Architecture & Houses
A collection of links to inspire and open your mind if you are thinking about building a new home Sep 2
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Roll-Up Rooftop: Daring Rounded-Wood Deck Design in NYC
A classic 1800′s Greenwich Village brownstone forms the basis for this beautifully curved roof patio and green garden space in the heart of Manhattan.Everyone knows that deck and patio space comes at a premium in the city – particularly lush rooftop garden areas, such as the uncanny overgrown green roof in New York City shown in the image above. Though some of the best such green urban spaces are cut off to most of us, other great designs are only semi-private or entirely public. The above photographic examples (part of a collection from Oobject) are all more-or-less accessible to the public, from the extensive wrap-around roof garden paths of the Waldspirale (literally: ‘Forest Spiral’) apartment complex in Germany to the green roof of the convention center visible from anywhere in Vancouver, Canada and waterfront sculpture park in Seattle open during museum hours. Other green roofs are like urban backyards in the only available space – on top of an existing building.
Rooftop Deck Designs: 8 Great Urban Green Roof Gardens
Weathered wood and concrete, rusted metal and rustling wild grass – nothing about this winding rooftop deck viewed from within suggests it could not be the back porch of a European country home.
Urban Oasis: Rustic Modern Rooftop Garden & Deck Design
Eco-Sustainable House by Djuric Tardio Architectes
The pitched roof atop this Paris house won’t keep out the rain – it’s actually a pergola for growing fruit over a roof terrace. French architects Djuric Tardio designed the two-storey house, which is constructed entirely from Finnish larch. As well as the terrace on the roof, there is also a decked dining area at ground level and a projecting first-floor balcony. Mobile kitchen furniture can be wheeled outdoors on sunny days, while in winter the house is warmed by a fireplace just inside. Walls inside the house slide open so that rooms can flexibly accommodate different day-to-day activities. The whole house is raised on a plinth above the ground to prevent flooding.
Cavernous but wide open, dark and heavy but bright and spacious, this incredible underound house is the ultimate expression of architectural opposites fused into a single spectacular earthen living structure buried in the mountainous ground of the Swiss Alps. Rather than wrapping outward around the home, the exterior facade circles inward and faces an oval forecourt – a curved impression in the ground like the absent space left behind by a mysterious giant egg. From within, this odd opening frames amazing views of the surrounding green hills and distant white mountains as well as providing a sense of enclosure and security for residents within the home and front courtyard area – a one-sided yet stunning view as opposed to the normal full-surround sights normally expected of a mountain home. Constructed of stone and concrete, the house feels solid and safe inside and out – yet manages to have copious openings to allow natural light to flow effortlessly into every interior space.
Ultimate Underground Swiss Mountain Home
Designed in a rigorous structural grid, this rural modern home by FGMF contends with a variety of demanding contextual conditions and resolves them in a way that is internally elegant and connects the house (green-roofed and partly underground) with the surrounding natural environment.
Modular Underground Forest Home Design
They may look a bit dated at first, or at least more whimsical than required for functional living. Still, these earth houses have more to offer than custom curves and a unique aesthetic – including a set of design philosophies, strategies and tactics that are far from just superficial nods to sustainable trends. The designs take everything into account from fire and earthquake protection to integral insulation-efficient arches and buffer rooms for energy-free temperature control. While not every Erdhaus is actually built under the existing ground on a site, they are all tied to their earthen surroundings by sloping sheaths of greenery. Grass-covered walls curve up and continue as green roofs along the tops of each structure. The resulting contiguous thermal mass of this all-in-one exterior wall-and-roof system helps to conserve heating and cooling power.
Going Green Underground: Eco-Retro Earth House Designs
Like a washed-up shipwreck or ancient waterside war fortress, this simple beach-front home by Izquierdo Lehmann in Chile seems very much a part of its environment – from the earth it is carved out of to the stacked stones that buttress the sides and keep the retaining walls from caving in.
Subtle Sunken Beach House, Shipwreck or Ruin by the Sea?
Stealth Stone Summer Home Rises Right Up from the Rocks
Set along the rocky coast of Norway, you might not even notice this home in the distance sitting there on the shore – it blurs boundaries between architecture and landscape in a sublime (and stealthy) way. In fact, the house (designed by Jarmund/Vigsn?s )?
The Graham Residence by E. Cobb Architects seems to have been built as a contemporary statement – an oasis of modern lifestyle featuring a grandiose architecture. Found on Plastolux , the Graham Residence displays a series of cantilevering volumes that merge in a unified design. The intricate architecture needs plenty of time to be understood: from the extensive use of glass in all major parts of the house to the interesting display of interiors. Take your time while admiring this house, because it is one of a kind and induces a feeling of fascinating respect for its beautiful design lines. Large open spaces and double-height rooms transform this exceptional residence into an artistic expression of light captured between walls.
Graham Residence by E. Cobb Architects
The house is located in a "typical" peripheric urbanization of Pousos, a parish of the municipality of Leiria. Situated east of the city and at high ground, it works as a sort of panoramic belvedere over Leiria. So as to assure for more space and complete access to the faraway view, the owners bought the three lots ahead, over the "cliff". Although each lot allowed for the construction of a basement and two more storeys, usually compacted and isolated in the centre of the lot, this assemblage allowed the possibility of having a lower house, which "embraced" portions of garden space.
ARX - House in Leiria
ARX - House in Possanco
The cultural meeting point joining the house owners and the architects was based on their common interest: an undoubtedly contemporary architecture, but one whose nature and final expression would also be the outcome of a research of the paradigms of the traditional architecture of the region, the Alentejo. The implantation terrain of this small house, located in the village of Possanco, sets the transition area between the new urban strip and the protected agriculture zone. An extensive northbound plain ends far away at the Arrabida mountain ridge.superkül | SPLIT House
Split in plan and section, the parti of the house allows for a flood of light to the centre.This extraordinary project of Sustainable Winter Loft was created by Brazilian Fernanda Marques Arquitetos Associados . The total area is 207 square meters and the house outside and inside was made from recycled wood. This residence is not meant for permanent living it is only a place for rest, the winter loft, where you can have a great time. The open plan includes a lounge, a kitchen, a bar and a video room, combined into a single space.
Winter Loft by Fernanda Marques Arquitetos Associados
Balcony Swimming Pools In Aquaria Grande Tower - SweetyDesign. Home design, hotel design, celebrity homes
Aquaria Grande Tower is residential project that is to be constructed in Mumbai, India. Two 37-storey towers will have a glass swimming pool on the balcony. Or to be exact, the balcony will be a swimming pool. An interesting design solution will be featured in some of the towers’ apartments. The skyscraper buildings by Wadhwa Group were designed by cyber architect James Law and will be located in Borivali of Mumbai, India.Casa en Quequen