The Osler House by Marcio Kogan is located in Brasilia, Brazil.

The house is composed of two rectangular volumes, stacked one on top of the other and arranged perpendicularly to create a sheltered entertaining terrace at ground level. Concrete, timber and glass form the simple palette of materials and add to the house’s minimalist nature.

Rotating wooden panels allow the ground floor rooms to open up to the yard and pool, while also enabling cross-ventilation.

The upper floor is organised as one open space with walls of glass on either side and is only interrupted by one long bench that solely forms the kitchen. With all appliances and storage contained in this bench and no overhead cupboards, a sense of visual transparency is maintained.

There is also a garden terrace on the roof of the ground floor that can be accessed via the living room and set of sculptural external stairs.

Check out the website of Marcio Kogan here.

Also visit archdaily for more images.  

The Suurupi House Extension, located in Estonia is designed by Arhitektid Muru & Pere.

Initially designed and built in 1998/99, the one-storey house was a simple wooden ‘”matchbox” to cater for the needs of a young family with children. As the family grew and the children got older various additions were made culminating in the latest addition of a second floor in 2008/09.

‘The modest “matchbox” has been made bigger in time, the drawer was stretched out further and further until it came out of the box and could be placed, crosswise, on top as a first floor and could be covered with tangled matches.

That is how the first floor looks: a box covered with crisscrossed sticks which resembles an angular bird’s nest, a ball of hay that is pressed together, a tangle of boards, all of which glows in the dark.’ – Arhitektid Muru & Pere

I personally wonder how this timber skin will age. Will it age gracefully as the timber weathers? Or will it require a lot of maintenance and need to be replaced after a number of years? Either way it looks really cool.

via archdaily

Photography: Tarvo Varres

The external timber skin has an amazing night time quality: (above and below)

Upon checking out their website you’ll find not only are they a talented and accomplished graphic design/creative agency, they are also not too bad at interior design judging from the photographs of their studio fitout.

The DIY project allowed the team at Parliament, alongside carpenter Kyle Sharp, to create a space that reflected their aesthetic qualities while at the same time utilising salvaged and reclaimed materials such as old pizza ovens, street signs, crates, a 1930’s barn and a 20th century church.

I love the contrast that has been created between the original raw, industrial building shell and the warm character of the new timber elements. The stacked firewood walls are a standout and their collection of screen printed posters is awesome too!

Check out Parliament’s website here.

Photography by Lincoln Barbour

via CONTERMPORIST

I really like small architecture and the Box House by Alan Chu and Cristiano Kato is no exception.

The 3x5m box is the caretaker’s house on a property on Ilhabela Island, overlooking the São Sebastião Channel near São Paulo, Brazil. On the upper floor in the white suspended box is the bedroom and beneath it is the living room, kitchen and bathroom.

For more information and pictures visit Archdaily here.

To visit the Alan Chu – Cristiano Kato Architects website click here.

        Photos: Dan Chu

Below is the home page picture of the Alan Chu – Cristiano Kato Architects website. It looks really cool so I had to add it to this entry.

The Binimelis House designed by Polidura + Talhouk Arquitectos is located in Colina, Chile and is situated on a triangular shaped block with a slope of 40%. The living spaces are located upstairs with the bedrooms cut into the hillside downstairs.

The house has been orientated parallel with the terrain to create a direct relationship with the landscape on both levels while also taking advantage of the northern sun and views (an ideal arrangement with street access to the upper living areas from the south). A kink in the upper volume also directs the occupant’s view toward the valley and away from a nearby quarry.

Concrete, timber and stone form the simple, yet beautiful palette of materials but it is how they are used that is most appealing to me. The lower level’s organic dry stone walls create a nice contrast with the crisp and sharp nature of the upper level’s gloss stone tiles, reinforcing the appearance that the upper level is just sitting or floating there.

The stone tile cladding on the upper floor is also interestingly detailed. Check out the section detail showing this cladding extending onto the roof and how there is no hidden box gutter – the water would just run off the edge and down the walls. The other section showing the window/door opening has a 50×50 steel angle near the roof edge. I assume this would divert the rain to either side of the opening. It would be interesting to see how this works in a heavy downpour.

  Photos: Aryeh Kornfeld

 Visit the Polidura + Talhouk Arquitectos website here.

For more photographs and drawings visit Archdaily here.

Via Archdaily