Home Renovation and Addition planned around Pool and Views.

February 26, 2014, 11:31 pm

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Michael Hsu Office of Architecture has designed a contemporary remodel and addition to a home in Austin, Texas, called Westlake Homestead. The Addition includes a large second building joining the original home with an overpass on the first floor that contains bedrooms, an exercise room, and garage with herb garden. Aside from the addition, upgrades to the original house include a geothermal air-conditioning system, a more energy efficient envelope and an expansion to the front deck for outdoor dining.

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Concrete Cube Home Supported on 2 Yellow I Beams

February 27, 2014, 1:20 am

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The Mirante do Horto House located in Sao Paolo, Brazil was designed by FC Studio as a large concrete cube, consisting of levels of living, capped off by a roof top garden and supported on two large yellow I beams with a garage below. The cube is private on its sides but open on the ends due to common practice of neighbours to build right up to the edge of their property lines. The house was designed by the architects to be a succession of 3 8xll meter layers with a concrete stairwell connecting all three to the rooftop garden. At the back of the home a second outdoor space is created with a sunken terrace featuring an outdoor kitchen area. Windows between the main living area and the terrace allow natural light to flood into the garage below.

Concrete Home with 2nd Level Pool and 360 degree Views

February 27, 2014, 9:01 pm

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La Perla Del Mediterraneo by Spainville is a three level home full of geometric shapes and voids all coming together to create a façade of intricate layers for both sun, shade and air circulation. The home is spread over three floors. On the entrance level, there is the two-car garage, 3 bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and a covered terrace and garden. One floor up is the living room complete with fireplace and a modern Santos kitchen. Two Japanese gardens overlook this second level and just outside the social zone is a terrace that leads to the pool. This second level is accessed by an elevator or by stairs, as is the third level. The third level is home to the master suite with its spacious bedroom, extra large dressing room and a bathroom that overlooks the sea.

See Through Glass House on Private Pasture

February 28, 2014, 9:13 pm

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The Villa Sterk is a 5,059sqft home located in Bentebok, The Netherlands, just north of Heerenveen. Designed by Inbo, the home is a modern composition of concrete finished with a natural white stone or stucco. High efficiency glazings allow for long expanses of windows to enjoy the magnificent views of the surrounding landscape while the heat and cold storage in the ground removes the necessity for gas. The architects also designed the home with a series of long narrow strips of solar collectors in the landscaped garden to reduce the home's footprint on the environment.

Modern Box House with Interior Glass Bridges

February 28, 2014, 9:16 pm

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Measuring in at 4,900 sq. ft., there's lots to love about this modern house idea beyond its sprawling size. Designed by Robert M. Gurney Architect, this contemporary style home makes a striking statement among its natural surroundings, sited on a steep slope draped in lush, leafy trees. The imposing structure is comprised of a series of boxes in varying scales and finished in materials including wood, glass and stone. Massive windows, walkouts and terraces combine nature and architecture. Inside, open volumes and glass bridges running overhead let light flow freely between floors, enhancing the home's awesome sense of space.

3-Storey Wall of Books Creates Privacy for Contemporary Home

February 28, 2014, 11:39 pm

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Located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Querosen House was designed by Grupo SP to take advantage of the of a low-lying site, 3 metres below street level. The home is concrete with Portuguese Stone floors and the North wall is a 3-storey shelving system that holds a staggering 7500 books accessed by metal platforms. The social zone takes advantage of the privacy on the lowest level offered by being below street level, while still maintaining views of the landscape beyond through the wall of glazings at the back of the residence.

Prefabricated Home Surrounds Sloped Courtyard with 17th Century Terraces

March 1, 2014, 9:27 pm

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The BF House by OAB-Office of Architecture in Barcelona is located in Castellon de la Plana, Spain, on a terraced plot of 3,265sqm. The terracing is original to the 17th century architecture that was long since abandoned and no longer in existence. Over time Pine and Carob trees reclaimed the site and the architects wanted to both respect the heritage of the terracing made with local rock, as well as the preexisting trees and opted to build a home using prefabricated modular systems that could be placed on the site without cutting down any of the trees or disrupting any of the centuries old terracing, except to rebuild the damaged sections with the same stone originally used.

Luxury Pool House Under Unique Roof

March 4, 2014, 10:36 pm

≫ Next: Barn Aesthetic is Muse for Modern Home

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A contemporary renovation in Singapore took an existing semi-detached house located at the end of a road and relocated the carport before introducing a new swimming pool running the full length of the home and a new roofline that wraps around the preexisting home in a contemporary silhouette of various angles that rises up into a new third storey and out to create more space per floor. This rethinking of both the footprint and the verticality created a much larger home with new and modern areas that would not otherwise have been possible - including a double volume space for the upstairs home office while still leaving room for the outdoor addition of a luxury pool.

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Barn Aesthetic is Muse for Modern Home

March 5, 2014, 1:17 am

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Located in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, Canada, the Malbaie VIII Residence was designed by MU Architecture to be a reinterpretation of a the traditional barns found in the locale. Using a barn aesthetic as the muse, the architects designed the home to be a 3 volume residence with dark grey metal covering both the roof and the sides of the home while white cedar features prominently on the front and back as well as the interior zones. The concept is as though the home has a living edge with the metal as the bark of a tree and the white cedar planks as the inner core.

Glass-Walled House With Traditional Decor

March 5, 2014, 6:36 pm

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A Project of Foursquare Builders, this Texas home occupies a spacious property that allows for a design nearly unhindered by the challenges of protecting the privacy of those within. A remarkably simple structure of glass paneling draped over a steel frame, the house is formatted around a number of large public rooms, each with commanding views of the countryside beyond its bounds. The residence's roof extends far past its interior boundaries to block direct sunlight at undesirable times, while skylights in its middle help to direct that same light to the center of the wide floorplan. The decor of the interior is different from what you might expect in such a modern residence, filled with dozens of antique-style furnishings and fixtures. Large formal rugs help to define each living space, and vintage lamps light each room. Each space has a varying degree of separation from the environment, ranging from the living room's full glass walls to the bathroom's single curtained light source.

Slatted Facade House With Sleek Adjoined Apartment

March 6, 2014, 3:27 pm

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Built for a couple in Singapore, this sprawling house contains two different residences in one architectural package. Designed by A D Lab, the design features a tall master dwelling for the couple that owns the property, as well as a separate semi-detached wing for their grown son. The same piece of property once housed a more traditional family home which this new building replaced, and the residents wished for the design of their new home to reflect the general shape of the previous residence. To that end, a steeply angled suburban roofline soars over the living room of the double abode's main wing, mimicking the shape of the house that came before it. Additionally, slatted vertical latticework takes the place of conventional siding while giving an artistic, warm touch to the home's exterior. The overall layout of the double house is designed with privacy in mind, since parents and child lead different lives now. While a central corridor and shared outdoor space allows the family to unite easily, their two places of living are kept completely structurally separate. Though it may appear from afar that the entire complex is a single building, the apartment on the right side is actually its own entirely separate house, joined only by decorative elements and a common design theme. Inside, each of the two sections has its own living room, kitchen, dining room, and private spaces. At the same time, however, the two dwellings are inexorably linked to one another, keeping the sense of family alive and allowing each of those living within to interact without truly "living" together. It's a masterful modern design compromise which allows the homeowners' son to pursue his own life as a young professional while keeping close to the heart of home.

Hybrid Wood and Concrete Home

March 6, 2014, 4:04 am

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This California residence by Cheng Design stands out not only by the innovative use of concrete, but also thanks to the "hybrid" mix of wood and concrete. Unlike other concrete houses where the use of concrete is counter-balanced by large expanses of glass, Cheng creates a fortress-looking front facade. The openings are small and have various shapes and positions, creating an intriguing design. The main entrance itself is hidden behind a wood-clad box that serves most likely as utility room. Concrete is the star material and it is present in various shapes and textures. Its range of use goes from walls and beams to flooring and even furniture. The presence of wood is more discreet, and we can find it lining some of the walls and ceilings. Inside, the house is much less austere than one might expect, thanks to use of bold warm colors such as red, orange and yellow. The interior facade that overlooks the pool and the garden is much more open than the one overlooking the street. Even though the windows remain small on the top floor where the bedrooms are located, the ground floor has large glazed sliding doors that open the living space to the outside.

Garage and 3rd Floor Deck connects Glass Home to Slope

March 6, 2014, 11:36 pm

≫ Next: Lavish Country Home with Unique Details and Indoor Pool

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Located in San Francisco, California, USA above the Dolres Park on a very steep site with a public garden on one side, Craig Steely Architecture built Peter's House in such a way as to disturb the land as little as possible. The 1800sqft begins with the 24'x24' cast-in-place garage on the lowest point of the site. The architects then built a 3-storey glass tower on top of the garage and in front of the slope, allowing the hillside to remain intact. The top volume of the home is then reconnected with the landscape via a concrete terrace. Privacy from the public garden was created through a series of interior and exterior wooden louvers. The Louvers where also used in the creation of the garage doors.

Lavish Country Home with Unique Details and Indoor Pool

March 7, 2014, 1:30 am

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Designed by Russian architect Leonovich Arseny, this expansive country residence has large areas of glazings to connect the inner volumes with the outdoors while at the same time it also has vertical siding to create privacy for the interior zones. Although privacy is retained for the homeowners, the inclusion of a unique bright yellow "V" beam near the front entrance suggests to all that this home is much more then meets the eye.

Lovely Summer House Design

March 8, 2014, 11:14 pm

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This humble wood clad house is the epitome of cottage chic! The cabin design by the architects at Design Blitz included a 500-sq.-ft. extension to an existing 600-sq.-ft. house, originally built in 1942 as a summer home here in west Sebastopol, California. This casual vacation property was renovated and revived with modern function and flair, and now serves as the family's principal residence. The natural house design was inspired by its forest surroundings, setting the tone for the look and feel of the timber house, which is that of natural materials, light and views, with a distinctly contemporary edge when it came to furnishings and art.

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Contemporary Renovation of a Time-worn House

March 9, 2014, 1:51 am

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Located on a waterfront site in New Zealand, this house has been given a serious face lift and a new life by Dorrington Architects and associates. We are talking about a renovation and addition project, as the owners wanted to keep the time-worn but sturdy existing structure. The major inconvenient of the existing house was that, despite of its waterfront location, it was not taking advantage of the views that the site had to offer. The project kept the existing structure but placed it towards the back, while two new modules have been added at the front. These modules are very distinct in terms of shape and materials, and they also completely differ from the brick structure of the existing ones.The bigger volume is an asymmetrical zinc-clad block, while the smaller one that grows out of it is screened by a vertical cedar structure. Both these two block are turned towards the view through big glazed walls and doors. The bigger volume contains the living area, while the smaller one encloses the master bedroom with its en-suite bathroom. Vertically there are two levels, the lower one being more difficult to guess depending on the point of view. Semi-levels and raised platforms give the dynamic inside the house, creating different views.

Modern House Made of Concrete Boxes

March 9, 2014, 4:05 am

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Suggestively called "the house of the red box", this Brazil residence was designed by architect and designer Leo Romano on a site surrounded by lush vegetation. The building comes to insert itself in the existing slope of the land, creating a minimum human impact. Various concrete boxes take the shape and size that better adapts to existing topography. The main house is a concrete and glass box that has the main entrance and day level at the top of the slope, and the night level at the bottom, invisible from above. This position offers complete privacy to the bedroom area that overlooks the the garden and the pool. On top of the main building, like a nest or observation spot, there is a red concrete box that gives identity to the house. The other box is represented by the pool structure, an elongated box that stick out of the slope, cantilevering above the lowest level of the garden. The top floor contains the open plan kitchen and the living area.The slope offers a platform at the level of the kitchen where an outside terrace could be created. At the other end, the living room is set in a light-flooded corner that overlooks the trees and the pool below.

Horse Barn Turned Into Open Guest House

March 10, 2014, 10:34 am

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Built on the property of a larger home in Phoenix, Arizona, this small dwelling serves as a guest house for those making a visit to the main home's owners. Designed by The Construction Zone, Ltd., the sleek cottage actually has much humbler roots as a horse barn. Other than some basic structure, though, the home has been done over so thoroughly that it's hard to tell that it's not an entirely new construction. Most of the surface of the house is done in glass window walls, leading out onto a large patio with space for entertaining. This allows the house to be used while not occupied as an impromptu living space for hosting guests, with direct access to the property's amenities. The remaining architecture of the house is mostly concrete in form, dividing each room and providing support for the roof. Inside, the floorplan is completely open, with only a single formal interior doorway (leading into the bathroom). The entire house is sectioned into four areas, allowing maximum usage of its 1,425 square feet of floorspace. A combination of built-in features and decor cues define each open-form room within the glass and concrete walls, allowing free flow between areas without a loss of identity for each. The glass wall from the front is limited to half-height at the rear, giving plenty of natural light without compromising on privacy. The home is very open and airy in feel, but still provides practical lodgings for a visiting couple.

Minimal White Extension To Traditional British Home

March 10, 2014, 9:04 pm

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Built for an English family living on a large plot of privately owned land, this stunning stone residence takes maximum advantage of the property's scenic beauty in all directions. Starting with a central point defined by a very traditional two-story farmhouse, the firm of Found Associates expanded in two opposite directions with a single-story, contemporary structure. Making up the majority of the floorplan, this extensively modern portion of the home is arranged in two wings, with the farmhouse as the dividing line between public and private spaces. At the front, a spacious living area overlooks a small lake and outdoor entertainment spaces, while the bedrooms at the rear are more compact and personal in nature, looking out only towards the farmhouse wing if they have any large windows at all. By this arrangement, the privacy of personal rooms is protected, while all the house enjoys sunlight during the day. The decor of the dwelling is starkly white in furniture choice, surrounded by the cream tones of the exterior stone and subdued greys of concrete walls and floors. The overall theme inside is one of nearly absolute minimalism, with very few decorations or unnecessary furniture pieces. This choice in interior design echoes the overall architecture of the home's main portion, which is exceedingly boxy and stylishly simple. The construction of the house from stone pieces instead of exterior steel, wood, or concrete pays tribute to conventional English building practices over the centuries, while the central structure which creates the home's third wing is even more traditional by design. The two sections contrast entirely in style, but work very well together due to careful attention paid to finishes and the integration of each into the property as a whole.

Modern Mountain Home uses Railroad Avalanche Shed Design as Muse

March 11, 2014, 11:39 pm

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The Sugar Bowl Residence located in Norden, California, USA was designed by John Maniscalco Architecture to take the winter environment into account within its exterior silhouette. With a snow pack then can be 9' deep, the snow load accumulations on a roof can create a dangerous snow block drop of immense proportions and therefore the residence needed a roof design that would take this into account. The home's design considers the constraints provided by the environment by creating a simple, bent planar roof form to collect the snow to a certain weight, before the weight overcomes the snow friction and slides off at the back of the residence, keeping everyone in the front of the home safe The design is based on a historical railroad avalanche shed.