Underground Living in Switzerland
Villa Vals – Christian Muller Architects and SeARCH Architecture Built:  2005 – 2009 Area:  225m2  (2,430 sq. ft.) Most of us would think twice before even considering an underground home.  Yet such homes offer some unique advantages, both ecologically and for the security conscious. These notes are from co-designer, SeARCH: SeARCH and CMA collaborated […]
Aloni – Underground in Greece
Antiparos Island  Greece  –  DECA Architecture Built:  2005 – 2008 Area:  237 m2  (2,560 sq. ft.) We find it hard not to get excited by innovative design.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.  Both types provide opportunities to learn, adapt or adopt!  We especially like this home because of the way it fits with it’s […]
Malator House – aka Tellytubby House
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, […]
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 […]
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 Island […]
The Sliding House
Suffolk, UK –Â Ross Russell and Sally Morris Consulting architect:Â Alex de Rijke This home is unquestionably, one of the most innovative and demanding residential projects ever undertaken. Â Concept to practical completion was a five year event. Â Along the way, the home gained international recognition and many well deserved awards. What you see here is just a […]
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 […]
18.36.54 House
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, […]
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, […]
Edgeland House – healing the land
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 […]