Eyelid House by Fiona Winzar Architects
In Melbourne, Australia, Fiona Winzar Architects recently designed and built the Eyelid house for a family of five. Situated on a tight urban lot, the architects were faced with providing sufficient living space while maintaining a bright, open atmosphere. The inherent paradox of providing a light filled interior while maintaining privacy led to the “eyelid” concept. The eyelid is an angular roof overhang at the rear of the house that blocks the interior from the neighbors’ sight, but still allows light to enter the home. Another important aspect of the project was sustainability, which led to the incorporation of a rain water collection system, solar hot water, and locally sourced materials. The home’s interior is a combination of modern materials and architecture alongside middle eastern and Turkish elements from the owners’ collection.
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Modern Home by Giovanni Vaccarini Architetto
The architects of the Giovanni Vaccarini firm completed their C+V Home in 2005. Situated in the Conurbazione of the Adriatic coast, between Ascoli and Pescara, the property is adjacent to a hill – an area that was comdemned as not suitable to place a home. Their idea was such: “Instead of being oriented towards the city, looking outward from the hill; the house is completely turned towards the hill — the hill that acts as a rising ‘green sea’ on which the house shows itself.”
The planning of the house can be defined across three levels. The lowest level is underground. An inner patio acts as the central element around which the spaces are organized; creating an interaction between the buried spaces, roof-garden area, and the suspended volume of the upper level (the ground level). The ground floor is the part of the building that holds all levels together. Acting as the border between the uncovered-roof-garden and the covered-day-area, metal (vetrata wall) and glulam surfaces wrap around the spaces; connecting the ground level with the upper one. The first floor consists of various rooms and private spaces typical of a house.
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Edge House by Mobius Architects
The Edge House, designed by Poland-based Mobius Architects, occupies an excavated niche on a limestone hillside in Cracow. Construction on the home recently commenced, and these conceptual renderings illustrate its unorthodox site conditions. Aside from its site, the Edge House’s most striking feature is a front elevation dominated by a steep, shingled roof, pierced by windows and a large terrace jutting over the site of a former quarry. The roof was necessitated by local building codes, which don’t allow for roofs with less than 30 degree slopes. Mobius Architects embraced the boundaries of the project and created a design which employs traditional architectural language, but is distinctly modern. Construction is expected to be completed at the end of the year.
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Hotel Madlein In Ischgl, Austria
The Hotel Madlein in Ischgl, Austria offers year-round luxury accommodations for travelers. Located in the Tyrolean Alps, the resort is only steps away from the famed Silvretta Ski Area. If plans don’t include winter sports, the Madlein offers expansive pools and holistic spa treatments. Also located within the hotel, the Pacha Ischgl Nightclub is a popular local destination. The owners commissioned the design of the hotel with hopes of setting a new design standard, “one that is purist, basic, almost monastic in style.” The hotel exudes a minimalist aesthetic and features a limited palette of stone, wood, and glass. Their approach allows the Madlein to differentiate itself from nearby resorts and has created a popular mountain destination.
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Kalkin House by Adam Kalkin
Originally designed as an exhibition space for the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, Adam Kalkin’s Kalkin House has become an exercise in reinterpreting industrial materials in a residential context. The home’s exterior shell is a steel shed, originally intended as a storage structure. Large glass garage doors flank the home’s sides, allowing the central living space the ability to open to the outdoors. Standard shipping containers reside at either end of the shed, housing bedrooms and bathrooms. The roof of the shed extends above an outdoor patio and sail fabric is hung around the edges, creating a lantern-like effect at night. Kalkin has been recognized for his work with industrial architectural elements in the past, including his Push Button House 1. The Kalkin house is a thoroughly developed project, further proving that Kalkin is on the forefront of repurposing materials in architectural design.
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W Hotel New York by BBG-BBGM
New York’s popular, design-savvy Hotel W recently added a number of new guest suites sure to please even the most critical of guests. Designed by BBG-BBGM, the suites were conceived as “an urban oasis…a respite from the chaos of the city.” A range of different layouts offer guests amenities such as soaring double height ceilings, lofted sleeping areas, and even spacious outdoor terraces. Interior spaces focus on luxurious materials complemented by a palette of soft natural colors and carefully selected accent lighting. All suites are outfitted with custom furniture pieces and specially commissioned artwork. Hotel W differentiates itself by investing time and effort to ensure that each space is coherently and individually designed, allowing guests a totally unique experience.
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Frank Lloyd Wright Lego Collection
Originally introduced in 2008, the LEGO Architecture series has been expanded with two new sets- Frank Lloyd Wright’s renowned Falling Water and Simon R. Guggenheim Museum. The latest releases are a collaboration between Adam Reed Tucker, The LEGO Group, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Both kits include booklets containing traditional building instructions and exclusive images of the architectural icons. Wright’s designs supplement kits for the Sears Tower, John Hancock Center, Empire State Building, and Seattle Space Needle in LEGO’s Architecture Series. The series elevates LEGO from mere toy status, serving instead as educational tools and treasured collectibles.
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Chapel Home by Zecc Architects
The owners of this century old chapel in Utrecht, Netherlands chose to forego new construction in the interest of preserving an historic landmark. A former monastery built to accommodate an order of Catholic monks, the building proved challenging to redesign as a modern living space. The owners selected Zecc Architects, who commissioned Marnix van der Meer to lead the project. The architect chose to leave the primary living space as open as possible, adding a lofted living space that houses the kitchen below. His biggest challenge was effectively lighting the voluminous structure. Skylights line the vaulted ceiling and supplement the original leaded stained glass windows to provide ample daylight. The owners also chose “the whitest white we could find” in order to amplify the effect of the stained glass. Dark, luxurious bedrooms and bathrooms counter the bright living areas.
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Joseph Echiler Homes
Joseph Eichler founded and managed Eichler homes from 1949 to 1966, a span during which nearly 11,000 modernist homes were constructed throughout California. The bulk of the homes were built in the San Francisco area, where they remain treasured mid century icons of modern design. Eichler was the only large-scale builder in America to produce architect-designed modern homes on a large scale. He endeavored to bring good design to the middle class, who typically had to choose from an array of generic, tract houses. Eichler homes employed several different architects and incorporated open plans, extensive use of glass, and natural ventilation. In recent years, in an effort to preserve the remaining Eichler homes, subdivisions have been placed on the National Historic Register, the Nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation.
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Modern Home in Austin, Texas by Cottam Hargrave
Cottam Hargrave designed this modern home located in the scenic hills of Austin, Texas. Its heavy stone and concrete base anchor the home to its hillside site, creating an immediate sense of permanency. The upper portion employs a lighter steel-framed structure, with tall, light-filled volumes composing the primary living spaces. Hargrave aimed to instill a sense of craftsmanship and endurance into the home, choosing to focus on construction detail and forego incorporation of technological components. The most visually striking element of the home is definitely the pool, which is formed from concrete and cantilevers from the front of the house. The water spills over its edge and into a trough, creating a dizzying view for its users.
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