Polyhedra House | Palisades | New Jersey | Axis Mundi Design

Palisades, New Jersey | A crystalline polyhedron shaped residence is cantilevered over the edge of a 200 million year old cliff in New Jersey.

Site
The Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City to near Nyack, New York. They rise nearly vertically from near the edge of the river and are among the most dramatic geologic features in the vicinity of New York City, forming a canyon of the Hudson River north of Fort Lee, as well as providing a vista of the New York City skyline.......more

Nomadic Dwelling | The Flake House | Olgga Architectes

The flake house, a nomadic, road-gauged dwelling, has been conceived to clad the places wherever it lands, as to transpose theses in an unusual vision. A poetical shelter, a “folie”, that merges low-tech and hi-tech. The interior finish is smooth and stripped down as to contrast with the traditional look of the external log cladding.
Created in 2006 for the competition “Petites machines à habiter” held by the CAUE 72, OLGGA’ proposal for this nomadic wooden shelter is based on the concept of the «folie», where the wooden structure is broken in two halves establishing a radical spatial boundary while materializing an unexpected entry sequence.
An object, recalling a broken branch, whose unconventional scale is the main idea of the project: to be built-up, taken down, moved,put down, left behind or taken along, inhabited or left to it’s surrounding.
The Flake house will be located on the site of Frossay (Le Carnet).
I.C.I.! (Instant Carnet Island) is a temporary refuge of micro-architectures and light habitat meeting based on the bank of the Loire and open to anybody. .......more

Lichtstrasse | A Single Family House | Basel Switzerland | HHF Architects

On the parcel with four existing houses from the early 20th century, three houses are being renovated while one is being replaced by a new building. The old and new buildings will be connected by a new stairwell and elevator on the back side. This project emphasises the qualities of the living and industrial area St. Johann in Basel: the close coexistence of old and new buildings. For this reason only one of the four existing houses on this parcel will be replaced by a new one, while the others will be renovated and profit from the new built infrastructure. A new staircase and elevator in the courtyard will also make the old houses directly accessible: the old staircases can be demolished and the gained area added to the respective apartments. These measures allow raise the desirability of the old houses and the ability to keep and lease the existing houses in the future.......more

Camerata Music Studio | North Korean Border | Byoung Soo Cho Architects

Thia music space is placed on a sloping hill in Heyrl Art Village, an experimental development an hour North Of Seoul near the North Korean Border.
Heyrl Art Village character  is based on flow of the landscape and communication with natural environment.

The project contains two distinctively different programs. One is a small residence for a family and the second one is the music listening space........more

The Modular House | Design Initiatives

The Modular House overcomes the main disadvantage of prefab typology, its rigidness by amplifying sustainability and adaptability to various sites and needs – homebuilders can mix and match from the matrix with off-the-shelf components, floor layouts, floors positions, and skin/window patterns. Within the standardization of prefab construction we found a way to preserve a level of flexibility. It is a free-standing, prefab dwelling unit for compact footprint of 400sf situated in an urban site anywhere in the world and Los Angeles, California in particular.....more

Relocation Of Secondary Residence And Shop | Kanagawa | Japan | Atelier Tekuto

Although Atelier Tekuto’s «Relocation» project has been underway since 2007, Yachiyo is the first «Re-location» building completed in Japan. The building is situated 100 meters from the ocean in Hayama, Kanagawa prefecture. This is used as a secondary residence and temporary shop.
To make 100 year old materials last for another 100 years. To fuse old and new material, juxtaposing the regional and cultural differences in a parallel arrangement. We treat sunlight as a material. A material that can be captured only for an instant. It has the ability to fuse the juxtaposing elements or emphasize their differences. It exists both within and outside the human concept of time. Sunlight turns the interior space inside out. It highlights the dramatic structure as it permeates the building, accentuating the marriage between traditional and contemporary values. At night, custom handmade light fixtures let Yachiyo float into sight like a constellation fireflies.....more

Diamond Head Mountain House | Tucson | Rob Paulus Architect

This house for an astronomer in the Tucson Mountains takes full advantage of its sloping site to create a dramatic living arrangement in a harsh yet beautiful environment. Working with a minimal footprint, the stacked scheme utilizes strategic view openings as well as a vertical progression of spaces to proceed from enclosed and earthbound to lofty and skyward. An observatory on top of the hill with remote viewing inside the house completes the scheme. Passive solar orientation creates large openings to north views with shaded glazing at south vistas that include Kitt Peak and the Tucson Mountains. Operable shade panels made from saguaro ribs control morning sunlight at the lower and upper floor east bedrooms while a small western aperture frames the colorful sunsets prominent in the Southwest. Efficiency in mechanical, enclosure and glazing systems further insure the comfort and livability of the residence. Two exterior patios take on unique individual characters: the south floats high above the desert landscape while the north places inhabitants directly on the desert floor to look up at nearby Diamond Head Mountain. Simple geometries and rusted corrugated metal are contrasted with the varied color and texture of the Sonoran Desert. Currently under construction, the house is set to be complete in the fall of 2010......more

Architecture Triennale of Lisbon | House in Luanda | Angola | Ricardo Carvalho Joana Vilhena + Architects

The house is where myth and needs are. The act of building the house not only defines the interior space also founded what is out there. Dwelling implies the division of a space, a material or physical boundary, creating a duality between interior and exterior. The house draws the street, while fit and sustains daily life. In Luanda life unfolds in equal measure on the outside and inside, and the proposed power this reality. The house that we propose takes advantage of the street and life abroad, in its multiplicity of trade activities, work, crossings and meetings.

The present proposal draws on elements of timeless architecture. Enclosure, Patio, Stairs, Pavilion and Terrace. The venue is the lot provided that the proposal allows the association of both houses to take advantage of these interstitial spaces of permeable soil. The repetition of a universe can generate lots of private spaces, semi-private and public, generating complexity and surprise.

The courtyard is the cylindrical element of the proposed foundation. The pavilions, which we believe the domestic spaces, communicating with the courtyard surrounding it. The house consists of spaces whose function it is not set in advance. The flexibility and realism of the proposal stems from the failure to specify the destination of the spaces. Residents can take ownership of the house in an unexpected way, divide space or change the use of these.

The external staircase for access to the terrace doubles and is the front street. The repetition of this element creates an urban identity. The terraces are the notion of semi-private place where all activities can occur. Life could occur on the terraces at its most public and behind the wall inside the world of private life unfolds around a circular courtyard.....more

Single Family House | 18.36.54 Connecticut, USA | Studio Daniel Libeskind

The living space of this Connecticut residence is formed by a spiraling ribbon of 18 planes, defined by 36 points connected by 54 lines. This pure and dynamic architectural form generates distinctive interior spaces while dramatically framing both near and distant landscape scenes. Large glass planes virtually disappear within the ribbon, allowing unimpeded picturesque views of 18th century hay meadows and giant oaks. Circulation through kitchen, living, dining, and sleeping areas is seamless and free-flowing, as is the distinction between interior and exterior space. Challenging both traditional and modern notions of “the house in the landscape,” this design gives nothing of itself up to its natural setting, but selectively incorporates the elements therein for the enhancement of both house and landscape.Pictures of that single family house here

Commission: January 2007
Completion: 2010
Technical Details:
Single-Family House
Building Area:2,000 sq.ft.
Structure:Steel
Credits:Structural Engineer:Hage Engineering, PC
Mechanical Engineer:P.A Collins, P.E
Civil Engineer: CCA Engineering, LLC
Lighting Designers:ARUP Lighting
Windows:Steel Windows & Doors USA
Building Science Consultant:Simpson Gumphertz & Heger
Contractor: CN Renovation Co., Inc
Facade Contractor:A. Zahner Company

Lakeside House | Sun Slice House,Lake Garda, Italy | Steven Holl Architects

This weekend house on Lake Garda for an Italian lighting company owner and his family is organized to frame slices of sunlight. While the owner's profession revolves around artificial light, slices of natural light and their change in space throughout the day and year is the focus of the house. While most elevations are simple rectangles strategically sliced and cut for the play of light within, the north façade is made of glass with views of Lake Garda. In order to emphasize the bends and changes in the strips of sunlight, simple cubic volumes form the basic building geometry. These are loosely joined in topological sheet rubber-like geometry, which also inscribes wind-protected courts on both sides of the house. Changes of season and weather allow different courtyard opportunities.
The steel frame and concrete structure is skinned with an alloy of copper, steel, chromium, and nickel, which weathers to a leathery red color. Interiors are white plaster with terrazzo floors on the ground level while bamboo floors cover the second. Natural ventilation and geothermal heating and cooling are part of the energy plan....More at Neocribs

Gon Zifroni (Metahaven) | Void House | Brussels, Belgium

Void House, 2008–2009
Architecture: Gon Zifroni (Metahaven) assisted by POM-Archi for the construction
Photography: Filip Dujardin
Address: Sint-Jobsesteenweg 400, 1180 Brussels
The program and plan are structured by floors for the agency of spaces and voids outside and inside the house.
The house seen from the street. The architectural envelop as a limit between the public and the private is put to test and reprogrammed. The house is designed from the standpoint of the commissioned program—a private house for two—but also from that of the common non-program—public space.
The main working-living area on the first floor. Placed on concrete slabs, the wooden structure is made entirely of fir from the Black Forest. The walls and floors are lined with bamboo.
Second floor view including the coated steel stairways and windows starting at eye-level up to the highest roof line.
A slightly tilted, seven-meter roof opening allows daylight to reach all parts of the house.
The ground floor can be closed with pivoting wooden fences, yet keeping a permanent 5 meter deep public space under the built volume.
More at Abitare

Jennifer Aniston's House | Beverly Hills, California | Stephen Shadley

On a hillside overlooking Beverly Hills is a house that “vibrates with the love that created it,” says its owner, actress Jennifer Aniston.

“I want to say this just right,” she muses. “I am so proud of this house. And I want to celebrate the people who made it: the master craftsmen who poured so much of themselves into its creation.” Not the least of these is designer Stephen Shadley, who worked with her on the project for nearly two and a half years. “I’ll be lucky if I ever do anything with this kind of team and freedom again,” raves the designer. “It was a project without a problem.”

The designer has collaborated with Diane Keaton on two of her residences in Southern California (see Architectural Digest, November 2008 and April 2005) and one in Arizona (see Architectural Digest, April 1998) and with Woody Allen on the interiors of his apartment in New York City (see Architectural Digest, November 2008). He and Aniston had come close to working together on two other residences.

“I’d heard about this place, and when I saw it, I loved it. I knew it was my metier,” he explains. The house, which was designed by architect Harold W. Levitt in 1970, was under renovation at the time and was, Shadley recalls, “in rough shape. We essentially tore the house apart and rebuilt it.”

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Ao-Di Next Gene 20 Villa | Graft Architects

More images here

Project: Ao-Di Next Gene 20 Villa
Type: Single family house
Client: Ao-Di Grand Land Architecture International Project
Location: Ao-Di, Taiwan

Design Architect: Graft Architects
Principals: Gregor Hoheisel, Lars Krückeberg, Alejandra Lillo, Wolfram Putz, Thomas Willemeit
Project Manager: Ing-Tse Chen
Project Team: Francesco Cairoli, Ning Duo, Mei Li, Qingxia Qin, Jing Ruan, Eric Spencer, Dayong Sun, Fei Tang, Tina Troester, Lin Wang

Local Architect in Taiwan: Guu Architects:
Principal: Chueh-Chih Guu
Partner: Shih-Kang Chu

Structural Engineer: Hsin-Cheng Engineering Consultants Ltd
General Manager: Kian-Chou Huang

Mechanical Engineer: Han-Chueh Mechanical Engineers: Chi-Jong Chang

+ All images courtesy Graft Architects

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Contemporary Design-The Hemeroscopium House | Ensamble Studio

Type: Private ResidenceLocation: Las Rozas, Madrid, Spain
Size: 400 m2 (4,300 sf)
Date of Project: December 2005
Date of Completion: June 2008
Author of the Project: Ensamble Studio. Antón García- Abril

More images here

Capital Hill Residence by Zaha Hadid Architects

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Project architect: Helmut Kinzler

Project designer: Daniel Fiser

Project team:
Anat Stern
Daniel Santos
Thomas Sonder

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House in Kohoku Yokohama, Japan By Torafu Architects

Shaped like a cluster of barnacles, the House in Kohoku doesn’t exactly blend in with its neighbors. Located in a hilly suburb of Yokohama, it has neither the conventional pitched roof nor the standard-issue wood frame. But contained within its reinforced concrete shell is a barrier-free home for a nautical architect and his wife who were ready to chart a new course.
Visit here for images.

Guest House - Karuizawa Counterpoint | Nagano, Japan | Poda

Who: Hideki Tamura
What: Weekend residence
Where: Kitasaku-gun, Nagano Prefecture
When: September 2008
How: Two-story reinforced concrete construction
Site Area: 27,803 square feet
Construction Area: 2,849 square feet
Total Floor Area: 3,334 square feet

seen at what we do is secret

PODA website

Old Siberian Houses | english russia

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House N | Sou Fujimoto Architects | Oita, Japan

More pictures here

Architects: Sou Fujimoto Architects
Location: Oita, Japan
Project Team: Yumiko Nogiri
Structural Consultant: Jun Sato Structural Engineers
Design Year: 2006-2007
Construction Year: 2007-2008
Site Area: 236,57 sqm
Constructed Area: 150,57 sqm
Photographer: Iwan Baan
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The Red House |Belgium | Luc Deleu | filip dujardin

The architect of this house,Luc Deleu (T.O.P. office),is more known for his art-projects and his manifesto's than his actual architectural work. With this 'red house' he proves that his ideas are not solemnly utopian. Quite on the contrary.
Photographs: filip dujardin