Designed for a young family in the suburban area of Rondebosch, Cape Town, this house sits on an elongated site with views towards Devil’s Peak and The Back Table, which is the south-eastern edge of the iconic Table Mountain. The client’s brief called for a contemporary, open plan home that provides a relaxed lifestyle and takes advantage of the site and its views. ...
This project began with an e-mail and a meeting in fall of 2008 for a house in Yucca Valley, which is located near Palm Springs, east of Los Angeles in the high desert near the Joshua Tree National Park. We had completed two projects in Yucca Valley and occasionally received inquiries about projects in the desert. In the midst of the economic downturn typically these ...
completed for a young couple in their thirties, ‘house in tsutsumino’ is located on an residential block adjacent to a large area of parkland. the building’s angular concrete form contrasts the more orthodox nature of neighboring structures, with a large glazed aperture presented to the passing street. internally, residential areas exist on different levels with the k...
London firm Stanton Williams has completed a house in leafy north London with a timber and stone exterior, green sedum roofs and an entrance that brings residents over a bridge (+ slideshow). Designed to capture "the spirit of a tree house", the three-storey Fitzroy House replaces a 1950s dwelling, creating a new family residence with living spaces that open out to the ...
Perched above the beach at the edge of the tree line, this vacation home allows the dramatic Oregon Coast to take center stage. The design maintains sightlines from the sheltered forest to the open coastline with a minimal structure of glass and steel. Atop the two-story, transparent box, the copper-clad green roof is an elevated slab of native ferns and grasses. Only...
Site: Large, cranked and hilly with the prescribed building platform positioned on the crest of the seaside knoll. Views - south facing sea view, north facing mountain view. Features – a mature Pohutukawa tree is on the knoll. A watercourse and associated wet gully runs along the eastern boundary accented by a large boulder. The knoll drops off sharply to a crescent...
The awarding-winning Swiss architects at Evolution Design have transformed a nineteenth century chapel into a unique, self-service holiday cottage. Located in England’s beautiful North Pennines, the building was vacant for many years and in a state of severe disrepair. Extensive water damage had ruined the interior finishes, the roof had been badly damaged and the rafter...
Why make new when you can improve what’s already there? That’s very often the question that comes to mind. If new projects can let the imagination run wild (as long as the financial means can follow), the element of history that lies in old stones can be missed by some people. And keeping this element of history doesn’t mean that you can’t have a very modern home. Proof ...
Winona House is the renovation of an existing residence in Ottawa, Canada. The inhabitants had outgrown the original home and had intended to expand the space with a second level. However, due to structural degradation, a second storey addition was impossible, leaving the owners with the choice to move or demolish. Due to the home’s desirable location, the decision was m...
Light-filled and starkly white, the White House by Studio Pierre Antoine Compain is the renovation of a townhouse in La Rochelle, France. The four floors are organized around a central atrium that is topped with a large skylight to let in natural light. Glass partitions and floors lets the light filter to the lowest level and white was used extensively with light wood...
It looks like the future of architecture is in Latin America… Brazil, Peru, Chile and now Mexico! Great houses are rising fast on the continent. And we can notice that one thing remains throughout the various projects: the balance between modern design and traditions. The VR House is another example of this statement. The architects wanted the building to be outstanding ...
What to do when you want a modern looking apartment in a Unesco protected building from the 19th century? Montenegrin architects Enforma Studio have come up with a wonderful answer to this quandary with their Villa Monja in Ljuta, Montenegro. By keeping the exterior walls as they were and creating a brand new, transparent interior, they’ve developed a project that es...
When you build a house, the landscape can be your worst enemy or your best friend. If you’ve been cursed with the former, it’s up to you to turn the situation to your advantage. Studio Pha transformed the Villa in Děčín‘s disadvantaged location on the edge of a natural divide into a strength. They built the villa so that each floor is at ground level on one side. The sec...
On the hills of southern Portugal, near the village of Praia da Luz, the Villa Escarpa floats, facing the ocean. Built over a space previously occupied by another building, this wonder of contemporary purity had to deal with natural constraints such as a steep slope and strong winds, hence the straight and horizontal lines, and the transparent white. Its architect, Mario...
Sustainability requires long term vision, not short term solutions, a concept mastered by Dick Van Gameren Architecten. Their 4.0 House completely reinvents an existing residence while reusing as many components of the original structure as possible. By rethinking the space and improving building performance, the house works with its surroundings, not against them.
Vertical Glass House turns our concept of modern privacy on its head. With no real external windows, the house entirely shuts out its surroundings, however the interior is a model of transparency. The floors of the house are made of glass, which challenges our tendency to open our homes to the exterior with windows and yet wall them off internally. Designed by Yung Ho...
Seemingly composed of two detached volumes, the LP House by Brazilian firm Metro Arquitetos Associados defies gravity. The ground floor incorporates the principal living space and runs parallel to the property’s lateral border. It is topped with a smaller, perpendicular floor that houses an office. The second volume overhangs the main volume on either edge. The can...
Why would an architectural plan be called irregular when following its natural environment? Since when did we begin considering nature irregular and where did this sense of creating against the environment come from? Canada-based Patkau Architects explore the full richness and diversity of architectural practice by forming a structure considered out-of-the-norm. The T...
Perched in the mountains adjacent to Bergen, Norway, Tubakuba (Tuba Cube) is the result of a design-build workshop at the Bergen School of Architecture. Led by Espen Folgerø of Bergen-based architecture firm OPA Form, the workshop participants created an off-the-grid urban cottage. The 14-square-meter cabin is accessed through a tuba tunnel that opens like a vortex on...
Tsubomi House is an absolutely tiny house in Tokyo. With a footprint of only 26 m², the architects at the Japanese firm Flat House had to be exceptionally creative with the layout. On the ground floor of the home is the family’s cookie shop and the rest of the house floats upwards through seven split-levels by means of a central staircase. The house has no partitions,...
Nestled in the idyllic countryside between London and Oxford, The Bluff is a contemporary single-family residence. Lazzarini Pickering Architetti replaced the original cottage on site with a Miesian assembly of steel and glass that opens an interesting dialogue with the trimmed hedges and manicured lawns of the traditional garden. In direct contrast with the home’s mo...
Architecture as often defined as something fixed and inflexible. It is preserved or it is knocked down, but an existing building is not always conceived to evolve. The Afsharian’s House in Kermanshah, Iran, is specifically designed with a future evolution in mind. When conceiving the three-storey family home, Tehran-based multidisciplinary studio ReNa Design knew that...
Located in Austin, Texas, the Tree House is a stunning single-family home designed by local architecture firm Miró Rivera Architects. Two separate roofs cover the structure: one convex and one concave. The concave roof ensures an inconspicuous facade that blends into the surrounding neighborhood and provides a certain amount of privacy for the bedrooms. The convex ...
The Termitary House is the renovation of a two-storey home located in the coastal town of Da Nang, Vietnam. Influenced by local red brick towers which date back to the 4th century, the architects at Vietnamese firm Tropical Space encased the original cement structure in a web of latticed brickwork. A local material, baked brick was logical choice for the home’s exteri...
Takeshi Hosaka’s House in Byoubugaura occupies an area of 60 square meters with a permitted footprint of 30 square meters. Having such limited room to work with required the architect to be creative, so he decided to build down in a surprising way. Adding curved floors to the house allowed natural light to penetrate the interior, particularly at basement level, and incre...
Located in Vinaròs in Spain’s Castelló region, Seasonless House was built in 2013 by Casos de Casas in collaboration with Irene Castrillo Carreira and Mauro Gil-Fournier of Esquerra Arquitectos. The white 361.0 square meter house encourages personal design of the climate for increased domesticity, with the inhabitant controlling certain aspects of the environment. Amo...
You would think a seaside house in Poland might not be the thing of dreams. And yet, on the other and, you’d speak differently of Polish firm Ultra Architects‘ work. The Poznań firm built a house capable of dealing with the heavy natural conditions of the northwestern Polish beaches. With high groundwater levels, the building had to be waterproof and strong. Concrete wor...
With the Screen House in Wentworth-North, Canadian architect Alain Carle brilliantly overcame one of architecture’s greatest challenges: building a great house on a limited and irregular site. Plus, he decided to make it black, which is just another reason for us to like it! But back to more serious considerations. The house is located on a lakeshore, but it is also q...
Something about being one with the great outdoors appeals to the masses. The peace granted by the Mini MOD with thermo-acoustic insulation is immeasurable. Framed with fully transparent glass on the smaller sides and opaque pine plywood on the larger sides, the energy efficient walls provide incredible views and sufficient privacy. MAPA architects, a Brazilian treasure, ...
Prefab can be fab, and Peninsula Shift is the proof! A design collaboration between Method Homes and Elemental Design, Peninsula Shift is the first result of an entire series. The Elemental Series proposes modern, cost-effective homes that are modular and can even be entirely customized. Six different floorplans are offered with various interior palettes and finishes fro...
Polish architect Macin Tomaszewski of Warsaw-based firm Reform Architekt has created mirror magic in the forest just outside of the city. The Izabelin House is a two-storey family retreat that exists in symbiosis with its environment. The lower level is entirely clad in mirrors that reflect the surrounding verdure and mask the ground floor in a cloak of invisibility. ...
Tucked in the breathtaking South Tyrolean Dolomites, the Mirror Houses were designed by Peter Pichler Architecture as a pair of luxury guest houses. The adjacent units are located just outside of the town of Bolzano, Italy, on the same property as the owner’s personal lodging, a 1960s farmhouse. An important element of the project’s success was creating visual coheren...
With the design of the Marcus Beach House, BARK Design Architects accomplished something rather curious. Throughout the numerous houses we’ve studied and talked about here, we have seen houses that were built according to the topography of the site they were built on or in accordance with the surrounding environment. The Marcus Beach House has been built around a tree! ...
Architects Akira Mada and Maya Mada of MAMM Design took on a project in 2013 to renovate a duplex unit in an 85-year-old building in Amsterdam. To meet the requirements of the family of four living in the house, who wanted to maximize their living space and allow in as much natural light as possible, the architects removed walls, a staircase and part of the upper floor’s...
Paris is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The banks of the Seine, the monuments and the preserved buildings make it seem untouched by modern architecture. Yet, when you start digging a little, you uncover some hidden surprises. A prime example? The Maison Escalier in the 6ème arrondissement. Moussafir Architectes built the house on the site of an...
We love Seattle for its seemingly boundless nature, giants trees and inextricable link with the water. And we love the local architecture firm First Lamp for their commitment to awesome eco-friendly design. Its the perfect relationship. Like cookies and milk. We previously featured First Lamp’s 5-Star Built-Green Lever Homes, and now, we would like to direct your attenti...
