Modern apartment with a sleek sculptural staircase

Nam Dger Apartment is a unique modern home situated in Nam Tower in the heart of Tel Aviv, Israel, designed by Gerstner Architects. The most intriguing feature about this home is its sculptural steel staircase as the focal point of the home. This two-level bachelor pad showcases sleek white interiors and modern furnishings of minimalist design. There is an upstairs mezzanine level that encompasses the private areas of the home, a master bedroom and nursery. A large embankment of windows along the front of the home looks out onto the busy city, extending out to a spacious patio.

Photos: Amit Geron

Modern Hillside Home in Seattle: Crane Residence

Crane Residence is a modern single family home designed by Spore Architecture in a suburban area of Seattle, Washington. Due to zoning restrictions and the odd shape of this 5,500 square foot lot, the architects had to go up, not out. This ended up working well, since the clients had their mind set on just that, a ‘tower’ house with a small footprint. Built on a fairly steep slope, the 2,250 square foot house pushes the private areas to the back – into the hillside, opening up a double-height living space toward the view with an all glass face. Looking into the living room and down to the kitchen is a loft that is flanked by the 3-story glass slot. Perched 4 stories above the ground and accessed by an aluminum grate foot-bridge, the master bedroom has a very private and exclusive feel. Also, with an entire wall of windows that reach to the floor, the master bedroom has unobstructed views of the territory below.

Modern apartment renovation in Rome: Casa-O

This stunning modern apartment renovation called ‘Casa-O’ has been carried out by the architectural firm Alvisi Kirimoto + Partners in the Villa Bonellia of the Italian capital in Rome. A typical seventies style apartment, the home was revised and restructured in every detail to make a living space suitable for a couple with two small children. To give life to the restoration project was a ‘ female ‘ team of architects with feminine intuition and with great professionalism was able to interpret the needs of the entire family. Developed on a single floor and with a surface of 1,614 square feet (150 square meters), the home is characterized by the division of public and private living spaces.

Bleached oak flooring extends throughout the apartment and the white color of walls and ceilings as well as much of the furnishings, including many custom made designs by the architects, give aesthetic continuity in these two units. The large L-shaped balcony that runs along the outer sides of the living room and a second smaller terrace which looks out onto the master bedroom were paved with teak planks that fit in perfectly with the brick facade. Suspended ceilings incorporate lighting, a stereo and video surveillance. The architects have given great attention to design of every small detail of the house-or, managing to turn it into a harmonious and bright apartment, made of lines and details typical of the minimalist Japanese culture and other archetypes of the living.

Wapiti Valley Residence with breathtaking views

Wapiti Valley Residence is a private home situated in the Wapiti Valley of Wyoming near the east border of Yellowstone National Park. The residence was designed by STUDIO.BNA Architects in collaboration with studioryker, completed in 2007.

From the architects, “The wapiti valley landscape is vast, the weather is dramatic, and the changing light and seasons provide for an endless transformation of phenomena. The prominent stone figure of the China Wall resides over the land breaking up an otherwise near constant pitch downward to the river below.

The landscape in which the Wapiti Residence is situated is exposed and revealing. The series of structures that comprise house, gym and guest house were developed to blend into the landscape, but not disappear. Slipped between the seasonal drainages, native grass, and sage brush, the building forms are strong on the land like the China Wall, itself.

Without apology, the simplified architectonic forms expressed through walls of rammed earth, steel, and teak screen, sheltered by a butterfly canopy, are at times the drama of the valley, and at others a shadowy figure in the land.”

Photos: Matthew Millman

Modern Palazzo del Mare Residence on Fisher Island

This exclusive modern apartment called Palazzo del Mare has been designed by Miami interior designer Pepe Calderin Design. Pepe and his talented design team demonstrate their flair for creating uber luxurious interiors in this magnificent Fisher Island residence in Miami, Florida. The entryway to this lavish apartment features Calacatta floors, stainless steel and a stone water fall on the right, mirrors on the left and a satin glass ceiling with LED lights suspended with metal rods. The double doors are from Lualdi porte and on each side of the entry doors there is a dolma light from kreon lighting.

Here you can see the effect of glass ceiling and the dolma light on the wood panels. The red wall is a custom glass wall created especially for this unit by the design firm.

In the dining room you can see the red custom glass wall. On the left there is a glass with LED lights
and a wood grid to simulate a window.

The kitchen is comprised of wenge wood and calacatta marble.

The master bedroom retreat features Peter Link photo ceiling details, satin mirror to the left and a B and B lounge chaise.

This custom built media unit features back panels made of leather with a glass shelf. The unit is made of wenge wood and the two speakers are Ferrari.

The master bathroom boasts an Infinity tub by Kholer, blue custom mosaic pattern, ceiling coffer with LED and wenge wood.

The powder room boasts white calacatta floors and a gradient of red to white mosaic light ceiling detail and a custom macassar top with Toscoquattro sink and faucets.

The rug is a custom area rug. You can see the ceiling detail with LED lights.

Photos: Courtesy of Pepe Calderin Design

Spectacular glass house by architect Thomas Roszak

This spectacular glass house is owned and designed by architect Thomas Roszak in Northfield, Illinois that taps into the city’s modern architectural background. The architect’s house was designed as an exploration of how to foster interaction among family members, the architect and his wife and three kids, even while each person is engaged in different tasks in different rooms. To this end, the 8,200-square-foot house eliminates the redundancy of the typical suburban family room/living room combination, places the kitchen next to the children’s playroom, leaves the entire first floor unenclosed and uses glass paneled walls to further its sense of unencumbered interaction.

What sets this glass house apart from the buildings by Mies van der Rohe and his disciples is the use of color, apparent through the glass walls. Roszak has been able to create warmth and comfort in the modern design through balance, technology and landscaping. The residence experiments with transparency and reflectivity, removing borders and edges from outside to inside the house, and really depicts “flowing and endless space.” It likewise depicts transparency for society, making this an illustration of how people use their home now.

The Glass House received architectural recognition with a 2008 Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture. The jury reported the following about the home, “The transparency from the outside in and the inside out is a strong design concept. Not only does transparency unite the functional space of the floor plan with the environment, it informs the canvas about the use of color—the yellow structure, red core walls, and cherry floors tie directly to the seasonal vegetation, bringing the landscape into play as design elements.”

Roszak painted the beams and walls to depart from the grayness of the concrete and complement the green surrounding the house. The architect-developer ended up selling this house (he was asking about $4 million).

Photos: : Jon Miller/Hedrich Blessing

Unbelievable modern transformation in South Yarra

South Yarra Residence is a modern addition and remodel by architecture studio Nixon Tulloch Fortey in South Yarra, Australia. If you notice in the last picture, the front of the Victorian home has been historically preserved in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood. The interior features modern updates with splashes of bold colors throughout. The back of the house has been completely modernized and looks fabulous with the large expanse of glass that helps blur the boundaries between the outdoors and in. What do you think of this remodel, would you have left the original front facade or would you have updated it to match the rear facade?

Modern refuge on Lake Mille Lacs: Swan Fish Camp

Classic purity and designed restraint are key features for this Lake Mille Lacs, Minnesota fishing refuge. Swan Fish Camp is a modern interpretation of an iconic traditional A-frame, designed by architect Andrea Swan of Swan Architecture for her family. She and her husband originally wanted a Swiss chalet, but unfortunately they didn’t have it in their budget. The pared-down design is very appealing and puts most of the emphasis on capturing optimal lake views and sun exposure.

Swan sees the form as a universal one: “It’s a doghouse, a ship vessel, a chapel. It’s uplifting and very spiritual,” she says. This understanding is evident in the way she kept the living space open to the roof. The sitting room over the kitchen is open to the space, a nice touch that enables people there to look toward the lake and enjoy the grand yet intimate space. The color palette reflects tones of the lake, sky, surrounding birch trees and dramatic snow drifts in winter.

Photos: Courtesy of Swan Architecture

Ultra-modern Summit House in Beverly Hills

This sleek modern property called the ‘Summit House’ is situated in Beverly Hills, California, designed by Whipple Russell Architects. The clients for this project were a family intent upon staying closely connected even while moving to a considerably larger home. This was accomplished with the use of energy efficient glass walls throughout, an open floor plan, and sight lines between floating levels and rooms allowing the family members to stay connected visually throughout the space. They also had a passion for modernism and had collected art pieces that we included in our 3D models to make sure scale and placement were considered.

One of the owners is a well-known sports agent making the entertaining of adults as well as teenage children and their friends an essential design goal. Summit House demonstrates the perfect mix of modern functionality and innovation. Prior to construction, an old home on the property was intricately deconstructed so that building materials, fixtures and appliances could be reused or donated to non-profit organizations. The new residence is a series of vertical and horizontal floating planes. It uses extensive solar power, a gray-water reclamation system, and sound passive-solar design elements making it the first house permitted under the city of Beverly Hills green building ordinance.

The house is “smart,” using a computer to control shades, the gray water system, as well as the entertainment centers. The bowling alley on the lower level features an “underwater view” into the pool via custom windows. Oversized pocket doors and a 10′X10′ glass float-away wall separate the central gallery, family room and kitchen from the exterior terraces and pool – when open, the outside is inside.

Bent + Sliced Residence in Missouri by Hufft Projects

This is the second take on the originally proposed ‘Bent House’, which was canceled after a design board did not approve the modern style in a conservative neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri. So the architects, Hufft Projects, decided to take it one step further and now it is the ‘bent and sliced house’. The bend is from the original design (The Bent House), and is a gesture to the curved slope of the site. This curve, coincidentally, is almost the same of the previous design’s site, and thus could be re-utilized. Similar to Japanese Oragami, this 4,197 square foot (390 square meters) house unfolds like a piece of slice paper from the sloped site. The negative space between the slices creates wonderful clerestories for natural light and ventilation.

The Bent and Sliced House also incorporates a number of sustainable features. These include geothermal heat pumps, a vegetated roof in combination with highly reflective and recycled roof membranes, local and recycled materials inside and out, low VOC paints, a cistern to supply all water required for irrigation, and ample daylighting which eliminates the need for artificial light during the day.

The house’s exterior and interior is also marked by the iconic and sensitive use of Western Red Cedar. It wraps the surfaces of walls, encases bathroom furnishings, and turns from the surface of a wall to form a ceiling. The material’s versatility is exhibited to the fullest. Different finishes allow for subtle but noticeable color variations giving the Bent and Sliced House its characteristic signature aesthetic.

Photos: Mike Sinclair