Specific architecture has a way of drifting me off and into a daydream. I don’t have to be there to be put in this trance…it’s mostly the pictures that does it for me. Makes me feel warm and inspired just by picturing myself walking down these halls. The architects at Bates Masi have made a fantastic building – dubbed Genius Loci, an architectural term meaning “spirit of the place.” Located about two hours outside NYC this location screams summer for me, even though it’s probably pretty rough in the winter.

I’ve never been to Montauk, New York, but after seeing these pictures and the ones below…I’m surprised I haven’t. The only downside to living there is it is on the tip of a peninsula – and to drive anywhere would be hectic. But that’s just one downside…I think if I lived here I could look past that.

Check out more pictures after the break…

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Federico Gonzalez and co. have made an amazing animation video dedicated to sharing famous architects in alphabetical order. Some of these name I recognize, some of them I don’t – if you don’t know some – I encourage you to head over to Federico’s architecture blog Ombú – it has some awesome imagery plus he’s going through the entire video with one architect a day. Definitely worth looking into.

via Yewknee

///Steven

 Placed in the Swiss Alps by a hotel god, The Cambrian offers stunning views of scenic mountains 360˚ around the entire hotel, close access to slopes of the Bernese Oberland, and an award winning spa. This is one of the places that I would love to visit in the future…I can see my daily routine there: Wake up early, work on a novel with a great cup of coffee (because that’s what looking at these pictures makes me want to do), go boarding, spa it up, eat a fancy dinner, swim, then bed. I mean how good does that sound? I might be able to say my life is complete after doing that for a week or two.

Check out more photo’s of The Cambrian after the time jump…
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In my journeys through the internet – I see a lot of really cool houses. Some that I actually post on here, others I just mutter to myself how it’s sweet looking, but it’s not worthy to post about. This Lemperle Residence…I can literally say…I have no hesitation posting about on here. It fills all my requirements for finding inspiration through architecture. The color palette that goes along with these pictures might be a huge reason why I love them so much…they took these photographs at the perfect time of day when the sky was blue and the sunset was pink. The colors of the house go so well with what is happening outside.

One of the first things I notice with looking at these pictures is that it seems to be a nod toward the 60′s architectural design work – with the furniture to the layout. I love the 60′s – so it’s only appropriate that I notice that. Also the house is very open…with giant glass windows overlooking the ocean – giving it a huge spacial feeling. Built in La Jolla, California and designed by Jonathan Segal.

I would hate to live in the houses next to it – I would be envious every day.

Check out some more photos of The Lemperle Residence after the continuation…

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Amazing building designed by SHATOTTO Architects located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Complete with apartments and a swimming pool for a courtyard that makes it that much more enticing to look at. The architects went about building the SA Residence with inspiration from Lalon, a spiritual folk singer, Sufi, and philosopher. Here’s what they had to say…

“As Lalon (a spiritual folk singer, Sufi and philosopher) says if there is not one thing inside the body then it is not outside the body either. Body is the key word. Just like human body, there is a body of architecture. This body of architecture has two parts; shell and thinking as soul. Shell and soul are interdependent yet independent. They belong to each other and they belong to themselves. A good soul needs a good shell.

In this project the shell is a pure square made of a single material ‘concrete’ transformed from celestial form grounded. The added squares act as torana to its temple. The site is surrounded by multi storied buildings and apartments as onlookers.”

I would love to see pictures of the inside of an apartment. If it’s as beautiful as the outside I might just move.

Check out more pictures and read the rest of the architects process on designing the building…

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I’ve never heard of HomeAway, a vacation rental site, before I stumbled onto these pictures of their headquarters located in Austin, TX.

For a site that I’ve never heard of – this is a pretty cush office space. It’s what all the cool startups are doing now-a-days isn’t it? Making the office look cool to entice the new generation of 20 somethings. I gotta say – its working, because I want to work there, and I’m not even sure what I would do.

Their HQ complete with a full-size replica of National Lampoon’s station wagon for the Griswolds, a snow globe collection, a beach mural with deckchairs, a rooftop terrace, and hammocks. Could work get anymore distracting?

Click ahead to see more pictures…
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I probably like architecture so much because it makes me want to live in a certain place. I really think that’s what architecture is, isn’t it? – creating a place we would want to live in or visit. This place, dubbed the Tree House, is no exception. With a very open space and lots of windows to let in light – seems like the perfect place to vacation to or grow old in. The patio that’s right off the living room would be the perfect place to BBQ and chill out after a long day. See…look at me envisioning living there. That’s what this house does to me…it make’s me daydream.

The HP Tree House, located in Australia and created by MMP Architects, takes the wonder and essence of an actual play tree house and puts it into a living space. Click along for more pictures of the Tree House…

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I am in love with Megan Lea’s backyard. She had been working on her vegetable garden for over a year, everything was good, except for a small corner of plants that got no sunlight. Her intense desire to not have those plants anymore led to her making the Backyard House in the 11′x14′ space instead. She made the house out of salvaged barn wood and a copper roof in less then 6 months. Great idea and an amazing end result.

via bltd

///Steven

A beach house in New York? Sign me up. The house designed by Studio 27 Architecture, aptly named and located-on Fire Island, is a refreshing look at established studios making buildings that are new and innovative. Read a highlight from the architects below.

From the architects:
“Fire Island is a summer beach house in the resort community of the Pines on Fire Island, New York. The typology of the homes in the Pines is recognizable to anyone who has visited an east coast shoreline resort town. It is a builder-driven typology that reflects the pragmatism of these coastal communities and their inhabitants. The “good sense” practicality that allows these homes to be built affordably almost always overtakes the inherent liveliness and natural spirit of the place and creates structures that are dull and predictable.

This house inserts some of the “spirit of the shore” into a “Yankee thriftiness” residential typology. Common detail and material remain, but the volume of the house is expressed as a skin rather than a box-like container. The skin keeps the heat in. Over time, woven cedar boards will assume the same patina as neighboring houses. Large windows are introduced to reveal a luxurious light interior.”

Pictures by Judy Davis via Wanken

///Steven

You know Frank Gehry, Charles Eames, and Frank Lloyd Wright – but you probably have never heard of Ray Kappe. At least I didn’t until I stumbled over these pictures of his family home in LA, which he started designing back in 1965.

The thing I was thinking about architecture is that the contemporary style back in the 60′s never really went out. It never changed. Fashion has changed, music, art, etc…but architecture has still been cool for the last 50 years or so. You still look at these pictures and you’re still in love with the house. Oh, to live in the 60′s.

CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP…

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The Rang House, built by Richard Neutra, is located just outside Konigstein, Germany. Built in 1961 for a professor at the University of Frankfurt .

I was immediately drawn to these pictures (taken by Iwan Baan), just because of the comfortable state of mind I was put in. Picturing myself living there…or even knowing someone that lived there would make me feel 100% at home. Even if it wasn’t my home. The secludedness of the house is perfected by the big windows throughout the home, and clearly seen in the pictures the tree’s and shubberies outside complete the perfection.

To be honest…I’ve never heard of Richard Neutra before, but reading OEN‘s post about this house makes me want to look into the architect more. According to them “he had a deep admiration for classical tradition and had a passion for design, lifestyle and taste, he even made a foray into men’s clothing which is quite surprising.” So really…he was a multi-disciplinarian of several things which is rare to find. I’m very curious what his designs for men’s fashion looked like. Commence googling!

See more pictures and rare Neutra sketches… (more…)

I only post architecture when I absolutely fall in love with it, and mostly, I love Shelby from Wanken fame’s take on architecture. I never disagree with the guy…really on anything. So when I open up ISO50′s site today I’m greeted with a great house designed by the cool people of Coates Design posted by Shelby.

Here’s an excerpt from the post to show you that it’s eco-friendly and that I care about that kind of stuff…

“The architects of the project, Coates Design, built this 2,560 sq. ft. contemporary home from materials of the pre-existing structure. They then implemented geothermal, photo-voltaic and solar technology solutions in an effort to reduce energy consumption.”

One of the things that I personally love about this, besides the awesome shag carpet, is the location. I love Seattle…definitely one of my favorite places that I’ve lived. So this house fits perfect in my mind. I also think the pictures of the inside feel very open, very comfortable – they did a really good job connecting it as a whole. I’m not a huge fan of the kitchen and how its kind of stuck in a corner. I feel as if the kitchen should be just as open, because that’s one of the places that I like to hang out and fellowship with other people and eat…stuff.

But really…its an amazing house. I call dibs.

[via ISO50]

///Steven

I have an extensive bucket list – I imagine everybody does, but one of my items is to live in a loft in a well populated city. A lot of people have questioned my love for lofts because of the openness of the apartment, but it doesn’t bother me at all. I’d rather have it open – it makes the room seem bigger. This loft designed by Office of Architecture and Push is a great way to show you how openness can be a good thing and a great thing. They’ve designed a loft that has lots of nooks and crannys for storage of books and miscellaneous. Check out more of it here.

///Steven

The open space of this house either would scare me or comfort me. I love the look of it, but depending on where the house is located – it would be interesting to live in a house where the walls are 80% windows. Either way…I love the design of the remodeling job. The openness of it almost has a remote bungalow feel. I would not mind that – at all.

[via Architizer]

///Steven

Check it out! A sideways coffee shop!

D’espresso–in NYC–has created a spectacular ambiance with custom printed tiles. These tiles are printed with life-size images of a collection from the New York Public Library. Notice also, the lighting has been hung sideways, and it all makes sense if you tilt your head. Go ahead, tilt.

Original article can be found here.

-J

14 years of building a glorified tree house, Horace Burgess has completed the making of his dream.

“It rises 97 feet into the sky, the support provided by a live, 80-foot-tall white oak 12 feet in diameter at its base. Six other trees brace the tower-like fortress, but Burgess says its foundation is in God. The treehouse has 10 floors, averaging nine to 11 feet in height by Burgess’s reckoning. He has never measured its size but estimates it to be about 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. He did count the nails that he has hammered into the wood — 258,000, give or take a few hundred. And he guesses he has sunk about $12,000 into the project.”

“The treehouse is topped by a chime tower weighing 5,700 pounds; the chimes were fashioned from 10 oxygen acetylene bottles.”

[via Fubiz & USAToday]

Share the inspiration…

///Steven

Olle Lundberg, owner of Lundberg Designs and IKEA designer, lives in the coolest cabin.

First look at it and you will all want this. To call it a cabin seems – a little off. When I think cabin, I think small 2 bedroom shack in the woods – sort of like a camp cabin back from my camp counselor days. This? Well…take a look…

If you’re still calling it a cabin – then it’s a 5 star cabin. 5 being the coolest frackin cabin in the world.

Yes…I used frackin. I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica on Netflix the last couple of days. So what of it? Don’t judge.

Click the continuation for more pics of his “cabin” and also his second home in the city…

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Lots more pictures after the jump…

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Description from Guz Architects:

This house is located on a new housing estate on the island of Sentosa adjacent to Singapore.  The plots are not large and neighbouring buildings are built close to the sides of each house.

Thus our strategy was to build a solid wall to each side neighbor to provide privacy where possible,  while creating a central light and stair well which would funnel the sea breeze through the centre of the building.  The front and rear of the building meanwhile, terrace back allowing each storey to have visual or actual access to greenery.

The intention was to try to allow each roof garden provided a base for the storey above allowing the layered effect to make each storey feel like it was a single storey dwelling sitting in a garden…..as much as we could do in the close confines of sentosa island and with such a large building!!

Click the continuation for more amazing pictures…

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Edward Durell Ston, 1962

[via Matthew Lyons Tumblr]

Remember Cameron Frye from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?  Remember the house he lived in?  Want to live there?!  Now you can!*

*(for the low price of only $1.65 million)**
**(1961 Ferrari 250 GT California sold seperately)

Here’s what the house looked like in the movie…

See what it looks like now after the jump… (more…)

“Nowhere but Sajima” is finally a house in Japan where I actually could go to and stay for a few days. It’s vacation rental residence located in Yokosuka-City, just outside of Tokyo. It was designed by Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects.

Click the jump for more pictures…

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grupoSP located in Brazil have built the Querosene House in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Description from the architects:

“The fact that a large portion of land lies three meters below street level and the typical conformation of this urban batch 10X40 meters enabled a large open space that is straightforward and transparent. This space is defined in one side by the north face structure, a parallel free wall which houses a library containing 7,500 volumes and on the other side by a parallel block, an all closed space – a block with three stories that contains all the services, equipment and dormitories.

To access this block concrete stairs positioned parallel to the south limit of the bath, to access the wall of books metal platforms connected to the service block placed in an interleaved manner.

The design takes advantage from the difference between the street level and the lower level of the plot, by positioning the living room in this lower level which ensures the required privacy and maintains the view of the distant landscape through the void. This simple home adopts simple constructive solutions, reducing the actions required for its achievement. The structure of the volume is resumed to masonry walls and reinforced concrete. Installations are apparent and performed without interference. After that the finishes are simple: monolithic concrete flooring and white Portuguese Stone. The walls without finishes are ready as it built. A single exception: the wall with books, finished with time and history.”

Click the jump for more pictures…

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