Architectures
Wise Cottage
Marcel Breuer – Wise Cottage in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, USA, 1963
Year
1963
Architect
Marcel Breuer
Raised on pilotis in the solitude of the forest
The Wise Cottage was built in 1963 at the request of Howard Wise to Marcel Breuer to design a house identical to his, but Breuer refused to copy an already built work. The lot was very similar, surrounded by trees and weeds and far enough apart to be considered independent, so the Wise Cottage was built as an improved copy of the 1948 Breuer Cottage.
The house is located in Cape Cod, USA, an area where many personalities from the world of art and architecture come to spend their holidays away from the city, in a natural environment of high ecological value. It is located on an irregular terrain where pine trees have grown in a random form.
The house seems to float on the rugged terrain, with minimal impact on the landscape. This is due to the construction on pilotis, a characteristic of the modern movement.
For Breuer, a building should not try to imitate nature, but rather put itself in …
contact with it and this is exactly what he tries to do with the Wise Cottage, as a demonstration, to avoid cutting down a tree, a hole is created and so it is maintained. This characteristic of being in contact with nature is also observed in the existence of a patio, which gives continuity to the house and allows us to see it at all times linked to its surroundings, allowing you to enjoy nature both inside and outside.
The Wise Cottage uses Breuer's concept of binuclear housing, characterized by having separate wings divided by the foyer, bedrooms on one side and the kitchen/living/dining room on the other. The binuclear organization is characterized by the creation of a courtyard between the wings of the house, this space is useful for the organization of domestic life while allowing each of the wings to open up to the views.
It is characterised by orthogonal plans and sections, lack of decoration on the facades and large horizontal windows (ribbon windows).
The interior spaces are bright, thanks to the use of this type of window and all the rooms overlook the outside. Regarding the materials of the house, the most notable thing is its exterior cladding made of cedar wood, interrupted by windows according to the orientation of each facade.
The interior is simple, wood on the floor and ceiling. In some points of the interior walls, Homasote panels are placed, panels of compressed cellulose fiber.
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