Modern Nest House by WOHA
There’s nothing rustic about this abstract house in Singapore by WOHA, yet the exterior is modeled on a bird’s nest, with wood-textured poles cross-hatched on the upper floor. The home consists of layered terraces and concrete volumes separated by blade-like walls, and the ‘twigs and branches’ of the metal screen add privacy and shading to the open balconies and glazed walls of the upper floors.
Scope House by mA-style
Three bold geometric volumes balance on each other, a cantilevered white block focusing energy and views onto the Japanese landscape. Architecture firm mA-style experiments with a heavy geometric and highly private design that would make a lot of sense in a dense urban area, but does seem to cut off views of the hills in this quieter suburban setting. The glazed wall of the kitchen is the primary source of light.
Sky Garden House by Guz Architects
No green space was sacrificed to build this house on the island of Sentosa in Singapore – the architects simply lifted the grassy plains into the air, planting them back down right on top of a beautiful tropical villa. Guz Architects wanted to create a home that feels like a modest one-story house but is actually elevated above neighboring structures, treating the first floor like a basement space, with all the main functions on the second and third levels.
Zaha Hadid’s Strange Tower
Standing like a sentinel on Moscow’s Capital Hill, this bizarre home by the late and great Zaha Hadid towers 70 feet into the air as a lookout while the rest of the space conforms to the contours of the landscape, engaging with the forest. Some reports say it was built for supermodel Naomi Campbell, while others claim it’s for a Russian billionaire.
Modern Cave House
Located in Festus, Missouri, this 17,000-square-foot cave house popped onto the internet radar in 2009 when it was listed for sale on eBay. This highly unusual home makes use of geothermal and passive solar energy to keep it comfortable year-round with no additional heating or cooling, and features three main chambers: the first two for the inhabitants’ private spaces, and the third housing a cave stage where musicians like Bob Seger and Tina Turner have played.
