TOP 10 private houses of 2022
In a collaborative effort between Copenhagen-based architects Jan Henrik Jansen and Marshall Blecher, an abandoned cottage in northern Germany is given a new life. The structure had punctuated the vast marshlands it was built by farmers, or ‘crofters,’ in the 1800s — a heritage which lends the Nieby Crofters Cottage its name. Left abandoned for more than a decade, the small building had fallen to disuse, its roof partially collapsing and its ceilings hanging low.
The current owners called on the design team to renovate the cottage, restoring the original brick structure and thatched roof through a contemporary lens. The result stands as a thoughtful hybridization of the historic, rural, and modern architecture.
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MERGING TWO STACKED CONCRETE BOXES, ‘CASA AZUL’ BY STUDIO MK27 FADES INTO THE BRAZILIAN FLORA
all images © André Scarpa
‘Casa Azul’ perfectly exemplifies how to build among lush and protected nature without damaging it. The nestled dwelling by Studio MK27 is located in Guarujá, a coastal region in São Paulo, just 500 meters from Iporanga Beach. As it’s an environmentally protected area, the architects had to adhere to strict parameters; they began by defining a two-meter offset from the house to keep the rest of the land untouched.
Once the perimeter was set, the studio decided to raise the house on pilotis, revealing an elevated 15 x 8 m structure shading the main social and leisure areas of ‘Casa Azul’ on the ground floor.
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BLOCK722’S ‘HILL HOUSE’ IS A CLUSTER OF STONE VOLUMES AMONG THE WILD LANDSCAPE OF CRETE
images © Ana Santl
The Athens-based architects at Block722 have completed the ‘Hill House’ as a celebration of this nearly untouched swath of land in Crete. The private dwelling is embedded into the northern foothills of the Thrypti mountain range on the eastern side of the island, and takes shape as a cluster of stone volumes integrating natural plant life atop their terraced roofs.
Respecting its natural context, the architecture discreetly harmonizes with the mountains, plains, and mediterranean sea beyond. The structure is sited along a sloping plot of wild land and negotiates the topography with stepping terraces. At the same time, the design team honors the richness and heritage of the island’s traditional craftsmanship through a contemporary lens.
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CENTRAL PATIO INVITES THE SURROUNDING NATURE INSIDE OODA’S CASA CM IN PORTUGAL
image courtesy of OODA
Located in Oeiras, a town west of Lisbon, Casa CM by OODA is a private residence that celebrates the surrounding topography as the main guiding principle of its design. Incorporating an existing slope, the house takes shape around an open, central patio that connects the interior to the site’s lush nature. This central void is formed by three sides that are ‘diluted in the terrain’, one with social spaces and the other with private rooms, joined to the center by a ‘transparent and absent spatiality’ that dissolves to articulate the entrance. ‘The strategy involves confronting and reconciling artificial and natural data, believing in the affirmation and configuration of architecture, through a regulating and distributing patio for the program,’ explains the Portugal-based studio.
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myrto katsikopoulou I designboom
dec 02, 2022
