24 Cool Houses from Around the World

A cool house is one that stands out from the rest.  A suspended pool, a mirrored facade, tree house construction, or an unusual layout can all qualify as “cool house” status.

Cool Houses

Cool Houses Around The World

If a two-story home with a white picket fence isn’t right for you, enjoy our list of 24 super cool house features from around the world.


1. A Curved Concrete and Wood Home

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

Designed by Magaldi Studio, this home is part of the exclusive gated community of Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula. It has a modern design built out of concrete and wood. 

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

The building follows the curved shape of the site and features an expansive array of wood screen panels on the upper cantilevered sections. These panels let the breeze in and filter the light, offering a subtle connection to the outdoors.


2. A Home with a Mix of Mexican and Japanese Designs 

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

The idea behind this project was to combine cultural aspects and common materials from Japan and Mexico. The end result was this beautiful house located in Atlangatepec, Mexico, and designed by Fausto Terán. Teran built it using a combination of concrete and local pine wood.

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

It features the Japanese technique known as Shou-Sugi-Ban, used to give the wood a burnt look. The process makes the wood more resilient and offers it a beautiful dark color, helping the house blend into the landscape. 


3. A Large and Luxurious Geometric Home

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

The Boundary Bay Residence is a large and luxurious family home located in Delta, Canada. It was recently redesigned by Frits de Vries Architects.  The home was built in 1990 with a classic and balanced structure. The 2018 remodel aimed to respect the beautiful geometry while enhancing its street presence.  

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

The new entrance opens onto the street and features an eye-catching skylight. The home has a clean, airy, and breezy feel.


4. A Cool house in the Mountains

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

The backdrop of mountains sets the scene for this Cape Town home. Designed by Renato Graca, it has a clean and contemporary aesthetic with straight lines and simple geometry. 

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior
Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

It’s situated on a steep slope which posed a series of building challenges. The strategy was to partially build the house into the mountain. Large windows and full-height glazing reveal magnificent views of the Ocean, which turns this into a perfect summer retreat.


5. An Isolated Home in Portugal

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

Carlos Castanheira designed and built this pavilion home in Portugal. The owners need an isolated home to enjoy their love for music without restrictions.

 

Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

The design is simple and modest. It enjoys a close relationship with its surroundings and has a warm and inviting interior with natural wooden floors and ceilings.


6. Cool House with a Cantilevered Swimming Pool

Hemeroscopium House by Ensamble Studio with a cantilever swimming pool

The swimming pool is the focal point of this residence’s design. Unlike traditional swimming pools, this one is suspended on a platform and cantilevers over the garden. The house is located in Madrid, Spain, and was designed by Ensamble Studio in 2008.

Cantilevered swimming pool

By raising the pool, the architects freed up the ground. The design strategy also gives the residence a dramatic and eye-catching look. It took the architects a whole year to engineer the project, but thanks to a prefabricated design, the structure was built in only a week.


7. House with a Rooftop pool

Jellyfish House rooftop pool

This is the Jellyfish House, a beautiful home located on the coast of Spain in Marbella. It was designed by WAA (Wiel Arets Architects), and its most impressive feature is the rooftop swimming pool.

Jellyfish House pool on roof

The residence offers panoramic views of the ocean and the surroundings, which can be enjoyed from the top floor and pool. The glass pool floor allows the light to filter through the water, creating a beautiful play of light and shadow below.

Jellyfish House pool view

The house has a total of four floors connected by two staircases. One of the staircases is enclosed in glass and connects the outdoor area to the roof terrace. The second staircase links the ground floor to the roof.


8. A House of Swiveling Boxes

Turning boxes facade

Located in Tehran, Iran, this home, named Sharifi-ha House, was designed by Nextoffice – Alireza Taghaboni. It offers 1,400 square meters of living space organized on four levels. 

Turning boxes in diff positions

The top three levels are organized within a series of turning boxes that allow the spaces to become open or closed. The configuration changes with the seasons and household activities.

Turning boxes angle

This design strategy transformed the two-dimensional facade into a 3D one, giving it depth while including references to traditional Iranian houses. The residence has Zemestan-Neshin, which is a winter living room, as well as Taabestan-Neshin, a summer living room.


9. A Suspended Home with Giant Swings

Cantilver house with swing

Swings are fun for children and adults, so adding one to a home isn’t an unusual feature. Still, not many houses have swings like this. Designed by MVRDV and known as the Balancing Barn, this house is located in Suffolk, UK, and offers 210 square meters of living space.

Angle mirrored cantilever house

Meant to serve as a holiday home, the structure resembles a traditional barn. 

At first sight, the barn looks quite modest. It isn’t until the back of the building and the cantilever is revealed that the structure shows its character. The barn is a 30-meter-long building with a 15-meter cantilever over the slope. At the end, a swing hangs from the cantilever, filling the empty space beneath.


10. Super Cool Home with A Cliff-Like Roof

Cliff roof house

When faced with the challenge of working with this site in Granada, Spain, Gilbartolome Architects chose to use it to its full potential. As a result, Casa del Acantilado was embedded deep into the cliff.

Cliff roof house inside
Cliff roof house angle view

The residence overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and integrates into the landscape. The roof is the most eye-catching portion of its design, made of handmade zinc tiles that mimic the surroundings. The roof follows the shape of the cliff and molds to it, giving the house an abstract look.


11. A House that Hangs on a Cliff

Hanging on a cliff house

Perched above the ocean in Victoria, Australia, this house is suspended on a steep cliff. The house was designed in direct relation to the sea, with the goal to capture dramatic ocean views.

Hanging on a cliff Plan

The house was designed by Modscape. It’s a prefab home and the entrance is situated on the uppermost level, accessible via a carport. Because the main goal was to take advantage of the views, the house has three glass facades.

Hanging on a cliff sunken linving

The interior is minimal, with the views taking center stage. Light colors and simple forms keep the home open and bright, making it a holiday home unlike any other.


12. An Underground Home

Search and CMA villa vals underground

The concept of underground homes is not unheard of but is unusual. Located in Switzerland, and called Villa Vals, this home was designed and built by SeARCH and CMA into the slope. Only one of the facades is open to the exterior. It features an oval shape, and a series of step stones that lead up to the entrance.

Search and CMA villa vals underground wall

At the front of the house, there’s a sheltered deck perfect for enjoying time outdoors. The interior is welcoming and cozy, designed to look modest and with a transitional interior design style


13. A Home with a Transparent Swimming Pool

Cool blue villa from 123 dva - transparent swimming pool

Designed by 123DV in Marbella, Spain, in 2015, “The Cool Blue Villa” covers an area of 620 square meters. The home provides a connection to water with ocean views and a nearby stream.

Cool blue villa from 123 dva - transparent swimming pool picture

The most interesting element is the swimming pool which is transparent and square. Even though the design is minimalist, the pool looks luxurious. 


14. A House with an Indoor slide

Indoor slide stylish apartment

This apartment in Sharkov, Ukraine, has a large slide, earning it cool house status. It was a project by KI Design.

Indoor slide stylish apartment picture

The slide connects the main level and the loft space, providing a fun way to navigate between the two levels. A wooden staircase provides a more traditional connection. In addition to the slide, there’s also a beautiful green wall that adorns the apartment.

Indoor slide stylish apartment living

The interior design is simple, with geometric forms and clean lines. The wood and white color palette creates a calming look, similar to Scandinavian interior design.


15. Cool Tree House Homes

Stunning tree house

The Suite Blue is a modern tree house located in Arlena di Castro, Italy. It’s a part of La Plantata Hotel and was designed by La Cabane Perchee, a company that specializes in custom tree house designs all over the world.

The design company built the tree house in a workshop and assembled it on-site. Attention was given to small details such as the dimensions and form of the tree, the distribution of the branches, and the conditions on the site.

Living treehouse design

Here’s another tree house home at World of Living, an amusement park for the sustainable housing company WeberHaus. Designed by Baumraum, the house doesn’t require a tree for support. It resembles a cylindrical capsule perched atop thin legs that make it look like a giant spider.

Treehouse living Germany

While the shape and exterior make the house stand out, the interior is also well-designed. The walls are oak wood, and the vaulted ceiling creates an illusion of more space. 


16. A House with Transparent Tubular Construction

Tree house by almassov

Living in this tubular glass house is a bit like living in a terrarium. Designed by Aibek Almassov of A.Masov Architects, this awesome house plays off the tree house concept. 

Transparent tubular tree house

The house was envisioned as a giant cylindrical structure made of glass. It has a  glazed exterior, offering a 360-degree view of its surroundings. 

Tubular tree house
Tree house with a transparent design

The architect is confident in the possibility of actually building the house, believing that the most difficult part of the process would be finding the right investors. The home offers a peaceful alternative to city living.


17. A House with a Snake-Like Design

Snake-like design house

Designed by Luis and Tiago Rebelo de Andrade, the Tree Snake house was built in Bornes de Aguiar, Portugal, occupying an area of only 27 square meters. 

Snake-like design interior

The house resembles a giant snake gliding between trees and establishes a strong connection with the surroundings.

Snake-like design view
Snake-like design ground

The architects used a  lot of wood and native raw materials, allowing the house to integrate into its surroundings in an organic way. The project was a sustainable and Eco-friendly creation featuring reinforced insulation, reusable water, solar panels, and LED lighting.


18. A House with a Mirrored Exterior

Peter Pichler mirror house

Somewhere in the Tyrol region of Northern Italy, two vacation homes feature mirrored glass facades. They reflect the stunning views of the mountains, allowing both houses to blend in with nature.

Peter Pichler mirror house sky reflection

Peter Pichler designed the homes which are available for rent. They are clad in black aluminum.

Peter Pichler mirror house backyard

Each of the houses features separate balconies, gardens, and operable skylights in the bedrooms and bathrooms. The recessed foundations give the illusion of floating homes. 


19. A Terraced Home in Taiwan

Beautiful tea house terrace

The A’Tolas House located in Taiwan, overlooks the Pacific Ocean and has three terraced levels.

Terraced house
Tea house terrace

The steep site created the need for the terraced design. The top level contains the driveway, while the main living spaces are on the second floor, and the pool is found on the third floor. The name of the house comes from the language indigenous to the location and roughly translates as “the place with many rocks”.


20. A Cool Tea House Design

Tea house design from swatt miers architects

Swatt | Miers Architects built this set of three tea houses in 2009 in Silicon Valley, CA. They designed the homes to look like simple pavilions made of steel and glass. They anchored them with concrete and a minimal footprint to avoid disturbing the root system of the large oaks on the site.

Tea house Design ground and cliff

 One of the tea houses measures 270 square feet and is a place for meditation and contemplation. The sleeping tea house is a bit larger, measuring 372 square feet.

Tea house design from swatt miers architects night

The largest of all is the visioning tea house, measuring 492 square feet. All gatherings and social events take place at this structure. There are no TVs, audio systems, or phones in the three tea houses, encouraging human interaction and contemplation of nature and the surroundings.


21. A Set of Small Floating Houses

X float houses

Thailand is home to a wonderful house designed by Agaligo Studio. It’s a 110-square-meter home completed in 2015 and is one of the many floating houses found in the area. The house is called X-Float and represents an addition to the Project X2 River Kwai Resort.

Because the structure was added after the resort opened, the house was built off-site and towed to the location for installation. The architects were especially concerned with the balance of load, air, and water, wishing to offer guests an experience free of motion sickness.

X-Float villas - floating

They built the house with lightweight steel framing, fiber cement, and plywood cladding. After being installed, they replaced aquatic plants around the site.


22. Super Cool Container Homes

Grey container home with a small deck

The idea of repurposing shipping containers into houses is not new but increasingly popular. Containerlove is one such example. LHVH Architekten designed the house located in Eifel, Germany. It has a raw look, with jagged lines and pointed corners, the style being a combination of industrial, rustic, and modern.

Beautiful contaner home made from containers

While container structures are usually only temporary homes, that’s not the case here. 


23. A Water Tower House

Water tower turned into a house

The Lymm Water House is located in North-West England and serves as a contemporary home. It was a 130-year-old grade II listed water tower that  Elis Williams Architects transformed into a home.

Lymm water tower house

They built a  double-height glass extension to maximize interior space. The contrast between the newly-added extension and the original tower is dramatic, giving it a super cool house look. 


24. A Church Conversion Home

Church Conversion into a house in London

If you think living in a former church is unusual, have a look at this exquisite home in London, England.

Church Conversion into a house in London Living
Church Conversion into a house in London inetrior

The designers transformed it from a church to a home. They preserved some of the original design and architectural elements as a testimony of the building’s past.