This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights visionary villas submitted by the ArchDaily community. From a modern lake house weekend retreat in New York, a Mediterranean Villa in Portugal that blends outdoor and indoor, and a rammed earth residential complex of five villas that fold into the Balinese landscape, this round-up of unbuilt projects showcases how architects are moving forward from conventional residential architecture, pushing the boundary of luxury.
Each project has a different vision, generated by unique site conditions, and has been designed specifically for the future users of the villa. Moreover, firms like Bittoni Architects, Lipman Architects, RS Mannino Architects have all presented work that plays with materiality, giving the houses unique characteristics.
Read on to discover 8 projects highlighting residential villas submitted by the ArchDaily community, along with a description from the architects.
Cave House in Heraklion, Greece
In this project, we thought to create a unique building endowed with great privacy. The main elevation is presented as a semi-transparent skin, which guarantees the passage of natural lighting while simultaneously providing privacy. The facade created combines the concept of contemporary architecture with the Mediterranean and bathing references. It was designed to develop a close relationship between the building and the private garden, located west, which assumes an exposed elevation to the outside. Glass was the chosen material to create this proximity and spatial permeability between the two universes (indoor/outdoor).
Carved Rock in Miryang, Korea
The project site is on the town’s higher topography, with mountains and rocks surrounding a small village. The design concept is a carved-out rock that echoes the condition of the site. The shape of the property lines and the slope of the ridge offset a form of mass. Meanwhile, interior space structured by the orthogonal system carves out mass from the inside. And the internal forces penetrate the rock and make openings. In response to the serial design process, each room is identified by a unique ceiling slope.
Lake House in Hudson Valley, New York
The rustic simplicity of this Hudson Valley, NY, lake house weekend retreat is achieved with thoughtful architectural composition, an efficient construction process, and durable, sustainable material selections. RS Mannino Architects design the home's overall footprint and open floor plan flow to create a connection to the surrounding natural landscape. The standing seam black metal façade, roof angle pitch, and the horizontal lines of the board form a concrete foundation, add texture, and give the home its modern silhouette.
Rahnavard Villa in Northern Iran
The project's main idea can be seen as a critical response to the most famous statement of modern architecture about the house entitled "A house is a machine for living" by Le Corbusier. The project's central concept also considers a house "as a machine for recreation." The spatial diagram of the project was formed by manipulating the spatial diagram of modern architecture and especially the free plan, which has been combined with the entirely rational Dom-Ino diagram and thoroughly self-referential load-bearing walls. Finally, to get the full view of the sea, the project rotated 30 degrees to overpass the first MADO Architecture project in the adjacent lot.
Five Stories Villas, Pererenan, Bali, Indonesia
Lipman Architects + Maria Oganian
The complex of five villas, each with its unique layout, has a variety of interior solutions, such as large atriums in the living room, windows in the bathrooms, spiral staircases, and many other features. By creating the architectural design, we wanted to make this structure unique to Bali - the consoles on the first-floor form canopies over the courtyards with swimming pools. Therefore, the first name of the complex was Hanging Gardens because the villas float on top of each other, overlapping and touching each other. However, considering the exceptional structure of each villa, we realized that they are actually five stories told by the architect. Each story is full of our own experiences; they are formed from respect for the site, the terrain, religion, the climate, and the orientation of the villas.
Hidden Hills in California, USA
Conceptualized by Bittoni Architects, Hidden Hills informs a design dialogue between modern Scandinavian influences and the ranch history of a notorious gated community, with a purposeful intention to invoke a sense of calm. The property encompasses a single-level 11,788-square-foot residence with a guest home, maintained horse trails, cultivated courtyards, and a spa-like zero-edge pool. Outside, special considerations are taken to deliver a serene escape from the glitz of nearby Hollywood. The home itself honors the ranch lifestyle with a required 4:12 pitched roof. The narrow-planked wood ceiling spurs a warm, modern sensibility paired with continuous wood cladding perpendicular to the ground to elongate its facade.
House Sesmarias in Albufeira, Portugal
MUTO Architecture and Engineering
In this project, we thought to create a unique building endowed with great privacy. The main elevation (east elevation) is presented as a semi-transparent skin, which guarantees the passage of natural lighting while simultaneously providing privacy. The facade created combines the concept of contemporary architecture with the Mediterranean and bathing references. It was designed to develop a close relationship between the building and the private garden, located to the west, which clearly assumes an exposed elevation to the outside. Glass was the chosen material to create this proximity and spatial permeability between the two universes (indoor/outdoor).
Uluwatu Villas in Bali, Indonesia
Uluwatu Villas is a project comprising 4 standalone single-floor vacation homes in Uluwatu, Bali. The project aims to deliver a dwelling that integrates perfectly with the surrounding environment thus offering to relax and meditating yet fun stay for people heading to Bali. The architectural concept behind the design was to create a minimal form with local materials that can easily integrate with the surrounding environment and gives a welcoming impression.
HOW TO SUBMIT AN UNBUILT PROJECT
We highly appreciate the input from our readers and are always happy to see more projects designed by them. If you have an Unbuilt project to submit, click here and follow the guidelines. Our curators will review your submission and get back to you in case it is selected for a feature.
