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Auckland’s Cliff House a Nature-Lover’s Dream

Imagine coming downstairs to this amazing sight every morning!

In its vast museum-like space, Cliff House by Fearon Hay Architects is an ode to the joy of each day’s fresh promise.

With limitless vistas over New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf and the volcanic island of Rangitoto, the clifftop house itself is simply a slim sliver of a glass case interposed on the scene.

The entire house can be opened up like a huge, high-ceilinged pavilion space.

The entire bottom of the glazing can be slid back to experience the sweet and fresh night air.

While the view over Auckland’s glorious Hauraki Gulf is inspirational, the house has a matter-of-fact air.

An efficient and brisk lap pool keeps its inhabitants fit and tough.

Sliding glass walls can be drawn to enclose its magnificent open-air bath room.

The studied precision of this bathroom fixture perfectly expresses the supremely elemental bathing space.

Landscaping is similarly rudimentary and unfussy.

Backlit kitchen cupboards behind full height frosted glass doors are so serene that you’d not imagine that there even is a kitchen there.

Cooking on this black marble island in this open plan space with its cool stone floor would have the feeling of a very posh barbecue.

With its raw and natural open-air design, this is a very civilized house for living closely with – and truly experiencing – nature.

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Kidosaki’s House in Yatsugatake Perches over Nagano

The House in Yatsugatake presides like an eagle over breathtaking views of the city of Nagano spread out below it.

Up close, its sharp outline juts out like a sharp beak from the towering Yatsugatake mountains.

From within, it appears to be flying slowly over the distant mountains.

The subtle palette of the surrounding vegetation add to a suspended, dreamlike feeling, which the house nurtures with its quiet coloration.

Designed by Kidosaki Architects Studio, the very unique house is entirely glassed-in on three sides.

A glass-framed door opens to an exterior balcony that almost entirely wraps the house.

The balcony surrounds three sides of the floating structure.

The wide walking balcony completes the zen vibe of the home.

Nagano is well known for its Japanese cultural landmarks like the 7-th century temple Zenkō-ji, and the quiet interior reflects these traditions.

Japan’s traditional craftsmanship is evidenced in this door with its centered horizontal handle.

Beyond the door, black veined marble is used to continue the peaceful tranquility of the mountains in the dining room.

The construction of the house is very sculptural and elegant, with half of it simply sitting on a large structural column built into the mountainside supported with two diagonal bracing cylinders.

Kidosaki is one of the few Japanese architects who really embraces the great traditions of Japanese architectural sensibility: for example, in this detail – rather than employing the thick slab shape found in contemporary architecture – drawing a sharp point with the construction technique.

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A Home of Sensual Textures in Sonoma Wins an Award

With expansive views over the vineyard and the valley beyond it, a monastic stone and steel residence by Aidlin Darling Design  is a 2013 NDA award winner.

This is a house built with walls of stone, built the way stone buildings have been built since ancient time.

Huge stones flank the space both inside and out, and are grounded by richly patina’d timber floorboards.

Yet the very old building technique is adroitly married to the most elegant of contemporary construction – like these sleek center-swung glass doors.

The design quietly reciprocates the complexities of the site, capturing a serene spirit of place.

“The visual, tactile and acoustic qualities of each material contribute to a mnemonic mapping of the house and its landscape,” say the architects.

The velvety carpet repeats the grid of the oiled wooden screen doors.

The muted greys of the soft grey weathered wood in the chairs prepares the eye for the much richer woods in the table and the screen.

There is a boldly stated contrast between the dry rough-hewn stone and the reflective glossiness of glass and water.

Light is further used to enhance this textural feast, raking across the rough stone walls, and echoing off the smooth stone floors.

Sonoma’s vineyard proprietors embrace a certain fustiness, where dark interiors are contrasted against the vineyard’s hot sun.

The design asthetic resists noisy or trendy decoration.

The house is staged accordingly; earthy but tasteful, and never loud.

While the home’s meticulously choreographed arrival sequence strives to achieve modesty…

… in its totality, this is a rich feast for the sense of touch.