This Crooked House Warps The Mind With Its Crazy Facade

Apr 24, 2015

Like the twisted beauty of the Polish language, the Krzywy Domek or “Crooked House” by Szotyńscy & Zaleski elegantly distorts familiar architectural convention. The street-facing facade presents an unusual collage of undulating forms that looks like it was tailor-made for the setting of Disney’s next animated film.

The building is a popular destination on Sopot, Poland’s famed Monte Cassino Street, and contains shops, restaurants and cafés. A central gazed section is bookended by two stucco masses that would resemble traditional vernacular if they weren’t pinched and bulbed to appear more fantastical. The architects were inspired by the illustrations of Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg in addition to legendary Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi.

At night, the structure glows like a warped jack-o-lantern. The deep-set window openings cast dramatic shadows adding to the dream-like appearance of the facade.

The inside follows suit, imitating the the same playful forms and details, seamlessly blending the conceptual force behind the design’s iconic exterior.

Students Design Retro-Rustic Offgrid Nomad Camper For Easy Towing

Sep 2, 2015

The housing crisis may be over, but plenty of people all over still face the challenge of trying to find a place to call home. This retro-rustic styled dwelling is one of the prototypes from +FARM‘s summer design studio, where students immerse themselves in design and construction practices, attempting to bring new solutions to fruition.

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The 2015 Nomad Studio shown here is modest, but beautiful, with a tiny 8′ x 5′ interior that sleeps two and quickly transforms into a lounge space. It has deployable solar panels that create 1kw, powering the coffee maker and film projector, and there’s even a stowable composting toilet hidden away.

Photos courtesy Andrew Nisbet

Tiny Heirloom Dazzles Us With Another Brilliant Build

Jul 23, 2017

Check out this gorgeous new tiny house from all-star builder Tiny Heirloom!

Absolutely perfect from top to bottom, back to front, this was designed to serve as a recreation of the client’s own larger home. They pulled it off, including a full sized baker’s kitchen with foldout table, beautiful lighting on the stairs, a custom wine rack, and plenty of space in the living room. There’s also a loft and a very nice bathroom.

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Images © Tiny Heirloom

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

A See-Through Church That Suspends Disbelief

Mar 23, 2015

Spaces of prayer and worship have traditionally been designed create suspension of disbelief in order to give the users a grander sense of a higher being. This church, designed by Belgian architects Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh, does just that by appearing to be completely see-through.

Layers of rusted steel ribs are stacked upon each other with spacers that create gaps between each piece. The result is a structure that is more translucent than it is opaque, allowing light, air and views to flow into one exterior wall and out the other.

The ephemeral church blends majestically into the surrounding Belgian hillside, especially when backlit by the rising or setting sun. It won’t protect you from rain, wind, floods or snow, but it will provide a serene setting to appreciate the things greater than yourself.

Stunning Solar Powered Offgrid Shipping Container Home

Jun 9, 2015

Anyone can buy a used shipping container for pretty cheap, but it takes a certain amount of creative vision and skill to make it into a place to call home. And yet, this 355-square-foot trio of containers built by Joseph Dupuis proves that not only can you use them to build a home, but a beautiful one at that. Joseph works at Algonquin College in Otttawa as a researcher on renewable energy and built this masterpiece as a sort of experiment. While he currently lives here, he has the home listed for sale at a remarkably low price of $58k, not including shipping.

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The cabin is fully insulated, heated by an in-floor radiant heating system (propane fired hotwater tank for heating purposes and domestic water), and a wood stove. The cabin is designed to be dismantled, moved and erected in a new location with limited resources and time.”

photos courtesy S7vn Photography

Organic Inspired Nautilus Seashell Home Is Something To Behold

Mar 19, 2015

Ever wonder what would happen if Arial of The Little Mermaid became an architect? Neither have I, but I imagine she might design a house that looks something like that. In reality, this wasn’t designed by a mermaid but rather by Javier Senosiain from Arquitectura Organica, a Mexican firm that specializes in unique creations like the one you see below.

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While it looks quite extraordinary from the outside, when you step inside the home you instantly notice the barrage of bright colors spilling through the custom stained glass window. It’s simply gorgeous. The whimsical layout was designed to bridge the gap between architecture and nature, hence the shell shape. Inside the home you’ll find lots of curved edges and plants sprouting between organically shaped seating areas. Every room in this home brings some magical aura with it. Overall, it represents one of the most unique homes we’ve ever seen. What do you think?

Two People Can Assemble This Sweet Solar Powered Prepacked Cabin

Jul 24, 2017

The “Ecokit” is a solar powered prefab cabin designed to arrive entirely packaged, and ready to build. It takes just two people a few weeks to assemble – although realistically, a few extra hands might speed up the process and save some back ache. The streamlined design is eco friendly thanks to the solar power and thermal-insulated panels and eco-friendly materials.

The price should come in around $100k, although this is only available in Australia. Ecokit is currently building out two prototype cabins and fundraising on Indiegogo to complete construction documentation and certifications needed to bring the kit to market. Curiously enough, donations in the $200 to $250 range can buy you a pet version of the Ecokit, available only as a perk through the campaign.

600sf Urban Micro Home Is Picture Perfect

May 11, 2017

Wind River Tiny Homes normally builds smaller tiny houses, but this time they made an exception – and what an exception it turned out to be! The design is extraordinary, perfect for a mountain vacation escape or a private urban hideout. The home is located in Chattanooga TN, and comes in at just about 600sf in size, though the layout makes it feel considerably larger.

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A Wartime Bunker Is A Good Place For A Home, Right? Right!

Jun 5, 2015

Netherlands based architecture firm B-ILD have transformed this decrepit, ancient war-time bunker into a cool, rustic-chic getaway. I’d be the first to keep my arm down in a show of hands of people who thought a dank old bomb shelter would make a good place to reside, but seeing this project might have just changed my mind. It’s an unorthodox adaptive re-use project that, at first glance, doesn’t have a lot going for it. Upon closer look, that’s exactly what the architect used to craft a majestic underground dwelling.

The ironic thing is that B-UILD’s additions are minimal and strategic, allowing the weathered board-formed concrete walls to define the aesthetic of the space. It’s a move that pays off in the end, turning the very thing that made the space desolate into what makes it shine. The bunker is small, occupying only 118 square feet of floor area. As a space saver, the sleeping area deploys barracks-style bunk beds; an appropriate nod to a common war-time building type.