b e r c y c h e n s t u d i o

Peninsula Lake House

The project begins with a 1980’s home-builder house fronting on lake Austin. The challenge was to develop a sensitive and inventive result out of a preexisting condition.

Through the use of glass, steel, detailing and light the home has been adaptively reinvented. Reflection, translucency, color and geometry conspire to bring natural light deep into the house. A new solarium, pool, and vegetative roof are tuned to interact with the natural context.

Exterior materials and refined detailing of the roof structure give the volume clean lines and a bold presence, while abstracting the form of the original dormers and gable roof. Further connecting the home to its site, the roof begins to dissolve where a glass clad chimney and slatted wood screen stand in relief against the sky.

Lakeside Perspective: A view of Peninsula Residence looking Northwest

Living Room: A large glass wall provides views of a reflecting pool and the lake beyond

The kitchen and dining areas open to a view of the lake. Custom copper counter tops flank a luminous divider, creating a unique ambience enjoyed from multiple viewpoints.

Library: Previously an attic space, this is now an office and library

Roof decks with green planting beds overlook the boat dock and lake. Glass railings and a copper soffit provide partial enclosure.

Before and After Photos

Before and After Photos

Annie Residence

The house was built for two families and therefore is split into two living areas. The house consists of two pavilions connected by a glass hallway.

Each pavilion contains a central core, covered with blue or red acrylic panels. These cores contain all the service areas such as kitchen, bathrooms, utilities and storage rooms.

One pavilion contains two bedrooms and one bath, while the other contains the rest of the program. Each volume is placed against the side setback of the property creating a central water garden in-between.

The reflecting pool becomes the focal point and all sides of the house open onto it. The two parts of the house are staggered to create a deck area in the front as well as a more private outdoor living area in the back, visually united by the translucent glass bridge.

The house is influenced by different regions and cultures, both the use of the roof as an outdoor living space and the shading devices are derived from Moorish architecture. The body water and the spatial continuity between inside and outside is inspired by Asian architecture. The structural transparency and the minimalist aspect of the interior were derived from Japanese pavilions.

Reflecting Pool: The two halves of the house are connected by a glass bridge

This steel & glass frame house is inspired by the Case Study Houses of California with an updated consideration.

Dan Flavin was also an inspiration for Annie. The use of color and light to create a simple but inviting and modular yet flexible space was the primary goal.

As well, it was important for us to address the hot and arid climate of Texas by introducing a central reflecting pond.

Annie Residence: threshold between the two pavilions

Blue acrylic panels add a playful accent to this sophisticated living room and kitchen space while the continuous glass wall on the east facade maintains the connection to the outside.

Beverly Skyline Residence

Our concept revolved around the notions of recycling a building, reusing natural and man-made resources and reclaiming the ancient ideal that buildings can and should be sacred places, especially the home. In the spirit of reclaiming value, recycled materials are employed at every possible opportunity.

The front facade of the house is comprised of recycled glass blocks, which were provided by the owner as a condition of the commission. The originally monolithic nature of the house is further dematerialized through the use of slats installed as rain screens. This wall assembly seems to dissolve the facade of the house, particularly at corner conditions.

The project also makes extensive use of harvested rainwater stored in pools and reservoirs to re-connect the house with its site. The water system lends a sense of drama to the intervention. A series of cascading ponds serve as part of the rain water collection system on the utilitarian level. On the aesthetic level it provides a peaceful transition between the landscape and the architecture.

The selection of plants in the garden are primarily plants native to the central texas region. This minimizes the usage of water, and follows principles of xeriscaping. The garden is planned around existing mature trees and shrubs with various ground covers and perennials. The intention was to preserve the characteristic of the site as much as possible and retain the essence of a landscape native to the Edwards plateau in the hill country.

Exterior Perspective

West Facade: Recycled glass blocks were salvaged from a hospital and elegantly integrated into the scheme.

Moroccan Room: Operable glass windows and rainwater collection system at seating height add a richness to the space and maintains a strong connection to the outside.

Recycled Materials

800 glass blocks were salvaged from a demolished hospital and integrated into the renovation.

Rain Water Collection System

A clear acrylic down spout doubles as a fountain, serving an aesthetic element while func-tioning as a critical feature of the rain water collection system.

Xeriscaping

Native plants and trees populate the property and contribute to the sustainability of Beverly Sky-line due to their minimal con-sumption of water.Roof Dam

Imperative to rain water collec-tion, the roof dams channel the run-o� rain water from the roof into a hidden downspout .

Pre-Fabricated A-Frame

A Steel A-frame Prefabricated o� site to minimize site disturbance was hoisted in place to provide additional shade.

Balance Tank

Helps maintain constant water levels in the system

Rain Fall

Cistern

Variable with rain fall, the cistern holdsa large volume of water and distributes it out to keep the entire system full.

Water Pumps

Condensate from the AC is deposited into the re�ecting pool

A green features diagram denotes all of the unique features of Beverly Skyline. From xeriscaping to the elaborated hydronic system.

Before and After

Volente Residence

The volente lake house was designed to minimize disturbance to the site while maximizing use of recycled material. The steel and glass house floats above salvaged concrete block walls & foundation of an existing house to connect with the vistas of Lake Travis.

The new two-story structure hovers lightly, supported by only four 8-inch diameter steel columns and one single concrete pier. The structure is tied back to the slope by an 80’ long entry bridge. The chevron shaped geometry of the plan help optimize views of the lake.

The bridge creates an axis that penetrates through the house and serves as a divider between private and public space of the house. The axis culminates in a dramatic cantilevered jete/lookout point toward the lake.

This project required great skill & care of the steel contractor maneuvering 50’ beams between mature live oak trees on site.The cantilevering volume of the main living room towards the lake held on the single concrete support pays homage to Lautner’s Chemosphere House in LA.

Circulation is organized around a central spiral stair in the three-story open lobby space. A sculptor’s mechanical lift is installed at the top of the stair for moving objects in the house. A view from the jete back toward the house reveals that the glazing is intentionally set in front of the structure to hide thickness of the roof and walls.

Front Perspective: the chevron shaped floor plan is evident in this dramatic view

The structure is tied back to the slope by an 80’ long entry bridge seen here, optimizing use of the site.

A beautiful, tree-height third floor balcony provides a sense of balance with nature

A closer look at the curtain wall detail helps to illustrate the strategy behind this design move; to minimize the visual appearance of the wall, roof and floor thickness.

A single spiral stair makes up the core of the house with a mechanical sculptor’s lift at the top. The stair is open to a triple height lobby space.

Lago Vista

Commissioned by a highly creative family including a painter, writer and set-designer, the Lago vista residence is a vacation home which doubles as an artists’ retreat.

The house is a simple shed structure with a large cantilevering roof covering an expansive exterior patio. Cantilevered structure is further expressed in the foundation in order to convey a sense of levitation.

The entry side of the house is expressed as a wood box containing the func-tional aspects of the program. Having passed through the utilitarian core, the house opens on all sides toward the patio and creek beyond.

Back: the back of the house opens to the creek beyond

A close look at the feature that gives the illusion of a levitating house; the cantilevered foundation and shed roof with floater stairs leading up.

A detail of the transition between the front of the house which is expressed as a wooden box and the remainder of the house whose glass facade open up to the entire site.

Living/Bedroom: open floor plan

Front: the wooden bow that makes up the front of the house houses all the utility features of the program

Riverview Gardens

Riverview gardens is a series of 3 identical houses located in Austin, Texas, one block north of Lake Austin (now Lady Bird Lake). Each house’s plan is stretched on axis toward the lake to frame the primary view while creating semi-private yards between the houses. Spatial organization is driven by the view of the lake.

A series of glass and vegetative screens divide the primary spaces on each floor, thus creating a filter between the public space facing the lake and the private space on the opposite side. As one moves from public space to private, the view of the lake is gradually obstructed, retaining the plan’s organizational focus while allowing increasing amounts of privacy.

The units contain 2000 square feet of conditioned space and an equivalent amount of outdoor living space. The units are raised off the ground to provide covered parking and a recreation area below while capitalizing on views of the lake above the tree line. All roof surfaces are occupiable. The main roof is designed as a partially enclosed “room” with tall translucent panels ensuring privacy, framing views, and reflecting the light of the sky.

Riverview Gardens East Facade

A look at the North and South facades of Riverview Gardens. Cantilevered balconies and Poly carbonate cladding allows for daylight to penetrate deep within the space.

A View from the Balcony: looking to the Southeast, there are sweeping views of Fiesta Gardens and the Town Lake beyond

Kitchen View: simple yet functional, compact utilities with a center island make the best use of the space

Bedroom: glowing from within, the translucent wall cladding maintains a connection to the outside by allowing light in

Gibbs Hollow Residence

Gibbs Hollow Residence was conceived less as a house, and more as an extension and outgrowth of the limestone and aquifers of the Central Texas geography. The roof structure is configured so as to create a natural basin for the collection of rainwater, not unlike the vernal pools found in the out-cropping of Enchanted Rock. These basins harness additional natural flows through the use of photovoltaic and solar hot-water panels. The water, elec-tricity and heat which are harvested on the roof tie into an extensive climate conditioning system which utilizes water source heat pumps and radiant loops to supply both the heating and cooling for the residence. The climate system is connected to geothermal ground loops as well as pools and water features thereby establishing a system of heat exchange which minimizes reliance on electricity or gas.

The primary formal gesture of the project inserts two long native limestone walls into the site. The walls serve as the boundary demarking domesticated space with the vegetation outbound of these walls being native while the inte-rior spaces are more lush and tropical. The program of the residence is con-figured along the stone walls each of which serves as the spine for the public and private wings. The offset between the main wings establishes an exterior courtyard which will serve as an extended living space for much of the year. The location of the boundary walls and building elements was informed by the presence and preservation of three mature native oaks.

Exterior View: Overview from the south

EXCESS NETMETER BACK

UTILITY GRID TIE

RAIN WATER

Exterior View: Master suite

Construction Photos Construction Photos and Corresponding Renderings

Red Bluff Residence

A 1400-sf residence located in Austin, Texas near Town Lake. The project touches on architecture as site-specific installation art and as an extension of the landscape. As with many of our designs, influence is often drawn from vernacular precedents of various cultures. While the essence of the project is conversant with a Pit House, the roof form has been largely influenced by the ancient art of origami

The house’s relationship to the landscape both in terms of approach as well as building performance references the oldest housing typology in North America; the pit house. Like a pit house, the house will undergo a 7-foot excavation gaining benefits from the earth’s mass to maintain thermal com-fort throughout the year. Such architectural settings create opportunities for maximum energy efficiency using a proposed Integrated Hydronic HVAC system.

The house integrates hydronic heating & cooling, geothermal heat exchange, phase-change thermal heat storage, rainwater collection and a green roof into an integrated system encompassing.

Exterior View: living spaces viewed from the river

Exterior View: view from road / entrance

PCMPCM

PCMPCM

VP

HP

Hot WaterHeater

Rain Water Collection

Thermal Heat Storage with Phase Change Materials helps reduce peak loads, allowing the heat pump operate more e�ciently.

Heat Transfer Loop

Geothermal Technology uses the earth’s mass and stable tempera-ture to help control the heating and cooling system of the house. Horizontal loops 7 ft below the earth’s surface circulate water via heat pump to either draw heat up or send heat down.

Geothermal Technology

Water tank stores usable water that has been collected form the roof. Water travels downt he slope of the roof into channels along the permieter of the house.

Perimeter channel for water collection

Heat from the Sun is abrorbed through the patio and gets picked by the hydronic system. The heat transfers through the Geothermal System to the cool other zones of the house.

Green Roof is home to seasonal Native Flowersand helps to insulate the house.

Steel Structure supports the roof with minimalInterruption of the interior space.

The double glazed window system takes advantage of the air gap in between for insulation. A vaccum air pump is used to suck air out of the gap to increase the density thereby increasing insulating capacity even more.

grass and soil layer

plywood sheathing

insulation

hydronic tubes

ceiling material

vacuum pump

Water that drains o� the roof collects in a channel and gets stored in a cictern locatedoutside of the building footprint

suction nozzles

line that feeds to vacuum pump

double glazing system

air gap

This energy diagram illustrates Red Bluff’s green features. These include hydronic heating and cooling, rainwater collection, a heat pump that operates with phase change materials and a green roof.

Texas Lantana Mexican Hat Trompetilla Tulipan del Monte Texas Bluebonnet Widow’s Tears Bush Pea Damiantita

SPRING SUMMER

Seasonal Diagram of Native Wild�owers

WINTER FALL

Texas Lantana Mexican Hat Trompetilla Tulipan del Monte Texas Bluebonnet Widow’s Tears Bush Pea Damiantita

SPRING SUMMER

Seasonal Diagram of Native Wild�owers

WINTER FALLFALL WINTER

Texas Lantana Mexican Hat Trompetilla Tulipan del Monte

SEASONAL WILDFLOWER DIAGRAM

Texas Lantana Mexican Hat Trompetilla Tulipan del Monte Texas Bluebonnet Widow’s Tears Bush Pea Damiantita

SPRING SUMMER

Seasonal Diagram of Native Wild�owers

WINTER FALL

Texas Lantana Mexican Hat Trompetilla Tulipan del Monte Texas Bluebonnet Widow’s Tears Bush Pea Damiantita

SPRING SUMMER

Seasonal Diagram of Native Wild�owers

WINTER FALL SPRING SUMMER

Texas Bluebonnet Widow’s Tears Bush Pea Damiantita

Recent Awards & Media Coverage

September 2009

Bercy Chen Studio named one of “Europe’s 40 under 40”, a survey of emerging

European architects by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and

Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum

September 2009

One of ‘Five to Watch: Talented Young Firms Reach New Heights’

FORM Magazine

June 2009

Green Good Design Award for “The World’s Leading Sustainable Green Design”

Beverly Skyline Residence, The European Centre and The Chicago Athenaeum

July 2009

Beverly Skyline awarded the ‘Good Green Design Award’ from the European

Centre for Architecture and the Chicago Athenaeum

November 2008

Riverview Gardens awarded the ‘University of Texas at Austin Student

Architecture Award’

September 2008

The Aqueduct House & Strawberry House both won honorable mention at the

Seoul Design Olympiad, South Korea.

August 2008

Bercy Chen Studio LP invited to participate in the ‘Qatar Design Zone’ by The

Qatar Foundation.

June 2008

Bercy Chen Studio LP short-listed by Emaar Properties for the Giorgio Armani

resort in Lombok Island, Indonesia.

May 2008

Bercy Chen collaborated with Foster and Partners on three proposals including

the $700 million GreenWater Masterplan.

October 2007

Bercy Chen Studio lectured at the ‘SAARQ 2007 International Architecture

Congress’ in Monterrey Mexico, Oct. 17-19

July 2007

Bercy Chen Studio featured in Young Americans, and exhibition of young

American architectural firms at the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt,

Germany.

March 2007

New York Times profiles the Tortuga Residence

December 2006

Bercy Chen Studio selected to be part of Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard

2006, a group of 10 firms from around the globe who are at the forefront of

contemporary architecture.

August 2006

Bercy Chen Studio selected as lead designer in master planning the 15-acre,

$31.5 million Asian American Resource Centre, in collaboration with Broaddus &

Associates and ERO International.

July 2006

Bercy Chen Studio LP featured in Architectural Record’s feature on emerging

architects - archrecord2.

Beverly Skyline residence selected as finalist in the ‘Best Plot in the World’

competition. The project was exhibited in the Losium Museum in Vienna,

Austria.

March 2006

Bercy Chen Studio LP selected for ‘Emerging Voices 2006’ by the Architectural

League of NY. Thomas & Calvin invited to lecture at the Urban Centre in New York

March 23, and at the National Building Museum March 22.

July 2005

Bercy Chen Studio selected as finalist in the ‘Self-Sufficient Housing’ competition.

April 2004

The Residence on 306 W. Annie featured in Dwell magazine.

Bercy Chen Studio awarded 1st place in the ‘Urban Reserve’ competition.

Firm Profile

Bercy Chen Studio LLP is a progressive design/build architectural firm based in Austin, Texas, with offices in Los Angeles and Taipei. Internationally award-winning designers Thomas Bercy and Calvin Chen form a partnership that fosters cultural diversity, sustainability, and innovation. Thomas is from Belgium and Calvin is from Taiwan by way of Australia; their European and Asian backgrounds form a unique design philosophy.

The work is greatly influenced by historical precedents of numerous cultures, carefully reinterpreted for specific contemporary settings. Bercy believes, “there is a real intelligence in vernacular solutions, so we study indigenous cultures in order to learn from their experiences... There is also an appreciation for the layering of history, both physically and psychologically.” With an emphasis on originality, materiality and craft, Bercy Chen Studio engages the local cultural, environmental and climatic conditions of the built environment. The designs internalize this understanding about nature, climate and materials and recast them in response to contemporary ways of living and building. Sustainability and site sensitivity are implemented through a highly cultivated aesthetic; the projects are an inspiration for those looking for “a poetic shade of green.”

Demonstrating a wide range of scale and typology, the portfolio includes many cultural, residential, commercial and mixed-use projects. The distinctive union of design and construction allows the implementation of creative architectural and engineering solutions within each project. Design-build allows inventive opportunity- custom glazing systems, green-roofs, energy systems, water features, pools and photovoltaic arrays are designed and built in-house. The merging of technological innovation and historical reference creates progressive sustainability with aesthetic sensitivity. Due to this unique approach, the work has received national and international acclaim.

Bercy Chen Studio LP1111 East 11th StreetSuite 200Austin TX, 78702p: 512.466.3662 f:512.476.7664

7F-1, 333 Chung Hsiao E. Rd. Sec. 4 Taipei TaiwanRepublic of Chinap: +886 2 2775 5320

1545 Wilcox Avenue Suite 107 Los Angeles, CA 90028 : p: 512 481 0092

info@bcarc.com