Home Design Find

No Comments »

Isolated Tropical Villa and Guesthouse on a Brazilian Mountainside

A holiday villa that is more outside than inside is framed in rustic wood beams and barely filled-in walls of earthy golden stucco.

The simple tropical vacation home is sited amidst the most breathtaking unspoiled tropical rain forest on a mountainside in Brazil.

Despite its extreme isolation, the simple retreat is comfortable and has even a spartan sort of eco-luxury.

Sturdy furnishings are simply fashioned of local sustainable timbers.

Here, the comforting old staple of rocking chairs on the porch take on a tropical air.

Huge hollowed-out bamboo supplies fireside storage.

Both TV and fire are housed side by side in the same stone fireplace.

Stairs as rudimentary as in a chicken coop access the one bedroom above.

This bedroom is really a cozy attic-mezzanine overlooking the living area, protected in the rafters of the same steep roof line.

Rustic stone paving leads out from the cottage.

Next the main villa seen here, a path leads across to another, smaller version as a replica, also in local rustic timbers and golden stucco – a guest house.

In this guest house, a rudimentary kitchen is right at the front, almost becoming part of the tropical mountainside.

In this guest cotage, a TV area is set deeper within the living room, while a conversation area is to the front, where guests can soak up the glorious unspoiled scenery.

Guests share the main house swimming pool seen outside.

The remote off-grid pair is by Sarmento & Melo Arquitetura.

A very simple yet charming eco retreat.

No Comments »

Warm Pine in Old Stone Farmhouse Conversion in Spain

This historic farmhouse in rural Cantabria was renovated by Manel Casellas and Mar Puig de la Bellacasa at Barcelona studio 2260mm architects.

The original had been extremely dark.

The original barn had housed animals on the ground floor, with the owners on two floors above.

Because the stone barn collapsed during the renovation, they had to completely rebuild.

The new structurally sound framework of wooden columns, beams and staircases provides a warm contrast to the rough stone walls.

The old stone barn is filled with fresh young wood.

The kitchen, seen here, is on the ground floor, now lined with fresh concrete and filled with pine.

The miracle of the renovation is how the architects were able to make a light interior while being unable to add any windows.

As the building had historic significance, they couldn’t add new windows to bring in more light.

A low attic maximizes two skylights in the roof that bring enough light and warmth inside.

The all white and pine interior also helps light it up.

Essentially the architects have inserted a light, warm and comfortable contemporary home inside the old stone box.

No Comments »

Slide-Out Guest Bedrooms Define Odd French Holiday Cottage

An unusual all-black holiday cottage from Atelier Raum in the French Bretagne region quietly but definitively defies local village traditions.

A huge skylight brings brilliant light into an all-white interior room, contrasting with the dark exterior.

This roof-wide skylight is at the base of a green roof that appears to continue the wooded hillside up another slope.

Even stranger, this brilliantly daylit room is dug into the hillside, creating a pair of 45 degree angles with the roof slope.

Interestingly, two guest bedrooms can be rolled entirely out of the tiny cottage, and placed facing any direction.

Or stored inside.

The result is a house that can be uniquely connected to the outside for a kind of camping experience.

One enormous window connects the rule-defying cottage bedroom to its villagers.

The eerie effect is that of a periscope peering out at unfriendly terrain.

In such a tradition-bound setting, this odd cottage is probably in exactly that relationship.