Container Madness!! Massive House Built With 31 Shipping Containers

Mar 10, 2015

Few words come to mind that would appropriately describe a home that was built with an astounding 31 recycled shipping containers, but I’ll do my best. Australian architects ZeiglerBuild shocked the architecture community when they conceived this grandiose experiment, evoking the curiosity of a child who was just given Legos for the first time. The home is spread out over three interlocking stories and features a salt water pool and some impressive exterior graffiti art.

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The exterior of the home was treated as if they containers had been left in the open to the devices of urban hoodlummery and vandalism. It’s a unique approach that in an odd paradoxical way calms the massive scale of the building. A structure of this size has every opportunity to appear as a wart on the landscape no matter where it is situated, but the celebration of the container’s facade gives the building an innate sense of place. The playful juxtaposition of new and old is evident everywhere, cohesively binding the interior to the exterior.

Rare Sighting: A PreFab Home That Looks Natural In The Wild

Mar 19, 2015

It’s often difficult for a pre-fabricated home or building to have a cohesive relationship with its building site. Even if great care is taken to orient the factory-built structure to best highlight the important views, topography, etc., they can have a tendency to feel tacked on rather than integrated with their surroundings.

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This particular project by German industrial designers Patrick Frey and Bjorn Gotte manages to come off the shelf and into the wild with a soft and subtle nuance not often seen in pre-fab.

The Summerhaus Piu PreFab Vacation Home boasts a clean, warm material palette that quickly associates it with its surrounding environment. There is some flexibility in the design and manufacturing process that allows materials to be applied smartly based on native and available materials. This gives the home a closer connection to its final resting place regardless of where that might be. Large openings bring in light, and the home is pointed out towards the best, most scenic views.

A Hidden Urban Oasis In The Heart Of Downtown Miami

May 7, 2015

Seclusion. Hidden. Privacy. These aren’t that would typically come to mind when describing a home in the middle of Downtown Miami, but that’s exactly what you get with this tropical refuge from Brillhard Architecture. Dense palm tree forests blanket the perimeter of the lot making the home feel as if it was conjured up from the floor of a remote rain forest.

The visual protection the palm trees provide allow the home to be composed of floor to ceiling, wall to wall glazing that modulates light and views with a series of shutters. The interiors are sleek and modern, providing a subdued compliment to the serene exterior space. It’s as close to an urban oasis that you could find, especially in a city known for its…loud…personality.

An Unreal Renovation Has This Home In The Record Books

Jun 18, 2015

It’s not quite as dramatic as a Medieval drawbridge, but it just might be as massive. This ultra-modern home in Antwerp, Belgium is host to the world’s largest set of fully glazed pivot doors. Local architecture firm Sculpt IT worked with window manufacturers and engineers to realize the one-of-a-kind feature, which are impressive not only in size, but in contemporary design as well.

The doors are part of a fully glazed facade that opens the entire side of the home to an exterior courtyard. When the pivot doors are swung open, the kitchen area naturally spills out across the seamless transition of the monolithic concrete slab.

The installation of the doors was part of a holistic renovation of an existing home. The entire house was gutted and re-fitted with modern finishes, properly organized spaces, and one hell of a center piece.

A Green Courtyard Grows Inside This Renovated Home

Apr 9, 2015

Architect Andrew Maynard saw endless potential when he looked at a ragged old apartment in Seddon, Australia. He saw light and air, ground and sky, inside and out. He saw an opportunity to create something truly unique: a home that literally blurs the lines between shelter and landscape.

The inside out home makes one emphatic, yet simple architectural expression in the form of an extruded space topped with a symmetrical gabled roof. The result is a modern play on traditional vernacular and presents a blank canvas that is then painted with open walls, neck pinching skylights and greenery that seeps in from the surrounding gardens.

It must feel nice to take a hot bath with the sun shining down and nature surrounding you.

The architects have dubbed the project as “deliberately incomplete,” which is made clear by the ruin-like aesthetic of unfinished walls and roofs. Of course, certain areas of the home can still be closed off from the elements, but a large section of the living space is only semi-conditioned, leaving it up to mother nature to control the interior comfort.

This Modern Pyramid House Pays Homage To Classic Architecture

Mar 31, 2015

Maybe the Egyptians had it right all along.

This contemporary manifestation of the iconic pyramid form makes an emphatic statement about the simplicity of an inherently structural architectural expression. Before architects and builders developed building technology to more efficiently battle gravity’s limitations, we relied on literal formal response to those rules. Simply put, the higher you built, the smaller the footprint. The result was the pyramid: a pure geometric form that allowed ancient builders to reach heights never seen before.

This conceptual design from Mexican architect Juan Carlos Ramos pays homage to this classic vernacular while mixing in features that can only be constructed using modern techniques and materials. It’s an interesting dichotomy of old vs. new, telling a story of how far we’ve come as builders. For example, one of the facades is completely transparent, housing a massive triangular glazed opening.

Horizontal and vertical slices are cut into the pyramid, opening up areas for decks, views, and even a car port.

The main living space welcomes an open view to the outside, speaking to the structural and architectural feats we are able to achieve.

Rustic Opulence Defines This Camp Martis Residence On Lake Tahoe

May 7, 2015

You’ve heard of modern-rustic, and now you’ll see what happens when sheer decadence collides with a rustic design. This spectacular modern home was designed by Swaback Partners and is situated on a large lot in the private community of Camp Martis, located on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

“A home for the high Sierra’s that does not fall in line with the traditional regional architecture that mostly is a dark and heavy composition. Instead, the concept was to celebrate the light and airy feeling of snow and the effects that it can bring to the interiors.”

Photos by Vance Fox

This ‘Stealth’ Getaway Isn’t Your Grampa’s Log Cabin

Mar 20, 2015

Through the use of aerodynamic lines and application of native materials, the Stealth Cabin by Superkül inc flies under the radar of imposing visual impact in an attempt to recede into the natural environment it inhabits.

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The sleek 4-season cabin is a contemporary take on the storied log cabin vernacular, and is meant to champion the generous wealth of resources the forest provides for shelter, warmth and protection. While not as small or as modest in stature as many other secluded vacation spots, the Stealth Cabin never feels overwhelming in its form and makes a point to embrace the aspects of the site that make it unique.

The 1500 square foot structure takes every opportunity to expose itself to the spectacular forest scenery. Large windows and massive sliding doors let the trees pour into the conditioned spaces creating a symbiotic indoor/outdoor experience.

You Won’t Believe What This Awesome Brewery Used To Be

Jun 9, 2015

As part of a massive neighborhood revitalization project in the Güemes district in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, this funky, open concept brewery was crafted from the shell of an old, broken down police station. What was once home to handcuffed criminals, on-duty patrolmen and stale donuts now serves locals cold, crisp lagers and plenty of interesting sights. The rennovation was led by Guillermo Cacciavillani, cofounder and creative director of Bar Makers.

In the architect’s words: “To transform the neighborhood, making it an engaging place, a living history, is the spirit that is revitalizing an area that for many years was marginalized in the urban scene of the city.” What better what to inject life and vigor into a neglected area than to provide a vibrant social gathering space as functionally appropriate and majestically pulled off as the Capitan Central Brewery?

The beauty in the juxtaposition of old against new is immediately noticeable, giving new life to an old shell. Concrete benches and planters are used to reinforce the starkness of new material that plays on what was once there. Flashes of bright red punctuate interior circulation, both of people and the brewery equipment systems. A wall of delicately detailed windows open the space to an outdoor court, providing the interior with ample natural light.

The courtyard sits adjacent to the massive concrete entry. The grand industrial procession pays homage to the police station that once stood here.

Just Another Wooden Box In Portland? See What They Did Inside!

Jun 5, 2015

Portland, Oregon is home to many oddities and outliers. It’s a city made famous by the quirkiness of its people and places. Recently new homeowners and designers Katherine Bovee and Matt Kirkpatrick have embraced that culture and then some when they built their tiny, modern and altogether wonderful dream home. A tiny 50×50 foot corner lot in Portland’s Inner Southeast neightborhood was all they needed to think up this starkly clad wooden box, giving them a modest yet functional 704 square feet of living space.

The exterior is intentionally subdued and clean, allowing what happens on the inside to punch you hard right in the face (figuratively, of course).
Take, for example, the bedroom. Yes, this is the bedroom! The daring couple has made creative use of a tall ceiling and an empty canvas to paint this little niche with style and flair. An exposed beam frames (visually and structurally) the bed loft that looks out to the neighborhood below. Naturally, this opens up the space below for storage, a closet, and even an exposed vanity. Did I mention it was functional? You would never guess that this is the kitchen of a tiny home. The space is luxurious and ample to say the least. Aside from all the light and space, the coolest feature is the exposed hood vent ducting that punctuates the industrial feel of the interior. Opposite the kitchen is this storage wall that holds everything from books and records to audio/video equipment. Katherine and Matt have modulated the openings with seemingly random opaque sections. It’s a visually interesting move that does well to hide otherwise unattractive elements like the heater vent.

Image Credit: John Clark