The Long Studio
Norfolk  UK  –  Threefold Architects Photography:    Charles Hosea Designed from the ground up to be owner-built and proud of it. Set within the flatlands of rural Norfolk and inspired by the local agricultural vernacular this zero carbon artist’s studio was designed to capture the sky. This simple, linear, black clad building occupies a position […]
The Kernan Teahouse
Stoney Creek, CT  USA  –  Naomi Darling Architecture Photography by Sean Kernan This stunning, minimalist teahouse is in Stoney Creek, Connecticut.  Designed by architect Naomi Darling, it features local and recycled materials to achieve a simple elegance. The stone came from a local quarry, while bamboo was harvested on-site.  The roof is made of recycled metal. “Tea, […]
Weaving In The Woods
Weaving Studio – Prentiss Architects Location: Â San Juan Island, Washington State USA Year Built:Â Â 2010 Built area:Â Â Â 1250 sq ft (116 m2) I’ve only visited the San Juan Islands once. I was the guest of Ted Brewer, an extraordinary naval architect. I can’t recall how long the trip took from Seattle but it was […]
Under the Moonlight House
Mt. Hotham Victoria Australia – Giovanni D’Ambrosio Australia doesn’t have many areas where it snows and even then, it doesn’t stick around for long!  (Australia’s highest mountain, Mt. Kosciuszko, is only 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level.)  A very good season in our ski fields is about 10 weeks.  If you build an alpine cabin […]
The Poteet Loft Porch
San Antonio Texas – Poteet Architects Imagine a warm, balmy night, good friends, a glass of wine and a soft breeze as you enjoy the outdoors. Sounds wonderful until the bugs start joining the party. Here’s a very nice solution that adds a lot of usable space without breaking the bank account. Like decks, a […]
Rockhouse
British Columbia, Canada – Sandrin Leung Design Build Built area: 111.5 m2 (1,194 sq. ft.) Year built: 2009 – 2010 Photography: Ana Cristina Sandrin “The Rockhouse is a courtyard home organized around a large rock bluff in a gesture of embrace. From the first visit to the site we felt the very strong spiritual/natural presence of this rock. We […]
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 […]
More Bamboo Brilliance
Flamingo Dailai Resort, Vietnam – Vo Trong Nghia Architects Gross Floor Area:  1,600 sqm Photography: Hiroyuki Oki OK – so it’s not a home. But it is a wonderful example of the beauty and flexibility of the world’s most renewable timber… bamboo. Bamboo is incredibly strong due to it’s long fibres and high silica content. […]
Tula House Sits Lightly
Quadra Island, British Columbia – Patkau Architects Photography: James Dow and Patkau architects You’ll find this home set on a remote clifftop on Quadra Island, some six hours drive to the north of Vancouver. A home for two and the unofficial headquarters of the Tula Foundation, the home replaced an old, dilapidated cottage on the […]
A House Among and Within the Loblolly Pines
 Loblolly House – Kieran Timberlake Location: Taylors Island, Maryland, USA Built area:  2,200 sq ft  (204 m2) Named after the tall pines that characterize its site on the Chesapeake Bay, this home “seeks to deeply fuse the natural elements of this barrier island to architectural form.” Positioned between a dense grove of loblolly pines […]