Xanadu of Sedona

A pavilion home of domes

Easter eggs in Arizona – Monolithic Domes Year built:    2011 Site area:     3.63 acres  (1.47 hectares) Built area:    5865 sq. ft.  (543 m2) eclectic  (ɪˈklɛktɪk/) –  deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.  To most people a dome home is going to seem unusual. They […]

Dick Clark’s Flintstone House

Do you still accept clams

Malibu California USA  –  Architect unknown Emmys, Grammys, induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 7,500 hours of television time! An amazing legacy that all added up to make Dick Clark one of the richest men in Hollywood, with interests in a wide range of […]

Shell House

The Shell House - Karuizawa

Kitasaku, Nagano, Japan – ARTechnic architects Site Area:    1,711 m2 (18,417 sq. ft.) Built Area:    329 m2 (3,541 sq. ft.) Year Built:     2008 Photography:     Nacasa & Partners Inc. This innovative vacation home sits in the woods of Karuizawa, Japan.  Designed by architect, Kotaro Ide, of ARTechnic, the house was designed […]

On the Corner – Eastern Design Office

On the corner

Shiga  Japan  –  Eastern Design Office Lot size:     261 m2  (2,818 sq. ft.) Built area:     567 m2  (6,123 sq. ft.) Built:     2011 Photography:     Koichi Torimura Perhaps we have a penchant for Japanese architecture because we certainly feature a lot of it.  But, we’d like to think it’s […]

The Stair House

Daejeon City, Shimane  Japan  –   y+M Design Office Built area:     143 m2  (1,550 sq. ft.) Take two teachers, two young children, a seaside position with harsh winters and a strong desire to interact with family and students in a casual surrounding.  The House of Stairs is the innovative and visually stimulating result. Externally, the […]

Life in a Fishbowl

Not designed for the retiring personality!

Roppongi (Tokyo) Japan  –  Mejiro Studios Built area:     87.5m2  (945 sq. ft.) This is definitely a home for very confident people.  The entire focus of the home is the bathroom (or wash-room) as they are thought of in Japan.  Fully walled in glass, the bathroom sits in the centre of the home which is itself, a single […]

Rounded in every sense…

Domespace - France

Anywhere you’d like it – Domespace  France More years ago than I care to remember, I bought my first Citroën car, a DS21 Goddess.  The innovation was mind-boggling.  In following years I owned various French cars finding them all idiosyncratic but delightful to drive.  But over time, global conformity set in and the innovation died. […]

The Garden Tree House

Garden Tree House - Kagawa , Japan

The Garden Tree House  – Hironaka Ogawa and Associates Kagawa, Japan Build area: 50.9 m2 Year: 2010 The Garden Tree House is not your usual tree house or home. If most tree houses are built around a tree, this one had not just one but two trees built into it. It was built as an […]

Room Room – Takeshi Hosaka Architects

Room Room - Tokyo, Japan

Room Room – Takeshi Hosaka Architects Itabashi, Tokyo Area: 72m2 Talk about a room with a view – well, this one has many! At first it looks like a house with many randomly placed windows. But the windows are anything but random. They are meant for a specific function – the couple who owns the house are […]

Amida House – Interesting on many levels

Nine distinct levels in just 115 m2

Gotenba, Shizuoka  Japan  –  Kochi Architect’s Studio Built area:     115.5 m2  (1,247 sq. ft.) Year Built:     2011 Photography:     Daici Ano This is one of the more ‘out there’ designs we have come across.  There are nine distinct levels in this small home. While our initial reaction was muted, our enthusiasm grew as we read […]

Base Valley House

Heat sinks and natural ventilation tame the local climate...

Near Hiroshima  Japan  –  Hiroshi Sambuichi Site area:    12,000 m2 Built area:     100 m2 Photography:    Katsuhisa Kida / FOTOTECA Gabion walls made from local stone and a glass roof tell you that this is no ordinary home. Hiroshi Sambuichi is an architect who appears to have little time or patience for […]

The Jenga House

Final Wooden House – Sou Fujimoto Architects Architects: Sou Fujimoto Architects Location: Kumamoto, Japan Built: 2007 Site Area: 89.3m2 Constructed Area: 15.13m2 So, what inspires an architect to create an unusual space like The Final Wooden House? In the words of the architect: “I thought of making an ultimate wooden architecture. It was conceived by just mindlessly stacking 350mm square. Lumber […]

Edgeland House – healing the land

Edgeland House Austin TX

Austin TX  USA  –  Bercy Chen Studio LP Built area: 130 m2  (1,400 sq. ft.) Year built: 2012 Photography: Paul Bardagjy In many areas of the western world, industry has come and gone, more often than not leaving a badly scarred landscape in it’s wake. This was such a site. We’ll leave the telling of the tale to the architects: “Edgeland House […]

The Hive Apartments – street art in concrete

The Hive Apartment - Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Carlton (Melbourne)  Australia  –  ITN Architects Photography:    Patrick Rodriguez A four metre high, 14 tonne, pre-cast concrete graffiti panel forms the structural backbone of this innovative development.  The graffiti relief panel spells HIVE  and the style of the lettering geometries directly determine the interior and wall shapes of the homes allowing for unusual windows […]

Stoned and Green in Vietnam

The green roof and central courtyard create natural air-conditioning...

Dong Trieu, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam  –  Vo Trong Nghia Architects Built:     2011 Photography:     Hiroyuki Oki If you have looked at ‘Wind and Water’, you’ll know why we really like the work of this firm of architects. Their use of natural materials makes every building both unique and immensely habitable. The wonderful green […]

18.36.54 House

The 18.36.54 house video

Rural Connecticut  USA  – Daniel Libeskind Built area:     185 m2  (2,000 sq. ft.) Year:     2010 Let’s not pretend here… we’re fairly certain that Daniel Libeskind’s starting fee is more than most of us will spend on our whole house.  In the past 15 years, he’s moved from relative obscurity as an academic, […]

Santa Elena House

The entry

Medellin, Colombia – Antonio Sofan Photography:     Carlos Tobon Built Area:     106 m2  (1.145 sq. ft.) Situated high in the hills to the east of Medellin is a pristine area called Arvi Natural Park.  It is state owned and fully protected against development.  Surrounding areas also have strict building regulations. It’s an area where temperatures vary little year […]

The Sliding House

Suffolk, UK – Ross Russell and Sally Morris Consulting architect: Alex de Rijke This home is unquestionably, one of the most innovative and demanding residential projects ever undertaken.  Concept to practical completion was a five year event.  Along the way, the home gained international recognition and many well deserved awards. What you see here is just a […]

Conch Shell House

Isla Mujeres – Mexico  Owner designed and built Built area:     460 m2 (5,000 sq. ft.) When art meets function, it sometimes has surprising results. The home shown here is the work of well known Mexican artist, Octavio Ocampo and his architect brother, Eduardo.  It sits on a thin peninsula on Isla Mujeres, (The […]

Two Houses – minimal impact architecture

Luque, Paraguay – BAUEN Architects Built:     2012 Built Area – combined:     600 m2  (6,480 sq ft) Photography:    Mónica Matiauda This is a development for two families sharing a common lot.  The homes are designed to retain as much green space as possible.  The architect state in their notes: “In this project the search for a […]

Malator House – aka Tellytubby House

Malator

Druidston South-West Wales UK  –  Future Systems Built in 1998, this cutting-edge contemporary home won world-wide acclaim and has since become one of Wales’ architectural treasures. The basic design of Malator is very simple – it’s essentially one room, divided by prefabricated coloured pods.  Externally, the ‘earth home’ melts into the surrounding landscape. Architectural critic, […]

Aloni – Underground in Greece an Unusual Home

Green in Aloni

Antiparos Island  Greece  –  DECA Architecture Built:   2005 – 2008Area:   237 m2  (2,560 sq. ft.) We can’t help but get excited when we see an innovative design. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. But either way, we admire the effort that went into creating something new. Both types provide opportunities to […]