Nice house… but where’s the doorbell?
Cutting-edge, contemporary architecture is merely about creating colossal, blockbusting structures on the skylines of the world’s biggest cities. The Shard, in London, for example, or the proposed mile-high Kingdom Tower in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.
This home on a cliff overlooks the ocean in Sri Lanka, designed by Shigeru Ban. Screens and shutters keep out the sun but encourage air to flow naturally through the open spaces (left); House NA by Sou Fujimoto Architects in Tokyo. The transparent house comprises floor plates, situated at various heights, so the owners can lead a nomadic life at home (right)
Or is it? For while many of the world’s greatest architects are putting their names to bigger and ever more luxurious structures, they are also behind some truly extraordinary small homes. In fact, it is in this field that some of the most dazzling innovations are being made.
Clockwise from left: The swimming pool at the beachside Vedoble House, Peru, designed by Barclay and Crousse; In Monterrey, Mexico, this design by Tadao Ando is rectilinear – the pool seems to disappear into the horizon; Woodstock Farm Estate, in Vermont, is designed by Rick Joy. This elegantly elongated gable house has massive stone end walls and cedar cladding on the roof
Indeed, as these spectacular homes show, innovation often comes when budgets are (relatively) limited and land is in short supply. This is particularly true of Japan, for example, where homes of fewer than 100 square metres are often the norm.
Here, properties are moving into pioneering new territory, as seen with House NA by Sou Fujimoto in Tokyo. Here, the architect has experimented with a radically open design to help counteract the limitations posed by the property’s restricted footprint. It is a nod to Japanese tradition where shoji screens or sliding panels have given ‘flexible space’ for centuries, but also reflects the new realities posed by a growing population. Here, tradition and innovation are beautifully married.
Rather than relying on the usual grid pattern, architects are also making their buildings more ambiguous. The structures must still be functional, of course, but they must also be more exible than many more traditional modern homes.
Bedrooms and bathrooms remain private, but where climate permits, once-strict boundaries between inside and outside are being blurred by full glazing or sliding surfaces.
The Raul House is a weekend home, located in the mountains around the Aculeo Lagoon, near Santiago, Chile. Mathias Klotz and Magdalena Bernstein designed it as a single level, continuous space
The traditional and the contemporary can also exist in harmony, as in Rick Joy’s Woodstock Farm Estate, located in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The ‘elongated stoneended gable’ house appears more like an old-fashioned farm than a piece of cutting-edge design, but the interiors provide the kind of comfort and modernity to which today’s clients, in the market for an ‘architect’s’ house, are accustomed. The homes exist in harmony with their environment, whether in a teeming city centre or on a clifftop overlooking the sea.
The hilltop BF House rests on three metal, V-shaped pillars, so appears to be suspended in the air, and provides magnifi cent views of Castellón Province, Spain (left); 7. House in Melides in Portugal, by Pedro Reis (right)
In fact, the overriding message of Taschen’s book Architecture Now! Houses 3, is that no specific geographic area or architectural style is privileged: ‘good’ architecture now exists almost anywhere on the planet, where there are means and the will to build more than a simple shelter. From the UK to Japan, Paraguay to Korea, modern architecture is being fascinatingly redefined.
Architecture Now! Houses, Vol 3, by Philip Jodidio (TASCHEN, £34.99).
This home on a cliff overlooks the ocean in Sri Lanka, designed by Shigeru Ban. Screens and shutters keep out the sun but encourage air to flow naturally through the open spaces (left); House NA by Sou Fujimoto Architects in Tokyo. The transparent house comprises floor plates, situated at various heights, so the owners can lead a nomadic life at home (right)Or is it? For while many of the world’s greatest architects are putting their names to bigger and ever more luxurious structures, they are also behind some truly extraordinary small homes. In fact, it is in this field that some of the most dazzling innovations are being made.
Clockwise from left: The swimming pool at the beachside Vedoble House, Peru, designed by Barclay and Crousse; In Monterrey, Mexico, this design by Tadao Ando is rectilinear – the pool seems to disappear into the horizon; Woodstock Farm Estate, in Vermont, is designed by Rick Joy. This elegantly elongated gable house has massive stone end walls and cedar cladding on the roofIndeed, as these spectacular homes show, innovation often comes when budgets are (relatively) limited and land is in short supply. This is particularly true of Japan, for example, where homes of fewer than 100 square metres are often the norm.
Here, properties are moving into pioneering new territory, as seen with House NA by Sou Fujimoto in Tokyo. Here, the architect has experimented with a radically open design to help counteract the limitations posed by the property’s restricted footprint. It is a nod to Japanese tradition where shoji screens or sliding panels have given ‘flexible space’ for centuries, but also reflects the new realities posed by a growing population. Here, tradition and innovation are beautifully married.
Rather than relying on the usual grid pattern, architects are also making their buildings more ambiguous. The structures must still be functional, of course, but they must also be more exible than many more traditional modern homes.
Bedrooms and bathrooms remain private, but where climate permits, once-strict boundaries between inside and outside are being blurred by full glazing or sliding surfaces.
The Raul House is a weekend home, located in the mountains around the Aculeo Lagoon, near Santiago, Chile. Mathias Klotz and Magdalena Bernstein designed it as a single level, continuous spaceThe traditional and the contemporary can also exist in harmony, as in Rick Joy’s Woodstock Farm Estate, located in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The ‘elongated stoneended gable’ house appears more like an old-fashioned farm than a piece of cutting-edge design, but the interiors provide the kind of comfort and modernity to which today’s clients, in the market for an ‘architect’s’ house, are accustomed. The homes exist in harmony with their environment, whether in a teeming city centre or on a clifftop overlooking the sea.
The hilltop BF House rests on three metal, V-shaped pillars, so appears to be suspended in the air, and provides magnifi cent views of Castellón Province, Spain (left); 7. House in Melides in Portugal, by Pedro Reis (right)In fact, the overriding message of Taschen’s book Architecture Now! Houses 3, is that no specific geographic area or architectural style is privileged: ‘good’ architecture now exists almost anywhere on the planet, where there are means and the will to build more than a simple shelter. From the UK to Japan, Paraguay to Korea, modern architecture is being fascinatingly redefined.
Architecture Now! Houses, Vol 3, by Philip Jodidio (TASCHEN, £34.99).