p 6
OFF-GRID ITHOUSE
Pioneertown, California, USA
p 16
KUGEL/GIPS HOUSE
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
p 22
CASA TINY
Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico
p 28
FLOATING
FARMHOUSE
The Catskills, New York, USA
p 36
LA MELAGRANA
Noto, Sicily, Italy
p 42
CASA COMUNAL
Isla Colón, Bocas del Toro, Panama
p 50 LES
ÉCHASSES
Saubion, Southern Aquitaine, France
p 56
LIGHT HOUSE
Agger, Thy, Denmark
p 62
MALATESTA
MAISON
Pergola, Le Marche, Italy
p 70
VILLA SLOW
San Roque de Riomiera, Cantabria, Spain
p 76
JUNGLA MODERNA
Santa Teresa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
p 82
MÖKKI SANTARA
Savitaipale, Karelia, Finland
p 90 NEBESA
Kobarid, Goriška, Slovenia
p 94
TOPANGA
SANCTUARY
Topanga, California, USA
p 104
MOUNTAIN LODGE TAMERSC
San Vigilio di Marebbe, South Tirol, Italy
p 112
THE BEAR STAND
Gooderham, Ontario, Canada
p 120
BACKWATER
Wroxham, Norfolk, United Kingdom
p 128
ACIDO DORADO
Joshua Tree, California, USA
p 174
BALCONES DE MAJAGUAL
San Juan del Sur, Rivas, Nicaragua
p 214
A CASA DE ESTREMOZ
Estremoz, Alentejo, Portugal
p 138
AREIAS DO SEIXO
A dos Cunhados, Torres Vedras, Portugal
p 180
CASA AGOSTOS
Faro, Algarve, Portugal
p 222
HARRISON HOUSE/ CASE STUDY
HOUSE #26
San Rafael, California, USA
p 144
THE BALANCING BARN
Thorington, Suffolk, United Kingdom
p 188
CASA M101
Ostuni, Puglia, Italy
p 154
VILLA L03
Essaouira, Marrakesh-Safi, Morocco
p 196
COQUI COQUI COBA
Cobá, Yucatán, Mexico
p 230
VINTAGE HOUSE
DAYLESFORD
Daylesford, Victoria, Australia p 238
CASA OLIVI
Treia, Le Marche, Italy
p 162
HYT
Bernried, Lower Bavaria, Germany
p 202
FORDYPNINGSROMMET
Fleinvær, Lofoten Islands, Norway
$ Affordable holiday homes
p 166
VINDLYVEIEN
Larvik, Vestfold, Norway
p 208
CASA GONZA
Isla Holbox, Yucatán, Mexico
$$ Sophisticated holiday homes
$$$ Exclusive holiday homes
In the heart of the Californian desert, not far from the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, stands a secluded, hip glassand-steel construction. The Off-grid itHouse is a creation by architect duo Linda Taalman and Alan Koch, who came up with a prefabricated, adjustable construction concept.
It seems like a weird idea to erect a holiday home in the middle of the desert, between the cacti and Joshua trees, especially one made from glass and steel. But this did not prevent Linda and Alan from building their itHouse near Pioneertown, a village that was once built as a film set for western movies but has developed into an actual village (with a motel and numerous Airbnbs). The Off-grid itHouse is an architecturally significant house, noted by Dwell as one of the ‘Best Homes in America’ and by The Los Angeles Times as one of the best houses of all time in Southern California. The house in Pioneertown is one of ten IT HOUSES built in California. “An IT HOUSE is a customisable house made of high-quality sustainable materials that are manufactured with precision off-site and rapidly assembled on-site,” say the architects. ‘The IT HOUSE functions as a highly refined structure for enhancing the visual and physical relationship with the natural environment. The juxtaposition of glass walls with solid panel walls and partitions sets up a visually dynamic and flexible framework that enhances the everyday experience with the surrounding landscape and allows for multiple layers of privacy throughout the space. The IT HOUSE can be completely off-grid, generating its own heating and energy, therefore reinforcing the goal of achieving a minimal building footprint. Energy efficiency is achieved in the IT HOUSE through passive heating and cooling, utilizing site orientation and cross ventilation, radiant floor heating, hi-efficacy appliances & equipment, and the use of solar photovoltaic and thermal panels. Given the lightness and simplicity of the IT HOUSE, it can be built on remote and difficult sites. The construction process leaves almost no traces on the landscape and allows natural features to be preserved.”
This IT HOUSE was efficiently built in a remote site that is difficult to build on and the result is fantastic! The cool bungalow has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a fully equipped kitchen and a dining area, which all offer an incredible view of the desert landscape. It is a place of serenity and tranquillity, a quiet retreat that replaces WIFI or TV sets with hip furniture and sleek architecture, with subtle reference to the desert modernism that so characterises Palm Springs. “The design is a collection of off-the-shelf manufacturing systems that we’ve combined—like the Bosch framing usually used in robotics and the Epic roof-construction system used in airports and malls.”
› ecolodge-lesechasses.com + ecological resort; hip cabins; in the middle of nature; swimming pool
Southern Aquitaine; Biarritz (forty-five minutes away); the Pyrenees (one hour away); beautiful beaches (fifteen minutes away)
Aéroport de Bordeaux-Mérignac (BOD)
In 2014, architect Laura Alvarez bought a piece of land near her place of birth in the north of Spain. Nowadays, Villa Slow stands on that spot, a holiday home that slows down the pace of life. At the border between nature and architecture, she created perfect harmony between indoor and outdoor life.
Laura Alvarez runs her eponymous international architectural firm in Amsterdam. In search of a place to come home to in her region of birth, the young architect designed a holiday home in the middle of the hills and mountains of Valles Pasiegos Nature Park in Cantabria, near Santander and a two-hour drive from Bilbao. Villa Slow rose from the stone ruins that stood on the land. The holiday home was built from recycled and local building materials and was inspired by a traditional cabaña pasiega (peasant cabin), which is a combination of a house and a barn. It is a passive holiday house with a rough- stone façade and a warm, minimalist interior. Laura supplemented the white base, grey shades, and wooden accents with vintage furniture that she came by in the Netherlands. “I grew up in the north of Spain, not so far from Villa Slow. I have really good memories of me and my family enjoying nature. This region of Spain has many of the things I always look for when I go on holiday: mountains, sea, natural parks, hiking, tranquillity, culture, and rich gastronomy. But I always missed a nice place to stay. A place where you can be warm when it is cold outside and be fully connected to the outside when the sun shines. So I thought: if I can’t find it, there must be many people who can’t find it, either. So, let’s design and build a beautiful place and share it! Being an architect myself, I simply couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by.”
“The scheme of the house is simple,” says Alvarez. “Two big panoramic windows in the living room facing opposite directions create a beautiful scenography of mountains, clouds, and trees. These two openings allow you to enjoy the impressive views towards the valley and mountains from the spacious living room in the centre of the house. Two bedrooms are situated next to the living area in the eastern wing, the more private side, both with their own bathroom and openings to the infinite landscape. They receive beautiful light in the morning. Thanks to their generous height, a mezzanine on top of the bathroom core allows for additional sleeping arrangements: a couple or a couple with children, friends, etc.”
Villa Slow is designed and built with extreme mindfulness and care for detail. The house is very respectful of the environment, both aesthetically and technically. Villa Slow is a passive house thanks to an air-heat pump that provides the entire house with energy, a low-temperature heating system (floor heating), high-quality insulation, and high-performance glass windows for minimum heat loss. The high-performance glass warms up the interior in winter and the big wooden shutters protect against heat gain during summer. All materials to build Villa Slow are either reused from the old stone shed or come from the region of Cantabria.
