Sunday Inspiration - Balancing Barn House

Sometimes architects have a way of making homes appear to do more(or less) than they appear. The Balancing Barn House near Suffolk across the big pond from us over here in the US is one of those homes.

Seeming to teeter on the side of a hill, half of the home is above ground with no supports. Scary?

Check it out:

Check out that swing!

The house is built using a complex frame, along with heavier materials on the "ground side" so that the opposing end can remain open and obstruction free. The exterior is clad in silver panels that give the home a unique reflective quality that mimics the environment around it.

The house sleeps eight and is available as a short term rental. You can stay there! 

photos via

Perhaps my favorite feature of the space is the "floor light" in the living room. Those chilling on the sofa can look down beyond the coffee table and see the ground!



I'm ready to go!

Sunday Inspiration - UP Replica House

I've only seen the movie "Up" once, but was struck by the cute little home featured that floats away thanks to lots of balloons.

Bangerter Homes in Utah created a near exact replica of the home for their local Parade of Homes in 2011. The 2800 square foot home features many of the same nuances from the movie. The detail is pretty impressive!

Check it out:

photos via Bangerter Homes

Last I saw, the home was on the market for just shy of $400k. According to the builder's website, the home is open for free tours. If you're not close to Utah, check out this video for a sneak peek of the interior.

Could you live here? 

Sunday Inspiration - Not Your Grandma's Astroturf

Astroturf takes me back to a time when country porches and concrete pads were softened by the glorious and shiny green plasti-grass that was once one of the hottest and most desirable home accents available.

What were we thinking?

And then comes this Ortis designed home in Austria....

Complete with stairs to nowhere, sideways windows and goats, mind you. Wouldn't goats eat the house?

So what do you think? It's like camo in the summer!

Sunday Inspiration - Cement Factory Living

Some of the most stunning homes are not new mega-mansions that started out with a fancy ground-breaking on a newly prepared lot.

I love to see older buildings transformed from relics of a manufacturing past to stunning homes. This former cement factory fits the bill.

Ricardo Bofill spent two years transforming this cement factory in to a multi-function building that would house architectural offices, a model laboratory and an apartment for himself among other things.

Instead of removing all elements of the buildings previous life, the new occupants used the workmanlike elements as a backdrop for a new relaxing space.

Originally, the factory had over 30 silos... Could you imagine having a meeting under one?!

all photos: Mother

Or how about lunch? The exterior was transformed in to a stunning garden with outdoor living spots sprinkled through the industrial property. What do you think? Preserving history or kitschy design?

Sunday Inspiration - Alligator House

The Alligator House is a project by buildingstudio designed to go back in to lower-income areas of post-Katrina New Orleans.

The design is stunning!

At just 13 feet wide, the home fits nicely on the narrow lots in already crowded parts of the city. It really reminds me of the shotgun houses around here!

The 872 square foot home has two bedroom and a bath and a half. Perfect for a small family!

via

Kudos to buildingstudio for helping make New Orleans a better place and certainly adding a bright spot to the landscape!

Sunday Inspiration - House Among Trees

Growing up near a national forest allowed me to develop a great respect of wooded areas and natural habitats. There's a special relationship between a home that compliments the world around it, instead of creating a space that otherwise would have never happened in nature.

This home in coastal Mar Azul, Argentina exists without disrupting the forest it was built in- Great care was taken(partly out of necessity, due to code restrictions) to maintain the wooded area.

The incorporation of the trees in to the structure and use of materials makes this one of my favorite houses... Perfect Sunday Inspiration!

Source: ArchDaily

Photos: G. Sosa Panilla

Sunday Inspiration - Shaft House

Talk about an interesting addition to the neighborhood!

The "Shaft House" was built in Toronto in 2010. Design by Reza Aliabadi, the home occupies a slim spot on a seemingly normal neighborhood street.

From the architects project notes:

"The Shaft House is an unexpected and exciting spatial experience that survives the limits of our ordinary living spaces. The two and a half storey detached house reevaluates functional arrangements within a narrow building while creating bright and airy spaces. Affordability is a value that the building successfully owns by integrating well thought low-cost strategies in the design process; from purchasing a modest lot of about 20 feet wide to choosing sustainable and cost efficient materials. Aluminum siding, untreated wood and recyclable rusted steel for the exterior of the house not only help reduce the costs of the design but t also tried to make a statement on organic behaviors of buildings by changing color while aging along with the house."

"The Shaft House generates spaces without walls. Circulation and services surround a void of light that is called “The Shaft”. Floors on either side overlook each other allowing light and sight to travel deep inside the house. The staircase circulates around the central shaft and cause rooms to emerge in space by changing levels. The levels have been shifted in section resulting in a canopy facing the street, and a south facing deck on the rooftop."

"While the construction cost of the shaft house is almost as affordable as a ready-made design set of standard housings in Toronto, it is yet a surprise for the neighborhood and perhaps for many other neighborhoods in the city. But atelier rzlbd’s aspiration towards changing the face of Toronto by creating innovative and affordable designs for single family houses, is a goal that Shaft House successfully represents."



Would this fit in on your street? Is it somewhere that you'd like to live?

Design Architect: Reza Aliabadi [rzlbd]

Design Team: Reza Aliabadi & Ali Malekzadeh
Project Manager: Ali Malekzadeh
Architectural Photography: borXu Design
Building Type: Single family house
Location: Toronto
Basics: Three story wood structure
Lot: 20'X100'
Living Area: 1400 sqft
Completion: Summer 2010

Sunday Inspiration - Delta Shelter

Woodland retreats have always interested me. The connection with nature and ability to renew one's mind and spirit always seems easier when a space opens up to the world instead of shutting it out.

The Delta Shelter is a 20' x 20' weekend retreat situated near a floodplain in Washington state. Designed by Olsun Kundig Architects, the building can be shuttered when not in use or at night by hand cranking 10' x 18' steel shutters. Pretty awesome use of materials, if you ask me!

As hot as it is here, it's nice to see pictures of snow. *smile*

photos via Olsun Kundig Architects