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Posts Tagged ‘Homes’

Open Source Homes: 6 Free Plans Put High-End Design in Reach

21 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

free open source houseboat

Rendering luxury-class house designs accessible to the public is just part of the beauty of Paperhouses, an endeavor to raise the quality of free house plans and and explore the potentials for architecture to be as open as technology can be. As with Wikihouse, anyone is welcome to download and begin construction on any of the uploaded homes without paying an architect fee.

open source houseboat system

The latest submission to Paperhouses is a houseboat by Carl Turner Architects composed of prefab parts and design to move freely in narrow urban waterways and allow for expansion in ever-more-crowded European capitals.

open source modular house

As with other homes in the database, this one is intended to be flexible, able to be adapted to different conditions and clients. While intended to float, the modular construction allows the design to be built on land with equal ease while an adjustable pallet of colors and materials allow it to be individualized by each builder or owner.

open winter cold house

open house private sky

open house urban context

Our Private Sky by Florian Busch Architects is part of the same initiative but approaches modularity through the idea of privacy and views. The primary focus of the structure is upward, while variable windows can be added, moved or removed depending upon its context.

open source modular blocks

open source free plan

open house plan layout

The Module House by Tatiana Bilbao is based on series of same-sized blocks that can be arranged and oriented depending on the layout of a site and desired directions relative to the sun, featuring concrete walls and cantilevers to balance daylight and shade.

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Open Source Homes 6 Free Plans Put High End Design In Reach

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Iceberg Homes: London Boroughs Curb Luxury ‘Super-Basements’

21 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

underground estate luxury home

It is increasingly common to find London properties that have more subterranean interior space than above-ground square footage, a byproduct of the wealthy desiring to build additions without tripping over surface-oriented building codes. New legislation in some boroughs of the city aims to cut down on permits issue to such underground expansions.

mega basement

'Iceberg house' illustration

Anecdotes around these mega-basements abound, including stories of the compromising neighboring houses by undermining their structural integrity. As Curbed reports: “In a famous case from 2012, excavation work under the mansion of a Goldmann Sachs director resulted in his neighbor getting trapped inside her home, unable to open her front door since it had shifted so much.”

mega basement design

Indeed, the billionaires building these projects do a lot of strange things to maintain their bottom line while maximizing their additions, including leaving diggers worth thousands of dollars each (millions in aggregate) buried in unmarked and self-dug graves simply because the cost of excavating exceeds that of retrieving them. Like other facets of this phenomena, the lack of visibility relating to such practices has helped keep them hidden from public scrutiny.

london basement expansion diagram

Over the last decade, the demand for permits to extend below ground has skyrocketed, increasing by over tenfold. In response to the growing concern over these practices, Chelsea and other boroughs are considering measures including: restricting below-ground extensions to a single story, reducing the distance they can expand beyond the building footprint and capping the total subterranean square footage by project (diagrams via TheDailyMail and TheGuardian).

mole man underground house

Finally, any discussion of tunnels and London would be remiss not to mention the famous case of the Mole Man, which helped bring many of these other oddities to light. Without permits or permission of any time, this now-infamous Hackney resident began to burrow beneath his house. William Lyttle ultimately tunneled outward in various directions and well beyond his own property line and underneath adjacent streets and homes. For the safety of all involved, the building has been condemned though there are potential plans in place to turn it into artist housing.

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Arcatecture: 12 Cat Homes Created by Architects for Charity

12 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

space international cat home

Raising funds for an feline-focused area non-profit group, these architect-designed cat dwellings span the spectrum from adventure spaces to cozy nooks for your furry friends to explore or sleep within. If you also enjoy supporting canines, it is well worth checking out these 14 architect-designed doghouses likewise built to support a charitable purpose.

hok cat house

dsh architecture cat house

lehrer architects cat home

With proceeds going to FixNation, the Giving Shelter fundraiser (with photographer Grey Crawford) drew an impressive array for architects, firms and designers, including RNL, NAC, DSH, HOK, Wolcott, Lehrer, Space Int’l, Formation Association, Perkins + Wil, and Standard Architecture and Design.

standard architecture cat house

standard architecture modular concrete wood

With tunnels, tubes, ramps and platforms from wood, metal, fake grass and the materials used to make scratching posts, participating designers showed off the huge range of possibilities for catering to domestic cats, in some cases integrating elements of human functionality (with pieces doubling as furniture) as well.

nace cat house design

nace cat tunnel homes

Their robust materiality and construction is intended to make the shelters able to be placed outdoors. More photos from the live benefit can be found via Fixnation and Flickr.

rnl architecture cat house

perkins wil cat house

Architects for Animals “Giving Shelter” is an awareness raising initiative. “The one-night event in Los Angeles benefitted FixNation, a 501c3 organization dedicated to helping community cats in need. Participating architectural design firms designed, built, and donated creative outdoor shelters.”

formation association cat house

formation association cat bench

“These shelters were on display to the public at a one night event at the Herman Miller Showroom in Culver City. FixNation and Architects for Animals offered this unique exhibit and cocktail reception that combines the love of architecture with the love of animals. Attendees enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and wine from the open bar while viewing the original shelter designs.”

space international dynamic cat

space international cat seat

More on the non-profit benefiting from the series: “FixNation is a non-profit organization committed to cats, and to supporting Trap-Neuter-Return. We provide a free, full-time spay/neuter clinic for cats with two full-time veterinarians capable of sterilizing as many as 100 cats per day. We also provide low-cost, affordable spay/neuter services for tame pet cats. We loan out humane traps and equipment to the public free of charge, provide training on how to humanely trap feral cats and kittens, and offer guidance and information on long-term care and management for feral colonies. We are located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley and have been operational as a non-profit since 2007.”

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Looking Grave: 12 Spooky & Scary Abandoned Funeral Homes

26 Oct

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

abandoned Ward's Funeral Home Opelika 1
Funeral homes are mortal, much like their clients. When funeral homes are abandoned, however, they’re left to decay, deteriorate and decompose in public.

Built in 1870 during the difficult era of post-Civil War Reconstruction, Ward’s Funeral Home in Opelika, Alabama has long since surrendered to the inexorable march of time. Flickr user Jessica Williams (JessicaNicholex) brings us these images of the former funeral home that, like the neighborhood it still resides in, has seen better days.

abandoned Ward's Funeral Home Opelika 2

abandoned Ward's Funeral Home Opelika 3

It’s not known exactly how long Ward’s Funeral Home has been abandoned; long enough for it to become an eerie urban legend at least. Some Opelika residents claim to have seen haints (haunts, or ghosts in the local parlance) peering through the windows at night. Those brave enough to enter the building itself will find a few caskets in what may have been the business’s showroom. Opening them isn’t recommended… especially to anyone who’s seen a certain scene from Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Dark Undertakings

abandoned funeral home undertaker Aquasco Maryland

This abandoned “undertakers” establishment can be found in beautiful suburban Aquasco, Maryland – or at least it could be back in mid-March of 2009 when Flickr user ZOOPMON captured it for posterity. Check out the window on the upper left (embiggened view here)… if you weren’t planning on enjoying a sound sleep tonight.

Bodie’s Bodies

Bodie ghost town funeral parlor 1

Bodie ghost town funeral parlor 2

Bodie ghost town funeral parlor 3

Bodie, a California desert ghost town founded in 1876 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, had a working funeral parlor for much of its history – and like most Wild West mining towns, the resident undertaker had plenty of regular business. The funeral home has deteriorated somewhat since the last few Bodieans abandoned the town but enough remains (pardon the pun) to distinguish it as such.

Little Rock Of Ages

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

abandoned Miller's Funeral Home Little Rock Arkansas 1

Abandoned funeral homes don’t need to be photographed on gloomy overcast days to bring out their essential creepiness. Just check out these photos of the abandoned Miller’s Funeral Home in Little Rock, Arkansas, snapped by Flickr user Terry Williams (IM2_OCD) on July 25th of 2010. The images cast the business’s decay in gritty focus while bringing out the essential beauty of the sun-washed subject. Especially poignant is the top photo, contrasting the timeless dereliction indoors with the soulless flyover banality glimpsed through the window.

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Looking Grave 12 Spooky Scary Abandoned Funeral Homes

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Roaming Homes: 15 DIY RVs, Converted Buses & Tiny Houses

16 Sep

[ By Steph in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

DIY Mobile Homes Neverwas Haul 1

Japanese tea houses spring from the roofs of ordinary-looking trucks, ornate handcrafted cabins are tacked onto school buses and fire trucks are converted into monster off-road RVs when industrious and determined DIYers decide to take on building their own mobile homes. One tiny house on wheels even has a back deck with a full-sized hot tub, and an incredibly fun two-story Victorian house on wheels makes its way around the desert.

The Neverwas Haul: A Steampunk Mobile Home

Neverwas Haul 3

DIY Mobile Homes Neverwas Haul 2

RVs rarely get more ornate than this – a two-story Victorian house on wheels, designed, naturally, for Burning Man. The Neverwas Haul was built over six months in 2006 and is made almost entirely of recycled materials. Designer and builder Shannon O’Hare used the skills and experience he gained creating theme park structures around the country to come up with this amazing vehicle, which is built upon the base of a fifth wheel travel trailer.

Tiny House with a Built-In Hot Tub
Tiny House Hot Tub 5

Tiny House Hot Tub 1

You can even tack a generously sized wooden hot tub – powered by wood, if you like! – onto the back of your very own custom-built tiny house. UK-based Tiny Wood Homes builds both hot tubs and little houses on wheels, making this combo a natural fit. The whole setup is small enough to be towed around via truck and sells for about $ 57,000.

Matthew Hofmann’s Renovated Airstream Trailers
DIY Mobile Homes Hofmann Airstream 1

DIY Mobile Homes Hofmann Airstream 2

DIY Mobile Homes Hofmann Airstream 4

Architect Matthew Hofmann purchases old Airstream trailers and renovates them into beautiful and modern mobile spaces, custom-creating everything from backyard offices to tiny roaming homes. The project began when Hofmann decided to downsize from a large house to an Airstream of his own. People took notice and soon enough, demand turned into a business opportunity.

Wothahellizat
DIY Mobile Homes wothahellizat

DIY mobile Homes wothahellizat 2

DIY Mobile Homes wothahellizat 3

Sound out the name of this creation phonetically – that’s basically the reaction of everyone who sees it. Australian photographer Rob Gray wanted a home base while adventuring in the Australian wilderness, so he created his very own monster RV complete with a viewing deck, hydraulically operated roof and a bedroom over the cab. It’s got all the amenities of a standard camper, but can go off-road.

Al’s Housetruck
DIY Mobile Homes Al's Houstruck

What looks like no more than a narrow cabin from the back is revealed to be an incredibly intricate hand-crafted mobile home, built right onto the back of an old Dodge bus. Featured in the 1979 book Rolling Homes by Jane Lidz, ‘Al’s Housetruck‘ has a sleeping loft over the cab, a wood stove, stained glass windows and decorative porch railings.

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Roaming Homes 15 Diy Rvs Converted Buses Tiny Houses

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Transforming Houses: 13 Homes Slide, Unfold, Spin & Expand

26 Aug

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Transforming Houses Sliding 3

Rooms rotate, roofs open to the sky, facades slide away to reveal glass walls and interiors literally turn inside out in these 13 transforming, highly customizable home designs. Some close up into impenetrable fortresses for maximum security while others unfold to blur the boundaries between indoors and out.

The Sliding House by DRMM

Transforming Houses Sliding 2

Transforming Houses Sliding 1

The outer walls and roof of this house in Suffolk, England by DRMM slide back and forth on rails to reveal a glassed-in static structure, opening the house to the outside world to a highly customizable degree. Deceptively simple-looking when it’s all closed up, the house practically transforms into a greenhouse when the 50-ton mobile roof and wall enclosure is pulled back via electric motors charged by solar panels.

Bedrooms That Can Be Wheeled Outside

Transforming Houses Sarzeau 1

Transforming Houses Sarzeau 2

Ever wish you could move your bed outside on a particularly nice day? The lucky residents of this house in Sazeau, France by Raum can go one step further, wheeling their entire bedrooms out of the house and onto a wooden terrace to interact with the surrounding landscape. A large doorway makes it easy to move the lightweight wooden cubes outside.

Push a Button, Change Your House Layout

Transforming Houses Rotating Rooms 1

Transforming Houses Rotating Rooms 2

Three wooden boxes within a fixed volume rotate and extend outward with the push of a button at the Sharifi-Ha house in Tehran by nextoffice. The volumes contain a guest room, home office and dining room that can either be aligned flush against the static parts of the home or rotated so the glassed-in ends face a variety of angles.

M-Velope Transformer House

Transforming Houses Mvelope 1

Transforming Houses Mvelope 2

A 230-square-foot mobile living space expands in surprising ways with slatted wood panels that bend and angle in surprising ways. Extending out from a steel frame, the walls fold to reveal interior benches, sleeping platforms, work surfaces and small shaded rooms.

Shed-to-Beach-House

Transforming Houses Huts on Sleds 1

Transforming Houses Huts on Sleds 2.jg

What looks like no more than a wooden shed at first glance is actually a mobile beach house that can be towed off the sand before severe storms. Located on the northern coast of New Zealand, the ‘hut on a sled’ by Crosson Clarke Carnachan features a large wooden shutter facade that opens to reveal a two-story glazed wall facing the sea. The glass is operable, as well, opening the entire interior up to the ocean breezes.

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13 Transforming Houses Slide Unfold Spin And Expand

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Hover Houses: 12 Cliff-Clinging Homes with a View

23 Jun

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Hanging Houses Silvestre 1

Swim to the edge of an infinity pool that feels as if it’s going to pour right out into the sea, or stand on a glass-walled balcony hanging off a cantilevered volume, seeming to hover in mid-air. These dramatic cliffside houses are anchored to stone, but extend out over the landscape for incredible views.

Cliffside Home with Cantilevered Infinity Pool
Hanging Homes Cantilevered Infinity Pool 2

Hanging Homes Cantilevered Infinity Pool 1

Hanging Homes Cantilevered Infinity Pool 3jpg

A sparkling infinity pool juts out over the rocks in this incredible ultramodern Thailand home by Original Vision. Stacked volumes create outdoor spaces that are open to the air, while the entire ocean-facing facade is made up of glass walls, windows and doors to properly appreciate the view.

Light and Reflections in La Jolla, California
Hanging Houses La Jolla 3

Hanging Houses La Jolla 2

Hanging Houses La Jolla 1

Everything about this home in La Jolla forms an echo of the sky and sea, from the glittering glass and reflective pools to the all those curving lines. Architect Wallace Cunningham created organic forms in marble-like white polished concrete and built the house into the hillside so it would feel as if it were a part of the landscape.

X-Shaped Cliffside House
Hanging Houses X 1

Hanging Houses X 2

Nearly invisible from the street, this X-shaped residence by Cadaval & Solá Morales is tucked into the cliffside so that the roof is actually a driveway and terrace overlooking Barcelona. Residents descend into the two levels of living spaces below. The incisions at the top and bottom of the ‘X’ let in light while preserving privacy.

Mirage House Blends In With the Aegean Sea
Hanging Houses Mirage 1

Hanging Houses Mirage 2

Hanging Houses Mirage 3

At just the right angle, this home nestled into the hills of Tinos Island in Greece’s Cyclades archipelago seems to disappear altogether, its rooftop infinity pool blending into the Aegean Sea. ‘Mirage House‘ by Kois Associated Architects was envisioned as an “invisible oasis” will all interior spaces tucked into the subterranean rock-sheltered portion of the home.

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Hover Houses 12 Cliff Clinging Homes With A View

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10 in 1 Day: Chinese Homes 3D-Printed from Scraps Materials

05 May

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

3d printed almost finished

Using recycled construction waste and rapid prototyping processes, a Chinese company is showing off how 3D printing technologies can be applied to building at astonishing new speeds and scales. More specifically: Winsun New Materials used a series large 3D printers to frame up 10 houses in 24 hours with a skeleton crew of builders.

These scaled-up printers mimic the additive approach their smaller plastic-extruding cousins, but deploy a mixture of glass fiber and scrap concrete instead.

3d printed extrusion printer

3d printed house china

The function-first walls of these homes are designed to provide shelter via robust solid surfaces and structural support, all while minimizing materials. Built-in truss shapes (with spaces in between) are made to leave calculated gaps for the later insertion of plumbing, electrical, passive and active heading and cooling systems.

3d printed building construction

3d printed wall sections

In this initial run, the resulting prefab frameworks for ten residential structures were assembled in less than 24 hours and for just a few thousand dollars a piece. Securely enclosed by a small crew of builders, the weather-proof shells are then ready to be finished by other teams.

3d printing on site

3d printing in china

Given the pace of urbanization and construction within the country, it seems apt that innovators from China would be pushing limits like these, hopefully with more (and similarly eco-friendly) innovations yet to come.

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Sneak Peak: Inside the Homes of 8 World-Famous Architects

03 Apr

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

inside famous architects homes

Where Architects Live, a special exhibit scheduled for Milan Design Week 2014, features a rare glimpse into the residences of leading designers including Shigeru Ban, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind,  Mario Bellini, David chipperfield, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Marcio Kogan, and Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai.

famous frank gehry home

Seeing what architects do to their own domiciles can provide a unique window into their work as well – for some designers, their own spaces become places of experimentation and discovery. These homes are where they have full artistic liberty – the only time they are their own clients. In some cases, like Frank Gehry’s wild residential remodel in Santa Monica (shown above), these projects can even be professionally pivotal – turning points for entire careers.

shigeru ban home japan

shigeru ban house interior

Famous for his light-touch, site-specific architecture of paper and cardboard, there is a contextual delicacy to Ban’s forest home in Japan. It is bright and open, and was designed specifically to avoid the need to cut down trees already on the property.

hadid house drawings models

hadid house abstract art

The abstract art and physical curves found in the home of Hadid should come as no surprise to those familiar with her work, which is also prominently on display in drawings and models around the house.

libeskind art materials closeup

liebeskind living room space

The home of Libeskind features an eclectic mix of furniture and objects, from conventional modern chairs art materials – nothing so aggressively angular as his typical architectural projects, but perhaps suggestive hints to be found in the relationship of chaos and order.

bellini bookcase scaffolding scene

bellini house interior piano

Bellini loves books, and it shows in the incredible multi-story scaffolding he has built in order to be able to climb up and interact with his huge personal library.

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Sneak Peak Inside The Homes Of 8 World Famous Architects

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Parasite Tent Pods: Vertical Urban Wall Homes for Homeless

22 Dec

[ By Delana in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

parasitic homeless tent community

In cities around the world, people are feeling the effects of a weak global economy and homeless populations continue to rise. Taking shelter in cardboard boxes or in isolated tents can be dangerous – not only due to inclement weather, but also for the fear of robbery or violence.

hanging tents for homeless population

The A-Kamp47 project from Malka Architecture gives the homeless a safe place to sleep. Using a blank vertical expanse of wall, they installed 23 small tent pods. The pods are “parasitic” structures, meaning that they rely on another structure to provide them a place to sit.

suspended camp for homeless people

Each tent provides a private space for the city’s homeless. The grouping of tents embodies the old adage “safety in numbers.” Residents can enter their tents via the scaffolding between the wall and the tend pods.

a-kamp 47 homeless tent colony

The project is not without controversy; the wall used by the architects exists in a grey area between private and public space. They hope, however, that their efforts will lead to increased awareness of the homeless problem and encourage people to get involved in the cause.

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