30 Retreats Built by Architects for Architects

ByMyProperty Life

Being your own client comes with its own challenges and rewards.

On a hillside in Los Angeles, architect Clive Wilkinson created a three-story home for himself, his wife, Elisabeth, and their children.

These 30 residences and private outdoor hideaways built by architects— some sprawling multi-level abodes built for their families and some minimalist cabins to deepen their connection to nature—are all deeply personal projects.

An Architect’s Home in Sydney Is a Masterful Lesson in Sustainable Design

Clinton Cole, architect, builder, and director at CPlusC Architectural Workshop, gave Welcome to the Jungle House, his family's home in suburban Sydney, the eco-friendly treatment, what with a solar-panel facade, rainwater harvesting, and a rooftop full of fruits and vegetables and a fish pond. Visitors are first ushered into the imposing steel

Clinton Cole, architect, builder, and director at CPlusC Architectural Workshop, gave Welcome to the Jungle House, his family’s home in suburban Sydney, the eco-friendly treatment, what with a solar-panel facade, rainwater harvesting, and a rooftop full of fruits and vegetables and a fish pond. Visitors are first ushered into the imposing steel “shroud” entry, facing the timber-clad staircase. 

Read another article:Design Trends for Creating a Vacation Vibe at Home

Murray Fredericks

This Japanese Architect’s Live/Work Space Embodies Quiet Reflection

A single Japanese red pine tree provided the impetus to build this spartan, three-story dwelling and office designed by architect Go Fujita of Gosize in Nishinomiya, known as a prime site for Japanese cherry blossom sightings. Fashioned almost entirely of concrete, it has high ceilings and full walls that make way for select materials including tin, oak, and silver foil.

A single Japanese red pine tree provided the impetus to build this spartan, three-story dwelling and office designed by architect Go Fujita of Gosize in Nishinomiya, known as a prime site for Japanese cherry blossom sightings. Fashioned almost entirely of concrete, it has high ceilings and full walls that make way for select materials including tin, oak, and silver foil. 

Akiyoshi Fukuzawa

Barrel-Vaulted Ceilings Cap an Architect’s Off-Grid Retreat in Mexico

On a plateau three hours outside Mexico City, architect Fernanda Canales created a wild, nature-fueled vacation home for her family surrounding four courtyards. Celebrating the flat, rugged environs, she melded a facade of red, broken brick with warm concrete and wood interiors. To add extra height, she turned to terra-cotta tiled barrel vaults.
Read another article:Hot Trends: 20 Best Farmhouse Style Kitchens in White and Wood

On a plateau three hours outside Mexico City, architect Fernanda Canales created a wild, nature-fueled vacation home for her family surrounding four courtyards. Celebrating the flat, rugged environs, she melded a facade of red, broken brick with warm concrete and wood interiors. To add extra height, she turned to terra-cotta tiled barrel vaults.

Photo: Rafael Gamo

See the full story on Dwell.com: Take a Peek at These 30 Architects’ Private Homes
Related stories:

  • This Compact New Zealand Home Uses Low-Cost Materials to Dazzling Effect
  • This Idyllic Swedish Summerhouse Can Only Be Reached by Boat
  • My House: Cookbook Author Jessie Sheehan’s Convivial Brooklyn Townhouse

Similar Posts

  • Two Apartments Turned into One: Space-Conscious Family Home in Paris

    Finding enough space for a modern family in the setting of a small urban apartment is hard at the best of times. Sure, you can try and move things around and utilize vertical space to make the most of what is on offer. But you will still fall woefully short at times; especially in case […]

    You’re reading Two Apartments Turned into One: Space-Conscious Family Home in Paris, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

  • Space in the Wall

    Space in the Wall The thought process regarding the challenging tall and narrow structure centers around a space that flows through the building and functions as a light cone that allows daylight to pierce through all the way to the basement and a joint wall, made of exposed concrete in “board” configuration, divided into squares, separated from the exterior wall of the house, which is made of glass, and acts as an artistic, somewhat “Brutalistic” element the house, one half of a two-family dwelling on a 220 square meters lot, and 360 square meters built, is designed for 2 young families with 2 children each, each family has 2 floors, the first family has the ground floor (living room, kitchen, dining room and garden) and basement (bedrooms and pool). The second family has the first floor (bedrooms) and the top floor (living room, dining room and a garden balcony)
    The front of the building that faces the street is made with a combination of concrete, steel and wood. We’ve used these natural materials throughout the building. Stairs and banister from steel plates on the ground floor and a banister and counter-top with a sink out of steel grid on the first floor.
    the flooring is out of concrete, with the concrete wall “accompanying” the entire house. Wood beams in the kitchen, the ceiling, a vertical shading and the floor.
    The challenge to create a living space while using every available inch and maintaining privacy, while communicating with the residents who are design enthusiasts was completed with 2 modern villas, each with its own connection to the outside and with a unique and fashionable living space in the dense urban surrounding. Architect: Yulie Wollman
    Photography: Shai Gil