Ben Ryuki Miyagi | Villa Metamorphosis | New York State, USA

The title for this house, "Villa Metamorphosis", comes from Franz Kafka's novel "The Metamorphosis". It was a design based on the idea that a flat roofed modern house is transformed into a black house with grotesque yet poetic features such as multiple domes with overlapped skin, and 4 cantilevered louvers that looks like birds
' mouth, and windows with hieroglyphic geometries that are neither modern nor ancient. While still making reference to the original 1960 modern house before the 2008 addition and the renovation, the redesigned house establishes an identity as a new being.

The landscape of geometric mythology

The house is located at about 100 miles north of New York City, near Woodstock, near Catskill mountains. It is intended for a small family to live full time, or during weekends, or during summer. The rear of the house is very private with views of trees and Catskill Mountains beyond. The front of the house is very open and there is a view of a lake.



In addition to Villa Metamorphosis, other structures such as House of Solitude, Sky Mirror, and Tower Gate are designed to formally define the relationship between the house and the larger landscape in which the house is situated. As one approaches the house from the parking, one experiences the sequence of these objects as a choreographed theme, an idea the architect calls "The Landscape of Geometric Mythology" It was designed as if a series of mysterious objects from unknown planet have landed on this peaceful landscape with a story to tell. Various symbolic geometries found in this project are meant to play integral parts of the whole as a myth, a contemporary architectural myth.
More infos and pictures of the house at Architecturephoto