The architecture and design blog

Photos: FG + SG.

Enclosing a large cork oak tree the three courtyard house by Miguel Marcelino  is a product of a sunny climate and a perceptive view of nature. Located in Vila Nova de Santo Estêvão, Benavente, Portugal its defining feature is the way it uses a series of courtyards as outdoor rooms that also act as intermediate spaces to the landscape beyond. Read more

Photos: Gomez De La Torre and Guerrero architects.

This house is conceived by Gomez De La Torre and Guerrero architects in 2009 as something like an ascetic retreat, though granted, not one that a famous ascetic such as St Francis of Assisi might understand!

The design relies on sliding walls and surfaces, to create a reconfigurable series of spaces that constantly play with the threshold of indoor and outdoor. Read more

Images: D*.

In 1903 Henry Dudeney proved that a prefect square could transform into an equilateral triangle. The D*Haus is inspired by this idea and is the hook on which D* hang their work. Read more

Photos: Iwan Baan.

The internal centre piece of this house is a wonderfully sinuous and sculptural stair that appears as though it is allowed to twist the form of the entire building. But from particular viewpoints outside, this twist becomes an extension of the landscape.

Located between the city, a vineyard and the hills beyond, UNStudio have taken the profile of a surrounding hill from a particular view point and used it to inform the lines of the exterior and what ultimately becomes the sinuous stair.

The result is that the house looks almost plugged into its surroundings, or better still, extended or unravelled from them. Read more

Photos: Marc Crammer.

Adolf Loos’ fluid staggering of his house plans, a feature that was known to him as the Raumplan was the inspiration for Natalie Dionne Architects when the practice designed the E3 house in Montreal, Canada. In this case a staggered section arranged as two mirrored letter ‘E’s gives the game and the name away. The connecting stair becomes a rather celebrated architectural feature that also serves as orientation for the rooms looking on to it.

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