The floating oak staircase in the first-floor family room leads to the rooftop garden, which features a lounge area, grill, and small bar room with a restroom. Bespoke oak shelving behind the stair offers a display area for books and other objects.
The bathroom has been entirely clad in large Fior di Bosco marble panels, creating a simple backdrop for the arrangement of plants overlooked by the tub.
A stone path provides access through the internal courtyard, connecting the various ground floor spaces.
The monolithic brick home in Mexico City by Esrawe Studio looks imposing from the street, but its enormous pivoting door opens to a courtyard that feels like a lush oasis.
The slim profile of the red bricks used in the facade creates a textured surface across the monolithic form, while red and brown tones of each brick create an organic, varied pattern of color.
A side patio leads from the front of the home to the courtyard. The same red bricks used for the facade have been used for the paving to create a seamless fabric that wraps the built form and the site.
The enormous pivoting front door, which is 2.7 meters high and 2.4 meters wide, is crafted from oak veneer. It opens directly into an expansive view of the internal courtyard garden, creating a delightful moment of surprise and contrast.
The sunken living room created an opportunity for a bespoke joinery unit that can be used as a bench overlooking the courtyard as well as a storage space for books and objects. Topped with the same Iranian travertine marble that is used for the flooring in the entrance, it extends the hallway along the courtyard into the living room.
The downstairs hallway flooring is Iranian travertine marble, while the stair and flooring in the upstairs hallway is oak. The walls have been finished with a polished concrete texture.
Big Barn
This uber-green dwelling not only walks the walk, it talks the talk.
The Coles and their children love hitting the beach, just four blocks away.
SemiSemi as it fits into its Toronto neighborhood.
This warehouse conversion by Ian Moore Architects also features an equine genetics laboratory and an enormous garage filled with classic cars.
Set on a narrow, 18-foot-wide site, Melt House presents a corrugated exterior.
Aegean Pool House’s expansive roof structure shelters the indoor/outdoor living spaces beneath it. A freestanding stone fireplace anchors the west side of the living and dining area.
Designed to sleep eight, the flexible cabin can be used as a quiet retreat for the couple or a gathering place for family and friends.
Entry view with small concrete patio for bbq
The stairwell leads to the main dining room and kitchen, where gray plaster and oiled larch wood joinery create a softer environment. The custom dining table, built by GRG Carpenteria, is surrounded by a set of Philippe Stark Toy armchairs.
After: The firm used the steel to demarcate different areas in the new home. Glass-and-steel-framed walls now enclose the master bedroom, and an office nook with built-in storage is tucked off the primary circulation paths. The firm designed the custom bed platform; it’s white oak with a smoked finish.
The 4.9-foot overhanging eaves shelter the walkway and shade the interiors in the summer.
Panorama Lodge has the tagline “Where the sky is,” which perfectly suits this 248-square-foot cabin in Iceland.
Dubbed Small But Fine, a student-built 280-square-foot cabin in Finland connects with the outdoors and features a minimal footprint. Not pictured is a detached outhouse with a composting toilet.
Waterproofing the tree was challenging, but a system was specially devised to keep water out of the house.
Mirror Point Cottage, hovering on legs of steel, recasts the idea of the weathered Nova Scotia fisherman's shack.
After being buried under layers of haphazard renovations, a 1959 Seattle ranch finally reaches its maximum potential.
Front entrance of the house with river beyond
When artist Birgitta Burling and her husband Staffan decided to build a house on the idyllic Swedish island of Gotland, they set their ambitions high. "The brief was to make a house that can do several things…to create a house with very little boundaries and infinite possibilities," says French architecture and landscape firm Collectif Encore.
From a different perspective, the home appears more transparent and open to the water.
A wall covered in graphite-colored Ann Sacks tile runs from the kitchen out to the covered porch. Similarly, the sheetrock ceiling and the concrete flooring are extended from inside to outside—a cost-saving measure that provides visual continuity. The Hot Mesh outdoor dining chairs are by Blu Dot.
New, structurally sound walls allowed them more freedom to design the interior spaces.
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