Don’t you ever wonder what the inside of that modern-looking house on your block looks like? Do you ever try to sneak a peek through their parlor windows when you walk by? Japanese architect Hiroshi Nakamura has made this design voyeurism possible — and less creepy — with his beautiful Optical Glass House. This abode along a busy street in Hiroshima is mostly hidden but boasts an incredible glass-encased garden along the facade. The garden is surrounded by 6,000 glass bricks, strung together with cable wires to create a glossy curtain. The glass is not entirely transparent, which creates an amazing mosaic effect for those attempting to look into the space. Read more!

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Building: Island House

Architect: Arkitektstudio Widjedal Racki

Location: Archipelago of Stockholm, Sweden

What We Like:

Built to accommodate a young family, the Island House is a waterfront property that takes full advantage of the oceanic view without over-powering the coastline. Tucked behind a shelf of rock, the house is elevated on stubby legs just above the land yet set away from the coastline, to which it is connected by a narrow boardwalk. The home is composed of several zones, including the main volume and rear patio, the footbridge and lakeside deck, spaces which place a great importance on socialization. There is plenty of gathering space, but also room for more intimate moments as well. Read the complete project description here.

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Building: Family House J20

Architect: DAR612

Location: Zagreb, Croatia

What We Like:

According to the architects, this single family residence in Croatia is composed of ”two juxtaposed elements”, a white longitudinal wing and corridor that supports a dark perpendicular volume the containing bedrooms. The house is organized around a T-shaped floor plan, the two-story entry dividing the interiors into living and secondary spaces. The importance of the core of the home–which accommodates a steel-clad staircase and whimsical footbridge–captures the family in all of its dynamic motion, while fully connecting the spaces and unifying them within one structure. Read the complete project description here.

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Building: Terrace House Tokiostrasse

Architect: ARTEC Architekten

What We Like:

This Viennese terrace house stacks different apartment shapes on top of one another to create a dynamic zig-zag facade. Each unit is outfitted with an outdoor terrace or garden and is oriented to receive tons of sunlight and ventilation. The outdoor stilts and mesh-like barriers, nick-named “the spider”, reach up , down, and across the facade to create an exciting display of eccentrically framed voids, while protecting against the elements. Residents also have access to a private roof area which includes a pool, sun deck, and green terrace. The complex is bright, open, airy, and even enjoyable for passers by. Read the complete project description here.

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Building: Hill’s House

Architect: Ignacio Correa Arquitecto

Location: Tagua, Chile

Why We Like This:

Located in San Vincente de Tagua Tagua in Chile, Hill’s House was designed to emphasize the different programming requirements that define the space between the building and the hill. The ‘gaze’ of the project has been divided into multiple views, highlighting both the valley and the sky, while projecting a greater sense of height throughout the interior landscape. The home’s interiors are interestingly configured so as to lock into the exterior site features, thus establishing an architectural link from the house to its natural surroundings. Read the complete project description here.

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Building: Fray León House

Architect: 57studio

Location: Santiago, Chile

Why We Like This: Showing great care and respect for the existing plant life, 57studio adapted the Fray León House to a tree-lined lot in Santiago, Chile. Built around native trees, such as the avocado and the peumo, the home takes on a distinctive ‘H’ shape that carves out an alternating sequence of private and public spaces within the residence. Large windows and the designation of multiple patio voids help to create a several different micro-environments. Read the complete project description here.

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Images courtesy of Kurt Hörbst

There are few things more dramatic than a long, heavy curtain with a thick drapery harkening more to the thematic arts than to interior finishes. Taking full advantage of the inherent spectacle provided by such a cloak, Hertl Architekten redefined the curtain as more than just a decorative object by wrapping it around the exterior façade of the Aichinger House.

The Aichinger House in Austria was once a restaurant with two bars that has been reinvented as a two-story apartment building. Converting one of the bars into two flats, removing the existing roof, and adding an external staircase, while not minor changes, seem to pale in comparison to the grey shroud that now covers the building. Providing privacy for the occupants while also deflecting daylight and therefore reducing solar gain, the curtain acts as a multi-functional addition to the more traditional façade.

Adding to the drama provided by a two-story curtain covering the exterior of a building, the Aichinger House becomes a spectacle of dancing geometric patterns as the sun goes down and an ethereal light begins to shine through the drapery.  Hertl Architekten explains the thought behind the textile: “A light grey curtain covers the solitaire, the abstract form is disguised by a soft texture. The element, also used for shadowing, can be moved apart the windows. A decorative element, normally used indoor, is building an irritating and at the same time fascinating facade.”

[via inhabitat]

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It’s hard to imagine a home more tranquil than the SA Residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Designed by the team at SHATOTTO Architects, the villa consists of tall, tiered concrete volumes, clustered around a central swimming pool that is reminiscent of a serene lagoon. The house’s organization is inspired by the Cartesian (i.e. dualistic) notion of the body, say the architects, who have divided the structure into two parts, namely, the shell (the ubiquitous rectilinear concrete forms) and the soul (the central pool).

The multi-level concrete walls create a private oasis for the homeowners, while the countless windows, all trimmed in a warm caramel colored wood, help to lighten the heaviness usually associated with concrete. The atrium pool also serves a purpose in the design, besides traditional aesthetics, acting as a natural exhaust system that pushes out hot air creating a refuge by the pool.

Both the forms and the material they are fashioned from recall Louis Kahn’s imposing National Assembly Building at Dhaka, which masterfully juxtaposes a  moat-like pool encircling a series of monumental concrete structures, enjoined to each other in a medieval-esque mass.

[via hiconsumption]

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This home in Korea incorporates the traditional concept of madang into a cutting-edge home for two married publishers. According to the architects at IROJE KHM Architects, the eight courtyard ‘gardens’ in Lim Geo Dang are instrumental in the plotting of the home, as the “the modern house is a refuge and a resting place for us who are worn out by the dehumanized daily life.”

Click through to see images and plans from Lim Geo Dang:

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