Paraguayan Low Impact, Dual Family Living
Luque, Paraguay – BAUEN Architects Built:    2012 Built Area – combined:    600 m2  (6,480 sq ft) Photography:   MĂłnica Matiauda When two families share a common building site, privacy becomes a major concern. The design shown here also focuses on retaining the maximum amount of green space while using the natural contours of the land for […]
Shibuya Skinny
Shibuya  Tokyo  Japan  –  Masanori Kuwabara, Sabaoarch Site area:   40.12m2  (433 sq ft) Building envelope:   24.06M2  (260 sq ft) Floor area:   78.06m2  (843 sq ft) If you have been to Japan, you will have seen how every scrap of land is used in some way. It is either developed, […]
BlueForest Treehouses
Anywhere  –  BlueForest Treehouses Ltd What is it about treehouses that make them so alluring? We may have stopped living in trees for centuries already but the charm of having a treehouse remains to this day. For most people it can be in the form of a platform built around the trunk of a tree, […]
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 […]
Summerhouse in Gata Hrunamannahreppur
Gata Hrunamannahreppur, Iceland – ASK arkitektar Year Built: 2003 A home embraced by nature… This summer house located in Iceland is a nice example of a home that draws beauty by working with nature rather than standing out against it. Though the house alone is attractive from the aesthetic perspective, its true beauty comes from the fact that it respects its […]
Muskoka Boathouse
Muskoka, Ontario, Canada – Christopher Simmonds Architect This boathouse won ‘Best Project in the Open Category’ at the Ottawa Housing Design Awards in 2011, and it’s no wonder why! This stunning boathouse is situated at the end of a lake in Muskoka. It’s an aesthetically lightweight floating structure that houses a clean, modern interior  that connects with the natural environment […]
Sharifi-ha House – The Rotating Home
Sharifi-ha House – Nextoffice Location: Darrous, Tehran, Iran Area: Â 1400 m2 Year Finished:Â Â 2013 Sharifi-ha House is designed by Tehran-based architectural studio Nextoffice. It features three motorized rooms that can pivot up to 90 degrees. This allows the residents to adapt to the weather as seasons change giving them a closed winter dwelling, or an open […]
Living Underground
Historical evidence suggests humans have been living underground for millennia, first in caves and then later in shallow excavations roofed with sticks, mud and thatch. Just as above-ground homes vary greatly in their construction and appearance, so do underground homes. Â Types include constructed caves, culvert homes, earth berm dwellings, elevational dwellings and atrium homes. And […]
Earth House – An Ode to Yoon Dong-joo
Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, Korea – Byoungsoo Cho Site area:   660m2 Floor Area:  32.49m2 Project Year:   2008-2009 Photography:   Wooseop Hwang, Yong Gwan Kim It would seem odd to think of a 14m x 7m concrete box set deep in the ground as a ‘house of the sky’ and yet it is! The tiny home […]
Santa Elena House
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 […]