Designed in a linear scheme, the open and airy home is nestled between two extending brick walls, which create a private yard space for the family to enjoy. Capped with glass walls, the Esse House blurs the lines between outdoors and indoors, giving the family a private usage of the Italian countryside. The director of the adjacent winery, his wife, two sons and elder...
Built to bolster the area’s thriving water sports activities, the timber-clad structure brings a host of multi-use areas under a grass-covered roof. The leisure facility brings changing rooms, storage and classrooms for the busy waterfront area. The boathouse sits on a grassy knoll that overlooks the lake, giving visitors an option to enjoy outdoor activities as well ...
Sustainable residential developers Dwell NW commissioned the architects to design an ultra green home for an up-and-coming pedestrian-friendly neighborhood across the water from Seattle. To achieve 5-star Built Green certification, a voluntary green building code for master builders of King and Snohomish counties in Washington state, Medici incorporated a range of energy...
Located in the Dutch village after the project was named, this extraordinary home was designed around a long, floor-to-ceiling window that blurs the boundaries between the inside and the outside. This wall not only floods the home with tons of natural light but it provides a constantly changing view into the pristine rural landscape. Barend Koolhaas worked for OMA and...
Built in the bucolic landscape of Radovljica, Slovenia, the Simple House was designed by scapelab as a modern take on the archetypal Slovenian farmhouse. The home was constructed with a prefab timber frame and topped with solar panels to lower its environmental footprint and maintenance costs. Scapelab clad the Simple House’s basic pitched-roof volume with a contempor...
So an architect hired Chevalier Architectes to work within the existing framework to create a bespoke new luxury home with a killer view. Hit the jump for the finer details and get inspired to renovate your own mountain mansion. Achieving a finely tuned balance between a contemporary and rustic aesthetic, not to mention material sustainability, Chevalier Architectes u...
The Philadelphia-based firm transformed a former pickle factory in the city’s Fishtown neighborhood into a contemporary and near net-zero energy live-work space. The adaptive reuse project includes many energy-saving elements, from solar panels to low-flow plumbing fixtures. The 1880s warehouse was converted into a modern live-work studio for fine arts photographer Ja...
The designers were inspired by traditional Islamic architecture. and the boxy structure is situated around private garden courtyards, accessible only from the interior of the home, giving its residents their own hidden oasis. Set in the rear garden property of a large Edwardian home, the Z Square house harmonizes with the landscape with its linear design and integrati...
In 2012 a Tokyo couple commissioned Hiroyuka Shinozaki Architects to give their 750 square-foot apartment a contemporary makeover, one that would maximize the interior space used as both a home and a studio. The Japanese architect responded with an unconventional design comprised of a series of floating floors accessed by a network of ladders. But how did it get the nick...
La Casa project, located in Washington, DC, provides permanent housing and supportive services for 40 men, and it's design and social impact have been recognized by the The American Institute of Architects (AIA). Instead of functioning as a temporary shelter, La Casa offers permanent accommodations to the homeless. This model helps the tenants successfully adopt a lif...
Designed by Michaelis Boyd and Nick Plewman, the recently reopened Sandibe Okavango simultaneously blends in with the landscape and stands out from local architectural typology with its curvaceous timber-clad form. The striking and sculptural 24-bed lodge overlooks the banks of the Sandibe River, a waterway rich with the sounds and sights of animals ranging from frogs to...
Designed by architect Miki Okuno of the architecture studio Moo-Flat Design, the contemporary and angular abode is almostly entirely clad in sheets of steel. The modern home provides a strong contrast to the old house, a traditional Japanese building that sits adjacent. Designed for the third generation of a dairy farming family, the contemporary residence is a new ex...
Architecture firm Elding Oscarson pays homage to Mölle’s eccentric past with the design of a contemporary Oceanside home that appears to have no inhibitions. While the second floor of the two-story family home is clad in timber, the entire ground floor is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass. The inspiration behind the House at Mölle’s daring all-glass ground floor was b...
Completed in collaboration with local developer Urbanica, the energy-positive townhouses were created as part of the city’s E+ Green Building program, an initiative to pilot net-zero energy housing prototypes. The energy-positive homes include many green technologies, such as solar panels, green roofs, rainwater harvesting, and triple-glazed windows. Roxbury E+ compri...
Instead, Swedish Murman Arkitekter camouflaged this home by wrapping it in a gorgeous evergreen foliage-printed vinyl. Located in a small clearing on Gotland, an island off the Swedish coast, the unique Juniper House stands as a playful example for the local authorities, whose aim is to 'not let modern architecture be visual in the landscape.' The beautiful Juniper Ho...
The gorgeous 'Casa Invisibile' is a prefab, modular, wooden home that can be tailor-made in size, materials, location and pricing. One of its many options comes complete with a stunning, mirrored-skin, which reflects the surroundings and the changing of seasons. Delugan Meissl’s idea of the future home was designed with flexibility and spatial quality in mind. Its mod...
Thirdstone Inc. designed the structure with floor-to-ceiling windows and the only element that gives a level of privacy is the surrounding garden area and an oblique fence that shelters - to a degree - the property from outside views. This narrow home, situated on a small 25′ x 140’ infill lot, measures only 17 feet in width. In order to maximize usable space, the arc...
Amidst the densely populated city streets, the brick home was designed as an urban respite, with private patios to enjoy the outdoors. Traditional brick is reimagined as a sunshade, staggered in patterns to filter light, create seclusion and push the limits of the materials to make a unique home in the Thai capital. With rising costs of land in Bangkok, Jun Sekino tur...
Buenos Aires-based architecture studio IR arquitectura designed Yerbas del Paraiso, an organic farming hostel with a cozy and calming environment. Built from timber, the modular structure is raised on stilts and topped with a green roof to minimize its visual and physical impact on the landscape. IR arquitectura designed Yerbas del Paraiso with triangular modules in o...
The innovative building consists of two prismatic blocks, designed by local design studio CM Mimarlik, which merge to a corner to create a pleasant rhythm with its sustainable glass mosaic facade and opaque plaster-clad volumes. The two volumes have different heights – 12.5-meters and 15.50-meters, but meet at the corner to create a unified whole. The two separately p...
The project, called Impossible City and run by Sawhorse Revolution, teaches teens basic construction and green energy skills to help them help their community. Together, they’ve created a series of efficient and comfortable tiny homes for the Nickelsville community that serves the homeless of Seattle. In the vein of programs such as Habitat for Humanity, Sawhorse Revo...
Designed by b.e. Architecture and located on the southernmost tip of Mornington peninsula, Whitehall Road Residence is comprised of a series of glazed pavilions peering over a stone parapet. This drystone wall, which takes its structural integrity from compressional forces and requires no mortar, protects the home from the elements while also giving it a natural groundin...
The East London architecture firm chose instead to sustainably upcycle a 1960 one-story structure into the Wrap House, a striking contemporary home clad in stainless steel. Located in rural surroundings near the town of Godalming, the Wrap House retained the structure’s distinctive silhouette and was recognized as a winner in the Architects Journal Retrofit Awards 2014. ...
Designed by architecture firm Plan Bureau, the asymmetric home was inspired by the topography of its mountainous surroundings. Geometric windows punctuate the timber facade to bring in natural light and frame views of the landscape. The 117-square-meter Valley House is top-heavy, with two diamond-shaped volumes stacked atop a triangular base. The entrance is elevated ...
This leaves homeowners with the task of reinforcing their homes. One family in southwest Japan has opted to hire Architecture Studio Nolla to build a hybrid house of both traditional lumber and glued laminated timber (glulam, for short), which provides protection from Mother Nature, cost-effective climate control, and - most importantly - peace of mind. Glulam is a ve...
Designed by James Russell Architect, the two-story family house is carefully oriented for protection against the harsh sun and storms in Clearfield, an inner north suburb of Brisbane. The energy-efficient home is powered by solar energy and constructed with locally sourced materials including clay and concrete. Backed up against a hillside, the long and rectangular Ch...
The Quonochontaug House looks elegant and simple on the outside, but its surprising interior features a myriad of spaces that change with the shifting of natural light. The house, located in Charlestown, Rhode Island, has a ground floor that features a double-height skylight above the kitchen, living room, study and entry foyer. Parts of the ceiling are are high enoug...
The one-bedroom vacation home, in Garrison, New York, uses floor-to-ceiling insulated windows and sliding doors to bring the outside in. When opened on the first floor, the doors allow the living room to become one with an outdoor patio leading to a fire pit. On the second floor, the bedroom and bathroom open onto an elevated deck, exposing them to warm breezes and the l...
Located on Scotland’s west coast in Morar, this environmentally sensitive holiday rental home is built into the sloped landscape and overlooks views of the Small Isles. The project’s most eye-catching feature is the dramatically cantilevered first floor that extends the home towards the sea. Though contemporary in design, the Faire Chaolais alludes to traditional High...
“The demolition of the original extension and its replacement, called for an intervention that can be a part of the original main building without replicating classical vocabulary or gesture. Our intent was to keep a sense of memory, while simultaneously allowing the new intervention to have its own identity.” “The original extension had no distinct historical or arch...
Dubbed "Green House", the structure is topped with a roof made completely of automated aluminium sunscreens that allow natural light to reach the interior during daytime, while sheltering the interior spaces at night. Sean Godsell Architects renovated the existing building in an attempt to give the little cottage some pizzazz in a limited space. The interior of the ex...
The cliff-side house comprises a cluster of 10 cubes, each oriented towards a different view of Spain’s Costa Brava. The Sunflower House’s funky form isn’t just for looks—the geometric design is a creative solution to the site’s challenging conditions. When the clients purchased the seaside plot, they expected that their future house would be “fully exposed” to the im...
The detail-rich Cubo House has a signature "patchwork" look and unique elements made from the upcycled staircase and balustrades of the existing structure. The existing house was re-planned, introducing a new entry foyer, large staircase and environments bathed in natural light. A central multi-level void dominates the new house and provides natural ventilation. It ru...
The 267-square-meter house hugs the existing contours in the northwest-facing Tasmanian valley to maximize stunning views of the valley, nearby city, and river beyond. In addition to the low-impact approach to the landscape, Dingemanse optimized Valley House’s shape and openings for natural ventilation, natural lighting, and solar energy. Clad in profiled metal and ce...
Designed to nurture creativity and inspiration, this tiny observatory opens on three sides to a glorious view of wide open spaces. More about this mixed-use project right after the jump. Housing a library and a garage, the elevated addition is glazed to ensure plenty of natural light and unobstructed views of the verdant landscape. Despite the opportunities for distra...
The challenge of revitalizing older spaces is invited as a way to embrace the future-oriented duty of ensuring the sustainability of our population. Many of Heimermann’s designs embody this duty with splashes of his own unique, artistic flair. Clay design is a much-utilized medium in Heimermann’s buildings, touted to be a forgotten sustainable material which can provi...
