Finnish Cabin

My Finnish cabin. If only! Perfect to contemplate after Nemo snowstorm. Follow link for swanky interiors. 


For interiors go to remodelista>http://tinyurl.com/a5mqety

Floating School for Nigerian Coast

Floating school for flood-prone coast of Nigeria. Perhaps an entire city....

Via inhabitat> http://tinyurl.com/al4cwry

New Zealand Upscale Bach

Upscale "bach" --- New Zealand beach house.

Via design-milk> http://tinyurl.com/bha6wg
Definition> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_(New_Zealand)

Back to the Bach or the Crib

Another New Zealand "bach" house --- vacation house. Bach = back, not Johann Sebastian Bach? No, short for bachelor.

Atelierworkshop> http://tinyurl.com/b8omvay

From Bunks to Baches

Checking out bunk beds for my imaginary ski lodge led me to an old favorite: a portable "bach" (beach house) on sled-like runners in an erosion zone of New Zealand where all houses are required to be mobile. Shouldn't we do that on the Jersey Shore, on Mastic Beach in L.I. and other dangerous places?

Bunkbeds via remodelista: http://tinyurl.com/aexxpyp
Beach cabin>remodelista: http://tinyurl.com/afsboro

All-Black Houses

12 all-black houses via designmilk. If it isn't white, it has to be black! Japanese super-skinny "OH House" above is our favorite.

Design-milk survey> http://tinyurl.com/c4sjrsl

French Bee Pavilion

French bee-pavilion, where the six-footed and the two-footed meet. Do you need to wear bee-keeper protective clothing to sit inside to listen to the soothing hum?

Via designboom> http://tinyurl.com/b2rxqct

Alpine Ski Chalet for Rent

Winter special. Swiss alpine retreat for rent. Had to pass this one up because of my Aspen rental. If only... I don't ski. I just like the retreats.

More pix via remodelista> http://tinyurl.com/ctmswhv

Wabi-Sabi Aspen Chalet

Architecture is also renovation. View from inside my wabi-sabi Aspen ski chalet. If only!

Px & txt via remodelista> http://tinyurl.com/atfr4e8

Swedish Tree-Top Hotel Room

Chic tree-top hotel room in Sweden. The charm of tree houses is that they can only last as long as the trees.

Txt & more pix via dezeen> http://tinyurl.com/ax36lnc

Many Mini-Huts in the Wilds of Scotland

How To Build A Hut. Scotsman builds many mini huts in the wild, using local materials.

Txt, pix and diagram via remodelista> http://tinyurl.com/aju26lj

Pop-Up Spa Pod

Harm Rensink's inflatable Dutch pop-up urban spa pod to chase away the winter blahs. 

From inhatitat to dejoost for pix, txt & video>http://tinyurl.com/bk7wmrk

Garden House for Two Writers

Japanese "Garden and House" for two writers is only 13 feet wide. Did I convert from meters correctly? A garden is the facade and a garden drops through it. 


Txt & pix at dezeen> http://tinyurl.com/a58xj7q

Chic Japanese House with Library

Another chic, small all-white Japanese house -- "Library House."

Txt, px, etc via dezeen> http://tinyurl.com/cctdavx

Russian Portable Sleep Box

Need a nap? Russian mobile hotel-room called "Sleep Box" could be used in any indoor space. By the hour? Credit card access?


Story & pix at designboom> http://tinyurl.com/csa7wyh

Ski House Wedged Between Two Farm Buildings

Thinking small? Thinking slim? Thinking of ski houses? See elegant 380 sq ft ski house inserted between two farm buildings in the Italian Alps.

Story and pix via remodelista> http://tinyurl.com/9wnhv6l

Mies Van der Rohe Award Shortlist

This Icelandic building gets my vote. What would you choose from the Mies Van der Rohe Award shortlist?

Shortlist via dezeen> http://tinyurl.com/b5a59fk

London Slim In-Fill Extension

Fill in the alley (or stable access)! Let in the light!More about, on dezeen>

                                http://tinyurl.com/aeo574b

Paint It Black

Paint it black. History lesson. Hiroshi Nakao's "Dark Box and Bird Cage" (1993). Except for red facade, outside and inside painted black to create different kinds of darkness...

More photos & statement via paradisebackyard>http://tinyurl.com/a5nboke

My Favorite Suspended Tent

New suspended "Singray" tent weighs 15 pounds and sleeps 3 to four, plus gear. No ground rot, crawlie-creepies, snakes or toads. In lieu of a guest room? A backyard retreat in the trees? 

More details and pix via inhabitat> http://tinyurl.com/9wdmw9m

Room for Improvement

New development in Great Britain. Like the novel roof shapes and black stained larch and extra rooms for work-at-home. Dislike: four building types and four classes. And, no doubt, four prices. In Artopia all houses are the same price and have the same cubic space.

Txt & more pix via dezeen> http://tinyurl.com/a9jco2v

Swiss House of Straw

House of straw, in Switzerland. Yes, compressed straw.

Dwell> http://tinyurl.com/ahwweoa

German Living Space Sculpture

German "living space sculpture," Haus-E-17 bows to historic district houses but is also Neo-Modern. 795 sq ft footprint.

More details via dezeen>http://tinyurl.com/ah46wjj

Swiss Neo-Modern House

Neo-Modern country house from Translocal, Bern...

Via sutilitias.tumblr to translocal> http://tinyurl.com/a6t75pp

Mexican Tube Hotel Opens

Tubehotel in Tepoztlan opens.

Via tumblr and t3arc> http://tinyurl.com/bhdwkzs

New Australian Beach House!

My beach house in Australia. If only....

Via tumblr> http://tinyurl.com/bgzsqrd

Narrow But Elegant

Elegant house on a narrow lot in Portugal.

Details at archdaily> http://tinyurl.com/afbdv6l

Cutting Edge House in Spain

Stark concrete house in Spain. More neo-brutalism?

Via dezeen> http://tinyurl.com/a3xjq7a

4 Small Houses in a Mexican Garden

 4 small-footprint houses in a Mexican garden. Project: compare footprint, area, and cubic feet. As usual not enough information. But they look good!

Pix & floorplans via archdaily> http://tinyurl.com/a7bvlcf

Not Your Ordinary Tree House

Three swaying wooden sphere accommodations, up in the trees in Vancouver. Best of the tree houses in NYT T Magazine. 


Freespiritspheres> http://tinyurl.com/ae4dmmm

All You Need Is a Lot of Ma

Japanese "Coupled House" demonstrates the use of "ma" = empty space. 

Interiors and floor plan via designboom>http://tinyurl.com/b7qlwes

Concrete Summer House in Argentina

Concrete summer house in Argentina. 1000 sq ft.


Details via designboom> http://tinyurl.com/akprv7j

Save the FBI Building

Save the Brutalist FBI building in DC! Perfect for its time and site; still an effective image for FBI. Push the FBI into the suburbs and into invisibility? For architectural madness, see Wikepedia entry below....But where is the Times architecture critic?

NYT Real Estate> http://tinyurl.com/ass28t2

Elegant Swiss Agrcultural Shed

 Expressive and elegant agricultural shed in Switzerland. Uses local typologies and topology, plus local materials.

Go to designboom> http://tinyurl.com/ba37weu

World's Most Elegant Oyster Shack

Is this the "world's most elegant oyster shack" as claimed by Remodelista? Yes. It is on the coast of Brittany.

Remodelista story and more pix> http://tinyurl.com/aju63of

Tree House Is Not What You Think

Concrete "tree" (main structural support) imitates real tree growing through house....

Found at subtilites.tumblr> slideshow>http://tinyurl.com/aa47x66

Tent Tenements Can be Elegant

Modular Tent "Tenements." Better to call them tentacles or tent villages or tent colonies.

First sited on living-off-the-grid then to> dornob>http://tinyurl.com/beoqc9b

Japanese TARDIS House for Family of Five

Another TARDIS house from Shinozaki. Inside is definitely bigger than outside....."House for a Family of Five." Dr. Who's telephone booth TARDIS is bigger inside then outside, really bigger. 

Slide show> http://www.shnzk.com/detail7.html

TARDIS House for Japanese Couple

More from Shinozaki --- "House T for a Couple," Tokyo. Built, I think on what the Japanese call a flagpole site: alley frontage leads to "flag" for house. Again the interiors are spectacular... House is also a studio. 

Slide show> http://www.shnzk.com/detail11.html

Narrow House for Violinist

More from Shinozaki --- "House F for Violinist." Compression! But note the lovely arch entrance on ground floor. 

Slideshow> http://www.shnzk.com/detail12.html