Great Ideas of Design » Architecture

Mill Valley Hillside by McGlashan Architecture

designgid team — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:29:04 +0000

Architect Scott McGlashan of McGlashan Architecture designed this gorgeous, contemporary hillside home in Mill Valley, California, for an extended family of three generations to share. Natural wood throughout is stained to highlight its natural tone. Tiles of varied stone appear on floors, and stone bricks adorn walls. The double-thick counters in the kitchen and bathroom further enhance the home’s sense of earth-inspired luxury. The round skylight in the kitchen serves as a gorgeous architectural detail while naturally lighting the space. A lovely, contemporary staircase design juxtaposes the natural with the urban: from above the staircases boasts beautiful natural hardwood details, while a view from beneath reveals unique steel detail reminiscent of the industrial era, with a modern twist.

A Breathtaking Residential Project in Peru by JSª Architects

designgid team — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:14:06 +0000

JSª is a team of architects from Mexico City. They recently developed this breathtaking residential project situated by the beach in Lima, the capital of Peru. The location couldn’t be better- a peaceful area located not far away from the urban madness, where all the major events take place. A white and captivating exterior, with large windows draws attention to the building that houses 4 apartments. Stone stairs connect the levels on the outside. A beautiful pool completes the mystical feel of this residential wonder. The interior design is modern and minimalist, with interesting furniture items and original color arrangements.

Contemporary Floating Home in Seattle

designgid team — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:59:44 +0000

This Contemporary Floating Home comes from Vandeventer + Carlander Architects. It is located on Lake Union, right in the city center. This particular project was meant as a contemporary looking building with plenty of entertainment space. As you can see in the pictures below, there are many decks and the large floor to ceiling windows allow great views of the city in every direction. This is not exactly the most intimate crib, but it’s okay, as long as the owners don’t mind.

Norwegian Prison Looks More Like a Holiday Resort

designgid team — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:05:09 +0000

Norway’s second largest prison cost 1.5 billion kroner ($252 million) and took 10 years to complete, but the result is truly impressive. Located on 75 acres of pine forest, Norway’s Halende Prison is unlike any of the American prisons, smelling of sweat and urine. Here, inmates are respected and probably live a better live than they did on the outside. The 252 inmates at Halende will be living in 12-square-meter rooms, equipped with LCD TVs, modern furniture, and 2-square-meter showers. Instead of the awful smell of most prisons, the only odors at Halende will be those coming from the modern kitchen, where prisoners take cooking classes. The prison’s cultural center features a recording studio, library,winter garden, manufacturing workshops, fancy classrooms, state f the art gymnasium, as well as a laboratory. Halende cells and facilities are decorated with genuine paintings that cost a total of $1 million. There is even a separate, two-bedroom house, where inmates can spend time with their families, during overnight visits.

Riverhouse Niagara in Canada

designgid team — Sun, 09 May 2010 08:11:21 +0000

Riverhouse is a new model of single-family designed by Zerafa Studio and lies in Niagara Falls Ontario. The house is divided into three distinct horizontal volumes, each with a specific material quality. The north south massing is defined by 2 overlaid rectangular shells within which the glass, cedar and granite clad volumes for the interior living spaces are placed and a series of remaining voids create covered exterior spaces. The shell exteriors are clad in silver metal panel and are mostly opaque to provide privacy from adjacent properties to the north and south. The long open east and west ends of the shells reveal the River and garden views through expansive glazed walls. The exposed return surfaces of the shells are lined with western red cedar to provide a calm transitional space between the interior and exterior. Within this room, the river, house interior and surrounding landscape come together to tell the story of this site.

The Ross Street House by Richard Wittschiebe Hand Architects

designgid team — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:00:25 +0000

Richard Wittschiebe Hand as young architect this imposing home belongs to Carol Richard,an architect who has always dreamed of designing her own place like Ross Street House.The Ross Street House has captured the attention of green enthusiasts throughout the country for far exceeding the requirements to achieve the highest LEED rating of Platinum. Even though it looks like a fortress on the outside, perhaps causing some of you to say this is not the warmest place in the world, when you step inside, the atmosphere changes completely. Light and color fill the rooms, creating a fresh and comfortable feel. The pale blue and the pink chairs stand out in contrast to the white walls and wooden floors. There is a stairway matching he floors which connects the levels and fits perfect with with rest of the decor. We are sure you will find a lot of pleasing decorative instruments in the pictures below.

Sustainable Quinta do Buraco III House in Portugal

designgid team — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:16:06 +0000

Sited in a sloping terrain of land of Quinta do Buraco condominium, Carlos Castanheira in collaboration with Bastai Architects created a beautiful sustainable house. The exterior covering is constituted by wonderful manufactured copper, glass and slate on the floor areas adjacent to the interior floors. The colours are, and will remain, the natural colours of the respective materials. Work will now proceed in the exterior zone. Due to the slope of the terrain, it was possible to create another ground floor room, for use by the family’s children and their friends. In the site where a water-course was identified, there is now a three-quarter body. A bridge was also built, terminating in a terrace, thereby maintaining the original profile of the land and creating the possibility of encompassing the landscape below, both from the interior and the exterior. Next to the plot of land itself, the entire structure is made of concrete. From the concrete base upwards, all the pillars, beams, linings and door and window frames are made of wood, produced by excellent carpenters, who fortunately can still be found. Inside the building, the coverings are made of wood in the ceilings and door and window frames; glass; several painted, plastered areas and slate in all floor coverings.

Luxurious Southern Ocean Lodge

designgid team — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:32:14 +0000

Behold the luxurious Southern Ocean Lodge, designed by Max Pritchard Architect on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Floating atop a secluded cliff on a rugged stretch of coast, the architecture has a close relationship with the dramatic locale. The Main Lodge is tucked back into forty meter high cliffs, with large sweeping window walls capturing the expansive views of the wild Southern Ocean and wilderness. A strong sculptural element is the two hundred meter long wall of Kangaroo Island Limestone weaving from a covered entrance, through the largely untouched bush and into the Main Lodge. Located at Hanson bay on the Island’s south west coast, the Lodge site adjoins both the Flinders Chase and Cape Bouguer / Kelly Hill National Parks. The guest suites are constructed of lightweight materials that could be carried in, minimizing site disturbance. Foundations are steel screw piles, framing is timber and flooring is recycled timber and stone.

House Pilotto in Austria

designgid team — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:34:35 +0000

This house located in the town of Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria. The House Pilotto was designed by LPArchitektur, This house has a large gallery create a spacious room on the second floor. This defines the relationship between intimate rooms, open and distance learning at the same time. Even a place of work is included in the structure of personal space, a way to get the gallery is the distance needed a place to concentrate. Gallery can also be read on the front, making a more open sections and closed.

Big Dig House in Massachusetts

designgid team — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:59:26 +0000

The Big Dig House situated on a 19,200sf wooded site on the edge of the Six Moon Hill, Lexington, Massachusetts, designed by SsD Architects. The design passed a rigorous design review process was mandated by the Six Moon Hill neighborhood review board which included members of The Architects Collaborative. The main structural components used throughout the house as floors and roofs are concrete and steel composite decking salvaged from the demolished I-93 offramps at the Charles River crossing. These panels, called ‘inversets’ as they were originally formed upside down, would have been particularly costly and inefficient to demolish or recycle as the integration of steel and concrete makes the separation of the two materials difficult. The structural steel frame of the house once supported the double-decked temporary I-93 highway and offramp. The use of recycled building components seem to complements the design. The original program called for a great room, kitchen, home office, 3 bedrooms, and 3 baths.