Hillside dwelling entrenched in the landscape

This fascinating dwelling features a unique design that places the property directly into and around several hills on an exposed and desolate site, situated in Luque, Paraguay and designed by architecture studio Bauen. The arched roof, which mimics the shape of the top of a hill, blends beautifully into the landscape. The expansive windows emit plenty of natural light into the interiors with high ceilings and an open concept design creates an impressive interior. The two buildings are comprised of a total of 6,458 square feet (600 square meters) of living space. There is also an outdoor pool and large driveway beside one of the buildings. Via

Modern two-floor apartment infused with warmth

This stunning apartment situated in Mexico City, Mexico reflects the unique personality of its owners: modernity, consciousness on environment, love for design and contemporary art. The 1,937 square feet (180 square meters) two-floor apartment was designed by RIMA Arquitectura Studio, with the primary focus of natural and artificial lighting having an important role throughout the interior. Due to a double height at the staircase and a panoramic glass facade, daylight illuminates the whole interior, saving energy during the day, while at night the lightning design creates a pleasant atmosphere.

The master bedroom retreat, the child’s bedroom and a studio are on the second level. Steel, epoxy floor and visible structures balance with warm colors and wood in this space, where distribution offers a sense of wideness and a creative design, fundamentally considering the furniture chosen, some of it made from recycled wood, and the integration to the space of selected art works. The bookcase in the living room was designed to be very functional and its pure lines match with the environment. Since the home is situated at the west area of Mexico City, where the lack of green areas is noticeable, the architects compensated for this with a green balcony, an interior green wall and with the use of plants, both as ornaments as well as oxygen providers.

Steel and glass dwelling with views of Johannesburg

This steel-framed pavilion has been designed by GASS Architects, situated on the Westcliff Ridge within a wooded estate with stunning views of the Johannesburg, South Africa skyline. Westcliff Pavilion was constructed with a steel frame to take in the magnificent views from the cottage. It also created a minimal impact on the site, allowing the building to float above the ground plane, leaving most of the ridge intact. The steel frame also created an elegant, timeless aesthetic and allowed for the incorporation of sprung solid timber floors which blended seamlessly with the exterior solid decking.

The architect also wished to integrate a floating stone into the overall design of the residence. “Many of the houses on the Westcliff Ridge and surrounds are famous for their use of native stonework in their detailing, including works by architectural greats like Sir Herbert Baker. Georg was keen to continue in this tradition of using indigenous stone in the design, and so the as such, wanted to include a wall made from stone harvested on the site itself. However, he wanted to give this wall a twist, something that would differentiate it from all other walls in Westcliff,” state the architects. This stunning open plan living with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and floor to ceiling glass windows embraces the natural landscape and creates an amazing place to call home, what do you think?

Photos: Bernard Viljoen

Magnificent steel and glass Vancouver Island home

This charismatic property spotted on Sotheby’s Realty is a true architectural masterpiece of glass, concrete and steel, confidently poised on a mountain top in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Soaring walls of glass create luminous interiors and artfully frame ocean and mountain vistas. Equipped for comfort and sanctuary this 7,100 square foot home with four bedrooms and seven bathrooms is perfect for entertaining. The home features open plan living and stunning suspended fireplaces, premium custom fitted indoor kitchen with Canadian walnut cabinets and black granite counters, gym, art gallery, den, wine cellar, elevator, outdoor kitchen, grand decks and patios with landscaped gardens, two private deluxe guest suites, nanny suite, serine master bedroom and an elegant spa bathroom.

This remarkable property is listed for sale at $2,950,000, from here.

Modern and sleek home overlooking Sydney Harbour

The Vaucluse House is a luxurious four level property designed by architecture  studio MPR Design Group in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The home is nestled on a small scale suburban street, with its primary living areas situated on the top floor to take full advantage of the fabulous 180 degree views of the city and harbour. According to the architects, “the concept for this 6,458 square foot (600 square meters) house was to reflect the topography and landform of the Sydney Harbour basin. The house is expressed as a series of horizontal layers – the sandstone clad base echoes the stone cliffs that hug the inlets of Sydney Harbour.”

“The upper stories of planar white rendered forms respond to the strong northern light found in the southern hemisphere. Between the cantilevered white planes, full height low-E glazing captures the dramatic harbour views whilst maintaining a thermally efficient internal environment. There was a conscious decision to contrast precise man made materials such as steel and glass with natural materials such as the locally hewn sandstone. With exposure to the north and west and the ability to open up completely to the outside, the house has effective cross ventilation negating the use of air conditioning.”

Photos:  Brett Boardman

Cozy modern mountain retreat in Lake Tahoe

This gorgeous modern mountain home is set amongst the woods in Martis Camp, North Lake Tahoe, completed by design firm sagemodern. The home was designed with significant consideration of the natural setting to blend in with the gradual slope, forest and adjacent putting park. The 3,250 square foot home is used as a family retreat, with a large kitchen and great room for friends and family to gather after a day of skiing or hiking through the forest. The great room features a local quarried stone fireplace, radiant heated Brazilian slate floors, walnut cabinetry and a gourmet professional kitchen. The custom windows and doors framed by exposed timber and steel bring in the natural light to blend the indoor and outdoor living areas. The outdoor area features a spacious deck, a spa area protected by a large boulder outcropping, a fire pit for roasting marshmallows and an outdoor BBQ area. The home was designed for family and guests and has five bedrooms including two master suites, a junior master, a guest room and a bunk room.

All sagemodern homes are created using prefabricated modules in a quality controlled factory environment and then delivered virtually complete to your home site. Their architectural style is rooted in the modern vernacular.

There is no air conditioning in the home, instead there is a heat-recovery ventilation system (above) designed to draw in nighttime air to help keep the home cool.

Japanese kokeshi dolls.

Scandinavian Vedel bird toys.

Steel and glass home in Napa Wine Country

This 4,200 square foot single story home, spotted on Sotheby’s Realty, is located in Rutherford, in the Napa Valley region of California, designed by architecture studio Johnson Fain. The contemporary house sits on the upper portion of a 42-acre site accessed by a private road with a vineyard at the lower end of the site. The house has been designed as a weekend home and office for a couple, as well as a place for entertaining and overseeing a new winery venture. The design concept is a highly ordered series of rectilinear volumes clad in precisely finished steel panels. The house is designed to be an integrated part of its natural surroundings with elements such as a central living space composed of glass walls that provide a uniquely framed view out to the landscape beyond and slender steel columns which support exposed wood soffits, mirroring the many existing trees on the site.

The interior material palette ranges from the simplicity of plywood ceilings and polished concrete floors to the rich texture of cleft quartzite stone stairs and Mexican glass mosaic tiled floors and walls. Interior walls are veneered in plaster in subtle colors. Living spaces are further defined by maple-veneered ceilings that are suspended beneath exposed wood roof joists. Millwork elements are custom designed and composed of ebonized and stained maple veneers, brushed stainless steel and silver travertine. The landscape design includes stepped terraces, a dramatic lap pool running perpendicular to the structure, spa, barbecue and an exterior fireplace set within the natural surroundings of boulders and native oak trees.

There is also a 1,000 square foot, two bedroom guesthouse, located below the main house, designed by Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects. The site is a wooded hill overlooking the Napa Valley above the Silverado Trail, which runs along the eastern edge of the valley. The entry is a sliding glass door that penetrates a rusty-colored steel wall known as Corten and opens to a court and view of the valley. The house is comprised of living/dining/kitchen, main suite and second bedroom.

This magnificent property is also listed for sale, at $14,950,000, from here.

About five acres of the property includes an operating vineyard. Mr. Lieff produces a private-label Cabernet Sauvignon with the harvest.

The entry to the home, with concrete walkway.

The living area, with polished concrete floors and plywood ceiling with exposed trellising.

A zero-edge pool was built into the natural landscape to be as unassuming as possible, with large stones and scrub oak surrounding the structure.

A separate guest house extends on the contemporary theme of the main home.

The rust-colored metal was also used for the main gate on the property, which leads into the vineyard.

Open-flow modern dwelling in Venice Beach

This warm and family friendly modern home is located in Venice Beach, California, designed by studio Minarc. The Horwitz residence is a 4,500 square foot, six-bedroom, two-story home featuring soaring ceilings and enormous planes of uncurtained windows that give sweeping outdoor views from every room in the house, including the bathrooms. To soften right angles and lack of architectural ornamentation, the designers kept many of the materials warm and organic-feeling. They applied richly patterned, burnt oak floors in most of the ground floor areas, and even wrapping up onto the walls in the family and living rooms. The effect was to trick the eye to give it a sense of not knowing when the floor ends and when the wall begins. They designed around many of the property’s original sycamore and magnolia trees, creating a space that feels protected by foliage, not barren of it.

When it came to the orientation of the house, the architect’s goal was to create natural ventilation and keep the bad afternoon sun out of it while still getting tons of light. The result of such a high-functioning, form-pleasing space is that the owner’s do in fact spend much of their time in the command center of the kitchen/dining area. Homework is done while dinner is cooking, and swimming, TV watching and relaxing can all happen simultaneously in different areas that are nevertheless linked by carefully planned sight lines. A heated patio and fireplace for outdoor dining maximizes indoor/outdoor living. There is solar thermal radiant floor heating throughout the house.

Every common area throughout the home has more than one point of entry to encourage effortless flow and the few doors that are found on the ground floor were installed by the owners, not included in the original design. They wished for privacy on the bathrooms and master bedroom, but they wanted the rest of the home to have a feeling of water flowing freely down a river and hitting rocks to keep it moving. The overall effect of such openness allows the clients to see and hear their kids almost all the time. The master bedroom is located on the ground floor, and the four children’s bedrooms are all on the second floor, for privacy. Magnetic chalkboard sliders in the play area outside and paperboard sliders in the kids’ rooms transform the house itself into a medium for children’s artistic expression.

A disappearing 40-foot window extends along the kitchen/dining/family room to encourage effortless outdoor access.

The downstairs powder room wraps the burnt oak floors up the wall to play with the viewer’s sense of perspective.

From the backyard swimming pool, almost the entire house is visible, including the kitchen/dining area/family area, the living room and master suite.

In the living room area, burnt oak floors wrap all the way up the wall.

A steel staircase that leads from the kitchen to the upstairs area helps keep the light flowing into the downstairs.

The master bath is big enough for the family’s four children and three dogs. The room looks out onto the front courtyard area.

Steel-clad dwelling nestled in rugged terrain

The Heavy Metal house is a contemporary single storey home situated in Joplin, Missouri, designed by Kansas City-based design studio Hufft Projects. The steel clad home is sited on eight acres of heavily wooden terrain. The residence is a fusion of glass, steel and concrete, designed in a sophisticated composition of modern proportions and elegant detail.

According to the architects: “The skin is a layered facade of glass and perforated steel with large glass openings placed in strategic locations to capture the beautiful and rugged landscape. Where required, these openings are shielded by approximately two hundred unique 4’ x 10’ cold rolled steel panels. Each panel has a custom perforation pattern which is determined by a complex process that takes into account solar gain, varying levels of transparency and privacy needs.”

Cliffside Lake House overlooking Lake Tahoe

The Cliff House project, referred to as “The Lake House” by its present owners, has been designed by San Francisco-based studio Mark Dziewulski Architect. The dramatically steep site, 150 feet above the edge of Lake Tahoe, overlooks sweeping panoramic views of the entire lake and mountains beyond on a half-acre lot in Incline Village, Crystal Bay, Nevada. Five cantilevered levels, following the slope, express the different uses and their varying forms reflect the optimum orientation and requirements of the individual spaces within.

Taking four years to complete, the 8,694 square foot house is a series of overlapping curved roofs that are fanned out towards the lake, creating a man-made rolling landscape that underlines the view of the lake and mountains beyond. The contemporary home is comprised of steel, concrete and glass featuring four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a glass elevator, a six level glass stairwell and of course a private pier.

The house is largely concealed from the road and its fragmented form, cut deep into the steep slope, reflects the geometry of the rocky hillside, allowing it to blend in with its context. The main spaces overlook the lake through an expanse of glass, which is shaded with large overhangs and is angled forwards to reduce reflections. A vertical stair tower provides a strong anchoring element for the whole composition and acts as a hinge point, organizing the main spaces.

Visit the website of Mark Dziewulski Architect here.

Photos: SkitheFuture