A new covered seating area was created on the existing redwood deck, with hanging basket lamps inspired by decorations Sharp created for the couple's wedding.
At Cuadra San Cristóbal, the water feature serves three purposes: as a drinking fountain for horses, as a reflection pond, and as a swimming pool for horses.
Ryan McLaughlin watches the sunset from the deck of the 160-square-foot tiny home he built, with no prior experience, at his parents’ horse ranch in Georgetown, Texas. Soon, the trailer-mounted cabin will be moved to a vineyard, where it will operate grid-free and be available to rent for short stays.
In Texas, where everything is bigger, Ryan McLaughlin is placing his bets on something small. Specifically, a simple 160-square-foot cabin that he hopes city-dwellers will book to get away, find some focus, and reconnect with nature. The result is a laidback, pitched-roof cabin in which every inch of space is thoughtfully allotted so that guests can spend the maximum amount of time outdoors.
The structures are sprawling yet largely imperceptible. Like its counterparts, Villa 2—containing guest bedrooms, a spa, and a network of outdoor havens—extends into the hillside, cloaked in energy-saving green roofs. The new landscaping cuts water usage on the property by 70 percent compared to previous levels.
City Cabin | Olson Kundig
High Desert House is composed of 26 freestanding, concrete columns that look like rib bones.
Built with a steel frame, the Frost House features panels of styrofoam between aluminum sheets for the exterior walls and styrofoam between plywood for the roof and floors. Bold, primary colors accentuate its geometric form.
Shortly after Karen Valentine and Bob Coscarelli purchased the home in 2016, they began to unearth nuggets of information about its pedigree. Their realtor had provided a brochure that identified the prefab as designed by architect Emil Tessin for the now-defunct Alside Homes Corporation based out of Akron, Ohio, which had held a patent for the structure’s aluminum paneling. Their new neighbors provided a stack of Alside Homes sales materials, floor plans of various models, and even a script that had been written for salespeople during home tours. They determined that the Frost House had been a sales model for the company, and that Tessin had been the son of Emil Albert Tessin, the legal guardian of Florence Knoll.
Because the architects wanted to showcase the view of one of the more majestic oaks on the property, they placed a lap pool below the tree so the mirror-like surface of the water would gracefully reflect its image.
In 2018, this property was gently refreshed with a new "free-spirited" bathroom, with a sizable double vanity. Two circular mirrors catch the eye, standing out among the tall, rectangular windows behind.
The bathroom continues the black perforated theme, and features an asymmetric pitched roof.
A private garden is accessible by a glass panel.
In an effort to keep costs within budget without sacrificing looks, the fully gutted and renovated kitchen features IKEA cabinetry framework with shaker-style fronts by Semihandmade. The cabinets were painted Farrow & Ball Pigeon.
"For example, if you are building an entry vestibule with a turn, you may want to plan your renovation so that large furniture is brought in before the vestibule is built out,” she says. “Otherwise, you may not get it around the turn.”
The cross-axis bridge is faced with full-height glazing to overlook views of the pond.
Antwerp Apartment by Anouk Taeymans is a Best Renovation nominee.
Bryan Cranston and his wife, Robin Dearden, relax on a Lagune sofa by Roche Bobois. The couple’s home occupies a beachfront site that they’ve owned for several years. The original structure, affectionately dubbed the “love shack” was born as 1940s-era military housing that in subsequent decades became an uneven hodgepodge that defied local permits and was slowly sinking into the sand.
The house was built on piers (save for the lower-level bedroom) so that little of the natural landscape would be disturbed.
Emilio Fuscaldo sits in the garden outside the brick house that he designed for himself and his partner, Anna Krien, on a small subdivided lot in Coburg, a suburb north of Melbourne, Australia. Photo by Nic Granleese.
The former church and school are now part of a four-building complex. An infill building was constructed to connect the school and church. One of the project’s main focuses was to maintain its original architecture, such as preserving its original facade, archways, brick details, and windows.
Designed by José Guedes Cruz, César Marques, and Marco Marinho of the Portugal-based firm Guedes Cruz Architects, The Wall House is laid out in an open-box plan, and is fitted with plenty of glass windows to enhance the synergy between its interior and exterior spaces.
Formerly the site of a French polishing company in the 20th century, this building in Clerkenwell, London, was converted by Chris Dyson Architects in 2015 into a residence with an expanded basement and triple-height living space that allows a dramatic feature staircase to take center stage.
Cabin at Longbranch | Olson Kundig
Architect Erick Mikiten helped Melanie and David Maher build a house in Livermore, California.
Olson Kundig Architects' Delta Shelter, in Mazama, Washington, is a 1,000 square-foot steel box home with a 200 square-foot footprint. Photo by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects/TASCHEN.
In the Norton family home in London’s Stoke Newington district, Jamie Norton and his sons, Miller, 3, and Ned, 7, enjoy a meal at a salvaged table and chairs found at a local vintage shop. The ceramics are by Richard Batterham.
A series of long stairs leads to Maison Amtrak, which is set below street level. The entranceway demonstrates Cohen’s love of Japanese design with a geometric simplicity matched only by the formal elegance of the stained Douglas fir two-by-fours.
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