The House Tours

Designing a small house is always a challenge. It is also a great opportunity to express creativity and come up with unusual design or solutions. The Small House looks just as if it is a big house, but a very scaled down one.

Small plot it, of course, a limit that cannot be exceeded. Instead of finding a way to use all of the small location land for the base, the architect positioned the house centrally on the plot of 34m2, covering only its half. This way the house that measures only 4x4m in the base could get most of the natural light and wind, and also have some small planting space in front.

It has five levels and tiny as it is, it goes higher than the surrounding houses. This made possible an exclusive feature – a rooftop bathroom in glass, open to the sky over the rooftops. A spiral staircase connects the five levels being the highlight of the interior that is simply designed in wood and white panels. Each level is one room starting from the bedroom in the basement, entrance with a toilet at the ground level that is actually a half-level, the first floor is the kitchen and dining room, topped with a spare room and final level is a roof terrace and bathroom.

Wooden façade features opening panels and one large window aside, when those panels are closed, the house seems almost entirely wrapped in wood. Appearing alone like a small wooden tower the house certainly stands out in the dense city area. Read More

This house is a 255 m2 single family home and it is considered a small dwelling, or actually ‘just the right amount of space’ what was the demand. Its neighboring houses are almost twice as big, just like any “regular” house in Australia. So it seems the neighbors can have a full right to call it THAT house, for breaking with that tradition.  Modern life, environment issues, and sustainability awareness are starting to take effect and Australia seems to be fighting a battle with wiser ways of using space, materials and energy. Architects didn’t intend to make a stand or suggest a new prototype, but the house shows great qualities in thinking this direction.

Orientation and windows are set in demands of passive solar gain, also white roof reduces heating. The house has solar panels and a water tank in the ground that collects rainwater which is then used for toilets and watering the garden.  Also, local materials were used where possible so the house responds to sustainability at its best.

THAT house is a composition of three long cuboids one placed over the two others that are distanced enough to make a corridor in between. All three are closed with full area windows on end sides so the house appears completely see-through. This is very unusual for Australia where people tend to stay very private inside homes. Setting a new transparency trend in the neighborhood but also respecting the tradition and habits about the privacy, the house features a small “invention” such as upwards blinds, bringing these two demands together. Read More

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. Read More

This is a holiday home in Iran countryside, 45 km away from the city designed for relaxation and also family gathering events. This demand gave the possibilities for experimenting in some unusual organization of the space and cylindrical form seems as a perfect concept for a house standing in an open field. Its name comes from the form of a snail shell that is read in its base.

Inside the shell, three quarters of a full circle are the built space, and the reaming quarter is the garden that appeared as an essential green element because of the semi-tropical climate. Large windows are oriented to this internal garden, and several smaller windows appear on the outside of the brick shell wall itself. They are bringing light to a part of the inner space that aims to remain private.

Inside, the space has no doors and can be used following demands and the heat seasons. One part that has no windows can be used as bedroom, but also as a living space if the heat is higher than usual. The only closed unit is the bathroom and the house is determined by its circular wall. Open roof provides an observing deck as a roof terrace ideal for gathering events.

This is showing how traditional and contemporary functions are combined. This is also visible in construction and materials. Brick wall as traditional element, with brickwork on the façade, is in contrast with the roof that appears in contemporary construction with use of still beams and galvanized sheets ceiling left visible inside. Read More

Context may determine architecture in many ways. It can give some special demands, obstacles, possibilities or inspiration. This house stands inside a block, without direct traffic approach and close to other surrounding houses. Besides the family of four, it has an additional inhabitant – a tree. It lives inside the house, under its roof which it is breaking through, on its way to the sky. And no, even it if seems like it, it wasn’t a part of the context, but planted as part of the design concept.

Demand for sunlight influenced the concept, having in mind the position of the house inside the block. No surprise then that sun is also its name, “nor” in Arabic, the word that appears in names of the owners’ two daughters. Space absorbs sunlight through openings on the façade that comes down from the top of the gabled roof to the ground. The whole house is wrapped in a white zinc shell that aims to reflect the sun rays providing the light transferring all around.

Special attention is given to the praying room that joins elements of architecture design and religion. Light enters the room through a window that cuts one edge or the room bringing a deeper connection to god for the Muslim owners family through the sunlight coming from the above. The light writes “Allah” inside as a shadow from the word written on the glass. Aside from traditional carpets in the praying room, interior is completely modern and white, so as the house that stands out for this in its surroundings. Read More

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. Read More

When an architect and professor designs and finances a house herself, it just has to be extraordinary. And it is, not only in appearance but in aspects of the design process, construction, and use of materials.

In the process of design, the architect started from the roof. After a research about historical roofs in the area, she created a complex roof that is a symbiosis of parts of six different characteristic gable roofs. After creating the roof structure she started designing the space below.  So instead the floor plan or an overall design would give roof the shape, the roof defined the plan of the house. And as its product, this plan is not a conventional one neither. It is more of a structured open space than a scheme of rooms and corridors.

The second thing why this house is unique is that it is made entirely from CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber). It was the initial idea but also a challenge in terms of construction as all the roof elements, walls and slabs were made of this material. The house was built in only two weeks on spot, but all its pieces were created in advance.

The rough construction would, of course, be in natural wood color, but the architects introduced the “faux-finishes” as a visual contrast to the structure. So ironically, in the interior design, what gives vivid life to natural CLT shades are colors of different materials such as black terrazzo tiles, ceramic tiles with marble-like surfaces, vinyl, and faux-bricks stucco for the façade. Read More

This house is all about the courtyard. And all around the courtyard. Actually, architects bring a contemporary interpretation of a traditional courtyard house in this design. The courtyard is central and most important element of the overall design. The house itself is L-shaped but it cannot be seen individually on the plot. It forms a whole with the courtyard, the pool and the opposite L structure pergola-like corridor topped with plants.

Plants are appearing all over, on the ground and build surfaces. Various vegetation highlights the roof where the garden continues from the ground making an overall impression of connection of the house with nature. Clean lines of surfaces and strict orthogonal shapes give an impression of movement to the house itself. Its elements such as clear planes, pillars, volumes, stairs appear in harmony forming the house, nearly as an exhibition of perfectly combined architectural elements. The star of this exhibition is the pool that appears like a box of water placed on the grass. Its glass walls rise above the ground in the courtyard and dive down inside the house living room space forming a wall.

What appears interesting about this house is that its plans and most interior photos weren’t published. This gets us to a question about privacy and design. Internet era brought us to a time when sharing privacy publicly is encouraged and this is certainly leading to completely new social issues. Some people are still keeping their privacy for themselves, hesitating to follow this trend. And some houses do too! Read More

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. Read More

Under the hat of this house is the bedroom space. Living area is located at the level below and a garage with basement space is under the concrete slab that appears like floating above the street and providing a base for the house above. This ground floor area is a part of the house, although visually, in terms of design it can be seen as its foundation.

The house has a rectangular scheme with four small rectangles written in the corners of the main one. From this base, four closed spaces are rising as closed boxes on each corner of the house. They are spreading through both levels and they are hosting a staircase, bathroom, study and storage rooms. Space outside the boxes is an open space arranged as a living area on the first floor and bedroom with common area on the upper floor.

This organization of the space gave lots of light inside through large windows on all sides. It would have been the same on the upper floor if there weren’t the covering roof that appears as a hat over the house. This hat is saving the house from precipitation but also providing privacy to the more private part of the house. Downstairs, with decks on two sides and the front façade open to the passers, the living area stays more public,  and in connection with the surroundings and urban life. The street window has a view to a park and decks can be seen as its continuation by the house. Read More