FASHION & LIFESTYLE!

Among the first Passive Houses in France, this bamboo-clad farmhouse by the Parisian firm Karawitz Architecture brings a bit of green to tiny Bessancourt.

When architects Milena Karanesheva and Mischa Witzmann—the couple behind Paris-based Karawitz Architecture—decided it was time for more space, they knew that they’d have to move their private lives outside of the French capital. After much research they settled on the small town of Bessancourt, about 17 miles northwest of Paris, because it offered an easy train ride into the city and a five-minute walk to the Montmorency Forest, ideal for their two young kids. But as for the house they’d live in, as Karanesheva puts it, “We wanted to use the opportunity to experiment.”

They commenced building in 2008, with German Passive House standards as their sustainability polestar. By construction’s end they had created a 1,733-square-foot home that uses only 4,200 kilowatt-hours per year—about a tenth of what a conventionally constructed house in France might use. With no other means of heating or cooling than those generated by the structure—a tenet of Passive House design—the new home is modeled on the French country dwellings of the area. Regional aesthetic codes also made their presence felt—out went any plans for a terraced roof, in came the barnhouse slope—but the resulting bamboo-clad abstraction of a farmhouse makes a strikingly modern addition to the rural landscape...

Via Lauren Moss

Villa 921 is a single-story concrete house designed to protect residents from extreme climate conditions. Located in Japan, at a remote island accessible only by boat, this unique home was designed by Harunatsu-Archi. 

Architecturally, wood and glass walls slide open across the front and rear of the building, allowing the wind to move through the spaces for natural ventilation, while projecting canopies shade the rooms and terrace from the harsh sun. During typhoons, the house and terrace can be screened behind protective coverings, which fasten onto the protruding eaves...

 

More from the architects:

“The usable area of the house only amounts to about 70 square metres,” said architects Shoko Murakaji and Naoto Murakaji. “This is by no means large, but thanks to the amazing views of the landscape, there is never a feeling of narrowness.”

Via Lauren Moss