Home Design Find

Huge White Frames Modulate Light Within the Cosmic House

The strange overlapping layers that define this unusual “Cosmic House” by Fukuyama-based UID Architects are integral to the design.

A mixture of enclosed and open spaces across two levels create an intimate relationship with daily and seasonal changes.

Open and closed rectangles define an ongoing series of ever-shifting spaces.

The effect can be almost symphonic.

Here, a high frame centered over two lower ones creates a long skylight.

Within another series of frames, a living room steps down from a higher garden courtyard.

The shapes form terraces that extend inside and living rooms that open out to the many small gardens.

The surprise of sunlight that washes these frames suggests a kitchen set in a natural forest glade.

Each of the spaces is intimately connected with nature.

Yet there is also a connection with other people and the city – but in the distance.

The lovely quality of the light within the frames is peaceful and diffused.

Each of the frames highlights different sounds, scents, light and breezes around the site.

The result is a completely unique home with an intimate relationship with its setting.

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Magical Site for Stone Minimalism on the Rio Coast

It’s not often that an architect gets to choose the perfect site as part of the design process.

Given just that opportunity, the Brazilian firm Studio Arthur Casas Chose this idyllic place between the mountain and the ocean in Rio de Janeiro to site a home for an old friend.

Set in Rio’s almost fairy-tale landscape, Casa AL was clad in traditional plaster and local stone.

The architect was sure he could design to take full advantage of the views despite the very steep site.

The view is just breathtaking, so the architect aligned all the living areas to make the most of that.

So the house spans three storeys in the front to accommodate the steep site.

“We chose the land together so, for me, it was clear that in the end we would count on the scenery,” said Arthur Casas.

The stone middle storey, built out from ground level at the rear, opens out to a raised terrace with panoramic views.

At the rear of this middle floor, a peaceful secluded courtyard hosts an entrance from the hillside.

The glass panels slide open and disappear into the sidewalls to allow the living room to extend out to the terrace and swimming pool.

A stone wall hides the entrance bridge onto the middle floor and the secluded garden courtyard below.

A grassy roof topping the middle stone floor becomes a garden for the timber-clad small third storey housing just a master bedroom and home office.

This timber third storey appears as if balanced on the stone walls of the entrance courtyard.

Where stone is used, it forms both the interior and exterior wall.

Guest bedrooms on the ground floor open out onto the strip of garden landscaped to frame the stunning sea view.

Brazilian Teak, an extremely resistant timber, is chosen for use in interior furnishings and is hardy enough for outdoor use as well.

The utmost in minimalist luxury, the bathroom features a glass wall dividing wet from dry areas.

A truly unique home, that combines a magical site with a design that simply makes the most of it.

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Sustainable Alice Springs Home for Surviving the Australian Desert

The clients adore the extreme beauty of the Alice Springs desert and wanted an age-in-place, sustainable home from which to enjoy the desert for the rest of their lives.

Australian firm Dunn & Hillam created a home that is self sufficient in energy and water, with solar panels on the roof supplying electricity, and banked in a battery rather than connected to the distant grid.