Kastanienbaum Twin Houses by Lussi + Halter Partner AG; photo © Leonardo Finotti

Earlier last year, a Swiss architectural practice Lussi + Halter Partner AG have completed this 618-square-meters semi-detached residence located near the city of Lucerne. Overlooking the picturesque Lake Lucerne and set among lush woodland area surrounded by oak, birch, chestnut and evergreen trees, the two-storey house features a dark grey concrete façade and an overhang while ‘continuous glass facade on the ground floor makes it possible for the inhabitants to enjoy a direct connection with their surroundings’. (more…)

Widlund House by Claesson Koivisto Rune; photo courtesy of the architects

Equally, or perhaps even more known for their furniture and product design rather than architectural projects, the prominent Swedish practice Claesson Koivisto Rune have recently completed this crisp-white, minimalist, seafront villa. Located on the second largest Swedish island of Öland, the development is made of solid white, precast concrete which enabled the architects to achieve ‘the ultimate precision in manufacturing tolerance and colour/finish.’ (more…)

Stealth Barn by Carl Turner Architects; photo by Tim Crocker and Jeremy Phillips

Set among a vast, scenic greenery of the Cambridgeshire fens, this monolith, uniformly black structure has been completed earlier last year by a London-based practice Carl Turner Architects. Developed as a guest house, studio or meeting place, the semi open-plan, sterling board-clad interior of Stealth Barn offers three separate sleeping, living and dining areas as well as a kitchen and a bathroom. Built within a budget of £30K, the development has recently been shortlisted for the Architect’s Journal Small Projects 2012. (more…)

Twins: Houses in Five Parts by William O’Brien Jr.; image by Peter Guthrie

An award-winning American architect William O’Brien Jr. has recently completed these two single-storey holiday houses located in upstate New York. Situated on one plot of land, the minimalist, black stucco-clad dwellings have been realised as ‘a regular six-sided polygon and a regular four-sided polygon’ respectively yet are composed from the same five forms — ‘each are made up of the same four trapezoids and one triangle.’ (more…)

House in Hekida by fuse-atelier; photo courtesy of the architects

Located on the outskirts of Nakano, Nagano prefecture, this minimalist, single family residence was completed by Shigeru Fuse, a Japanese architect and founder of his namesake practice fuse-atelier whose deconstructed concrete House in Abiko was featured on Dailytonic earlier this month. Surrounded by apple orchards and overlooking the mountains of Kitashiga Kogen, Japan’s popular ski resort, to the east, the development boasts an extensive, open-air roof terrace while to offer its residents privacy, the mezzanine level has been positioned 1.2 meters below the living and dining area on the opposite side of the stepped terrace, consequently limiting the view from outside. (more…)

Klein Bottle House by McBride Charles Ryan; photo by John Gollings

Inspired by the complex topology of Klein bottle, which, in mathematics is described as a ‘non-orientable, closed surface with only one side, formed by passing one end of a tube through the side of the tube and joining it to the other end,’ architects Rob McBride and Debbie-Lyn Ryan of the Australian architectural practice McBride Charles Ryan have developed this experimental and highly expressive holiday house located less than 100 km away from Melbourne, among the sand dunes of the Mornington Peninsula. Covering a total floor area of 258-square-meters, the black and white, origami-like residence encompasses three bedrooms, a separate living and recreation area and two terraces overlooking the surrounding national park.

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House in Abiko by fuse-atelier; photo courtesy of the architects

The stark, concrete interiors of this three-storey detached house fold and overlap creating a dramatic effect reminiscent of a three-dimensional greyscale cubist painting backlit by narrow streaks of sharp white light. Developed to echo a ‘gallery-like’, bare environment where the house’s inhabitants are able to display their taste for modern and contemporary furniture, the house rests on a reinforced concrete structure and the 101-square-meters residence was completed by a Japanese architectural practice fuse-atelier in 2011. (more…)

Townhouse Horgen by moos. giuliani. herrmann. architekten. photo by: Beat Bühler

Boasting panoramic views across the Lake of Zurich, this generous, four-storey family residence has recently been completed by a Swiss architectural practice moos. giuliani. herrmann. architekten.. Located near Zurich, in a small town of Horgen, the minimalist, 260-square-meters townhouse comprises a studio, two bedrooms, master bedroom, dressing room, dining room, kitchen, living room with fireplace, roof terrace, showers, bathroom, double garage with driveway, patio and air-conditioned wine cellar. (more…)