What would our homes look like if designed around how we use them? It's probably no secret that the American home is a bit of a porker. In 2013, the median and average new, single family house was 2,478 and 2,662 square feet respectively--higher than previous, 2007 pre- bubble figures. Compare this to 1950, when the average new home was a mere 983 square feet. But somehow the McMansion pill would be a bit easier to swallow if these big homes were used. A book released a couple years ago called "Life at Home in the 21st Century" tracked 32 middle class Los Angelino families as they went about their daily affairs, tracking their movements and habits to see how people actually lived nowadays. What did they find? So the question becomes, if Family 11 is representative of the average American family, and if their home is about average size (tag an upper floor on the 1000 square feet and you're about there) why does their home have so much more room than needed?
Three Tent Home A homes in Northern, California comprised of three tents and outdoor living/cooking area. Tents by Sweetwater Bungalows. Photos by Fair Companies. Video tour here. The Glass House by AR Design Studio What was already a house with rich history in Winchester, UK, became even more so when AR Design Studio came in to renovate the old servants’ quarters of a larger home they’re a part of. When excavation began, bodies (yes, bodies) were discovered buried underground. Police brought in archeologists who determined that the site had been used for Roman burials. The artifacts and bodies were cleared and taken to a museum for research and The Glass House project was once again back on track. The servants’ quarters had fallen apart over the years and when the occupants of the larger house decided to downsize, they chose to tackle the project and realize their love of glass. The designers took it from there and created a glass staircase and glass extension sandwiched into an alcove in the rear of the building that opened up into the garden. They managed to seamlessly add the frameless modern extension on to what appears to be a traditional brick house and did it well. Photos by Martin Gardner.
A Modern Home Inspired by the Remains of a Barn The Hebron Home marks the inaugural house project by Benjamin Oliver AD and, for a first design, it’s impressive. The project began in 2011 when the land was purchased in Hebron, Connecticut with the remains of a barn. They chose to build a new home that preserved the legacy of what once was with a modern, New England barn-style residence for a homeowner that loves horses. Both the interior and exterior’s surfaces are full of texture making for an authentic feel without giving it the feeling of having been decorated. Mixing industrial and modern with rustic touches throughout, the feeling of the home is both warm and inviting. The interior feels bright and open with large windows and white finishes keeping the spaces light. Sight lines from the master bedroom to the front of the house remain clear and open helping the spaces feel connected, as well as providing a sense of security. Found elements are shown incorporated everywhere, like in the light fixture hanging above the stairs.
Add Some Warmth: 12 Plywood Interiors The Interwebs are filled with plywood, from furniture to entire rooms. Here we spotlight twelve spectacular spaces, all featuring the unfinished, historically inexpensive, material. Above, concrete and pale plywood mingle to perfection in the Setagaya Flat in Tokyo, designed by Narus Inokuma Architects and Hiroko Karibe Architects. It’s their own home. We wish it were ours. Photo by Iwan Baan House OM in Yokohama, Japan, designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects, has a dining space lined with a plywood wall that pierces a circle in the ceiling. This stark plywood walled room in a home designed by PS Arkitektur seems the perfect place to contemplate the snowy weather. A lone slit of sunlight streaks down into the plywood paneled, monk-like space by Uni Architecture of Cambridge, Mass. Chartier-Corbasson Architects designed this Parisian loft. Another view of the same space by Chartier-Corbasson Architects, as seen in LoftLife. Photo by Petra Bindel Photo by Simon Devitt
Natural Architecture: Home-Grown Artistic Tree Houses Patrick Dougherty is a builder and yet not an architect – he is perhaps best described as an artist and sculptor, a wood craftsman the likes of which most of us have never seen. Rather than cutting, planing, leveling and assembling rectilinear wood structures he shapes living trees into amazing natural tree buildings. What started as simple arbosculptures quickly become inhabitable spaces and entire built environments. Some of the results seem like churches or gazebos, religious or resting places deep in the forest, as shown in the pictures above. Others are more abstract and open for interpretation or mixed-use occupation, changing with seasonal conditions as shown below. Always temporary by necessity, he grows and shapes the constituent sapplings to create playful and interactive forms in all kinds of contexts (with over 150 installations worldwide to date).
‘Woodpile’ Cabin: Log-Lined Fire Pit = Four-Season Shelter This is one of those shelter design ideas that sounded good in theory and problematic in practice. Few such projects become a reality, making this timber-framed retreat a rare (but hopefully safe) exception … so far, so good, as it does not appear to have burned down (yet). The concept itself is very cool – or rather, hot … then warm … then cold? A metal frame wraps all four sides of the structure, with slots to fit felled lumber to be used as fuel for a central fireplace. An open void in the top lets out excess smoke, as do the natural openings between pieces of wood tucked into the walls. One would think that the whole place could catch fire, but apparently there is enough distance within the dwelling (and between it and other structures) to make it work.
Semi Trucks Recycled into New Penthouse & Bay Windows What happens when an artistic couple and an industrial-and-reuse-oriented architecture firm collide? Something like this: an otherwise-ordinary West Village townhouse turned into a light-filled live/work art studio … complete with pieces of old metal truck trailers protruding from the top and projecting out the front. Lawrence and Alice Weiner wanted more room and daylight . Building codes lent a hand, allowing them to work with the architects of LOT-EK (famous for many offbeat refabs and a copious use of cargo containers) add another story to the top of their residence. The rigid structure of semi trailers makes sense for architectural use in general, while the linearity and consistent sizing lends itself to the sort of stacking used in this instance. Getting the notion of reused truck parts past the local heritage commission, though, sounds like it was a bit of a trick. In the end, needs on all fronts were met.