into the room through the deck. But then again, it is all personal preference! (the reason I love architecture!)

By: Viviane Vives

Viviane Vives — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:42:14 +0000

FWIW. The unfortunate concrete block wall belongs to the neighbor. Fig vine has been planted on the Wolfe Den side to cover it.

The bathroom is completely private because the whole master area wing is isolated from the rest of the house and the orientation of the sliding door. The sliding door is not the entry to the bath, BTW, you enter from the hallway.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:16:21 +0000

Awesome! I love the honest use of the materials throughout the building. It is awesome how there are limited to no actual “windows”..but more curtain wall and full planar surfaces that use shading to filter light into the spaces. I do agree with Jeffrey about the “high school type entrance” because that’s exactly what it reminded me of. But besides that, I really love the use of natural light above the bathroom sink, and above the wooden bench in another photo. The only thing I have in question is the privacy of the bathroom upstairs?

By: difusoir

difusoir — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:33:36 +0000

Simply beautiful and well done architecture. Bravo!

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:48:40 +0000

I enjoy the photos with people in them. I think it helps to see the way people interact with the space. In the photos above, I especially appreciate the one with the girl sitting on the extended stair. If it wasn’t for that photo, there probably would have been comments from people wondering what the purpose of that extended stair was.

Photos with people in them also help to understand the scale of the rooms. We featured a residence in London the other day, and in the comments, people were questioning the height of the ceilings. If there were people in some of the photos, it would have helped everyone to understand the ceiling heights a lot more.

By: Rudy

Rudy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:11:04 +0000

In more then one respect this reminds me of the Eames house, be it an updated modern version. This is a house many people can relate to.

Can we please ask for some moderation to filter family pics out of postings? Seeing the odd poses, it even makes you unwillingly think about them.

By: mehedi

mehedi — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:06:18 +0000

very clean & nice approach…

By: bekkymay

bekkymay — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:38:23 +0000

Yep, I love it too. Simple and beautiful. Nice to see something that doesn’t require a large number of spaces for the more typical smaller households.

We often do this deck floor to a shower in tropical Queensland, however this is the first I have seen it on an upper level. I would assume it has a tray roof floor under the deck, but you’d want to be sure you had your waterproofing spot on for those rooms under.

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:00:13 +0000

what a coool house, love many things about it, well done owners and the architects