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Scandinavian Design Inside and Out

K M Architektur with offices in Austria, Germany and Switzerland designed this charming woodclad home with a very Scandinavian touch in Weinfelden, Thurgau, Switzerland.

The house is clad in locally harvested natural white pine, arranged in a crisscross pattern reminiscent of a quilt.

The master bedroom is a study of simplicity wrapped in white pine the cantilevered bed platform and headboard wall niche.

The wood cladding continues inside and out, creating a seamless transition between the interior and exterior of the house.

Although the house itself is quite narrow – the deck outside gives the sense that the space is larger.

A wood stove in the living area is part of the sustainability of this nordic home.

This central stove creates a partition in the living room.

Other ecological items include a solar hot water system and geo thermal heating.

The hallway goes along one long side of the house.

The long deck on the other side overlooks the mountains of Switzerland and Austria.

The house appears to float above the ground, its chunky volumes, like a child’s blocks, balanced just so with care.

With its clean cut blonde pine and white, the Wohnhaus is almost the epitome of Scandinavian design.

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A Dramatic Black House for Viewing a Desert Landscape

When viewing California’s Joshua Tree National Park through the black entry courtyard of this house the colors are enhanced.

In the Black Desert House by by Marc Atlan and Oller & Pejic, somehow the black makes the desert all the brighter by contrast.

Inside, in the living room, brilliant reds, fuchsias and oranges complete the golds of the desert and the blue of the sky.

A pair of Louis VIII chairs add an wry touch of pompousness that is amusingly out of place with the raw power of nature at its most elemental.

The jagged modernity of the stark black house itself is more of a match to its surroundings.

As the plan shows, the courtyard center takes up almost a third of the space.

The unique setting of the desert seen to the horizon is fully matched by this dramatic home.

The house literally reflects the stark beauty of its desert surroundings in mirrored windows.

The sense of oasis and respite from the dry desert is enhanced by the power of the unrelenting black.

The bold house really capitalizes on the experience of desert living.

A truly incredible experience.

A very arty chandelier in bright white – Zettel’z 5 light fixture made of love notes – boldly contrasts with its all black interior.

This piece just perfectly balances a rocky outcropping outside the house.

A guest bedroom looks inward to the intimate rocks framing the pool setting.

The unremitting black inside and out provides relief for the eyes in all of the glare of the desert.

Yet for all the melodrama of the design, the house itself is really quite modest.

The Black House is really quite a small dwelling in the desert, that barely infringes upon its wild and rugged landscape.

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Tropical Ease and Sophistication in a Singapore Garden Villa

Here is one of two identical houses built for a client’s teenage sons and their future families in Singapore.

The new house is on a very narrow lot next to the existing home from Aamer Architects.

A glamorous rooftop pool tops the narrow house that very nearly fills the lot.

A zigzag floor plan allows windows on three sides – making the house seem much more open than the narrow plot really is.

Ceiling height french doors completely open the wall to the lush garden outside.

The many very tall thin french doors create the feeling of a tropical conservatory.

The zigzag floor plan solves the challenge of the very narrow plot, along with the stacked vertical garden.

It means every room in the narrow garden villa gets much more than its natural share of light and views.

Every room is both physically and psychologically cooled by the luscious tropical greenery outside.

This cooling greenery starts right outside at the ground floor next to a watery moat, and continues up the wall close to the open house.

A playful touch in the entry is a window up to the rooftop pool.

This is achieved by a glass bottom to part of the pool, quite an engineering feat!

In each of thsee identical houses, the boys’ bedrooms upstairs are accessed from outdoors via a spiral stair that continues up to the pool on the roof.

This exterior spiral staircase is a lovely artistic feature that seems to echo the natural world surrounding it.

It is perfectly centered so as to provide a wonderful view from the kitchen as well.

Creepers twining up vertical timber trellises extend above the rooftop swimming pool, cooling the house from above.

This rooftop pool is overlooked from a half height penthouse room with an expansive sky view over the neighborhood.

Altogether it’s a gorgeously liveable space that brilliantly overcomes the challenge of Singapore’s typically cramped lots.