Fireplace

Backstory The client inherited an unattractive “McMansion” with poor spatial layout. The house was designed to meet the tastes of the former generation. The site also featured a large pompous garden with extensive manicured lawns. The house was too big and expensive to maintain. The client wanted to restore the plot to a natural pine forest, and built a small home that fully engages with the surrounding landscape. An added bonus to the restored pine forest is that the client doesn’t need to mow any lawns! The new house and garden have been designed to meet contemporary tastes. Hence, this project represents both a generational shift and a change in design ideology / ecology. Marc Goodwin Concept The house consists of... More

Architect: Binder Architektur AG - Hans BinderHouse on Slope is one of a series of single-family houses built by the same architectural firm since 1995 and developed further and further on a former vineyard slope in a small rural community in the canton of Zurich. Originally planned as a wooden house, it was built in solid construction at the request of the owner. The youth and guest rooms are located in the basement with front play lawn and fireplace, in the attic is the parents' area. On the access floor is the shared living-dining room with open kitchen, centrally placed fireplace and west terrace. Special mention should be made of the spacious sports and wellness area under the double garage with a loggia in front. Caption Capti... More

A monolithic residence has been built for a young family in a village close to Vienna. On an exposed hillside plot the residential building is positioned as a solitaire. The sculptural object is surrounded by a generous garden designed by the owners gardening company. The spacious garden merges into the surrounding fields and the natural site. The idea was to generate a seem less perception of the building and the garden area. The garden is part of the living room. The main body of the building consists of two mutually shifted elements which follow the slope from north and south. By the horizontal displacement a high air space, forming the entrance and the central opening, is produced between the elements. The building consists of a baseme... More

Alta Chalet is designed as a year-round weekend retreat for a family of five, comprising 3,000 square feet of efficiently planned living space spread over two storeys. Located near the end of a cul-de-sac in a private ski club development, the chalet optimizes the scenic and recreational opportunities afforded by the Blue Mountains, a town in Grey County located two hours northwest of Toronto. Tucked between a protected ravine and the Niagara Escarpment, the site is characterized by an abundance of deciduous and coniferous trees which, in summer, offer welcome shade and privacy. Shai Gil Successfully integrating into its context, the project responds deferentially to the scale of the neighbouring houses while offering a distinct inter... More

Situated in the hills of Faqra, Kferdebian, adomed with ancient furniture style, this villa - Faqra Palace offers an indoor swimming pool, a large lounge with fireplace and a kitchen. More

The site proposes a collection of vernacular architectures : an old chapel, a cellar, steps forming a natural amphitheater, old orchards and terraced gardens. Besides its central position in the village, the place also offers many views on the wine-growing landscape. The whole presented many singular objects, archipelagos, in their natural context. These architectures already had qualities linked to their anchoring to the site, to their history, to their traditional conception, to their hyper materiality. However the link between the architectural elements and their environment existed only partially, the site had suffered of many transformations without consultation, making it lose its link to landscape. Working on memory, our proposal gi... More

The project was conceived as a study of different alternatives for a refuge residence that at the same time can be replicated in different situations, such as countryside, beach or even in the same urbanized centers. Hence the proposal to make a modular structure in which it is easy to assemble and standardized manufacture, seeking greater precision and generating less waste, this makes our proposal sustainable and less aggressive with the environment. The aim of the project was to propose the primitive shape of the house: open to the landscape. The play of lights and shadows enriches the transformative perception of the house, as volumetry we have a subtle square box that does not interfere with nature and can also integrate with the diff... More

Originally designed for Irwin Caplan, the illustrator who designed the poster for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and cartoonist renowned for his “Famous Last Words” comic strip in The Saturday Evening Post , this mid-century home was both humble and grand–a modest one-story street facade harboring floor-to-ceiling windows with territorial views. The new owners bought the home directly from Caplan’s estate in hopes of settling their growing family into the residence conveniently located near public transportation and the Burke Gilman bike trail. But in order to accommodate the family, the mid-century home needed updating, remodeling, and fortifying–Seattle-based SHED Architecture & Design was selected t... More

A mountain home for the soul. This could be definition of this house in Montecampione (BS) for Claudia Parzani, president of Allianz Italy, vice president of Borsa Italiana and Managing Partner West Europe Linklaters.   Claudia has never broken ties with places and people of her youth. In Montecampione she finds not only the familiar Lombard Prealps - she was born in Brescia - but, above all, the lifetime friends. So, an oasis of tranquility Away from the frenzy of an everyday life made up of journeys, meetings and public commitments.   The apartment, located in one of the condominiums perfectly integrated into the wooded spot, was a family home that needed a radical renovation. Although the structure and the or... More

The redesign of this Omaha, Nebraska home focused on seamlessly integrating artworks from the couple’s extensive collection. Devoted almost entirely to the work of artist Jun Kaneko, the collection includes several large-scale sculptural and two-dimensional works. Kaneko is known for his strong sensitivity to space and surrounding environments. Accordingly, this home’s design paid special attention to the relationship of the artworks both to the built environment, and to the newly integrated natural environment brought visually into the home.   Opening up the home to the surrounding landscaping was a prime directive for the remodel, as was the desire to concentrate common living spaces onto a single level. The new program... More

VOLA unveils the third of a series of short films focused on architecture and design, featured online https://en.vola.com/on-design/ Presented by the award-winning British designer, Ilse Crawford, the latest film explores how design can enhance and support our daily interactions, behaviours and attitudes, as well as the important role wellness and wellbeing plays in design. With her StudioIlse team, the former founding editor of Elle UK has designed spaces for the Soho House Group, Aesop, and designed sustainable furniture collections for IKEA. Design is often associated with just form. A vehicle for something aestheticallypleasing or purely functional and the interaction with the human aspect isconsidered the final step. Ilse Crawford cou... More

The mountain retreat is a small structure set within a high country station occupying 1300 hectares on the south facing shores of Lake Wakatipu, Central Otago. It is an alpine environment formed by heavily glaciated schist mountainscapes and vegetated below the snow line with beech forest. Early European occupation of the region began in 1840 with explorers seeking to extend pastoral activities established in the gentler environments to the north and east of the Southern Alps. Early European occupation as well as the discovery of the Central Otago Goldfields resulted in structures for shelter and utility made from the stackable weathered schist readily available around the rivers and glaciated mountain slopes. Patrick Reynolds This re... More

West Loop Loft ResidenceThis interior renovation unifies four existing lofts into one large open living space on three different levels. We located the kitchen/eating area in the center of the space to create a central social gathering and communal area. Fireplaces are used as focal points to mark both ends of the L-shaped living space. Built-in shelves and cabinetry separate interior rooms while simultaneously connecting spaces and storing the owners’ large book collection and travel treasures. The bedrooms, bathrooms, and offices are tucked upstairs under the building’s original wood ceiling. New, cantilevered metal grate floors with open rails increase the upper level live/work area and allow light to filter to the spaces bel... More

The clients had searched five years across four states to find a site for their weekend home that spoke to them. This retreat was to be everything that their Chicago residence - a lofted space nestled within the attic trusses of a converted church – was not. The loft is in the heart of the bustling Wicker Park neighborhood; they sought serenity and a slower pace. The loft features a highly curated collection of sleek European contemporary furnishings; they were inspired by the idea of a sanctuary with a modern sensibility but also rooted in its place with hand craftsmanship felt on scales big and small. The loft’s views of the downtown skyline are finely calibrated to maintain a sense of privacy in the dense neighborhood; they s... More