The house is about 3,000 square feet with six bedrooms, four of them on the second floor, surrounding a stairway to the large open space below where cooking, dining, game-playing, and movie-watching take place.
November 2016, Vol. 16 Issue 10
Perched above a lake on Australia’s verdant Mornington Peninsula, James and Imogen Tutton’s teak-clad house was designed by Karen Alcock of Melbourne-based MA Architects.
Green and Live House is a minimal home located in Nara, Japan, designed by Akka. The land is surrounded by trees and beautiful scenery, something the architects wanted to expose to the residents by providing large glazings and a balcony. In addition to the balcony, a study is situated adjacent to the staircase which also provide expansive views of the forest. A semi-private courtyard allows the residents to maintain a garden, and seamlessly integrate the outdoors with the interior.
Photo by Patrick Barta
A Simple Plan
A Marmol Radziner–designed prefab house, trucked onto a remote Northern California site, takes the pain out of the construction process.
This 3,200-square-foot structure was assembled with a prefabricated foundation, concrete panel siding, and efficient built-ins, minimizing construction debris and toxins—such as concrete foundation tar—on the site.
An attentive sensitivity to site played into nearly every aspect of both the exterior andinterior spaces of the home. Architect Peter Rose collaborated with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, who worked to craft and maintain the wild, organic feel of the environs. Will Parry, a local builder, custom-fabricated all of the sustainably harvested Spanish cedar-and-glass windows and skylights throughout. Here, a vertical-swinging window at the end of the entry hallway opens directly to a lush expanse of vegetation.
Subtle features incorporated into the design, including an elevated terrace and jetty, help the home float above the island.