A sharp, clean aesthetic defines the Szelpal house by Felber Architects in Solothurn, Switzerland. Bunker-esque, with a strong nod to Le Corbusier, the two levels are connected by a wide concrete staircase. Concrete the main material used throughout is warmed up with photographs, blinds, curtains and floor to ceiling custom made bookshelves. The owners have opted for a neutral colour palette to lend emphasis to the natural hillside surroundings. Whilst, furniture is also kept to a minimum favouring wide open spaces. Windows also line the entire length of the home to ensure a seamless connection between the interior and exterior.

This Belgium house designed by AABE Architects is limited to a single level appearing weightless on the water area that separates it from the entrance avenue. To the left, the entrance shows its gallery wall. If you descend one level, the construction frames the view over the hillside to the country. The profile of the site is brought together by stairs whilst the kitchen benefits from a lateral patio that makes the most of the morning sun. The entirety of this house has been arranged for the owners to feel good - all elements have been considered: a cinema room, exercise areas, an ecological living room that overlooks their collection of beautiful cards, complemented by an office that sits proudly on the mezzanine. On top of that, furniture from leading manufacturers can be seen scattered throughout the space like the Ball & Chain chair by B&B Italia.

Featured in our recent Week in Review, we felt this house needed further expansion. Reminiscent of work by architect Marcio Kogan, the Cluny house by Singaporean-based architects GUZ in Singapore engages its environment, with the house centered around a courtyard and living pool equipped with water plants, ferns and trees that arise from its tropical setting. The home, modernist in form, is open with communal areas (public areas that operate without walls), and private areas that are defined by a sense of tranquility and nature. The architects worked with a natural palette for the interior, embracing wood panel walls and off-white walls and floor to ceiling windows.

Patterson Associates have recently completed this summer residence on  Waiheke Island, New Zealand.  Famous for its beautiful beaches and vineyards, Waiheke Island is home to many of the Auckland regions finest holiday homes.

Located on a steep coastal escarpment above a Pohutakawa fringed white sand beach, the home uses locally sourced pyrite rock in its construction. The same pyrite rock is responsible for the uniqueness and quality of the vines that produce the global renowned award winning local Waiheke wine. 

The home features a rock mass that forms a bridge that makes the most of both the sea frontage and sunlight. Under this bridge a living area nestles into the landscape which extends to a spacious ocean-front terrace to the east  and a grotto-like western courtyard.  The bedroom areas,  grouped above the main living area as finely scaled louvered metal lookouts in the canopy line, close up like an oyster when the house is empty.

The building uses its materiality to compliment and reflect the beauty of its location. The building feels as though it belongs. 

The new Salvador Dali Museum by international practice HOK opened its doors earlier this year on January 11th in St Petersburg, Florida. The 68,000 square foot building hosts the biggest collection of Dali's work in the world. HOK explains they were very conscious of the artworks when designing the building:

'Our challenge was to discover how to resolve the technical requirements of the museum and site in a way that expresses the dynamism of the great art movement that he led. It is important that the building speaks to the surreal without being trite.'

Spiral and circular forms evident throughout the building, from staircases to windows and walls, all taking their lead from the artist's own work. The main atrium space features a spiral staircase made from poured in concrete to take visitors up to the third floor galleries.

A box built for living purposes is given its home within the forest. Designed by Aabe architecture, it's raised just a few centimetres from the earth and appears as if the building makes every effort not to disturb the tranquility of the site. Inside, the rooms are surrounded by a glass curtain which weaves through the box without ever touching the external walls of the structure. The curtain is used instead of blank walls and incorporates two patios which separate the bedrooms from the living rooms. Much in the style of colonial residential buildings, the building has an ambulatory around the outside where residents can enjoy a stroll and also benefit from being in the shade. On a lower level you’ll find the terrace which has been carefully built into the land outside the house and which incorporates the most simplest of swimming pools.

Tom Ford calls Santa Fe home. Specifically his ranch designed by Tadao Ando that was recently published in Paris Vogue. With sweeping landscapes, Ando's signature juxtaposition of light and dark is evident throughout. We found an interview snippet between Karl Lagerfield and Tom Ford about the said subject:

Karl Lagerfeld

And how is the [Tadao] Ando house coming along?

Tom Ford

He has designed several buildings for us, and we've started on one of them. We're still redesigning the main house. I like working with him.

Karl Lagerfeld

Oh, he is devine! I worked with him for many years and we always had so many problems with planning permission. You know in France you cannot build these kind of house. They said it looked like a church of a sect. At the end, I stopped it and introduced him to your friend Monsieur Pinault, and he got the museum. Where is he building your house?

Tom Ford

Outside of Sante Fe

Karl Lagerfeld

It will look great there.

Tom Ford

That's why I hired him, I think he is so much about walls and light. And the local architecture of New Mexico is of course adobe and fortress like, and the light is very strong there, so it's about light and massive walls.

Karl Lagerfeld

I think it's very creative to build houses.

An abandoned church in Utrecht, Netherlands undergoes a subtle renovation by Zecc Architects for its new owners. The finished result of St. Jakobus is awe-inspiring with many original elements preserved in order to retain a sense of its original purpose. Zecc Architects kept the original floors, stain glass windows and doors and repaired anything else that was necessary. The double-height ceiling provides a natural gallery space for the owners collection of art - some of which seems to provoke the serious nature of the building's history. The original mezzanine floor was partly removed to allow natural light to spread throughout the entire space, and to enable the owners to see a cross-section of the two levels. Old church pews have been have been reused by Zecc to create the owners' dining table, whilst glass sectioning allows different living spaces to operate seamlessly.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year from the Design Folio team. We will be taking a short hiatus until mid January. Until then, we hope you head somewhere almost as amazing as this classic modernist Kaufmann house by Richard Neutra in Palm Springs.

The long linear structure of this artist studio on Fogo Island by Saunders Architecture maximises the amount of open wall and floor space. Large windows at either end and a skylight on the roof of the studio allows the maximum amount of natural light to flood the space. Walls were made one metre deep to house storage, toilets and washbasins along with doors that are flush to the wall, thus avoiding any visual distraction inside the space.The studios are placed on pillars at the end towards the sea, while the entrance area has a small concrete foundation for anchoring the construction to the landscape. With this type of construction, the studios can be placed in almost any place on the island. In addition, this allows for the studios to be pre-fabricated in a local workshop during the winter months, and then placed in the landscape in the spring. The main body of the studio is fully enclosed to provide an area of protection and solitude from the outside environment while still providing a connection to the landscape through a strategically framed view of the dramatic surrounding.