Modern Residential Design

TomaHouse Recently I've been hunting down a way to ship in a prefab structure to remote locations, without it being a container house. These classy Baches, Bales, Fales and Bungalows are top of my list now. As a Prefab, they don't match MKD's breeze houses, but they do work as small cabins for remote areas. What particularly caught my attention was their Montserrat project seen below and above left. Which, perhaps in it's tent like nature, reminds me of Christmases in the far north of New Zealand. I've been "Google-Earthing" (my new verb) to hunt for the right spot and now have the structure to put in. The versatility means I can build individual units in suitable areas and join them using their connecting platforms and additions. The four, four foot deep foundation struts mean minimal impact on the area and the plug and play nature suits me to a tee. The neat bit too is if I want to change the inside or outside one day I can just order up some replacemen...

Isay Weinfeld Casa Marrom Now I realise that many people have this fantastic residence by one of my top 3 Brazilian residential architects up on their website and there's very few posts of his other houses. I'll see what I can do later on, but I thought for now I'd put up my version of Isay's Maroon house. You just can't help post this guy's attention to detail and impeccable finishes. I'm even more envoked as I know what it's like trying to get anything built with quality in Brazil. Unfortunately no floor plans for this work but the colourings, rough cast concrete with brown Ipé wood look fantastic. And what concrete, so super smooth with their 45 deg edges finished to perfection. The latest Brazilian houses seem to be pushing the limits with concrete spans. Door openings and huge panoramic windows seem to run the entire length of nearly every wall of this house. I'm also a fan of the sunken living area, which levels you up with people standing in t...

Arthur Casas Casa in Santana de Parnaíba Arthur has created an opulent São Paulo residence here, in stark contrast to my last entry on Prefab in Brazil. The use of prefabricated concrete panels and a steel skeletal structure made this a super quick build in Brazilian terms at just 10 months. I love the two storey glass sliding door! Fantastic! It's just so open! One of Arthur's other works that I love is his house in Iporanga - São Paulo . Clad in local wood with a double height central living area flanked by cozy sleeping and eating spaces, wonderful! Floor Plans My rough translations once again: Rigorous planning guarantees strict and swift execution of this project. Open plan living, not only in the flow between living areas, but also with the outdoors, was one of the most important points in the brief for this residence of steel and concrete, situated in a gated condominium in Santana de Parnaíba , a city in the greater São Paulo area. The organisation of...

Marchetti Bonetti Chale in Floripa This little cabana on the beach is quite different to the houses I normally post. It's a old twist on the supposedly new prefab movement and gives you an idea about what Brazil is up to in this arena. The owners wanted a little place of their own down the hill from their parents larger summer house. Attending a local show, Casa Cor, a home decorating show that happened to have a couple of pine kitset chales cabanas on display, they chatted to the architect about opening the place up a little to bring in the views of their location. This was the result - a two unit, one bedroom house. The bathroom was constructed of bricks and rendered, whilst two floor pads were laid out for the bedroom and living, dining, kitchen area. The later being raised on poles to provide a spot for the hammock underneath to relax in after a dip in the tepid summer waters of southern Brazil. The notes on this house are from a great magazine I used to buy on every trip to Br...

Steven Ehrlich Architects 700 Palms Residence Here's a house from one of my no so frequented favourites Plot Cad Box . They feature updated on residential design every now and then, all in Italian. Great for a stare and Babelfish helps a lot for the words that aren't familiar to me in Portuguese or Spanish. The open planned nature of this house appeals to me as does the use of rusty steel (seems to be a theme this week). Separated into two blocks a guest/garage wing and the main house have a nicely protected courtyard in between. Down the side of the main residence is the lap pool that has those large orange and red retractable shades hanging above. Vaguely reminds me of Christo and Jean Claude’s The Gates . The bottom level has huge picture doors that open right up to let the breeze flow through. Like yesterday's post there's that dark concrete flooring featuring again. I think this time the: rug, warm wood bookshelf, the use of oranges and wood on the staircase, all ...