After: By knocking down a wall, they opened up the kitchen to the living room to create one great room, ideal for entertaining.
The custom walnut screen takes its geometric cue (at a 90-degree tilt) from the wide bricks used for the fireplace and kitchen island.
Clerestory windows pierce the pitched roof on its west side, making the living area, with its custom curved sectional sofa and built-in end tables, full of natural light year-round.
While the common areas were positioned to maximize daylight, a must on the coast of Sweden, the dark interiors act as a cozy contrast.
Straightforward, durable materials define the kitchen and open living area. Poured concrete floors are softened by tongue-and-groove yellow pine ceilings. "Most people comment on the ceilings when they walk in, especially because they are so tall and with the crisp look of the concrete, it makes the space feel cozy,
Designed by Atelier Lina Bellovicova, House LO marks the first residential project in the Czech Republic to use hempcrete, a sustainable and fire-and-mold-resistant material.
The full-height glazing places the focus on the outdoors. From the exterior, the lush foliage is reflected. The rest of the building is wrapped in pine board with a natural, black-tone wood oil finish.
In the primary bedroom, daughters Ellis and Panda play on pieces of a 1972 Camaleonda sofa by Mario Bellini. A Davide Groppi Moon pendant, made of Japanese paper, hangs overhead.
A concrete staircase leads to a newly added mezzanine that contains Onur and Alix’s bathroom and a small sauna. A gloss-sealed MDF closet doubles as a headboard for the couple’s floating concrete bed. Behind the closet is the girls’ bedroom and bath.
In the bathroom, the cast iron tub is a Paris flea market find, and the cement floor tiles were designed by Alix and made in Istanbul. “I love to use mosaic tiles in gradations of color,” she says.
A pink concrete dining-cum-coffee table holds a fire-pit at one end, where it’s surrounded by a pair of Gae Aulenti lounge chairs, a Tufty Time sofa from B&B Italia, and a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chair. The 1930s dining chairs are by Hynek Gottwald.
A swing hangs from one of the home’s original beams. “It was a gift from friends in New York,” says Onur. “The girls spend hours on it.”
The family gathers in the kitchen, which features oak cabinets, a concrete island, and brass fixtures. The backsplash is made of pink bricks hand-selected by Alix and Onur from a nearby brickyard. The mango wood pendants were purchased in a market in Bangkok.
Sited on a lake near Bracebridge, Ontario, this small-footprint family cottage was designed by Toronto firm superkül to integrate with its natural surroundings and minimize its environmental impact. The clients, a married couple, had mixed feelings about going completely modern with their cabin's aesthetic, so the architects created a sculptural wood form to bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary. Photo by Shai Gil.
Cabin at Longbranch | Olson Kundig
The defining concept for this house, commissioned by a photographer as both his summer house and studio, was based on developed facade studies which define a simple and smooth building skin varied in height and punctured by openings.
Residents enter the house from the street through the upper level, which contains the bedrooms. The rafters were removed to create additional loft space.
Looking into the warm, brightly lit house at night offers a different kind of view, one that charmingly recalls the cutaway dioramas in Wes Anderson’s films.
“From the courtyard, you then enter the house proper, directly into the main living room,” Hutchison says. “From this room, you have a panoramic view looking out through the trees to the river, or back into the courtyard.” The wood-burning fireplace, from Majestic, is clad in steel panels. Eames Molded Plywood lounge chairs sit side-by-side in the living room.
Crump played with the traditional gable roof form common to Australian farmhouses and transformed it into something entirely modern. The house’s three distinct ridgelines follow each other in succession, their simple contours conjuring a cartoon lightning bolt. The wood cladding covering the exterior also lends the house an impenetrable feel, heightening the surprise visitors experience upon entering and seeing its open, seaside views.
Constructing a largely timber house in a bush fire-prone landscape wasn’t easy. “We had to negotiate with the council and building surveyor,” Crump explains. To solve the challenge, the architect designed an outer, protective skin for the home that’s clad with metal; it pushes beyond the building envelope to provide covering for outdoor living spaces. The inset walls are lined with local shiplap Celery Top Pine.
After an unprecedented year of earthquakes, hurricanes, and fires, a bright light has been shed on the benefits of building with concrete.
Many prefab architects and suppliers specialize in either modular or panelized construction. Minneapolis architect Charlie Lazor has worked with both mediums. This lake house in rural Ontario, Canada, is an example of one of his modular projects. It was built in a Wisconsin factory about 400 miles away.