Focusing on the different typologies of houses, this week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights conceptual projects submitted by the ArchDaily Community. From urban developments to tiny homes, this article explores the topic of residential architecture and presents approaches from all over the world.
Featuring a cabin amidst the verdant forested region of northern Iran, a development in Georgia that offers an 80% recreational space to 20% housing ratio, and a project in Paris that re-questions our urban reality, and rethinks traditional forms of housing, this roundup tackles a multitude of scales. In addition, it underlines a collection of beach houses in Greece, Italy, Argentina, and Latvia each responding to a different landscape and topography. Other ideas underlined include the renovation of existing developments in Moscow, a residential-led transformation of a former factory in Manchester, and a family of blocks grouped around an elevated communal garden in the Netherlands.
Read on to discover 12 curated projects showcasing houses all over the world, along with their descriptions from the architects.
Villa G01
Mask Architects designed the “Villa G01” "Rock and Cave" special, unique luxury villa with a panoramic sea view, located in one of the most exclusive areas of Northern Sardinia. The “Villa G01” villa was designed to ensure the sustainability of the local architectural and material texture of Sardinia, using today's technology with robotic construction techniques. The villa concept is distinctively named “Villa G01” in accordance with its inspiration and overall appearance. Fully respecting Sardinia's architectural style, this property is perfectly integrated into its natural environment, nestled between rocks and vegetation, as well as bordering the beach.
Coastal Home in Latvia
From ruins to responsible reuse. Latvia’s Baltic coast is littered with remnants from the past such as military bunkers and fishing infrastructure. Instead of erasing them off the face of the earth, we believe in considering their potential. This coastal home sits atop two former bunkers like a bridge from the complex past into a promising future. Paired with the stylized gable roof and glass walls, this is a tactful combination of the old and new.
Domus Houthaven
Domūs Houthaven consists of a family of blocks grouped around an elevated communal garden. The project houses 235 apartments and an array of collective spaces for working, playing, relaxing, washing, and eating on a commercial plinth. Each apartment features an XL-furniture in which modular elements for kitchen, bathroom, storage, and alcove bed are combined. The diversity in apartment types and shared facilities offer space for a variety of lifestyles and create the conditions for a vivid community within the complex.
Brøter Terrasse
Located on the very edge of a new urban masterplan that facilitates both a transformation from low to high-density housing development and increased architectural and social diversity, the project capitalizes on the contradictions involved in this transition by making them its main design potentials. As a form of hybrid mediator between big/small scale, urban housing/private villas, affordable/exclusive, public/private, inside/outside, the project becomes a form of inhabitable flowerpot of diversities, creating an identity out of the intensities inherent to these dualities.
Manox
Manox is a residential-led transformation of a former factory site in Manchester. Of the 410 homes created, the majority will be family houses, with some apartment buildings at key locations within the masterplan. The scheme will be low-carbon and energy-efficient with ecological enhancement across every millimetre of the site, water- and energy-efficient homes and maximized use of sustainably-sourced materials and minimized waste. The project will spur further rejuvenation of the area with an overarching emphasis on community-centered family housing and placemaking.
Casa Odyssia
konstantinos stathopoulos | KRAK. architects
Casa Odyssia is located in the northeastern part of the island in a verdant landscape. The dwelling as a seed on the ground; it grows by finding space among the other forces of the site, looking for the best view. The entire synthesis is structured around a central pillar, which refers to the sporadic outbursts of cypress trees, and turns towards the south-east, aiming for a good orientation. Following the axes x, y, z the elements of the synthesis, made of raw concrete, meet on the site, between the olive trees and the stones, creating spaces, boundaries, and views, in a logic of endless movement.
Paskha district concept
The main theme of the contest was to make an attempt at applying experimental methods of high-density development to an already existing Moscow district, and the Southeastern district of Metrogorodok was given for a renovation. One specific trait of the task was the necessity of working with an existing residential district, […] Main part of our idea came down to making the buildings join in a checkerboard-like pattern. With this, we can provide relatively high density — half of the land being developed — at the same time keeping smaller overall height compared to traditional urban blocks, high towers, etc.
CASA BRISAS
The Warm Breezes villa is located in Misiones-Argentina, a wonderful environment that flows into the interior and exterior. This prototype arises from a 2-level shifted volume with east-west oriented areas. It is composed of a wooden folding curtain and beige stone cladding, leaving a warm and neutral appearance to the prevalent green. This dynamic facade is manipulated according to use and can be completely open with the best views or closed to create a clean sculpture. The breeze of the Parana River melts harmoniously with the rich fauna and flora where the warm climate invites the creation of spaces of shade as treasures.
API House
The Aegean is wind-swept geography of intricate coastlines and numerous islands, a topography known for arid, rocky landscapes of low brush and pine forests. The topography has become the architectural strategy for nabil gholam architects (ngª) in their design for the API House located in the Aegean on the island of Antiparos in the Cyclades. The natural setting dictated a design that would not disrupt the untouched landscape aiming to reduce the visible presence of the building through “burying” the main structures. The house spreads mainly on one floor with its functions separated in simple geometric volumes, discretely inserted in the sloped terrain.
100%
This project questions our new ways of inventing urban reality, rethinking those developed in the 1970s. Our time, in reaction to the over-urbanity that characterized the 20th century, is finding a growing interest in a different life, more respectful of human rhythm, closer to nature, with more sociability. Overconsumption is a subject for reflection, even rejection. The northern Parisian suburbs, as a historic place of architectural experimentation and strong solidarity, allows this type of alternative model. As a tribute to post-68 thinking, this project is inspired by the housing imagined by Jean Renaudie and Renée Gailhoustet in Aubervilliers.
Garden House
The Garden House was commissioned as one of several newly build residential blocks for Lisi Development’s Green Town, a sustainable scheme overlooking Tbilisi with an 80% recreational space to 20% housing ratio. The 7-storey, 42-unit block has alternating oval and rectangular modular living rooms that create a rhythmical vertical pattern within the grid, while verandas bring greenery to each floor. All modules are constructed offsite, a huge innovation for Georgia.
KUJDANE
Shomali Design Studio has conceptualized a distinctive cabin amidst the verdant forested region of northern Iran. The ‘Kujdane’ cabin, which translates to ‘very small’ in English, exhibits an unorthodox interpretation of the traditional A-frame rooftop. The wooden material palette of the structure is complemented with muted-grey interiors and paired with a façade of full-height glazing. Its purpose is to serve as an isolated retreat amidst nature. The sloping A-frame roof and a horizontal concrete slab make the structure look like it is effortlessly suspended above the ground.
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.
