Site size: 5,382 square feet. Project size: 6,997 square feet. Program: A family living in Mexico City asked Jose Juan Rivera Rio and his firm to design a modern house with ample privacy for family and space for guests. Location: The house occupies a narrow walled-in site in a residential section of the city, Lomas de Chapultepec. Solution: The architects, inspired by 1960s modernist architecture, designed a rectilinear house featuring thick, concrete or stone walls and deep overhangs. Lush vegetation outdoors and wood floors and slatted screens inside provide a warm contrast to the textured, board-formed concrete structure. A discreet
Site size: 8,140 square feet. Project size: 9,688 square feet (3,230 square feet per townhouse). Program: A complex of three residential townhouses distributed on four levels, which accommodates 4-6 occupants per dwelling. Location: A sloping hill facing south with a view of Lake Avándaro. Solution: The four levels are terraced down the hill with interior spaces opening onto private terraces, and connected by a cascade of stairs. Construction methods: Concrete frame with brick walls and a minimal palette of inexpensive low-maintenance materials using local labor. Architect: Dellekamp Arquitectos Celaya 26 Loc.2 Colonia Condesa CP 06100, México DF, México Tel: [52
Site size: 3.5 acres Project size: 2,400 square feet Program: Bud and Colleen Konheim asked Specht Harpman Architects to design a light-filled, yet private modern cottage on a wooded site adjacent to the Saugatuck River in southwestern Connecticut. Location: The house is in a river valley, a steep 80-foot drop from the main road along the ridgeline. Solution: The architects immersed the concrete and glass house in the landscape so that a series of green rooftop terraces gently step down from the street to the river below. The house, T-shaped in plan, consists of two perpendicular rectilinear volumes: The first,
Project size: Covered space 2,260 square feet; Terrace 5,600 square feet Program: A family living in Taiwan wanted to give new life to a crumbling, redbrick farmhouse on their lush, tropical property. In 2009 they commissioned Finnish'based firm Casagrande Laboratory to design the project. Location: The property is located on a hilly site in Yangmingshan National Park outside Taipei, where jungle encroaches upon the house. Solution: Completed in 2013, the renovation and addition, dubbed 'Ultra-Ruin,' melds jungle, decay, and new construction. The new building envelops the old farmhouse in a horseshoe-shaped series of rooms, terraces, and porches, creating what the
Site size: 19,042 square feet Project size: 7,500 square feet Program: When the clients, Thom and Sarah McElroy, purchased a half-acre wedge-shaped lot overlooking the Pacific Ocean in coastal California, they asked Ehrlich Architects to design a contemporary house for indoor-outdoor living. The clients, who swim or surf daily, wanted panoramic views of the water, sustainable materials requiring little maintenance in the salty air, and a design that adhered to a strict 11-foot height limit set to preserve views throughout the gated community. Solution: The house, a series of rectangular volumes united by a flat roof, is organized around a
Project Size: 1,290 square feet Program: Architect Johan Selbing and landscape architect Anouk Vogel conceived the Mirror House in 2006 as a winning entry in a competition to design experimental single-family houses for a new housing development. The brief for the competition, titled De Eenvoud ('simplicity'), called for designs with a strong relationship to the site. After winning the competition, the designers then had to find a client themselves, and construction began in 2012. Location: The house is located in a clearing in the Noorderplassen-West forest outside Almere, a city east of Amsterdam known for experimental residential projects. Solution: The
Project size: 6,383 square feet Program: The clients asked the architects to design a new beach house on a steep site that would maximize sightlines to the sea and surrounding landscape. Location: The house is located in Zapallar, an upscale beach resort town on the Chilean coast. Solution: The house, composed of two levels of overlapping rectilinear bars, capitalizes on views, sunlight, and wind exposure. The upper level is bent at an obtuse angle, and rests partially on the lower level at the south end, while braced against a rock at the north end. Because the upper level straddles a
Site size: 60 acres Project size: 1,400 square feet Program: When architect Brian MacKay-Lyons heard that a 180-year-old schoolhouse from his childhood hometown in Nova Scotia was in dire condition, he intervened. The architect and his wife, Marilyn, decided to purchase the schoolhouse and convert it into a charming winter home for their family. Location: Mackay-Lyons, principal at MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, dismantled and transported the schoolhouse from its original site in the middle of a pasture in Chebogue, Nova Scotia to the architect's farm in Kingsburg, nearly 200 miles away. In its new location, the schoolhouse is part of a
Site Size: 70 acres Project Size: 2,310 square feet (Bridge Structure); 1,139 square feet (Lookout Structure) Program: The clients wanted to create a live-work space for their winery and vineyard near Juliaetta, Idaho, a small town (population 579 at last census) not far from the Washington border. They requested two separate structures along the Potlatch River, and asked that they not consume much energy nor greatly disturb the site. Location: The property, at the end of an existing unpaved road cut into a hillside along the river, came with numerous challenges: summer temperatures can reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit, a large
Site Size: 10,000 square feet Project Size: 2,981 square feet Program: A multi-generational family that loves entertaining and gardening asked New York-based architect Andrew Heid to design a versatile house that catered to their love for the outdoors and accommodated aging family members. Location: The property perches on a lush, hillside site in Aurora, a tiny community in Northwest Oregon. The house overlooks protected wetlands and the Pudding River. Solution: The architect designed a one-story glazed, rectilinear house with deep overhangs to fit into the gently sloping site. To access the main floor, the family members gradually descend a concrete
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