Three nice residential projects by the young (b. 1977) Mexican architect Jorge Hernadez de la Garza: the Suntro House (Oaxtepec), the Los Amates House in Morelos (near Mexico City) and the Casa 14 (Mexico City). More about the Suntro House also at Noticias Arquitectura.

Finally a Japanese architect with a detailed English website! It’s interesting to read the small texts next to each project on Waro Kishi’s website. They offer fascinating personal insights on his projects and how they were developed, such as his inspiration for the Hu-tong House (see photo below): “When I visited ‘hakka house’, which is a typical courtyard house in southern China, I was surprised that the residents called the courtyard ’street’ or ‘lane.’ The ‘private’ space of the housing complex was called as though it were a public space. Finally I realized that the residents considered it to be common, a kind of public space.”

Above: Waro Kishi’s Hu-tong House

A selection of nice projects by Kanner Architects, a studio with 30 architects based in Santa Monica, California. Stephen is the third Kanner to run the firm since his grandfather started it in 1946. American architecture with a modernist touch, windows stretching from top to bottom, lots of light and open spaces.

Again a beautiful example of Japanese simplicity, this Spiral Court House by Japanese architect Kenya Ishihara/Denefes. I love these inner courtyards and the lightness of the design.

Bevk Perović Arhitekti is a young Slovenian architecture firm with a promising portfolio. They recently received a special mention as “Emerging Architect” for their design of the Ljubljana Faculty of Mathematics at the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2007. A few samples of their work:

Photos by John Gollings

This house by John Wardle Architects is located on Portsea Back Beach (Melbourne, Australia). According to the architects, it “is not a holiday shack and does not pretend to be so, but it does retain the memory of the type. The resonances of the weekender are distilled to distinguish the architecture from an urban counterpart”.

Akira Sakamoto’s buildings are stripped of any unnecessary detail and marvel in simplicity. Beautiful architecture and photography as well:

The House of Zinc (Aravaca) by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos is situated on the outskirts of Madrid. The architects imagined a house generated by layers of use that relate to the outside areas. The ground floor relates to a broad front garden, the first floor to a background terrace and the final floor to the surrounding landscape of the house.

“Desert Utopia: Mid-century Architecture in Palm Springs” is a feature-length documentary on the mid-twentieth-century architecture in and around Palm Springs, CA:

The 80-minute documentary is an in-depth look at the creative postwar era architecture and some of the famed architects (John Lautner, Richard Neutra, R. M. Schindler, et al) and prolific regional architects (William F. Cody, Albert Frey, Donald Wexler, E. Stewart Williams, William Krisel, et al) whose homes and buildings today make up the largest concentration of important mid-century modern architecture in the United States.

I came across their website by accident while browsing Google Images for pictures of Richard Neutra’s Kauffman house. There’s not a lot of information on where to see or get the documentary on dvd (I think it was shown on American television somewhere in 2006), but the website has a small gallery of famous mid-century American homes:

If you thought Jesuits still lived in gloomy monasteries, than have a look at this:

The Mariposa residence by deBartolo Architects is a private residence for a community of jesuits in Phoenix, Arizona .

Marsh Cashman Koolloos Architects provided a nifty long stretched pool in the inner courtyard of this Whitworth house. Great to do a little morning swim:

I also liked the sunny courtyard and terrace of the Buffa House:

The 1532 House by Fougeron Architects is one of the recipients of the 2007 Housing Awards of the American Institute of Architects. The awards are in its seventh year and recognize the best in American housing design.

This house is located in San Francisco and includes two distinct volumes separated by an interior courtyard. The front structure has a garage at street grade and a painting studio above; the back volume is the main house, with bedrooms on the lower level, living spaces in the middle, and a master bedroom suite on the top floor. Floor-to-ceiling windows, glass floors and skylights manipulate natural light and allow it to penetrate deep into all rooms.

I agree with what the jury said: “A wonderful, tiny, narrow home that fits perfectly into the sloped site, the house has a street presence that doesn’t overpower anything on either side. The plazas, balconies, and courtyards are very inventive uses of a limited space.”

Again a nice example of contemporary Japanese architecture. The projects of Keisuke Maeda (UID Architect & Associates) sure hit the spot for me. Check out this beautiful SteP House:

Or this house in Nagasaki:

I love the way how this Japanese firm plays with open and closed walls, floating elements and inner courtyards. Check out this beautiful roof terrace on top of their Jyubako House:

A few other examples:

BARK is a British Columbia registered non-profit collective of designers + businesses committed to raising the profile of Canadian design and ingenuity.

The All Terrain Cabin (ATC) was dreamed up by BARK to showcase Canadian design on international design forums, consumer home and interior design shows, environmental conferences, and special events, as well as more casual visits to small towns, open spaces, and the downtown cores of major urban centres.

For that purpose, they designed a small home, a cabin, using the standard ISO shipping container as the basis for the structure and outfitting it totally with Canadian Design and Technology. The result is as smart as it is efficient, suitable for a family of four and a pet to live off the grid in comfort and contemporary style. It travels by train, truck, ship, airplane or helicopter, folded up and indistinguishable from any ordinary shipping container. Once it arrives, it unfolds rapidly to 480sf of self-contained, sophisticated living space with all the comforts of home.