Hasta La Ideas

This asymmetric Alpine cabin by Austrian architect Peter Jungmann has been named Ufogel because its owners think it looks like a cross between a UFO and a “vogel” – the German word for bird (+ slideshow).

Located on a grassy slope in the East Tyrolian village of Nussdorf, the small shingle-clad structure is a rentable holiday home that sleeps up to four people, but contains only 45-square-metres of floor space.

The building is raised off the ground on metal feet, but is otherwise built entirely from wood. Larch shingles clad the outer walls and roof, while the interior surfaces are lined with timber panels to create a distinctive smell.

A gentle staircase leads up into the main floor of the house, which features a small kitchen and a dining table that can seat between six and eight people at a time.

A small lounge area filled with cushions sits half a storey up, beside a long window that angles upwards to frame views towards the peaks of the Lienz Dolomites.

Stairs continue up to a bedroom level with a curved ceiling, containing both a double bed and a separate bunk. The shower and washroom are also located on this floor.

Underfloor heating helps to distribute warmth throughout the space, but can be supplemented by a wood-burning stove.

Here’s some more information from the Ufogel website:

Ufogel

Explore the difference in our house UFOGEL in Nussdorf/Debant near Lienz in East Tyrol!

Our exclusive and bizarre holiday house – Ufogel in the picturesque Nussdorf near Lienz has an unusual architecture. It is built on stilts and floating above the meadow in a peaceful and unspoiled nature. The panoramic windows offers a unique view of the breathtaking Lienz Dolomites, the Val Pusteria impressive mountain peaks and the so-called “Carinthian Gate”.

Your exclusive holiday home for your unforgettable holiday is a compact building, made entirely of wood, both inside as well as outside. The smell of wood flows through the room. A generous, as the only access bridge-like connection to the seemingly floating building. Almost like at home standing in the entrance area with slippers.

Following you will find the kitchen with a spacious kitchen, sink and hob. A stove with optional hotplate complements the kitchen and spreads warmth throughout the house. The cantilevered table can comfortably accommodate 6-8 people. For more generosity, the seat can be folded down. The huge panoramic window with a lawn on the mezzanine bridge the gap to the surrounding nature. A feeling like the convenience of Inside Outside. Natural materials, coupled with quality products – the best of the region. Substances (Villgrater nature) not far distant from the production Ufogel give more softness and comfort. Whether you relax comfortably watch TV, play, sleep, cook or just want to switch off – nothing seems impossible.

Upstairs there is a spacious double bed in pine, which can be transformed into a bed when needed. Another, separate bunk offers the special recreational value for two. An open glass cabinet with a view into the shower creates sufficient space for luggage. The barrier-free bathroom, overlooking the East Tyrolean mountains makes the shower experience. The Ufogel has a floor heating, which can optionally be supplemented by the stove. A refrigerator and a storage box with several areas are available. For hot summer days, a fully automatic sun protection system is installed, which can be operated manually. Experience the extraordinary – in Ufogel.

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has metal feet and a beak appeared first on Dezeen.

A raw concrete house in Alicante by Spanish studio Langarita-Navarro Arquitectos becomes the scene for a string of mysterious murders in this series of images by photographer Luis Diaz Diaz (+ slideshow).

Langarita-Navarro Arquitectos designed the two-storey Casa Baladrar as a holiday house in the Spanish town of Benissa, but Luis Diaz Diaz chose to photograph the building as is it were a crime scene, rather than an attractive tourist destination.

“Every time I take pictures of houses I think about all of the things that could happen inside,” Diaz Diaz told Dezeen. “Many things happen in the life of a house, sometimes good sometimes bad; it can be robbed, or there could be a big party. So a house is the perfect place for creating a fantasy.”

One image features a man slumped over the mint-green frame of one of the house’s many large windows, while another features a woman lying behind a sofa on the terracotta tiles of the living room floor.

“I wanted to create a contrast between the clarity of the architectural lines of the house and these kind of weird events,” explained the photographer.

These architectural lines include a series of faceted ceilings that angle back and forth through the open-plan living room and kitchen, which occupies the house’s upper floor.

Architect María Langarita said they added these details to mimic the rugged topography that links the house with the sea. “We wanted a way to inhabit this rocky landscape,” she told Dezeen.

A series of bedrooms are located on the level below. Like the living room, each one can be opened out to surrounding terraces by sliding back glass doors and perforated metal shutters.

“Our goal was to make a very open house, so when the windows are open they disappear completely behind these lively green lattices and you don’t see any glass,” said Langarita.

Matching green glass tiles cover some of the lower walls. There’s also a swimming pool wrapping around part of the perimeter, which is depicted containing a body face-down.

Here’s a project description from Langarita-Navarro Arquitectos:

Casa Baladrar

The scattered and trans-European city that the mountainous coast of Alicante has become, houses a heterogeneous population that is drawn to the sun, the sea, the temperate climate, the convenient public services and the leafy greenery.

The promise of relaxing and hedonistic experiences captivates both seasonal tourists and long-term residents who see their expectations fulfilled amongst jasmine and bougainvilleas. The project draws from this context and is designed to meet the demands of multiple families in the summertime and as a haven for retirees the rest of the year.

The house rests on terraces that were once used for farming, which resolve the steep gradient of the terrain. The plot’s sloping nature means that there are some spectacular views of the sea from its upper reaches, while the lower portion looks over a wooded stream bed that carries water into a pebble-strewn cove.

The house takes advantage of the views and the breeze and makes the most of the uneven terrain and vegetation for the creation of small areas where activities can take place simultaneously, day and night. The existing trees were preserved and new species added in an effort to conquer the promising exuberance of local flora.

The interior spaces are arranged in a cascade, with common areas on the upper floor adjoining the terraces with their views, and bedrooms on the lower floor with access to the garden and swimming pool. The detail proposed for the openings eliminates all presence of glass when they are drawn back, transforming the house into an enormous porch that provides continuity between outside and inside activities.

The building uses the thermal inertia of the concrete and stone to its advantage, combining it with the lightness of the avocado green latticework and the glass tiles to create a cool and well-ventilated atmosphere. The house’s geometry and mineral quality reflect the impressive Peñón de Ifach and respond to a desire for time travel, with a minimum amount of maintenance.

Project: Casa Baladrar
Location: Benissa, Alicante
Architects: María Langarita and Víctor Navarro
Collaborators: Marta Colón, Roberto González, Juan Palencia
Structures: Mecanismo S.L.
Date: September 2009
Client: Private

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photographed as a crime scene appeared first on Dezeen.

This symmetrical concrete house by Chilean studio Pezo Von Ellrichshausen is the first in a series of 12 holiday homes underway in the Spanish canton of Matarraña and will be followed by others designed by Sou Fujimoto, Didier Faustino and more (+ slideshow).

Casa Pezo is the first and so far only completed residence in the Solo Houses series – a project commissioned by French developer Christian Bourdais that invited a host of international architects to design a dream house with no constraints besides budget.

Architects Maurizio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen of Pezo Von Ellrichshausen based their house on the principles of “symmetry and homothety”, creating an evenly proportioned building that centres around a courtyard and swimming pool.

The main living spaces of the house are raised two storeys above the ground so that they float over the landscape. They’re supported by a chunky central column, which accommodates the building’s entrance and contains the swimming pool.

“Occupants feel a floating sensation as they hang over a podium that only sustains the centre of the building,” explained the design team.

To maintain the unyielding symmetry, the building has two identical entrances that are both accessed from a single staircase.

Once inside, residents use a spiral staircase to walk up to the house’s main floor, where a living room, dining room and pair of bedrooms are neatly positioned around the edges of the courtyard.

All four rooms have floor-to-ceiling glazing, which slides back to allow each one to be transformed into a terrace, while four balconies form the square corners of the plan.

The architects looked at the design of traditional Mediterranean courtyard residences when developing the layout and proportions of the plan. “The size of the swimming pool, a quarter of the patio, sets the standard for each the modules of the peripheral ring,” they said.

The sides of the pool and courtyard are lined with white ceramic tiles to provide a counterpoint to the bare concrete visible everywhere else around the building.

Casa Peso was completed in June 2013, but is set to be followed by 11 more projects from architects including Sou Fujimoto, Didier Faustino, Johnston Marklee and Takei Nabeshima.

Photography is by Cristobal Palma.

Here’s more information from Pezo Von Ellrichshausen:

Casa Pezo – the first of the solo houses collection

Chilean agency Pezo Von Ellrichshausen has completed Casa Pezo – Solo Houses’ first initiative of unique property development in Europe. The house is a belvedere situated in the breathtaking natural site Matarraña, two hours south of Barcelona. It overlooks the Natural Park of Puertos de Beceite.

This house is the first house completed by Solo Houses. Its project comprises building a dozen homes in the region, each designed by some of the most avant-garde international architects. Christian Bourdais, founder of Solo Houses, gives architects few restrictions when designing their interpretation of a second home. He believes that this specific type of habitat offers occupants and architects a freedom from preconceived notions of housing and an aperture to unique architectural design.

Maurizio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen designed a house, which dominates the landscape. A platform separates the structure from the mainland. Occupants feel a floating sensation as they hang over a podium that only sustains the centre of the building.

Casa Pezo is made of concrete. Its design is governed by symmetry and homothety. It plays with verticality and horizontality. Balance and rhythm begin at the entrance and is sustained throughout. Two sets of stairs and doors create a triangle on either side of a corner.

It is only once you have reached the upper floor that it becomes clear that the monolith flanking the podium is a swimming pool. Covered with ceramic tiling, the pool occupies the central part of a patio. It is a reference to Mediterranean architecture where a balance of warmth and shade is essential.

The size of the swimming pool, a quarter of the patio, sets the standard for each the modules of the peripheral ring. Beyond a rigorous geometric distribution, Casa Pezo is simple and minimal. A dining room, a living room and two bedrooms are filled with little furniture, mostly designed by the architects themselves. Large windows open completely to the outside. All indoor spaces have the possibility of becoming outdoor terraces.

The estate covers just under fifty hectares. Ten other houses, all designed by renowned architects, are planned. Each unique structure will be surrounded by 3 to 4 hectares of nature. This allows each home to fully integrate into an expanse landscape.

Architecture de Collection, the first agency specialising in the sale of outstanding 20th and 21st century architecture, markets the homes. Architects for the other homes include Sou Fujimoto, designer of the current Serpentine Gallery pavilion, Didier Faustino, Office KGDVS, Johnston Marklee, MOS Office, Studio Mumbai, or TNA Takei Nabeshima. For the price of a simple 100m2 apartment in a city, Solo Houses offers property with a creative concept.

Christian Bourdais believes in the principle of collecting original and unique designs. The business model is patterned following the Case Study House Program. A project that collected the most talented architects of 1950s to 1970s, in order to explore the concept of a modern and affordable vacation spot in California. Half a century later, each of these productions – 36 projects, not all of which have been constructed – has become a work of art. Amateur architecture collectors strive to own them. Solo Houses is a project of today. It is a reflection on our modern way of life. It is also based on the timeless art of living.

The post Pezo von Ellrichshausen’s Casa Pezo is first
of 12 architect-designed dream houses appeared first on Dezeen.

This holiday home on the southern coast of Nova Scotia perches on a row of narrow concrete fins just metres from the Atlantic Ocean (+ slideshow).

Designed as a holiday home for a couple by Canadian studio MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, the property is situated close to a small fishing village on a plot where a meadow meets the rocky coastline.

The clients asked for a sanctuary where they could look out at the sun setting over the sea, and the architects responded by designing the building as a “landscape-viewing instrument, with its side opened to the Atlantic Ocean horizon, and its end a focusing aperture to the sunset.”

The architects raised the building off the ground “to allow any rogue waves which might crest the granite edge to pass under the house,” but left one corner open to the elements to create a terrace overlooking the sea.

The exterior is clad in corrugated galvanised aluminium to provide a robust shield against the prevailing weather and the underside of the raised structure is covered in the same marine-grade plywood used in local boat building.

A series of broad wooden stairs lead to a covered opening with doors on either side connecting the master bedroom with the rest of the house. Large sliding barn doors can be closed to seal the building during storms.

The main living space is located next to the terrace and features glass walls that frame views of the ocean, while clerestory windows above the beds allow the occupants to look up at the sky and a low window provides views from the bathtub.

Interior finishes are kept deliberately minimal to focus attention on the views. “When seated in front of the warming hearth, the land between the house and the water’s edge disappears from view, and the plane of the polished grey concrete floor extends to the ever-changing surface of the ocean,” said the architects.

Photography is by Greg Richardson.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Sunset Rock

Place / Landscape

This home is dramatically sited along the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, on the southern coast of Nova Scotia, a landscape defined by massive pieces of exposed granite, and the drama of the open ocean. Running parallel to the rugged the shoreline, the house grips the edge fulfilling the owners desire to have as intimate of a connection to the ocean as possible.

Its cantilevered end reaches out over Sunset Rock, its namesake and the owners most loved place on their site. Many evenings were spent viewing the spectacular local sunsets from this location, long before the idea of placing a house here was conceived. As a result the house is an extension of the rock, creating a landscape-viewing instrument, with its side opened to the Atlantic Ocean horizon, and its end a focusing aperture to the sunset.

Program

Built as a vacation home for a professional couple who fell in love with the local people and pace of life of this small fishing village, it is a retreat from the pace of the major metropolis in which they work. A sanctuary just steps from the ocean, it is a place in which to read, reflect, and write, while living within the remarkable view.

On approach, the house appears as a long metal blade marking the transition from meadow to ocean, its monolithic form punctuated by a generous stair leading to the framed view of the ocean horizon provided by the covered entry deck. A series of barn doors allow for the metal skin to be completed, providing protection of the windows from any storms that may come. And as a further consideration to its environment, the house lightly touches the ground, resting on a series of concrete fins perpendicular to the shoreline, engineered to allow any rouge waves which might crest the granite edge to pass under the house.
An asymmetrical bite out of the end of the form creates a sheltered viewing deck from which to enjoy the sunset, while above this an interior loft allows for inhabiting the steel structure, and provides a cocooning space in which to work with focused views along the shoreline.

The narrow floor plate provides excellent cross ventilation, while generous windows to the view invite the sun in to warm the thermal mass of the concrete floors. The main living area has walls of glass to the view, with no partitions above 8’, allowing for the full expression of the volumes sculptural nature. Body scaled bedboxes open upward without ceilings providing views to the ever-changing day and night sky through clearstory windows. The bathing room again responds to the theme of water, with a long, narrow low window for viewing the ocean waves while seated in the bathtub. The master suite is separated from the public spaces of the house by the covered deck allowing for retreat and privacy.

Craft / Building / Material

With its grey metal skin the house disappears within the blanket of fog which frequents the site. The durable and economical corrugated galvalume was chosen not only for its minimal beauty, but also to endure the environmental conditions of the houses proximity to the ocean. The underbelly of the house is protected by marine grade plywood, a material used extensively in the local boat building industry. The calm sculptural nature of the house, expressed both in its form and materials, are drawn from the vernacular and ethic of the local buildings used in the commercial fishery. Many of those involved in the building of the home were equally comfortable building a boat for lobster fishing as they are building a house.

The interior pallet is restrained, almost completely white except for the horizontal surfaces of concrete and granite, and the exposed steel structure. This allows the interior surfaces to be of minimal distraction and dissolve into the background as the power and immediacy of the ocean is invited in. When seated in front of the warming hearth, the land between the house and the water’s edge disappears from view, and the plane of the polished grey concrete floor extends to the ever-changing surface of the ocean.

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by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

This small white building on the edge of the Danube River in Vienna was designed by Austrian studio Share Architects for use as a holiday home or party venue.

Share Architects positioned the Bathing Hut at the water’s edge, creating a two-storey space with a kitchen and living area on the lower level and a sleeping deck above with an entrance leading out to the street.

“The Bathing Hut was conceived as a micro villa with full amenities and is a private chill-out oasis within an otherwise dense urban context,” said the architects.

“It is easily reachable from Vienna so you can even use it in the summertime during lunch breaks or as an alternative residence, and otherwise as a weekend retreat and for parties on the lake,” they added.

Constructed from reinforced concrete, the building is clad with white aluminium composite panels on the facade and roof. One edge appears to have been sliced away, leaving a row of angled windows that face up towards the sky.

The all-white kitchen features a floating counter that can be used for preparing food or dining.

Sliding doors lead out onto a wooden deck and jetty, offering a mooring point for boats.

A wooden staircase runs alongs the side of the house and leads directly from the street to the river.

Other waterside residences we’ve featured include a small wooden house overlooking the ocean in Scotland and a yacht house containing four apartments on the Crimean coastline.

See more holiday homes »
See more Austrian architecture »

Photography is by Kurt Kuball.

Here’s a short description from the architects:

Bathing Hut

The bathing hut was conceived as a micro villa with full amenities. Located on the waterfront of the Old Danube, but still in the centre of Vienna (Austria), it is a private chill-out oasis within an otherwise dense urban context.

Coming from the street, the property is accessed through a large sliding gate that leads to the top terrace of the very compact arrangement. An open-air staircase along the side facade takes the visitor 3 meters below.

On this level the main terrace open to the Old Danube, and the double-height, main living room can seamlessly connect to the outdoor space through a sliding facade.

Inside, a suspended gallery offering wonderful views over the water is used as a sleeping deck. Under the gallery there is place for the bathroom and the adjacent open kitchen.

In the rear of the house under the overlying top terrace place was found for a storage. A wooden floating deck, illuminated at night, offers the possibility of a boat mooring.

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Share Architects appeared first on Dezeen.