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1,027 Exterior House Glass Siding Material Design Photos And Ideas

The back of the property has a relatively private feel for a downtown location. The living room opens out to the garden through two glazed walls, while the trellis cladding of the mudroom echoes the screens at the front of the home.
The clients had long owned the property in Mapleton Hill, and they were looking to build their dream “forever” home in which to raise their family. The public-facing side of the home is historically appropriate, with gables, dormers, a porch, and double-hung windows. While these features are traditional in many senses, the clean, minimalist detailing signals contemporary construction. Timber screens and lattices add a texture and translucency to the archetypal forms.
"For the first three months of the pandemic, we hiked every day—rain or shine or snow,
“We realized that having a circular house allowed us to take advantage of all of the views, as well as the topography and the solar exposure to the south,” explains Heid.
The result of the project is an artfully arranged house that looks out on open fields (protected by a land trust) and the rolling landscape beyond. “The only downside is that the area is farmed, so we get manure smells,” Doug jokes.
The foamed aluminum mountain range—hoisted on posts that mimic surveyor poles—is a joy-sparking addition to the aptly named Mountain View residence, its design inspired by the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland (though architect Mat Barnes admits he "is no Disney fanatic").
Organic lines mimicking those in nature can be soothing. Architect Tono Mirai, known for his "earth architecture," was inspired by the lush context for the design of this holiday home in Nagano, Japan.
Inspired by ancient ruins, Frankie Pappas crafts a green-roofed, brick guesthouse that connects deeply with nature in the South African Bushveld.
At night, it is easy to see how the volume at the north end of the site is stacked with the library and a private deck above, and the en suite guest bedroom below. This is separated from the rest of the living space by the open garage, offering increased privacy.
The modularity of the home’s construction is referenced in the grid-like windows. These large areas of glazing allow the home to be filled with natural light.
A concrete block tower in the garden beside the home contains a water tank and solar heating boiler with a shower below.
The metal roof and external walls are constructed from double-layered metallic roofing tiles, which were chosen for their durability against the elements.
The home requires very little maintenance and features a lightweight construction. The modularity of the design also helped to avoid excessive material waste during construction.
The site is a generous lot at an estate in Cotia, on the outskirts of São Paulo—an area that has plenty of greenery. Part of the concept for the home was to replace some of the existing exotic trees with native plants.
The clients are a husband and wife with grown children who no longer live at home. The husband is a psychoanalyst, and the wife is a history teacher at a middle school in São Paulo. During construction of the home, very little earthwork was needed, as the residence nestles into the sloped site to preserve the flat part of the site for a garden of native trees and shrubs.
The exterior of the home features warm blackbutt timber cladding and crisp black metalwork. Each level of the home opens out to a deck or balcony, and the curved white balustrade outside the main bedroom is a contemporary take on the original architecture.
Casa Parasito effortlessly provides accommodations for two people in a cleverly unique location: the rooftop of a city building in San Juan, Ecuador. El Sindicato Arquitectura wanted to not only provide a home, but also contribute positively to the densification challenge that the city’s inhabitants face. The design concept hinges on an A-frame facade. Within, an interior layout is marked by a rectangular core—also the main social/living space—from which all other utilitarian spaces, such as the kitchen, dining area, bathroom, bed, work area, and storage are accessed.
The three buildings are strategically organized around a central courtyard, creating an outdoor room that is protected from sun, precipitation, and wind. The openings between the buildings frame the predominant views.
Grasses, shrubs, and flowers surround the building, making it appear as if it grew out of the landscape, rather than being placed in it. Pavers in the grasses weave between the recreation locker building and the main residence to the central courtyard, which is situated under a canopy.
The elevated canopy above the three volumes not only protects the courtyard from the elements, but hierarchically demarcates this outdoor living area as the most important space in the structure.
The home is known as “Boar Shoat”—a reference to a young hog who is full of energy and life. “The term was used by the owner’s family when he was growing up to describe youthful vivacity,” says architect Hunter Gundersen.
Arnott is no stranger to designing with sustainability in mind. His firm, Stark Architecture, won the "ice box challenge," an architecture competition calling on participants to build a small container with the best passive insulation.
Lexi’s career as a professional big mountain freeskier has taken her all over the world, and Trinity Passive in the woods of Revelstoke is full of reminders of her globe-trotting lifestyle. "It’s a cumulation of all of my life experiences coming together," she says.
Richard is particularly proud of the cork used on the rear of the home, which he says works beautifully with the London stock brickwork. The sustainable material also inspired the project’s name: A Cork House.
The ultra-modern, glass-and-steel back facade now "acts as an oversized southern aperture and fully retractable gateway" for the home, says Hackett.
This warehouse conversion by Ian Moore Architects also features an equine genetics laboratory and an enormous garage filled with classic cars.
The front fence is made from sandblasted stainless-steel rods coated in a protective penetrating sealer. The fence is cantilevered out from a concrete beam below the garden, and the gate retracts into an underground pit. “It’s the first of its type in Australia,” says architect Tony Vella. “It was a work of precision to have these thin rods slide down into the ground through 30mm holes.”
The home incorporates a number of sustainable features. Glass walls are protected by concrete eave overhangs and automated external sun blinds. In addition, the heavily insulated walls, floors, and ceiling (with roof garden layers) add to the efficient energy performance of the home.
The home is located across from one of Melbourne’s bay beaches, and it needed to easily accommodate the family’s regular beach visits. “From morning swims to summer days on the beach, the home is intrinsically connected to the sun, water, and sand,” says architect Tony Vella.
TOLO Architecture worked with landscape designer Wade Graham to create a garden of native and drought-tolerant plants. The spaces between the volumes of the home—outside the master bathroom and bedroom pavilions, for example—have also been planted to create small native gardens.
The home was built by the same carpenter who built the original bunkie on the site in the late 1980s. “He was in his early twenties back then, and now he’s nearly retired,” reveals architect Tom Knezic. “He does all the water access cottage builds there, because he’s just on the other side of the channel.” An external stair leads from the front, ground floor deck up to the deck overlooking the water.
The entrance to the home is on the ground floor. It’s accessed from a large timber deck, which is separated from a secondary deck by a landscaped gravel area that marks the entry.
“One of the most interesting parts of the project was the foundation, as we used ground screws,” says architect Tom Knezic. “I’ve never done a foundation like this, but it’s really neat because you just screw into the ground, weld the beam on top, and you’ve got a foundation in two days. It’s a very light footprint, as we didn't have to do any blasting or chipping. We had to remove some trees to fit the cottage in, but we tried to keep as many as possible around the building—by using ground screws, you’re not damaging the roots of adjacent trees.”
The site is full of forest and Canadian Shield rock—including a large rock outcrop along the lake that rises up to the height of the second floor.
“It’s only an hour and a half from the north edge of Toronto,” says Knezic. “But, because it’s water access only, it feels like you’re far away from everything—and you have a real sense of isolation.”
The windows and doors feature an extruded aluminum-clad exterior that is finished with a durable 70% PVDF fluoropolymer coating in a Rustic color. The look is contrasted by light-colored stone covering the poolside patio.
“My parents tell me they love the home every time they wake up,” says architect Ryan Bollom.
The home sits over a single level on the site and has a long, linear form that extends landscape views to the horizon. It is aligned to frame both the sunrise and the sunset.
“We always comb through work we really like for general inspiration when starting a project, but usually there isn’t one project we draw from,” says architect Ryan Bollom. “I’d consider The Barak House, designed by R&Sie in 2003, a more direct precedent for this home. Formally and conceptually it’s very different, but its core idea is a flexible wrapper over a more rigid home construction.”
The design concept is based around an interior space protected by an outer wrapper. The facade is a cement stucco, and the exterior roof structure is supported by durable cedar timbers with a basic Galvalume metal roof over a TPO flat roof. “We tried to use standard materials and finishes to minimize costs,” reveals architect Ryan Bollom.
Nighttime transparency of addition
The ground floor projects out from the slope and sits over the top of the concrete foundations, in which a wine cellar—accessed through a hatch in the hallway floor—is located.
The sharply angled roof balances the fragmented form of the home at the front. “We called the roof the ‘shark’s fin roof’ when we were designing it,” says Craig. “It offers a formal counterpoint to the mass of the upstairs, but uses a sharp angle to create a dynamic form as the building goes down the site.”
The home is made of 42 unique cross-laminated timber panels. The smallest panel is 450 millimeters x 1500 millimeters, and the largest panel is the entire southern wall—14.4 meters x 2.3 meters. The cantilevered ground floor at the rear of the home was made possible by the strength of these panels.
There is a play between really earthy, natural materials—which are seen in some of the cladding, tiles, and concrete work—and a very sleek, black metal aesthetic. “I have a lot of experience in commercial architecture, so I’m not scared of using more commercial, industrial materials on a residential building,” says Craig.
The Douglas fir cladding is from Abodo, and the home is the first project in New Zealand to use iron vitriol to treat timber cladding. The innovative finishing option enhances the natural qualities of the band-sawn timber, creating a striking contrast with the metal cladding.
The house fronts the street with the large top story and a sharply angled roof that defines the staircase, creating a striking form—especially at night, when it is lit up from within.
The two wings are connected by the courtyard, and a dining and living space that opens to the street. Privacy is provided by a large, three-meter-wide sliding panel. "In the mornings, we open the panel up to allow our living space to engage directly with the street—think the Dutch Calvinist tradition of opening one’s home to the public gaze," says Joe. "We have met many neighbors as a result, and it is a powerful device connecting public and private realms and enabling community. In the evening before bed, we shut it down."
The house has two distinct wings—the 1885 original "front" and the contemporary "rear." The front part of the home has been restored to the original 1885 floor plan, while the rear of the home was demolished and replaced with a new build that contains the garage, bathroom, and storage on the ground floor, and the boys’ bedrooms on the upper floor.
“The clients are passionate about nature conservation,’ says architect Ant Vervoot. “They know how every plant, insect, and animal fits into the greater ecosystem—their curiosity about the Bushveld is insatiable and inspiring. It really is an amazing thing to be around them in the bush.”
House of the Tall Chimneys is entirely off the grid. Power is generated with solar panels; black and gray water is contained and managed before it’s further filtered by the undergrowth; and potable water is collected from the nearby stream. “More important than these technological fixes, however, is the fact that the building requires very little in terms of resource input in order to function successfully,” says architect Ant Vervoort. “Careful design is probably the most fundamental aspect in designing environmentally sustainable buildings.”
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Zoom out for a look at the modern exterior. From your dream house, to cozy cabins, to loft-like apartments, to repurposed shipping containers, these stellar projects promise something for everyone. Explore a variety of building types with metal roofs, wood siding, gables, and everything in between.