Category: Architecture and Interiors

3 comments

My 28-year old self would’ve loved this. But my 68 year old self with all those stairs?

And it needs color. I’m thinking of it as a blank canvas to be filled in with brightly colored furniture and carpets.

Villa Terrace: A Layered Response to a Steep Coastal Landscape

Poorkeivan Studio: Villa Terrace is designed on a steep hillside in Ramsar, northern Iran, where a thirteen-meter difference in elevation is transformed from a construction challenge into an opportunity for creating a layered living experience.

Despite the complexity of construction and the increased costs associated with the site, the client intentionally selected a higher location to benefit from wide views toward the Caspian Sea and the surrounding urban and natural landscape.

The main design challenge was how to respond to the steep topography while preserving climatic comfort and creating diverse spatial experiences. Inspired by the client’s desire to experience different framed views of the landscape, the project transforms the slope into a sequence of interconnected terraces.

Each floor is conceived as an individual terrace, where enclosed spaces are carefully positioned according to their functions. The swimming pool, gym, breakfast area, bedrooms, and living spaces interact with these terraces, allowing every part of the villa to engage directly with the surrounding environment.

The north–south orientation of the site guides the placement of openings to maximize natural ventilation and daylight. The terraces extend toward the sea while opening toward the forest, creating a natural airflow system. Sea breezes pass across the terraces and enter the villa through a central vertical opening around the staircase, which functions as a wind channel and distributes airflow throughout the interior spaces.

The façade design reinterprets the traditional metal roofs commonly found in northern Iranian architecture through a contemporary language. The standing seam metal cladding, finished in a grey tone, recalls the collective memory of the region while creating a modern architectural identity.

From the northern street, the building appears as a modest two-story villa; however, entering the project reveals a deeper, multi-layered spatial experience shaped by the terrain. The terraces frame different views of the surrounding landscape, gradually revealing the true scale and complexity of the villa.

By utilizing the potential of the slope, integrating passive climatic strategies, and combining concrete structure, curtain wall glazing, and a metal envelope, Villa Terrace establishes a balance between contemporary architecture, local identity, and environmental responsiveness.

1 comments

1 comments

Casa | M E Z Q U I T E | 

Casa Mesquite was born from the search for contemporary architecture that, beyond its aesthetics, transmits warmth and a true feeling of home.

From its facades to each of its interior spaces, the project maintains the same language: clean lines, warm materials, natural textures and lighting carefully integrated to create serene, welcoming and timeless environments.

Each space was thought of as part of a set, seeking continuity between architecture, materiality and interior design. Social areas open up and connect, while private spaces find a more intimate and quiet atmosphere, always maintaining the essence of the project.

Casa Mesquite represents our way of understanding architecture: spaces that not only respond to a function, but generate sensations and build an identity of its own.

1 comments

2 comments

These are the kind of plans that fired my young architect’s imagination when I was in high school, although what I—or at most coupled to the man of my dreams—do with four bedrooms eluded me completely.

Now of course, four bedrooms translates into a primary suite, an office for each of us, and a guest room, duh!

1 comments

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos 🇪🇸
HOUSE IN LAS ROZAS
Spain – Madrid Photos by Fernando Guerra / FG+SG

Located in Las Rozas, with open views towards the Sierra de Guadarrama, the house is composed of five cylinders that define the proposal and shape its geometry for a variety of reasons.

The cylindrical volumes organise the programme with precision, accommodating the bedrooms, the living area, the volume that integrates vehicular access with the garage and the wellness area, the volume containing the swimming pool and technical facilities, and the entrance area. The structure is clearly resolved through this geometry, which coherently defines the spatial character of each area.

The cylinders are cut obliquely for two reasons. On the one hand, to adapt naturally to the slope of the terrain; on the other, at the upper level, to respond to the need for a pitched roof—traditional in the area—and to capture light from different orientations.

The floor plan is rationally organised through orthogonal volumes arranged at 120-degree angles, which are connected to form a small yet significant inner courtyard. Due to its geometry, light transforms its surface and alters the perception of the space throughout the day.

Over time, the openings allow for panoramic views of the landscape. This configuration also enables each volume to have its own outdoor space: courtyards protected from the wind and from view in two of the volumes, and an open terrace in another.
From a more intuitive perspective, perhaps the fascination with Andreu Alfaro’s “Homage to Brancusi” provides an essential point of departure for understanding the origins of this project.

0 comments

0 comments

4 comments

1 comments

Another one from Timur Karinov.

I really wish he’d posted the second floor plan, although it wouldn’t be that difficult to infer the layout.

I like this one. It seems well laid out, although I’d push the door from the downstairs hall to the living room closer to the front of the house to maximize wall space in the main living area. If there’s an indoor dining area as well (I really like the al fresco patio dining) I’d tuck that into the bay window area.

The downstairs guest bedroom would also make a great home office.

1 comments

Deceptively Small From Streetside

@architecturaldetective:

On the Market: 1922 Alice Lynch House designed by Harwood Hewitt and John Byers in West Adams Terrace HPOZ.⁠
⁠
⁠Completed in 1922, today’s home was designed by noted LA architect Harwood Hewitt along with architect and adobe construction advocate John Byers for the poet Alice Lynch. The home was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style with thick exterior walls recalling the adobe construction of the Spanish Colonial period.⁠
⁠
The home’s large airy rooms have been thoughtfully restored and reimagined to create a world that celebrates the home’s history while also harmonizing it with the 21st century. ⁠
⁠
I’m particularly enamored with the beamed ceiling in the living room and the expansive exterior courtyard and loggia. Located in the West Adams Terrace HPOZ, the home has been designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 621, ensuring it will stand for generations of future Angelenos to enjoy.⁠
⁠
2414 4th Avenue, a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2,560 square foot home located on a 9,386 square foot lot, is currently listed for $1,849,500.⁠
⁠
Source: MLS, Year book of Architecture & Allied Arts, Southern California Chapter American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Architectural Club 1922⁠, Dwell.

2 comments

Also since all the dimensions are metric, I would dare say it’s not being built in the US.

6 comments

…really all you need.

Yeah, I could make it work. It’s more space—and better laid out—than what we’ve got now, for sure!

0 comments

4 comments

2 comments

1 comments

But I’d have to do something about walking through one bedroom to get to another.

0 comments

@architecturaldetective: On the Market: Former Sunday School, Rectory, and Art Club transformed into a Single Family Home in LA’s Windsor Village Historic District.⁠
⁠
Constructed in 1922, today’s home has enjoyed a long and illustrious life as a staple of the Mid Wilshire neighborhood community, first serving as the Sunday school and rectory for the Wilshire United Methodist Church before being purchased by the Ruskin Art Club in 1926 to serve as their club house. While under the stewardship of the Ruskin Art Club, ⁠the residence would host arts programming for their membership and “support writers, artists, musicians, architects, and thinkers who espouse Ruskin’s values in Southern California” before selling the property in 2014.⁠
⁠
Following the property’s sale, the club house would be reimagined as a single family home by architect Scott Lander. Originally designed by architect Frank Meline, the residence combines the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles, serving as an excellent example of the transition from the earlier Mission Revival to the Spanish Colonial Revival style.⁠
⁠
The home is built around a central courtyard, with the interior spaces including a large living room, sunroom, dining room, and a thoughtfully remodeled kitchen. In addition to these public spaces, the home includes 4 bedrooms and baths and a total of three fireplaces, with two boasting Batchelder tiles.⁠
⁠
800 S Plymouth Boulevard, a 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 3,421 square foot home located on a 15,033 square foot lot, is listed for $3,995,000⁠.⁠

1 comments

I rather like this one.

This is one plan I’ve seen where the Maid’s Room actually makes sense. Downstairs, I’d move the wall between the Maid’s Room and the Dining Room about a foot further into the Dining Room, adding a little extra space to the Maid’s Room because that 8-foot dimension is a very tight fit.. With it’s own semi-private entrance, that room could serve today as an in-home office or a bedroom for a (trusted) teenager or young adult returned home. I’d also punch a doorway between that back porch and the Dining Room and ditch the basement/stairs and tuck a half bath under the stairs.

Upstairs, there’s more than enough room for two full bathrooms, even if both aren’t en-suites. There’s no need for a single Jack-and-Jill bathroom to be shared between the two bedrooms..

0 comments

With only a few minor updates, this could be a very livable house for a single person or couple in 2026.

I mean honestly, who needs this:

And that’s only the FIRST floor!

And yup…the entire top floorplan would fit inside the Great Room/Kitchen of the bottom plan. SMDH.

WHO NEEDS THIS?!

I case you’re wondering where I’m culling these monstrosities, it’s from reddit.com/r/floorplan.

1 comments

I don’t like the idea of having to take my laundry outside to get it into the wash on the top plan. I’d have put a door directly from inside the house, closed off the one to the carport, and ditched that room’s “storage” designation. I also would’ve made it a double carport with storage on the outside edge that runs the length of the carport.

I understand the design philosophy behind the lower plan, but it seems that entry hallway is a tremendous waste of space.

1 comments

I fear this is turning into an architectural blog!

1 comments

But who doesn’t love a good sun parlor?

1 comments

OLIVIO HOUSE

AMG Architects,
Tupungato, Mendoza, Argentina

1 comments

Convert the Dressing Room to a walk-in closet. Close off the existing closet in that bedroom and turn it into a half bath accessible from the hallway. Alternately, move the Bathroom to the Dressing Room space, turn the existing Bathroom into a walk-in closet. Seal off the existing Bedroom closet into a half bath with a door to the hall. Any number of options on the First Floor.

Upstairs Maid’s Room could be a great home office or Guest Bedroom. Likewise, the existing “Work Room” would make an excellent entertainment room—or in the vernacular—a “Man Cave.”

Overall, this is one of the favorites I’ve seen recently.

1 comments

At 77 m² (829 sq. ft.) it is indeed tiny, but not overly so. I’ve lived in what felt like very spacious one bedroom apartments that topped out at about 700 square feet and a lot of that felt wasted.

The one thing I would do is get rid of the wall separating the front entrance hall from the living room as well as the walls and doors separating that expanded space from the rest of the house. That central hallway is still wasted space, but at least you’d get the illusion of the space being much larger and open.

And as to why Russian homes have such thick walls, it’s as I suspected…

That probably also explains why the public part of the house is divided from the private area. It can be closed off to save on heating!

 

1 comments

“It’s not a prison. It’s a new townhouse on 31st Ave and Glendale. “

5 comments

1 comments