In summer, trees help to filter out some of the heat during the warmer days.
With invisible foundations, the house appears to hover above a grassy carpet.
During the winter, the Youngs go on long ski tours and warm up in the sauna.
Sliding glass doors allow the kitchen and living room to be fully opened to the deck, creating a seamless integration between the interior and exterior space.
Vince and Adrienne Murphy’s rural retreat is clad in gray shingles and gray-stained pine. “They wanted the cottage to meld into the woods and be visually quiet,” says architect Kelly Doran, who worked with Portico Timber Frames to build the 2,500-square-foot home.
A perpendicular wing houses the garage. The house has no air conditioning, relying on lake breezes and cross-ventilation for cooling. Each bedroom has a screened door that opens to the deck and an adjustable transom above the hallway door to encourage the circulation of air.
Vallée du Parc Residence floor plan
The roof creates a dialogue with the surrounding landscape through multiple sloped planes, irregular lines, and an absence of overhangs. The home's form appears to change according to one's angle of approach.
Large sliding glass doors open onto a backyard retreat complete with a fire pit and swimming pool.
Timber-clad walls surround the home's indoor and outdoor living spaces.
Wood screens blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces.
The three-level residence—the basement includes a wine cellar and media room—is joined by a petite, companion carriage house.
Although there are numerous Kebony roofs found in Europe and Asia Pacific, a university building in Kansas is the only other prominent North American example discovered by the structural engineer.
The project’s unique challenges—a tight budget and steep, difficult terrain—led architecture firm _naturehumaine to a creative solution that gave the house its delightfully sculptural appearance. Making the first floor’s envelope slightly narrower than the top one’s saved money while minimizing the amount of excavation required.
Sitting on a plateau over the rolling landscape of rural Quebec, the residence comprises three joined, gable roof structures, each oriented differently. It takes inspiration from the local farmhouses and barns of the area, whose steep rooflines help shed snow in the winter, and whose wood-clad facades traditionally used lumber from local trees.
The gable roofs and the overall shape of the buildings are reminiscent of the vernacular architecture: barns, farms, and sheds.
The main living space is located on the ground level. Thanks to the oversized sliding glass doors, a stage is created for informal indoor/outdoor living.
East Lake House, designed by Robert Young Architects, features two structures to capture sunshine and breezes from all angles.
Silvano Zamò, third-generation winemaker at Le Vigne di Zamò winery, and his wife Brigitte tasked architecture firm GEZA with a holiday home on a hilltop location in the tiny northern Italian village of Camporosso, not far from the ski resort Monte Lussari.
The Z House's structure consists entirely of concrete. Wood screens wrap around the sides, and Prefa materials top the roof.
Although synthetic slate roof tiles have been around since the 1970s, the way architect Stephen Bruns used them to completely clad Woven House is unusual. "I love this material," says Bruns. "The way light reflects off the tiles creates a specular effect, almost like a mosaic." That reflective quality is enhanced by the floor-to-ceiling windows by Loewen.
A view of the connecting vestibule for which the house is named. The exterior is clad entirely in tiles made from recycled rubber and plastic—technically a roofing material—giving the eaveless home a tightly wrapped skin. “Although we used a traditional gabled form, we wanted to clean it up quite a bit,” says Bruns.
Located behind two Californian bungalows, Bardolph Gardens sits on a long-underutilized, subdivided lot. The most challenging aspect of the project was hooking the homes up to new service connections.
The Bardolph Gardens rental houses share a driveway, but they have individual entrances.
The house is part of a working agrarian landscape, with its three distinct volumes—day pavilion, night pavilion, and shed—inspired by the local vernacular architecture.
The night pavilion is reflected in the infinity hot tub.
The home is constructed atop a plinth made of local granite.
Located in Austin’s historic Hyde Park in the company of 1920s-era bungalows, the Concrete Casita by Ravel Architecture is distinct with its contemporary, low-lying profile, yet feels at home with the neighborhood. Designs to become in-law’s quarters or serve as a versatile, indoor/outdoor space for an active Austin family, the 600-square-foot structure has a rugged makeup of board-formed concrete, rusted steel, and glass.
Located in Austin’s historic Hyde Park in the company of 1920s-era bungalows, the Concrete Casita by Ravel Architecture is distinct with its contemporary, low-lying profile, yet feels at home with the neighborhood. Designs to become in-law’s quarters or serve as a versatile, indoor/outdoor space for an active Austin family, the 600-square-foot structure has a rugged makeup of board-formed concrete, rusted steel, and glass. Ravel Architecture partners Alex Finnell and Devin Keyes chose board-formed concrete for the exterior, scoring the vertical boards to "get a really nice texture and interesting dynamics," says Finnell.
The box-shaped extension plays off the familiar farmhouse typology, creating a series of intriguing contrasts.
The corrugated metal roofing is a subtle reference to the many sheds found on farms in the local area.
One of the building challenges was transportation through the steep and windy roads to the isolated site, which is 0.5km away from Cornwall, one of Connecticut's smallest towns.