Situated on three hectares of forest, a short distance from Niseko’s ski slopes in Rankoshi, Hokkaido, Japan, Florian Busch Architects have created a family house that responds directly to its woodland setting. As a reaction to the suburbanization of the ski area’s towns, a large family sought a space where they could spend time immersed in the forest.
[Read more…] about House in the Forest, Hakkaido, Japan by Florian Busch ArchitectsHouse
Étang, a house by NEUME in Romagny-sous-Rougemont, France
NEUME, a Basel-based architecture firm, designed a vacation home in Romagny-sous-Rougemont, France, on the foundation of a former fisherman’s cottage from the 20th century. The structure includes a main house and an attached storage/utility room. Its grey, rough-textured base is visible from the village side but blends into the terrain near the pond due to elevation changes.
[Read more…] about Étang, a house by NEUME in Romagny-sous-Rougemont, FranceThe Little Big House by Knox Bhavan in Hertfordshire, UK
London-based architects Knox Bhavan have designed a new house and studio in a Hertfordshire village for a client who became paralysed from the shoulders down following a life-changing accident as a teenager. The house stands on the same lane where the client grew up and replaces a poorly built 1950s chalet bungalow, maintaining a similar size. Knox Bhavan utilised a prefabricated cassette system, developed in collaboration with modular manufacturer BlokBuild and engineers Price & Myers.
[Read more…] about The Little Big House by Knox Bhavan in Hertfordshire, UKHouse C by celoria Architects in Medrisio, Switzerland
Swiss-based Celoria Architects have designed House C in the ‘Alle Cantine’ area in Mendrisio, Switzerland. It has the same volume as a previous house on the site and uses its foundations. The house stands with mountains and forest on one side and a valley leading to San Martino on the other. It is situated at the foot of a rocky wall in an area characterised by a row of houses and dominated by the Oratory of San Nicolao. The area is approached by a long, tree-lined avenue and features locally typical ‘grotti’ underground ventilation spaces.
[Read more…] about House C by celoria Architects in Medrisio, SwitzerlandSix Columns house in Crystal Palace by 31/44 Architects
London-based 31/44 Architects have built Six Columns, a house for its architect owner and family on a garden plot in Crystal Palace, South East London. The design responds to a trapezoidal site with a large Sycamore tree, incorporating architectural detail from the neighbouring house and also from the owner’s travels. Conceived as a blend of a farmhouse and a California Case Study House, it reflects the directness of 1950s British architecture. The house is designed to evolve and prioritises shared spaces, minimising individual sleeping areas and contained rooms.
[Read more…] about Six Columns house in Crystal Palace by 31/44 ArchitectsThreefold House in Teddington, London by KnoxBhavan
London-based architects Knox Bhavan have transformed a landlocked triangular plot in Teddington, once housing a disused warehouse, into Threefold House, a low-energy single-family dwelling with three planted courtyards. The site’s restricted access rendered it unsuitable for industrial use. The replacement dwelling features a 2.5-meter-high perimeter wall echoing the old warehouse wall, behind which lie courtyards surrounded by single-storey accommodation, with a two-storey section bordering the street.
[Read more…] about Threefold House in Teddington, London by KnoxBhavan‘House with a Curtain’ in Grabs, Switzerland by Allen + Crippa
Swiss architects Allen + Crippa have designed ‘House with a Curtain’ in Grabs, Switzerland, within the Rhine Valley offering views of the Prealps. The house spans three floors including a basement, featuring identical floor plans inspired by traditional barn houses of the region. The front section accommodates living and dining spaces alongside a bedroom, while service areas at the rear encompass a bathroom, pantry, and staircase. Internally, partition walls serve dual purposes as built-in storage.
[Read more…] about ‘House with a Curtain’ in Grabs, Switzerland by Allen + CrippaHouse in Vuissens, Switzerland by Deschenaux Architectes
Swiss architects Deschenaux have designed a house adjacent to a forest in a neighbourhood of villas in Vuissens, a secluded village in Fribourg, Switzerland. The house is oriented towards the forest and entered through an opening in a concrete wall. Following the topography of the site, a small entrance hall leads two steps down to the kitchen, which connects to a larger volume of the living room. The living room, with forest views through a wall of glazed doors, opens to a double-height loggia.
[Read more…] about House in Vuissens, Switzerland by Deschenaux ArchitectesEaston Combs designs House SIX in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
US architects Easton Combs have built House SIX, a 5,000 sq ft house in Berkshire County, western Massachusetts, near New York’s Hudson Valley. The house responds to a sloped site with a low, elongated, thin volume featuring a folding roofline. A bend and fold in the plan allows the central living space to open onto the south and east while also connecting to bedrooms to the southwest.
[Read more…] about Easton Combs designs House SIX in Berkshire County, MassachusettsHouse Schweizer-Schmid in Ardez, Switzerland by Bearth & Deplazes
The Swiss architectural practice Bearth & Deplazes, based in Chur, has built House Schweizer-Schmid in the village of Ardez in the Lower Engadin valley, Switzerland. The house, with its exposed concrete exterior, is a contemporary interpretation of an Engadine house, traditionally characterised by large arch openings and deep, hole-like windows with funnel-shaped reveals. Photo by Juan Rodriguez. Bearth & Deplazes
House with Three Gardens in Salez, Switzerland by architects Allen + Crippa
Swiss-based architects Allen + Crippa have renovated and extended a fire-damaged house in Salez, Switzerland. The approach was to reuse a large proportion of the structure rather than demolish and rebuild, reducing the construction time and preserving an established garden.
The exterior walls of the ground floor form a base for the new timber frame structure. The independent structure allowed for the creation of nine interconnected rooms separated by sliding doors.
[Read more…] about House with Three Gardens in Salez, Switzerland by architects Allen + CrippaBak Gordon designs a house adjacent to the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon
Lisbon-based Bak Gordon Arquitectos has designed a house on Rua São Francisco de Borja, adjacent to the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon, Portugal. The house replaces an industrial building on a long and narrow plot measuring 7 meters by 26 meters. The facade of the house features a ventilated wooden grid on the ground floor, a single window on the first floor, and a recessed space for a small garden, facing the street, on the second floor.
[Read more…] about Bak Gordon designs a house adjacent to the National Museum of Ancient Art in LisbonKolman Boye Architects create a house in Grimstad, Norway, using timber off-cuts
Stockholm-based Kolman Boye Architects used oak and Douglas off-cuts from Danish flooring manufacturer Dinesen to create Saltviga House, a recreational home in Grimstad, Norway. Over 12,000 waste oak off-cuts were pre-cut to minimise wastage and pre-treated before being transported to the site.
[Read more…] about Kolman Boye Architects create a house in Grimstad, Norway, using timber off-cutsGreen House by Hayhurst & Co is named RIBA House of the Year 2023
5 December 2023.
The winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2023 is Green House, designed by London-based architectural studio Hayhurst & Co. Established in 2004 by Nick Hayhurst and Jonathan Nicholls, the studio created Green House to replace an existing house in a conservation area located on a confined urban plot in an alleyway in Tottenham, London. Historically the backland site of Green House comprised greenhouses, market gardens and orchards.
[Read more…] about Green House by Hayhurst & Co is named RIBA House of the Year 2023Villa Tarika at Lake Garda, by architects Bricolo Falsarella
Italian architects Bricolo Falsarella designed Villa Tarika at Lake Garda in Italy, allowing the inhabitants to experience the intensity of the landscape. The approach was to create a combination of spaces that allow views of the lake and those that restrict the view.
A large stone wall and a slatted wall enclose the villa at its entrance. A small opening at the entrance level on the first floor leads to a semi-enclosed space that frames views of the Rocca di Garda, Monte Luppia and the dense surrounding vegetation.
[Read more…] about Villa Tarika at Lake Garda, by architects Bricolo FalsarellaHouse in Fukui City, Japan by Mizukami Architects
Japan-based studio Tetsuya Mizukami Architects has designed a house for a young couple in a residential area of Fukui City, Japan. The site is accessed by climbing a slope that offers mountain views in front and, from the southern end of the site, views of the city with mountains beyond. The architects aimed to incorporate this experience into the house by creating bright, open spaces that are offset by half a floor, providing views through openings onto void spaces that connect to the surrounding landscape. Photo Ken’ichi Suzuki. Mizukami Architects
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe – Villa Wolf in Gubin, History and Reconstruction
DOM publishers have released ‘Ludwig Mies van der Rohe – Villa Wolf in Gubin, History and Reconstruction’, a book edited by Dietrich Neumann. Villa Wolf in Gubing, Mies van der Rohe’s first modern building, was constructed between 1925 and 1927 but was destroyed at the end of the Second World War.
This publication documents the history of Villa Wolf, its significance within van Mies van der Rohe’s body of work, and the excavation of the basement and foundations in 2021.
[Read more…] about Ludwig Mies van der Rohe – Villa Wolf in Gubin, History and ReconstructionHawthorn House in Victoria, Australia designed by Edition Office
Melbourne-based Australian architectural studio Edition Office has designed Hawthorn House in Victoria, Australia. The house features two arched structural concrete shrouds linked by a walkway and a courtyard garden. Ground floor formal and informal living spaces are separated into two pavilions connected by a north-facing garden and courtyard. Sleeping and bathing spaces are located on the first floor, set in from the concrete shell, creating space for private courtyards. The rough-sawn formwork timber boards used for the concrete shell are reused for the perimeter fencing.
[Read more…] about Hawthorn House in Victoria, Australia designed by Edition OfficeThe Olive Grove House in Valencia, Spain by Balzar Arquitectos
Valencia-based architects, Balzar Arquitectos, have created a house in an olive grove on the outskirts of Quesa, a small town founded by Spain’s Moorish community in Valencia. The building is designed with a steel frame, enabling 18-meter wide openings, and features three courtyards and a wide verandah with a pool that extends out into the olive grove. Terracotta tones are used in the facade and floors, along with Iranian travertine, brass and olive green joinery. The house has been designed to Passive house standards. Photo David Zarzoso. Balzar Arquitectos
McLaren Excell restores and extends a listed 18th century cottage in Hampstead
London-based interior design and architecture studio, McLaren Excell, has completed the restoration and extension of a listed semi-detached 18th-century cottage in Hampstead, London. The removal of a 1950s side extension allowed for the addition of a corten steel-clad extension at the lower ground floor level. The interior of the Regency building has been restored to its original 1820s state, while the new extension features shuttered in-situ concrete walls and coffered ceilings. The Douglas fir boards used for shuttering have been re-used for the internal joinery. Photo of corten-clad extension by Simone Bossi. McLaren Excell
Wespi de Meuron Romeo architects design house with bed and breakfast accommodation in Bruges
Switzerland-based architects Wespi de Meuron Romeo have created a house with separate bed and breakfast accommodations set in a forest in Bruges, Belgium. The house and each of the bed and breakfast accommodations feature private courtyards. The walls of the buildings and courtyards, both internally and externally, are constructed of old bricks, including broken pieces, coated with a thin render to preserve the visible texture of the bricks. Wespi de Meuron Romeo
Sanden+Hodnekvam designs a Brick House with a Tower in Lillehammer, Norway
Norwegian architecture studio Sanden+Hodnekvam has designed a house on a steep hillside overlooking Lake Mjøsa, south of Lillehammer in Norway. In keeping with the area’s tradition of masonry buildings and brickyards, shades of red brick have been used to clad a load-bearing timber structure. Ash joinery is used externally, and ash plywood is used internally, along with an exposed pine roof structure. The main living and sleeping spaces are on the first floor, with children’s accommodation and an apartment on the ground floor. On the top floor, a small tower provides a sitting area with views of the city and the lake. Sanden+Hodnekvam
Casa Enso II in Guanajuato, Mexico by HW Studio Architects
Mexico-based architects HW Studio, designed Casa Enso II in Guanajuato, Mexico using stone as the primary construction material, an abundant local material with deep cultural significance. The project is organised as a crucifix creating four quadrants each with a separate purpose. The entrance quadrant houses a garden, the second quadrant provides space for cars with shading by preserved trees, there is a one-bedroom house in the third quadrant and a contrasting vertical element in the fourth quadrant forming an office. Photo Cesar Bejar. HW Studio
Family home in Derbyshire by architects Blee Halligan
Architects Blee Halligan, with offices in London and Turks and Caicos Islands, have created ‘Derwent Valley Villa’, a family home in the village of Duffield in Derbyshire, England. Inspired by historic 18th-century red brick cotton mills in Derbyshire, the house is built of red brick with concrete banding, and designed as linked garden spaces in a wet woodland garden to provide the experience of ‘living in a garden’. Photo ©Henry Woide. Blee Halligan
Maison à Bordeaux by Rem Koolhaas, OMA
Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas of OMA, designed Maison à Bordeaux, a three-floor house on a hill overlooking Bordeaux. The house was designed for a couple. Following a car crash, the husband became wheelchair-bound and his brief to the architect was clear, ‘I do not want a simple house. I want a complex house because the house will define my world’. The heart of the house is a 3m by 3.5m elevator platform that moves between the three floors and itself becomes part of the kitchen, living space or office, giving easy access to books, artwork or a wine cellar. The house was completed in 1998. Photo Hans Werlemann ©OMA. OMA
Carvalho Araújo designs Casa na Caniçada on woodland in Viera do Minho, Portugal
Portuguese architect Carvalho Araújo designed a glass and concrete house situated in dense woodland near the Caniçada reservoir in Portugal. The form of the three-floor house was informed by an existing building on the site. The openings have been designed to allow continuity between the inside and outside, while the surrounding spaces have been preserved with the vegetation providing a sense of enclosure. Photo ©NUDO. Carvalho Araújo
RIBA award winning 21st Century Houses
Dominic Bradbury’s book 21st Century Houses explores inspirational RIBA award winning houses over the last decade with over 300 illustrations, plans and sketches. Case studies feature contemporary British houses including projects by Alison Brooks Architects, Foster Lomas and Mole Architects. RIBA
built by Valerio Olgiati
Celebrated Swiss architect Valerio Olgiati’s latest book ‘built’ is published by European publishing house Park Books. The book features fifteen of Valerio Olgiati’s buildings with seventy nine colour photographs and floor plans or sections.
Projects include the museum for the UNESCO world cultural heritage site in Bahrain, the Céline flagship store in Miami, Baloise Insurance’s headquarters in Basel, the bedroom of French fashion designer Nicolas Ghesquière in Paris, the Swiss National Park visitor centre and the studio house for Swiss musician Linard Bardill in Scharans. Park Books
StudioAC designs a galvanised steel house inspired by local farm buildings
Toronto-based architects Studio Architecture and Collaboration (StudioAC) have built a house clad in unfinished galvanised steel inspired by local farm buildings. The unfinished galvanised steel walls and roof reflect the changing hues of the landscape and sky. The house is situated on the Bruce Peninsula, north of Toronto, Canada. Photo Felix Michaud. StudioAC
Architect John Wardle refurbishes Kew House in Victoria Australia
The refurbishment of architect John Wardle’s own home, Kew House, Victoria, remodels the house while preserving three ancient Scottish Elm trees. It updates the house both in terms of thermal efficiency and also spatially, to accommodate the inhabitants evolving use and to house an extensive art and ceramics collection. The works feature precision Victoria Ash joinery including an Ash lined study overlooking the gardens. Photo Sharyn Cairns. Wardle
House in Mojácar by Alberto Campo Baeza and Modesto Sánchez Morales
Architects Alberto Campo Baeza and Modesto Sánchez Morales have collaborated on a four-year project to complete a house in Mojácar, southern Spain. The site is sandwiched between two houses on a steep four-level site staggered between two streets. The aim of the design was to recreate Almerian architect Roberto Puig’s image of ‘a terraced Mediterranean village with a beautiful cascade of white volumes overlooking the sea’. Photo Javier Callejas. Alberto Campo Baeza
Casa Tejocote by GOMA integrates with the semi-desert landscape of Querétaro, Mexico
Gonzalez Muchos Arquitectura (GOMA) designed Casa Tejocote in Querétaro, Mexico, consisting of four concrete volumes set around a central garden. The pigmented concrete structure is fully exposed and provides the finish for both the interior and exterior. It is designed to match the landscape and give warmth to the interior spaces, which open onto either gardens or patios. Photo Ariadna Polo. GOMA
Mies van der Rohe Haus Lange and Haus Esters in Krefeld Germany
The influential modernist architect Mies van der Rohe built two private villas, Haus Lange and Haus Esters, between 1927 and 1930. Steel is used as the main structural element for the buildings, with a brick covering, allowing large openings that were not previously possible in load-bearing brick buildings. The buildings in Krefeld have been preserved and are now used as exhibition spaces by the Kunstmuseen Krefeld. Photo Volker Döhne © VG Bill-Kunst, Bonn 2019. Kunstmuseenkrefeld