Homes for Our Time: Contemporary Houses from Chile to China

by Philip Jodidio

Across small cottages and lavish villas, beach houses and forest refuges, discover the worlds finest crop of new homes. This cutting-edge global digest features such talents as Shigeru Ban, MVRDV, and Marcio Kogan alongside up-and-coming names like Aires Mateus, Xu Fu-Min, Vo Trong Nghia, Desai Chia, and Shunri Nishizawa. Here, there are homes in Australia and New Zealand, from China and Vietnam, in the United States and Mexico, and on to less expected places like Ecuador and Costa Rica. The result is a sweeping survey of the contemporary house and a revelation that homes across the globe may have more in common than expected. Among guava trees and abandoned forts in Western India is a sanctuary designed for and by Kamal Malik of Malik Architecture. The House of Three Streams is a sprawling spectacle with high ceilings, verandas, and pavilions, perched atop a ridge overlooking two ravines. A medley of steel, glass, wood, and stone, the house weaves along the contour of the landscape, almost as an extension of the forest. Encina House by Aranguren & Gallegos, an elegant, sloping structure reminiscent of a gazebo, similarly inhabits its surrounding vista. Ensconced in a pine forest north of Madrid, the lower level is embedded in rock and connected to the upper by a natural stone wall. Shinichi Ogawas Seaside House is an immaculate two-story minimalist marvel in Kanagawa that overlooks the Pacific. Its living area spills onto a cantilevered terrace and infinity pool, almost dissolving into the ocean as one seamless entity. In Vietnam, Shunri Nishizawas House in Chau Doc exudes tropical sophistication with exposed timber beams, woven bamboo, plants, concrete panels, and inner balconies and terraces. Its corrugated iron panels act as moveable walls and shutters, ushering in views of surrounding rice fields.These homesalong with more than 50 othersare each remarkably distinct in design. They all, however, toe the line between inside and outside, each one symbiotic with its surroundings.

Genres: Architecture, Art, Design, Interior Design, Nonfiction

452 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2018

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

elite architecture porn; expensive cotton candy, for the eyes. some aroused, most left me cold. the vast majority of these so-called homes look completely unliveable, although they may function well as an eccentric murder site during an Airbnb weekend away or as a meeting place for an East Asian-Scandinavian conference on the synergy between futurism, brutalism, and negative space. or perhaps as modernist prisons with an emphasis on the benefits of natural light for the incarcerated dwelling in their forever-homes? so much concrete and so many transparent walls and a whole lot of stark, eerie hallways; God forbid most of these conference center-homes include anything as plebeian as a rug, let alone hanging kitchenware racks or space for a tv. seriously the last home on display is literally called "Corrugated Sheet House" and it is as ugly as it sounds. I pity the poor neighbors dealing with that eyesore.

still, despite the many challenges in finding houses within this book that I could actually imagine living in, I soldiered on and was eventually able to jerk off to this. 2.5 stars





spank bank:

Riparian House, Mumbai



Red House, New Zealand



Newberg Residence, Oregon



House in Chau Doc, Vietnam



House of Three Streams, Lonavla

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eye candy. So far out of reach that for me it doesn't even inspire creativity about how to decorate or remodel my home.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

An homage to glass, steel, and concrete with natural materials like wood always called out for their 'reference to nature' or 'acknowledgement of the surrounding landscape'. Although there are a handful of spectacular designs here (and the photography throughout is wonderful), the majority of the houses feel both unattainable and unlived in, if not unlivable.

[Servabo · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) Hyunam (black cottage), Bugye-myeon, South Korea

2) Seaside House, Kanagawa, Japan