The Perched House Extension exists behind an existing residence on a narrow plot of land in Melbourne, Australia. Designed by Rara Architecture, the contemporary addition makes the most of a modest floor plan with formal efficiency, elegant detailing, and a distinct attention to natural light. It is a two-story renovation that does few things wrong, and is a tidy architectural package wrapped in an eco-friendly sense of sustainability and energy consumption. Continue reading →

Between Two White Walls exists a thoughtfully enclosed, formally pure, and existentially self-aware work of residential architecture. It’s a home as introverted as it is grandiose – a sculptural wonder designed by Portuguese architect Corpo Atelier. The home is protected on two sides against exposition to future neighbors, and in between celebrates both sight and experience, leaving the ever-flowing volumes of interconnected space to do all the talking. Continue reading →

The Gemma Observatory is a bit of an enigma. It is a private astronomical observatory, perched high atop a remote mountain peak in New Hampshire, and presents itself as a twisting, folding, serpentine structure wrapped in decorative steel panels, designed to not only champion our place in the universe, but to marvel in what’s possible in architectural expression. Gemma was designed by Anmahian Winton Architects and bucks tradition in favor of something entirely unique that brings together earth and sky in a way few man-made structures are able to achieve. Continue reading →

Grape growing and winemaking are characterized by an intimate knowledge of the earth, the environment, and how to get the most out of the relationship between vineyard and land. The Quintessa Pavilions, the new tasting house and visitor’s center for Napa Valley’s Quintessa Estate Winery, embodies this concept in a design that is never far removed from the stunning, picturesque environment in which it resides. It was designed by San Francisco architecture firm Walker Warner Architects, and is an example of building design that choses the relationship to its site over the exploitation of high design. Continue reading →

In what was initially planned as a storage shed deep in the forest near Montreal, CA, the La Colombiere was transformed into a modern mountain refuge that was designed to maintain the existing footprint of the shed while providing views, lodging, and usable space for the owners. The home was designed by YH2 and represents a bizarre, but intriguing metamorphosis of an existing structure into something that promotes views, respects the landscape, and zigzags visitors through a visual maze of wood, plaster, and blackened steel. Continue reading →

There’s self-contained, factory-built, fully packed, shipped, and delivered home modules, and then there’s KODA – a tiny prefab cabin, designed by Kodasema, poised to take the home delivery service industry by storm. The project has been quickly gaining steam among architects, builders, and home buyers as one of the most forward-thinking housing module available, and comes with one of the most unconventional construction materials for a structure of its kind. Concrete. Continue reading →

At the center of this luxury home addition in a suburb of Sydney, AU, sits an old gum tree, representing perhaps the last bit of formal nostalgia on a site that is now occupied by a squeaky clean contemporary villa. The revision was helmed by b.e architecture, and uses this tree as a visual anchor to the past while taking the rest of the home screaming into the future of architectural design. Continue reading →

The SPE House is a project about landscape, and about re-establishing the direct connection between an existing French villa and the beauty that surrounds it. Designed by Ellena Mehl Architects, the home features a linear glass addition that reaches from the stone and Terracotta facade of the existing structure to open new lines to gardens, courtyards, and the serene natural splendor of the French countryside. It is a focused work of architectural surgery, cutting only where necessary to reinforce everything great about the original work. Continue reading →

The Avocado Acres House by Lloyd Russell Architects is a modern homage to the case study houses of the 50s and 60s that put Los Angeles on the architectural map. It is defined by a long rectangular interior and a single shed roof, made visually interesting by a large u-shaped void strategically removed from this primary form. The home is programmatically simple, and relies on a richness of light, space, and materiality to produce a worthy contemporary take on the early modern classics. Continue reading →

Worship spaces represent a very sacred genre of architecture. The designer is tasked with not only creating an aesthetically and acoustically beautiful object, but there must be something about the resulting spaces that is somehow elevated above human cognition. This is no easy task, but one handled with an expert sense of solemn isolation in the Waterside Buddhist Shrine. ARCHSTUDIO designed the structure to exemplify the tenets of Buddhist worship, focusing primarily on the unspoken connection between man and nature. Continue reading →