Building/Ground: Private Houses

Source: wikipedia.org

Casa Malaparte, Capri, Italy, 1942 designed by Adalberto Libera

Casa Malaparte is a red masonry box with reverse pyramidal stairs leading to the roof patio. On the roof is a freestanding curving white wall of increasing height. It sits on a dangerous cliff 32 meters above the sea overlooking the Gulf of Salerno.  -- Wikipedia

Also: "Architecture of Italy", Jean Castex, Greewood Press, PP. 203-205

Source: Christian Ritchers archdaily.com

Dutch House, The Netherland, 1995 designed by Rem Koolhaas

Not only is the design limited to a four-meter height restriction, it was to be situated on a highly uneven topography yet maximize space for specific program in the private-residence. Given the difficult site, Koolaas took it upon himself to incorporate a house both above and below ground, accommodating four bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, study and two terraces. -- ArchDaily

The node of the house is a central ramp, providing visual and functional connection between the two counterparts.

Paradoxically this physical cut is where reconciliation is found.  -- architect's web site

Source: Hans Werlemann, OMA

Maison Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, 1998 designed by Rem Koolhaas

Koolhaas proposed a house that was the compilation of three houses stacked on top of one another; each with their own unique characteristics and spatial conditioning.

all three volumes are tied together by a central elevator that moves between each floor.

This ingenious idea of create a room that is capable of moving vertically through the house creates a spatial dynamism withing the house that is always changing and redefining the space of the office as well as the space where it stops.  -- ArchDaily

Source: topboxdesign.com

Stairs-House in Oda-City, Shimane, Japan designed by y+M design office Co.Ltd

Taking into consideration the owner’s requests for a warm and bright place for people gathering, y+M design office designed this ‘Stair-shaped House’. ....The stair-shaped roof also plays a role as an ‘Engawa’, which is a traditional Japanese veranda-like porch. This is a space where the client’s family and friends can have a chat or a BBQ party, and even people who the clients don’t know well (e.g. acquaintances of the client’s friends) can be accomodated comfortably without the need to enter the internal, private space. -- TopBox Design

Another post from Freshomedesign.com
 

Source: contemporist.com

As curious as it is cool, the underground design for OUTrial House by Polish architecture firm KWK Promes reveals a secret in this quiet country field in Ksiazenice, Poland. Via Contemporist.

Read a post from ArchDaily

Read another post from ArchDaily 

Source: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Tolo House, Lugar das Carvalhinhas – Alvite, freguesia de Cerva, Ribeira da Pena District, Portugal, 2005 designed by Alvaro Leite Siza

the creation of a pedestrian link between the paths of the upper and lower levels that border this lot. In this way the house itself is a path. Its form organizes a fundamental outdoor route. The exterior stairs that create a link between the patios mirror the interior stairs that have the same function of linking the designed compartments that are also developed through levels. In this way, the exterior stairs correspond to the interior ceilings.  -- ArchDaily

Read an article from Architectural Record

Source: archdaily.com

Guthrie House, Chicureo, Santiago, Chile, 2007 designed by Felipe Assadi & Francisca Pulido

Our proposal was a house without façade, a building to be developed from the street level downwards, rescuing that initial condition of natural “belvedere” over the valley the site proposed. The Guthrie house, therefore, is not just the answer to a housing issue over a medium gradient site, but a critical reflection to the real estate system which final target is to sell “attractive” and at a “good price” houses, built by “goodwill architects”. In other words, sell fashion.  -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com

Metamorphosis 1, Tunquén,Casablanca, Chile 2008 designed by Jose Ulloa Davet + Delphine Ding

The project is organized according to a new helical path which, through the extension of an existing deck and the overhang of the new room, allows the user to go up to two new panoramic terraces on the house.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Iwan Baan archdaily.com

House in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, 2008 designed by PRODUCTORA

...partially buried the house into the mountain slope to take advantage of the soil’s thermal mass. The colder soil around the house absorbs heat accumulated during the day, and at night the ground gives off heat to the building. The house is organized around a series of patios and roof openings that provide light, ventilation, and views to different areas of the house. The sloped roof acts as a new topography, which blurs the boundaries between the constructed area and the surrounding landscape. -- ArchDaily

Source: Eugeni Pons archdaily.com

VARS House, Madrid, Spain, 2009 designed by aceboXalonso

To formulate a complex relation between two simple planes, or a complex plane that formulates simple relations (above below, out inside, floor-roof). It depends on if we read the object or the space… -- ArchDaily

 Source: Bernard Khoury Architects

Plot 4328, Kferdebian, Lebanon, 2010 designed by Bernard Khoury Architects

The south façade that connects the project to the access road is an inclined plateau that starts at ground level and slopes up seven meters in the northern direction. The inclined plateau acts as the roof and a street façade deployed on an oblique plane which steps up to an elevated pool at the northern tip of the slope. The sloping plane also leads the visitors up to the main entrances on mid-level located on the eastern and western edges of the roof.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Byun, Jong Suk archdaily.com

Villa Topoject, Gyeonggido, South Korea, 2010 designed by AND

Gradually lifted landscape of the mountainous topography becomes a floating mass over a little stream. Villa Topoject rejects the dichotomy of object building versus landscape building. It is a mutant born as a hybrid of the two kinds, and it focuses on the transformation process between the two typologies. The boundary of the site is pulled in as the topography becomes an object, creating semi private outdoor spaces. The private living spaces are formed inside. The continuous exterior spaces meet the interior spaces at all levels adding compact, yet rich spatial qualities. The boundary between exterior and interior, land and building, subject and object becomes ambiguous. -- ArchDaily

Source: Hiroyuki Oki archdaily.com

Stone House, Dong Trieu, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam, 2011 designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects

This torus-shaped stone house is located in a quiet residential quarter beside the way to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi. A rising green roof and walls composed of subdued color stones in dark blue create a landscape, which stands out in the new residential area. -- ArchDaily

Source: construction.com

Lakeside Retreat, Adirondack Mountains, New York, 2011 designed by Peter Gluck and Partners

Peter Gluck, for example, argues that creating an “experience” rather than building a visibly defined object should be an architect's supreme goal. With his recently completed Lakeside Retreat in New York's Adirondack Mountains, Gluck was able to prove his point—practically embedding in the earth 21,700 square feet of residential spaces for living and recreational uses.  -- Architectural Record

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Source: construction.com

House Flora, Taichung, Taiwan, 2011 designed by Behet Bondzio Lin Architekten

Circulation, flow, and views all become salient elements in Haus Flora's design, since open spaces or gaps within the systematically stacked volumes suffuse light from one split-level to another. -- Architectural Record

Source: Bence MAKKAI archdaily.com

Hajdo House ,Odorheiu Secuiesc 535600, Romania, 2011 designed by BLIPSZ + Atelier F.K.M.

The roof starts as a continuation of the land, only to turn into a sign set in contrast with the local topography.  -- ArchDaily

 

Source: Josep Ferrando Bramona archdaily.com

Single House In Bescano, Girona, Spain, 2011 designed by Josep Ferrando Bramona

The sequences of walls that are set off each other foment diagonal relationships between spaces. The prolongation of the walls and the roof tiles allow the projection of the interior space towards the exterior, at the same time that they capture the scenery framed, creating lines that conjoins the building to the landscape. In this way, the house embraces the exterior space as its own. -- ArchDaily

Source: Paul Bardagjy archdaily.com

Edgeland House, Austin, Texas, USA, 2012 designed by Bercy Chen Studio

This brownfield reclaim project minimized disturbance to the site, as the previous excavations to remove an old Chevron pipeline left a scar on the bluff, the two new green roofed wings sheltering each other from the sun is an attempt to heal the land by restoring the slope and bring wildlife back. -- ArchDaily

Source: Yoshiike Teruaki archdaily.com

Kawate, Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, 2013 designed by Keitaro Muto Architects

This building has a section structure by using skip floor system and the half of the building is 1.4m above the ground which makes it as if it’s floating in the air. This way we could make more open space in the land. -- ArchDaily