Award-winning houses of 2012: Our selection
As promised a couple of days ago, our way of celebrating this year’s design ingenuity is to present must-see/must-known buildings, fashion items or products for you. Within the first ‘home design’ category, we didn’t set any special requirements, but had only one leading concept: to make a list of those jaw-dropping houses, which were awarded in 2012. Let’s see our little team’s favorites:
1. Shearer’s Quarters
Awarded in both categories Australian House of the Year and New House under 200 m2 project by John Wardle Architects is a pearl of 2012. Shearer’s Quarters located in farming property Bruny, Tanzania has been described as “an ambitious house that compels us to reflect on the inherent beauty of living.” Its uniqueness lays in fitting perfectly into the rural landscape. Perched on the cliff, it used to be built on the site of a shed and broaden for the communal room traditionally built on recycled timber and handmade bricks. Bedroom walls are covered with recycled apple crates that has been sourced from nearby orchards. Our TOP combination of functionality and beauty.
2. Santa Cruz Straw Bale Home
Ecological solutions become number one when designing Straw Bale House in Santa Cruz. Arkin Tilt Architects perfectly combined modern technology with the one based on natural building. As a result they achieved fully functional house minimizing carbon footprint and net-zero energy. Besides honored by Excellece in Design Award in 2011, the house was named as the ‘Best New Home’ this year, by Fine Homebuilding Magazine. Each space and room with straw bale walls has its function. Due to interesting plan of the space there is an interior game of lights with the season and daylight change. Our best ecology friendly choice.
3. Villa Roces
‘Can you swim around your living room?’ – probably the little tenants of this house wouldn’t stare at you oddly after a similar question, because one-of-a-kind Villa Roces offers this kind of facility as well. The cuboid shaped villa was built in Bruges, Belgium and was chosen as the ‘Residental building of a year’ at LEAF (Leading European Architects Forum) Awards in 2012. The scene is like a perfect stage: closed from the back side with a high timber wall, and in the front, literally open to the world with glass windows. Representing a minimal design with novel solutions and reflecting the presence of the forest in a family home; two reasons, why Villa Roces is among our favorites. Ohh, and because of the hidden swimming pool around the living room…
4. Higgins Lake House
Higgins Lake House by Jeff Jordan Architects is another awarded example of blending architecture with environment. Based on simple linear plan, this family friendly house offers vast living space for more than 20 people, with large glass walls located on different sides. They can also prevent from heat loss in the winter and protect from summer light. Surrounded by lake and forest, the building was designed in a way not to overwhelm the surrounding landscape. The creative designers of the house now the owner of Detroit Home Design Award.
5. Sea House
At last, but not the least let us present ‘The Sea View’ from Johannesburg, by Sarah Calburn Architects. The floating walls has washed away the boundries between interior and exterior, and that what gives you ‘the wow’ experience every time you take a step in the house. The mountain-craved garden dominates white, such as the building do, and has its extended part on the roof as well; a wise way to take advantage of space and sunshine. The building complex was highly commended in Single Residence category in 2012, within International Property Awards in Africa. However, for us, the reason was the powerful combination of two opposite life-components: privacy and endless freedom goes hand in hand here.
