House Design

Airbnb Ventures into House Design

Posted on 03/03/2025

Models. Image Courtesy of Samara/Backyard

With an aim to become a company that also offers houses, not just housing, Airbnb is venturing into the creation of prototypes of homes. Through Samara, its future-oriented product design team, and the Backyard initiative, new ideas are tested, new ways of living and experiencing the sheltered space are explored.

Following the pioneering footsteps of Airbnb, and challenging conventional thinking, Backyard is questioning the potential of space and trying to find concrete answers to apply to architecture and construction. In fact, “Backyard investigates how buildings can utilize sophisticated manufacturing techniques, smart-home technologies, and vast insight from the Airbnb community to thoughtfully respond to changing owner or occupant needs over time”.

Joe Gebbia. Image Courtesy of Samara/Backyard

For Backyard to have a stake in the future of the home, we have to look comprehensively at the way people live, in the past and in the present, from microns to meters, […] The diverse knowledge and perspective on our team gives us a clear advantage over industry players and would-be disruptors. It’s been amazing to see the team pick up momentum and grow in order to

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House Zero | 2022- Most Innovative House of The Year

Posted on 23/02/2025

East Austin, Texas, USA

Architects: Lake|Flato Architects, Inc.
Lead Architects: Lewis McNeel and Ashley Heeren
Client: ICON
Photographers: Casey Dunn

Project Description

House Zero is the first in ICON’s “Exploration Series” pushing the boundaries of architecture using its proprietary concrete wall system. Beyond that, House Zero is a compelling and climate-responsive new home connecting its inhabitants to a native Texas landscape and an evolving Austin neighborhood fabric. Built for permanence and resilience, the plan allows for the flexibility of ever-evolving patterns of living and aging-in-place that a family experiences over the course of a lifetime.

The design team collaborated with software developers, robotics engineers, and material scientists to create a new set of architectural innovations and strategies for printed concrete construction. These innovations were used to design a welcoming, practical home that is desirable, livable, and that expands the performance capabilities of 3D printing technology: Designed to be energy efficient, the house features a tight thermal envelope and a rapid software-controlled construction process, showcasing and pushing the current limits of additive manufacturing at the scale of a building.

The house expresses its construction materials proudly: the concrete walls are framed and protected by simple ordered wood elements. Although the house

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The top home design trends of 2022 – architecture and design news

Posted on 22/02/2025

Home renovation and design platform Houzz.com.au identifies the top emerging home design trends based on the latest search insights from its community of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home professionals.

The trends highlight the continued need for dedicated activity spaces, a focus on outdoor living, a rise in bathroom grooming and a deep dive into resort-style pool design. The report also shows an increase in homeowners honoring architectural origins, while smart-storage solutions are clearly important in 2022.

Dedicated activity spaces
Since the beginning of the pandemic, people have continued to make their homes the center point for new avenues of activity and entertainment and it shows in the increased searches seen on Houzz this year for ‘home bar’ (up by 79%), ‘media room ‘ (up by 48%), ‘library’ (up by 46%), ‘rumpus room’ (up by 43%) and ‘studio’ (up by 43%).

Home bar – up 79%

Media room – up 48%

Libraries – up 46%

Rumpus room – up 43%

Studios – up 43%

Outdoor living
Connecting homes to the great outdoors is a trend that’s grown stronger over recent years. It appears more and more homeowners are looking to achieve the idyllic beachside

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Global Design News GDA Global Design Awards 2021

Posted on 16/02/2025

International Residential Architecture Awards
New Private Homes, Multi-Family Housing, Apartments Complexes, Hi-Rise Dwellings, Social and Sustainable Housing, Residential Restorations and Renovations

EXTENDED
Deadline for Submissions:
June 15, 2024

Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design launch the international residential Future House 2024.

Future House is born out of the juxtaposition of residential design and architectural vision aiming to promote and award new and innovative residential projects on a global scale.

“From a shed to a penthouse”—the vision is to present inclusive and pioneering architectural projects that define the present and shape the future of residential design globally. The award program seeks to define the New Domestic Landscape with the best and most innovative cutting-edge designs for residential architecture.

Future House presents a unique opportunity to showcase new, groundbreaking, and cutting-edge private houses, apartments, vacation homes, residential additions, multi-family housing, restoration/renovations, sustainable and affordable housing before a global audience.

Future House International Residential Awards showcase the best and most outstanding new examples of residence created by some of the most renowned international architects and their clients worldwide. The program recognizes excellence in architecture and urbanism from a global point-of-view.

Enter now to ensure your project is

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City snubs Squire & Partners’ Custom House plans | News

Posted on 10/02/2025

Grade I-listed Custom House in the City of London

Squire & Partners’ proposals to convert the capital’s grade I-listed Custom House into a 200-room hotel have been formally rejected by the City of London ahead of a planning inquiry that is due to kick off in January.

Members of the City of London’s Planning and Transportation Committee this week voted unanimously to refuse the application, drawn up for Cannon Capital Developments and Globalgem Hotels.

Officers opposed the scheme on the grounds that Squires’ proposals did not represent a high enough standard of design for the large neo-classical building, which has served as a base for HM Revenue & Customs and its predecessor bodies for 200 years.

They voiced particular concerns about the scheme’s proposed roof extensions, which they said would not be “sympathetic and contextual” to the character of the early 19^th-century structure, designed by David Laing and Robert Smirke.

Officers acknowledged that the public museum proposed under the plans would be an asset to the capital, but they noted that it would be located in part of the building separated from the River Thames and Custom House’s quayside. Under the proposals, public access to the building’s historic barrel-vaulted Long Room would be limited to

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Malaysian architect couple turns single-storey PJ house into modern tropical home and office

Posted on 09/02/2025

The pitched roof and gray facade peek out gently from behind lightly foliaged leopard trees amidst warm terracotta brick walls.

Even though unassuming, it sports a unique look, with people in the neighborhood sometimes referring to it as the “triangle house”.

Owned and designed by architect couple Oscar Tan and Cheryl Quan, House 8 was completed in December 2018 and is located in the established Section 12 neighborhood in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

The original house, which was estimated to be over 40 years old, was owned by an old couple who wanted to downsize their home.

Tan and Quan had been looking for a new home for a year, and didn’t expect much from the current house at first when they arranged for a visit.

But that changes completely when they enter the home, which is a generous 120ft (36.6m) in length.The front unit of House 8 features a pitched roof and corrugated concrete design.

“There hasn’t been much renovation done to the house and we saw its potential. We then saw the courtyard and back lane, and really felt what it was like to live in the 60s and 70s, which was the concept that we wanted to

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Kampala House | 2022 – Global Design News

Posted on 02/12/2024

Kampala, Uganda

Architects: Marc Thorpe Design
Lead Architect: Marc Thorpe
Design Team: Jjuuko Kwagala, Jacob Bek, and Gretel Uribe Campos 
Client: Échale International and Stage Six
Visualizations: Truetopia

Project Description

“We believe in an architecture of responsibility.” – Marc Thorpe

Marc Thorpe Design partners with Stage Six and Échale International to develop sustainable, ecologically responsible housing in Uganda, East Africa. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Uganda has a deficit of 2.1 million housing units, growing at a rate of 200,000 units a year. By 2030, the deficit is
expected to reach three million units.

The goal is to provide housing to middle to lower income families. Currently, there is extremely low supply of housing and it is usually of poor quality. Stage Six, Échale International and Marc Thorpe Design aim to relieve this pressure on the housing market and the people of Uganda.

The house is constructed using Echale International’s EcoBlock, compressed earth brick. The EcoBlock is produced from 90% local soil and 10% a mixture of cement, lime, sand and water. It is a thermal and acoustic insulator, ecologically sustainable, more resistant than cement block and 30% less CO2 production. The house is the first in a

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Using texture in interior design – how the pros harness it

Posted on 01/12/2024

Texture in interior design is vital, and is, quite literally, woven into the fabric of a designer’s vocabulary and practice. Creating texture is not simply about how decor and soft furnishings feel, but it’s also about ‘visual texture’ – using different materials to add interest and breathe life into a room.

Quite simply, without texture, a space will fall flat. It’s crucial to look at the room as a whole and bring an area together with mixed materials for vibrancy and warmth. It’s a way of adding depth and dimension to a room as well as comfort.

See: Interior design tips – decorating secrets for the world’s top experts

What is texture in interior design?

Interior designers use texture in the form of tactile objects such as fabrics, wood and stone to add physical comfort and visual interest to a space. Mixing materials and layering is key to making textural elements work.

Tiffany Leigh, of Tiffany Leigh Design, explains: ‘Texture in interior design is all about creating tactile moments that invite touch. It refers to the feel, appearance or consistency of a surface or material. Textures help to keep a space from feeling flat or one dimensional.’

Layering textures helps

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Four bedrooms… four bathrooms? How COVID-19 is changing home design

Posted on 28/11/2024

“The Barnaby” might be a strange name for a home of the future, but that’s what this four-bedroom demonstration house claims to be.

Located in a small town in North Carolina, it’s the size of an average new house in Australia and looks pretty normal from the outside.

Inside, the differences are obvious: a front-door “vestibule” for no-contact home delivery, two “pocket” home offices (neither of which is a bedroom), a school room, a quarantine room, a “secret room” behind a bookcase (for being alone), and a whopping four bathrooms.

A secret room hidden behind a book case in The Barnaby demonstration house.(Supplied: Dahlin Group)

In case you haven’t guessed it yet, this is a design shaped by the pandemic.

The team of architects, social researchers, and marketing experts who dreamed it up say every detail is informed by insights from a survey into the impact of the pandemic on homes and communities in the US.

What about in Australia? Here, the property industry is seeing demand for features like those of The Barnaby (though not four bathrooms).

The dedicated home office is king, and there’s generally greater appreciation for good design and quality of construction.

COVID-19

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Architecture and Design News | Architectural Digest

Posted on 26/11/2024

Inside a Minimalist Capsule Home Overlooking the British Coastline

Today Architectural Digest travels to the Isle of Wight on England’s south coast to tour Saltmarsh House, a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) House of the Year 2023 shortlisted project. Sitting on the edge of a vast tidal marsh, this stunning pavilion home, designed by architect Níall McLaughlin, floats above the ground on a lightweight steel frame. Truly ingenious is the property’s structure, which was prefabricated off-site and lifted into place to minimize disruption to the surrounding nature reserve. Offering uninterrupted views of the marshes and bay beyond, this impressive home is a testament to the symbiotic relationship between architecture and nature, proving they can coexist in harmony for generations to come. Read more about the ingenious Saltmarsh House here: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/ingenious-british-home-appears-float-surrounding-meadows

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