Even if it looks like a hotel space at first glance this house was designed completely following the needs of its owners. When clients participate in a wider scale in the design process, more attention is sometimes given to extraordinary demands and perfect details, rather than innovations in artistic concepts. But architect’s seal is never to be missed.

A rare feature that appears on the lowest floor is the brewery. It is at the same level with the office and the garage, what doesn’t seem to be unusual. But the unusual is that it is actually a part of the garage, and having its own bar makes it a real gathering place.

Heading up, using stairs or the elevator as another unusual feature, we enter the main level with the day zone and the garden. Here the architects showed their best introducing large transparent eaves in steel and glass, covering large parts of the garden but without making shades. This makes the most of erasing the border between closed and open space. This concept continues in interior design where different style elements and furniture makes the image of comfort but coexisting with the surrounding garden through large windows. Materials and colors are following this.

The upper floor gives the best of the hotel environment and three large bedrooms can be seen as separate suits. Those suites are filled with all the details for a comfortable living what was the main request perfectly made into reality and seen in every small carefully designed detail all around the house. Continue reading AM House

Custom designed houses so as any custom design usually bring interesting solutions. “Une maison pour surfer” is literary a house for a surfer and the demands of this young family created this open, simple but yet appealing natural design.

So what could demands of a surfer be? Freedom on the waves cannot be easily felt in a closed space such as a house. Open space of the house may be the answer to this so the users can move freely inside as on the waves. Interior design is simple without any unnecessary additions that would show up on a way of achieving this feeling.

The main space of the house appears to be its entrance zone. And this is far beyond a simple entrance. It is a double-height porch that can be closed entirely with polycarbonate transparent panels. It continues to an open terrace and this space is the central space of the house making the “outdoor living” inside a house as real as possible.

Showing respect to the nature and its surroundings, building of this house cut no trees around. It has rather settled inside the forest, becoming part of it. This impression is created with the vertical wood cladding of the house. Inside, all the surfaces are covered in natural wood panels in light colors. All pieces of furniture are made of wood. To show the most of respect for the local nature all house elements were prefabricated and brought to the location. Outdoor living and environmental awareness certainly do come together. Continue reading Une maison pour surfer

Sometimes clients have strong wishes about the building they are investing in. It is not a rare example that they want to build in their profession, most often into interior design. But sometimes they feel so inspired by their profession or way of life that they need to transfer that to their living space. Flying house has been created for a young pilot and his family.

Even if someone’s first association would be a house as a plane, this house is certainly something else. It has the flying element built in the overall design but in a very complex and spiritual manner. Movement-like surfaces are creating an illusion of flying, whether it can be seen in the house itself, or in the impression of people staying inside. Deciding if it has landed or ready to take off seems just too superficail.

The unusual design follows a functional concept of built space around a courtyard. This courtyard floats above the house through paths in a green roof achieving the most in terms of connection of green and built spaces.

Besides the obvious modern elements, the house gives a contemporary interpretation of traditional Korean architecture. It is showing for example in connection to the ground in the living room and architecture of the pavilion. This was also a demand of the client given the personal touch of the architect. With lots of reinforced concrete, rough surfaces, aluminum façade from a strict budget the house proves again that design is about concepts and not funds. Continue reading Flying House