Modern Houses That Tame Nature In Extraordinary Ways
Architects and interior designers are constantly coming up with new and ingenious ideas which they apply in their projects so it’s every once in a while we like to take some time to catch up and see what other cool houses we can find out there. Today in one of those times. Check out our latest selection of awesome, extraordinary houses and be amazed by their unique designs.
The Capital Hill Residence is cool and amazing not just because of its exceptionally odd design but also throughout the fact that it was Zaha Hadid’s only private home project. The house is located outside Moscow on a plot filled with tall pine and birch trees, they being one of the reasons why the house has such an unusual structure: the elevated top floor is surrounded by windows which offer expansive, panoramic views over the forest.
This is a house located on Jeju, South Korea’s largest island. It was designed by architect Moon Hoon and it looks like a series of concrete boxes stacked on top of each other, cantilevered and supported by reinforced concrete beams. This unusual structure gives the house the appearance of a large, modern sculpture.
Speaking of cool houses that look like abstract sculptures, check out the Qiyun Mountain Tree House from Xiuning County in China. The house was designed by Bengo Studio and is surrounded by tall cedar trees and scenic views. In order to make the most of the location and the views, the architects designed the house with a series of box-like volumes that have different orientations.
Located in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, the Binh House designed by VTN Architects is a multi-generation home composed of several vertically stacked volumes with small gardens on top of them. It’s a beautiful and ingenious way of welcoming nature back into the city and improving the microclimate.
In the case of this country house from Puhoi, New Zealand it’s not the overall shape or architecture of the building that stands out. The detail that makes this cabin cool and unusual is the fact that it fully opens on two sides and thus gives the living room the feel of an outdoor space. It’s a great way of being close to nature and of bringing the outdoors in. This was a project completed by LTD Architectural Design Studio.
While most houses are built above the ground, every once in a while the conditions are just right for building an underground structure. The Shelton Marshall Residence from Kansas City is actually a hybrid between two types of structures. One side of the house is below the ground while the other is hovering above it. This unusual design gives the house a lot of character. This cool design was created by studio El Dorado.
Water features and gardens are generally pretty cool features for any home and sometimes they’re the stars of the entire design. One example is the project completed by Guz Architects. It’s a house located in Singapore which has an L-shaped layout. Nothing unusual so far….but wait till you see this awesome courtyard. It has this really cool circular island at the middle of a pond and on that island is a gorgeous tree.
Waterfront properties are definitely pretty awesome regardless of their size or style. Some stand out and are extra cool, like this house from Miami designed by SAOTA. The building sits on a pie-shaped lot which is quite unusual. This would be an inconvenience if not for the perfect position of the site on the southern tip of the island. This gives ample views of the surroundings. The architects took advantage of that to give this house a super cool design, one which evokes the experience of being on the deck of a huge yacht.
A lot of houses are attempting to blend into the landscape and those that are successful are pretty cool. One example is this house from St Helena Bay in South Africa which was built by SAOTA in 2010. Its design was shaped by the landscape and the topography of the site on which it stands. The main goals were to maximize the views of the bay and to seamlessly be connected to the water’d edge. This was achieved with a large set of glazed sliding doors.
Finding the perfect site for the perfect home is not an easy task, especially when you want awesome, panoramic views. Even when you do find a site able to offer that you still often have to deal with extremely rough and uneven terrain. But that’s what makes houses like the house built by Kidosaki Architects Studio in Nagano, Japan cool and special. Located on a sloping mountain ridge, the house offers spectacular views and in order to do that it has to be supported by columns. Half of the building seems to be floating in mid air.