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A Wood Spirit Haven in Mist-Shrouded Bolinas

A spirited and thoughtful home on the rugged and foggy coast of northern California has been gently created by Dumican Mosey/Matarozzi Pelsinger Builders.

The aged wood dwelling offers only the most minimal disturbance of nature.

The use of naturally aged wood is central to the aesthetic in this region, as is the sense of a home as a spiritual space.

Thus the house embraces both rough-hewn timbers in the near-natural state and mist-weathered redwood found in the region.

Exposed trusses of weathered timbers are used to prop up the steeply angled roof.

The architect-builders sensitively incorporate bold connecting braces into the bare-it-all architecture.

A central skylight at the apex of the roof brings a wistful light into the deepest recesses of the home.

A central hearth is at the heart of the dwelling.

This area on the foggy California coast is famously known for housing Wiccans, New Age pagans, left-over hippies and greying revolutionaries.

This kind of client has more than the average appreciation for handcrafted and artisanal architecture.

No doubt they appreciate the craftsmanship of the fine woodworking detailing throughout this lovely and thoughtful home that is so in wonderfully emblematic of its regional aesthetic.

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Narrow Alleyway Becomes Two Story Family Home

In this house extension in Paddington, Queensland, Australian architecture firm Cox Rayner Architects set out to demonstrate that ‘left-over’ spaces in inner cities can become gainfully employed.

xA small bridge is a library connecting it to kitchen and living room, and beyond to stacked bedrooms and a stair to a roof deck.

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The three metre wide space has been cleverly configured into a home for a family with two children.

In the central light-filled atrium, the stairs also act as seating.

Viewed straight up, you can see all the moving parts that make this privacy possible.

to an approach to private house design that facilitates sanctuary and engagement of the community as desired.

They are one of an array of details rethinking the typology of the private house, no matter how small, as both sanctuary and communal participant.

The forward portion is a single level study room for architectural practice, or if later to be used by a new owner, a potential small office. Privacy from close placed neighbours is gained by the myriad of ‘left-over’ spaces in inner cities, such as disused easements or parking lots.

The project recycles an existing small cottage as a piece of the house to which extensions in front and back are grafted in 3 metre and 5 metre wide portions respectively.

In the three metre wide frontage to the old cottage is a new study designed through its portals and window boxes to engage the street.

A series of inserted window boxes, a side door to an easement and sliding downstairs doors each play a role in participation in or closure off from other spaces or to neighbours and passers-by

This space manages the climate of the subtropics with layers of perforated iron screens which alternatively project and open up to the external conditions. The mobile screens are intrinsic The screens slide or swing out to engage the neighbours when desired and to mediate different solar positions.

Where the site slightly opens up behind the cottage to an open, roofed and screened staircase atrium forms the primary social space.a series of iron screens whose perforations for light are the patterns of peeling paint of weatherboards on one of the neighbouring cottages.

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Elegant Minimalism of the Sustainable Bridge House

123DV designed the Bridge House in Achterhoek, in the Netherlands, named for the way it straddles the space between two hills like a bridge.

The design follows the traditions of a Dutch terp dwelling, of a house set on a hill with the cellar below.

Underfloor radiant heating keeps the home temperate year round.

The architects provide a citified gallery-like setting for the owner’s extensive art collection.

The gallery-like space is incongruously set in amongst balmy rolling green hills.

Marble flooring creates a reserved setting for the home’s art works basking in the bland light.

Skylights bathe the elegant stone interior with an austere light from above.

A contrasting black stone floor is used for the work areas of the house.

Even the pared-down bathroom with its pure oval tub and stone floor is a meditative and calm space.

The entire front of the house is fully glazed with Heat Mirror Glass; cooling the house and keeping out excess heat.

In addition to its insulating windows and underfloor heating and cooling, the house is completely self-sufficient, with solar panels providing electricity,  and rainwater collection tanks catching its water supply.