BUILT TO INSPIRE
Philip Jodidio
Contemporary Homes by the World’s Great Architects
CONTENTS 9 An Irrevocable Condition: Contemporary Houses of the World 16 House in Monsaraz
Lisbon, Portugal | Aires Mateus
28 Qishe Courtyard
Beijing, China | Archstudio
42 Triangle House
Tokyo, Japan | Shigeru Ban Architects
54 Casa Terreno
Valle de Bravo, Mexico | Fernanda Canales Arquitectura
68 House68
Selangor, Malaysia | Design Collective Architects (DCA)
82 The Black House
Isle of Skye, United Kingdom | Dualchas Architects
94 Dolunay Villa
Muğla, Turkey | Foster + Partners
108 Casa Mérida
Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico | Ludwig Godefroy
120 Wall House
Cascais, Portugal | Guedes Cruz Architects
134 Capital Hill Residence
Moscow, Russia | Zaha Hadid Architects
144 MS Residence
São Paulo, Brazil | Jacobsen Arquitetura
158 Storfjord Summer House
Storfjord, Norway | Jensen & Skodvin
170 From the Garden House
Laka, Poland | KWK Promes
CONTENTS 184 Cut Fold Bend Play
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India | Matharoo Associates
196 Seabreeze
Dana Point, California, United States | McClean Design
208 Montagnola Residence
Lugano, Switzerland | Richard Meier & Partners Architects
220 Canal House
Miami, Florida, United States | Studio MK27
232 Planar House
Porto Feliz, São Paulo, Brazil | Studio MK27
246 House in Los Vilos
Los Vilos, Chile | Office of Ryue Nishizawa
260 Villa Fauvette
Chailly, Lausanne, Switzerland | Archilab Gabriele M. Rossi
272 Villa Austevoll
Kalvaneset, Austevoll, Norway | Saunders Architecture
284 Residence in Sagaponack
Sagaponack, New York, United States | Selldorf Architects
294 Hofmann House
Valencia, Spain | Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
306 Island Rest
Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom | Ström Architects
320 Waterfront Retreat
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | Koichi Takada Architects
334 Meadow Lane House
Southampton, New York, United States | Tod Williams Billie Tsien
346 Project Credits
AN IRREVOCABLE CONDITION: CONTEMPORARY HOUSES OF THE WORLD The house contains within its very definition the idea of protection—like a cave carved out of a mountain, or a mother’s womb. I like that idea of the house. When we are tired, we return to our home. As long as men and women need a house, architecture will continue to exist.1
—Mario Botta
The Swiss architect Mario Botta expresses an idea of the house that returns to fundamentals in a readily comprehensible way. The home is essential to human existence and architecture originates, at least in part, in this deep instinctual need. Home design is also an obvious place to develop innovation in architecture. A single client (or two) puts his or her hopes and dreams in the hands of an architect. New ideas can emerge much more freely from this process than is the case for corporate or public buildings, which require the intervention of large numbers of persons or institutions. A house, even a large one, poses few of the problems that limit the creativity of architects when they deal with bigger, more expensive projects. House design allows younger architects to emerge, free of the prejudice that dictates that more “important” buildings must be designed by architects who have already proven their ability to confront the bureaucratic and public complexities inherent in bigger projects. The houses selected for this volume may be relatively large (and expensive) on the whole, but not only. New architecture and its innovations are clearly not limited to costly houses. There are also occasions where a lack of resources can encourage creativity and problem solving. 1
Mario Botta in conversation with the author, Lugano, Switzerland, August 16, 1998.
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On a Lake or in a City The Lisbon architects Aires Mateus, who are currently working on the new Elysée-Mudac museum of photography and design in Lausanne, Switzerland, are arguably the spiritual heirs of the Portuguese Pritzker Prize winners Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura. They are using modern architecture in apparently simple, but fundamentally unexpected ways. Their House in Monsaraz (Portugal, 2018) is a kind of concrete cave, echoing the remarks of Mario Botta, but this is a cave with a view of Alqueva lake. Their use of domes and openings is innovative even as it calls on the vocabulary of ancient architecture. With a green roof that blends into the landscape, it is a powerful reminder that contemporary architecture is rising to the challenge of environmental responsibility. Half a world away, the Chinese team of Archstudio has taken on modernity and the past in a unique way, with their restoration of a traditional Beijing courtyard house (Qishe Courtyard, 2020). They have used the existing courtyards of the formerly dilapidated residence to insert modern services, employing somewhat unexpected materials such as glass bricks and laminated bamboo. They have retained most of the old pine framework of the building even as they added modern insulation. Using waste from the construction process for décor and furnishings, Archstudio, too, has shown. The architects have called on and expanded traditional aspects of the architecture, such as the inter-penetration of interior and exterior (courtyard) spaces. The 2014 Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban has often used private houses as a testing ground for his ideas about the limits (or lack thereof) of contemporary architecture. This was certainly the case of his aptly named Wall-less House (Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan, 1997). Ban designed Triangle House (Tokyo, Japan, 2017) for a triangular site carefully, using that geometric form as its basic unit. One of Ban’s objectives was to make effective use of the points of triangles that might otherwise be little more than lost space. Triangle House is an ode to the inventiveness of contemporary architecture, in the context of a strictly Euclidean design that also shows that rectangles or squares are not the only modern forms.
In Southern Climes In Mexico, Fernanda Canales (Casa Terreno, Valle de Bravo, 2019) shows the growing influence of female architects in a country better known for its patriarchal systems; another example of this trend is of course Tatiana Bilbao. Canales’s Casa Terreno takes on a climate with extreme temperature variations to create livable space, both indoors and in courtyards. The single-story residence has four courtyards. The weather in Mexico does not dictate that such spaces be covered—might it not be that internal courtyards, too, echo Botta’s idea of the home as a secure “cave” or “womb” albeit in this instance open to the sky? Design Collective Architects (DCA) designed House68 in Selangor, Malaysia (2019) to make the home agreeable in the context of a very warm, often humid climate. Verandas and open walls that encourage natural air circulation are part of the strategy applied. Cantilevered roofs and pine louvers also regulate shade and air flow. Malaysia is known for its dense jungle-like vegetation, which flows even into cities like the capital Kuala Lumpur. Here vegetation is not held at bay as it might have been in a more “modernist” design. Instead, the house lives and breathes within its natural environment. Casa Mérida (Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, 2018) by Ludwig Godefroy
also makes use of natural ventilation for a site in the historic center of Mérida, at the same time as the architect references Mayan traditions. Built using local materials and craftsmanship, the house is disconnected essentially from the urban power and wastewater systems, making it a strong statement for the potential of “green” architecture in an urban Latin American setting. Wall House (Cascais, Portugal, 2015) by Guedes Cruz is also in a city, though a smaller one than Mérida. Here, too, natural ventilation encouraged by sliding glass walls is a central aspect of the design, which otherwise can be described as modular and rectilinear. Again a very large residence, Wall House makes use of “rationality, simplicity, and geometry” and puts it at the service of the comfort of its residents.
Black Skye, Blue Skies Much smaller and more closed as its location on the Isle of Skye might imply, The Black House (2017) by Dualchas Architects does have a rectangular plan, but it has unexpected features, such as its precise location in a rocky crevice and its surprisingly open view of the water. In the midst of Skye’s dark, rugged rocks, the house is both a reflection of its surroundings and an intentional setting aside of a space of modernity and unostentatious comfort. Also set on a rugged coast, this time on the Aegean, Dolunay Villa (Muğla, Turkey, 2019) is the work of the London-based firm Foster + Partners. It represents a will to create a sequence of spaces that range from “opaque to open” and a strategy of natural ventilation. Foster + Partners, under the leadership of Norman Foster, is a historic leader in the area of environmental awareness and design. Despite its large net area of 11,452.8 square feet (1,064 square meters), Dolunay Villa is an expression of responsible modern architecture. One of the most spectacular and unexpected houses recently built in the world was also the late Zaha Hadid’s only private residence. The Capital Hill house (Moscow, Russia, 2018) was built for the powerful real estate developer and hotel owner Vladislav Doronin. The unusual, almost organic form of the house was born at least in part of the owner’s desire to wake up in a forest and see the sky. Thus the bedroom had to be located 72 feet (22 meters) above the ground. As was the case of many of Hadid’s works, the topography of the site also guides its emergence from the earth. Instead of the straight lines and solid forms of most of the houses in this book, Capital Hill Residence appears to almost flow out of the ground and up to its cyclopean upper level. No stranger to spectacular, large houses, the Brazilian Bernardo Jacobsen designed MS Residence (São Paulo, Brazil, 2019). Here the architecture seeks to be “open and relaxed” but, also, in a sense blend into its environment with its laminated wood cladding and numerous open spaces. Covered spaces that are also open to the exterior are the norm in Brazil where warmth and humidity are most frequent. Jensen & Skodvin custom designed Storfjord Summer House (Storfjord, Norway, 2013) to fit precisely into a complex, rocky site. Its anchoring and structure were carefully thought out to avoid damaging the natural environment, the site itself made the use of heavy machinery impossible during construction. Wood shingles are contrasted with concrete surfaces for a house that makes the most of the setting, providing spectacular fjord views. Here, surrounded by nature, shelter is given in an angular modern design. This is no cave, perhaps more of a treehouse, but it is a haven of comfort and protection amid the forest.
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In the Garden, In the Breeze Like Shigeru Ban, albeit in a different structural register, the Polish architect Robert Konieczny (KWK Promes) often challenges assumptions about architectural form and function in his private houses. The most recent of these, From the Garden House (Laka, Poland, 2020) takes as its premise that the residence had to fit into a lot set aside in a large garden designed by a Japanese landscape architect. Although he regrets his inability to actually speak to the landscape specialist, Konieczny implanted a very large structure with a monolithic free-form ground level and a square upper floor into the allotted space. The garden is allowed to flow into an internal courtyard creating a link between the surroundings and the architecture. The Los Angeles–based Irish architect Paul McClean created Seabreeze (Dana Point, California, United States, 2019), taking into account a different kind of natural presence, that of frequent ocean breezes. Courtyards and layered walls create privacy and also deal with the breeze, making the house comfortable both inside and out, with many points where the distinction between the two is willfully blurred. McClean is known for his large modern houses that most often make use of rectilinear forms. In Southern California where he most often builds, the architect has developed a real talent for inserting houses into often steeply sloped sites, using rectangular “infinity” pools to emphasize privacy from below while extending views to the infinite ocean beyond.
Views of the Water At the age of eighty-five, Richard Meier has long been known for his carefully crafted white buildings, almost always based on strict grids, in plan and elevation. His most recent private house, Montagnola Residence (Lugano, Switzerland, 2018) is no exception to this rule. Built on a steep slope a few miles from Lugano, the house privileges light and views, two other frequent elements of Meier’s houses. This is most evident in the fully glazed double-height living spaces. In a very different setting, where Richard Meier might not have been uncomfortable, the Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan (Studio MK27) designed Canal House (Miami, Florida, United States, 2017). Set on the water, the house seems to bring the seawater inside in the form of a lagoon, crossed over by a long, elevated pedestrian bridge. The very large residence is surrounded by lush gardens, designed by the local specialist Raymond Jungles, and clearly here inside and out are intimately related in a climate that is forgiving except in the season of storms. Also large and designed by Mario Kogan, but set instead in Porto Feliz, São Paulo, Brazil, Planar House (2018) was imagined as “an extensive line in an open landscape.” The long rectilinear form is contrasted with a winding brick wall that shelters the residence even as it penetrates the interior. Although fortification is far from necessary as such, this wall delineates the private sphere and forms a protective shield, recalling in a way the most ancient homes. Also in Latin America, but in this instance on the coast, House in Los Vilos (Los Vilos, Chile, 2016) was designed by Ryue Nishizawa, who forms half of the Pritzker Prize–winning team SANAA. Made of concrete and laminated glass, the home could be said to be a distant echo of cave-like forms on the rocky shore, but it is above all a design that fully integrates its narrow, rocky site. Its arching concrete shapes create both roofs and walls, with glass offering an open view of the Pacific. House in Los Vilos is exceptional, the work of an inventive and
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uninhibited architect, who is at the top of the worldwide profession, while still ready to engage in the design of a private house thousands of miles from his native Tokyo. The talented Indian architect Gurjit Singh Matharoo recently completed the Cut Fold Bend House in Chennai (formerly Madras), India. This concrete residence built on a tightly constrained urban site uses enclosed courtyards to bring light and air into the heart of the house. Matharoo used the traditional Indian Vaastu system to design this house, meaning that its apparently open and flexible spaces actually obey strict rules concerning the placement of the key parts of the house and its orientation. Japanese architects like Tadao Ando and others have shown that it is possible to carve out remarkably comfortable and architecturally interesting spaces on small or strictly defined urban lots. Matharoo brings that tradition firmly into the Indian spectrum, but his ideas of modernity could well be translated into designs that would be equally at home in other countries.
Residential Modern In the much more settled hills of the residential area of Chailly above Lausanne, the Italian-born local architect Gabriele Rossi designed his own home, Villa Fauvette (2012), on a sloping 26,909-square-foot (2,500-squaremeter) site. The climate of Lausanne is moderate, fairly warm in summer, and rarely too cold in winter due to the presence of the very large Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). Vegetation is dense and it is often possible to open sliding glass doors to make the exterior and the interior one. This is a quality of Rossi’s architecture, where modern forms are put to the service of comfortable, free spaces. Passive and active methods (heat pump, photovoltaic panels, etc.) were used to make the house as environmentally friendly as possible. This is an example of careful and intelligent use of contemporary architecture—to this day—to craft a uniquely personal environment within the strictures of a geometric vocabulary. An equally geometric approach to a generous contemporary house was taken by the German-born New York architect Annabelle Selldorf for Residence in Sagaponack (Sagaponack, New York, United States, 2014), a project for the art dealer Per Skarstedt. The design features nearly 79 feet (24 meters) of sliding glass walls that permit an almost complete opening of one façade to the nearby water. Selldorf, born in Cologne in 1961, is certainly one of the more sought-after architects based in the United States. After work on the Luma Foundation for Maja Hoffmann in Arles, France, she has been called on for the renovation of New York’s prestigious Frick Collection building on Fifth Avenue. Equally geometric, but with a higher degree of unexpected design, Fran Silvestre’s Hofmann House (no relation to the Swiss patron of the arts) in Valencia (Spain, 2018) situates a formidable T-shape on the roof and rear side of a white linear composition.
Islands of Rest Island Rest (Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom, 2019) by Magnus Ström returns this visit of recent houses to a more down-to-earth approach, with a floor area of 1,991 square feet (185 square meters) and a clean, modern design, enlivened by the use of pilotis on the lower end, to correspond to the sloped site. Again, an awareness of energy consumption is a visible concern, with the use of heat pumps and photovoltaic panels playing an important role. As is so often the case, sliding glass windows open the house to its outdoor terrace.
The Waterfront Retreat (Newport, New South Wales, Australia, 2017) by Koichi Takada is a much bigger project with four stepped levels and terraces shaded by cantilevered balconies. With projects from Australia to Tokyo and Los Angeles, Takada is an up-and-coming figure of contemporary architecture. His recently completed interiors for the shops, restaurants, and cafés of Jean Nouvel’s National Museum of Qatar (Doha, 2019) show his strong ability to relate his work to nature, as is also the case for the colors and materials of The Waterfront Retreat. Todd Saunders is a Norwegian-Canadian architect born in 1969 in Gander, Newfoundland. At a modest 2,024 square feet (188-square-meters), his Villa Austevoll (Søgne, Norway, 2018) is his most recent residential project. The site of the house is a rocky wooded outcropping with a view of the sea. In order to disturb the landscape as little as possible, the foundation for the triangular house was anchored on the rock. The experienced team of Tod Williams Billie Tsien—who designed the former Folk Art Museum on 53rd Street in Manhattan and the new Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia—have recently completed Meadow Lane House (Southampton, New York, United States, 2019). This 11,990-square-foot (1,114-square-meter) oceanfront house situated on the top of a dune, is meant to be used during the entire year. According to the architects, “The clients asked for simplicity and intimacy of space reminiscent of the loft living that has shaped their life together in New York City.” The cantilevered, post-tensioned in-situ concrete building uses thermal mass to provide cool spaces and has little need for internal shades. Exposed concrete is visible both inside and out, but for thermal reasons insulation separates the layers. Although the houses in this volume were selected more for their timeliness and quality, they display many similar features, including an acute awareness of views, connections between inside and out, and a careful consideration of ecological concerns. The forms and materials are varied, but in all cases, the ideas of shelter and a return to origins implied by Mario Botta’s thoughts on homes find an expression. Even the cave implies an opening and indeed a direct relation of interior to exterior. Modern materials, in particular glass with good thermal performance, allow for large surfaces of operable glazing, connecting nature to private spaces. This relation is achieved in other cases, from Mexico to China, with internal courtyards. The American author James Baldwin speculated in his 1956 novel Giovanni’s Room that “Perhaps home is not a place, but simply an irrevocable condition.” From one end of the world to the other these houses may vary in size and cost, but they share the conditions of shelter, comfort, and return to essentials. Philip Jodidio Lausanne, Switzerland
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Design Collective Architects (DCA)
HOUSE 68 Tropical architecture is not to shield and protect the users away from the elements but to enhance and bridge the experience and the relationship between them.
Selangor, Malaysia | 2019
This large house was designed as a series of pavilions connected by open terraces and water gardens. The pavilions are devoted to functions such as entertainment, living, service, and a guest area, and can be individually closed off when not in use. Built on a 37,545-square-foot (3,488-square-meter) site, the house has a gross floor area of 23,099 square feet (2,146 square meters) and is intended to be able to evolve over time as the family configuration changes. The living areas have walls that open to allow cross ventilation, a frequent feature in Malaysia’s warm climate. Verandas and a cantilevered roof provide shade while façades with pine louvers give a degree of transparency combined with air flow. As the architects state, “The concept of pavilions is a very common approach to tropical architecture. The fragmented planning allows for permeability and effective air flow through and around the building cooling and refreshing the interior of the house. The planning naturally creates outdoor spaces and courtyards that binds the programs of the pavilion with the outside and activates the in-between spaces more effectively.” The semi-enclosed, naturally ventilated space expands the available areas for use by the family and brings the dense Malaysian vegetation into the residence. The architects conclude, “This project explores the idea of a modern tropical home where the architecture is exposed to the natural elements that surrounds it. Light, air, water, and garden can permeate and pass through the house through its courtyards, air wells, ventilated walls, windows, and timber screens. The degree of permeability is controlled to an extent: the interior spaces retain their comfort levels and do not suffer from excessive heat gain or moisture levels. Tropical architecture is not to shield and protect the users away from the elements but to enhance and bridge the experience and the relationship between them.”
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The scale of the entry amplifies the sense of architectural grandeur, surrounded by the natural elements. Warm timbers are juxtaposed against cool stone walls.
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A large open terrace binds the main living/dining area with the outdoors, where the large permeable space is flanked by water gardens.
Foster + Partners
DOL UNAY VILLA A sense of discovery and a richness of experience comes through in the way the spaces change as you walk through the site.
Muğla, Turkey | 2019
An undulating roofline cascades gently over the villa’s glazed façades, also providing overhangs to protect the home’s multiple outdoor terraces.
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This house is built on a rugged site on the Aegean Sea coast in Muğla Province, which is based in the country’s southwestern region where the popular resort destination of Bodrum is located. From the entrance, the home’s private areas are on the eastern side and the public areas are to the west, offering Aegean sunset views. The architects imagined a sequence ranging from “opaque to open.” Large sliding glass doors open fully to blur the boundaries between exterior and interior in this warm climate. Niall Dempsey, Partner in charge of Dolunay Villa at Foster + Partners says, “There’s a real split between the public forum and the private. A sense of discovery and a richness of experience comes through in the way the spaces change as you walk through the site.” The site area of the three-story villa is 189,100 square feet (17,568 square meters) and the net internal area is 11,452.8 square feet (1,064 square meters). The location and design of the house give the impression that it rises only one story as seen from the entrance. Inside a central feature is the solid Portuguese limestone stair supported only by post-tensioned cables. The lightness of the stair design is emphasized by thin glass-tube balustrades and a timber handrail. Open courtyards inside the house encourage natural ventilation—making the house “breathe” and remain comfortable even in the warmest weather. The house is 211.6 feet (64.5 meters) long and 24.9 (7.6 meters) high. It has a concrete foundation, and exposed, painted steel columns. The timber roof has less embodied carbon than a typical concrete-steel structure. Local materials and manufacturers were used for interior and exterior cladding, together with local craftspeople for ceramic, stone, and wood finishes. Oak floors and local limestone are used for flooring. Marble, local limestone, and fabric finish on foam are visible on the interior walls.
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Robert Koniezcny | KWK Promes
FROM THE GARDEN HOUSE The garden is allowed to flow into an internal courtyard creating a link between the surroundings and the architecture.
Laka, Poland | 2020
The affirmed straight lines of the house are willfully contrasted with the irregularity of the pre-existing Japanese-style garden.
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As the name implies, this project is unusual in that it is based on a garden that was being developed by a Japanese landscape designer. The architect, Robert Konieczny simply had to make the house fit into the space allowed. Administrative and other delays held up the project for which discussions began in 2008. The architect states, “The client, who is a nature lover, changed a fallow site into a beautiful green oasis with a lake and stone-paved road, softly leading to the place where the house was supposed to be built. The curving path, where he liked to walk, became an inspiration for us. The ground floor of the dwelling together with its living zones, is the continuation of the path, gently responding to the context. This impression is complemented by the use of gray concrete, referring to the color of the road.”
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The concrete house has a monolithic free-form, a 11,302-square-foot (1,050-square-meter) ground floor, and a square 10,225-square-foot (950-square-meter) first floor. The size of the ground floor is related to the client’s desire to show art and to host openings with numerous guests. The garden flows into the house at ground level, with a large “atrium” on the first floor creating a partial internal courtyard. The garden in the atrium area was carefully preserved from the original design, and a pond crosses the threshold from the exterior to this inner space. Ground-level walls have full height and curved glazing. The upper floor is finished in white plaster. Shutters on the southern and western sides of the house are finished in the same plaster, creating a “white minimalistic solid mass.” The ground-floor roofs are planted, increasing the impression of continuity with the garden. Konieczny explains, “It was also a big challenge to design this house in such a way that, despite its large surface, it is very easy to use. Everything is convenient and close.”
Full-height glazing at the ground level allows views through the house. By way of contrast, the upper level is fully opaque in this image.
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Title: Built to Inspire: Contemporary Homes by the World’s Great Architects // Philip Jodidio ISBN: 9781864708752 This title was commissioned in IMAGES’ Melbourne office and produced as follows: Editorial coordination Georgia (Gina) Tsarouhas, Graphic design Ryan Marshall, Art direction/production Nicole Boehringer, Proofing Jeanette Wall Printed by Graphius nv, Belgium, on 150gsm Magno matt art paper
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The home is essential to human existence and architecture originates, at least in part, in this deep instinctual need. Home design is also an obvious place to develop innovation in architecture. The American author James Baldwin speculated in his 1956 novel Giovanni’s Room that “Perhaps home is not a place, but simply an irrevocable condition.” From one end of the world to the other these houses may vary in size and cost, but they share the conditions of shelter, comfort, and return to essentials. —Philip Jodidio
Photography Nelson Garrido (Aires Mateus, House in Monsaraz)
$75.00 [USA] £55.00 [GB]
