Tag Archives: Architecture meets nature

A-shaped cabins are designed to help you experience nature with comfort in an agrotourism area

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When I’m in the middle of all these projects and to-do lists in the concrete jungle where I live, I like to daydream about being in the midst of nature and having nothing to do except maybe read or walk around. But also, being the city girl I am, this dream does not involve roughing it out in the wild without my creature comforts. Of course, being surrounded by nature is still something I want to experience every once in a while and it’s a bonus if I don’t actually have to go camping in a tiny tent.

Designer: Atelier L’Abri

If you’re in the Montreal area, you will be able to experience what is probably one of my travel dreams. In the middle of the Canadian landscape is the Farouche agrotourism area, where you’ll be able to enjoy experience all that nature has to offer, enhanced with some activities structures that doesn’t take away anything from your surroundings. You get a Nordic farm, a café-bar, micro-refuges instead of tents, and an outdoor basecamp. Plus, of course you have the greenhouses, flower fields, fields, an organic market, and hiking trails that you came to enjoy.

The barn serves as the main headquarters for all the farm activities. Don’t think of it as the barns that you see in movies and TV shows but it seems pretty luxurious but minimalist. Since the surroundings are already pretty picturesque, you don’t need to add more elaborate designs. There is also a café-refreshment bar that gives you a majestic sunset view and the Mont-Tremblant. The micro-refuges, where you can stay in, have an A-frame type and is made with cedar shingles and has a single bed, a reading bench, and a small gas stove.

It would be nice to spend a day or two in this agrotourism area where you can enjoy all of the activities they have to offer, all of them connected to the nature that surrounds you. If you’re looking for those glamorous vacation resorts, then this is definitely not for you. But if you’re looking to commune with nature, buy organic farm produce, and still have a bit of comfort and luxury, then this is something you’ve probably dreamt of.

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Surreal yoga-center building looks like something out of Frank Gehry’s dreams

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Designed to be a yoga retreat disconnected from civilization so you can find yourself amidst nature, the Metamorphosis Yoga Shala models itself on the shape of a butterfly cocoon. It builds on the metaphor of rebirth, or reinventing yourself through yoga… Although the fact that the building has absolutely no straight lines seems to be a humorous play on how humans are never in straight lines when they do yoga either! “The Metamorphosis of the clumsy and worldly caterpillar which transforms through an extraordinary biological process to a graceful Butterfly, is the core idea behind the building form and construction,” says designer Constantinos Yanniotis.

Designer: Constantinos Yanniotis

The building takes on an unconventional, almost surrealist architectural style that’s reminiscent of Gehry’s work with the Bilbao Guggenheim. It even uses metal sheeting on the outside, echoing Gehry’s style, albeit with an almost blobject-ish approach to architecture that would impress fans of Loewy and Luigi Colani. Solar panels on the top of the building help power it using renewable energy. The curved surface of the building proves rather handy by allowing the building to fit more panels in the same amount of projected space.

The yoga shala (or school in Hindi/Sanskrit) sits on a stepped slope, offering a stellar view of the forest and skies ahead. Its design, although unconventional, opens itself up to loads of natural light, thanks to the skylight above as well as the full-length window on the front that overlooks the landscape. The entire building is one singular space, an atrium that’s designed for yoga, meditation, and flow. There are multiple garden islands and orchards dotted around it, and a stone tearoom just in the vicinity for a cleanse before or after a rewarding yoga session.

The inside of the Metamorphosis Yoga Shala is cozy, thanks to its cocoon-like shape and the use of wood all along the interiors. The space is well-planned, with enough floor estate to fit multiple people and give them ample space to move and do yoga. Storage racks and shelves built directly into the walls let patrons keep their belongings like personal gear, exercise equipment, and yoga mats.

The Metamorphosis Yoga Shala is a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2022.

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A cottage in the woods inspired by the surrounding trees reaches lofty heights with it’s open-plan layout!

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Grand-Pic Chalet is a lofty cottage located in Austin, Quebec, where the surrounding ferns and birchwood trees inspired the home’s design and construction process.

Austin is a small, quaint, and forested town on the western shore of Lake Memphremagog in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. Known for its panoramic lake and mountain views, Austin has a certain charm that appeals to nature lovers everywhere. Just northwest of Austin, in the bustling city of Montreal, the Appareil Architecture firm designed a cottage, Grand-Pic Chalet, to nestle right up against the tall, lanky trees, towering above the fern-strewn forest floor.

Measuring 1464sqf, Grand-Pic Chalet certainly is grand, yet still unassuming amidst the surrounding birch trees. Taking note of the wooded area’s flora and saplings, the architects at Appareil let the trees and forest guide their design process.

Inspired by the lanky birch trees around Grand-Pic Chalet, Appareil architects clad the cottage in corrugated steel to complement the organic vertical lines found throughout the forest. Cloaked by lush black facades, come dusk the Grand-Pic Chalet disappears into the dark like a rider in the night.

Glowing from the inside, warm, golden light pours from expansive windows at night and draws natural sunlight in during daylight hours. Maintaining the lofty height seen from its exterior, the open-plan layout of Grand-Pic Chalet makes for soaring ceiling heights that allow for flooding of natural sunlight to fill the home. In this way, the changing lights from day to night mimic the transition between daylight and dusk experienced in the forest.

Grazing the forest floor, Appareil constructed a cedar-paneled walkway that leads residents and their guests from the parking lot to the cottage’s main living space and supplemental storage shed, which also dons a black corrugated steel facade. Moving inside, the difference between the facade and the home’s interiors is like night and day.

In direct contrast to the home’s richly dark facade, the interior walls are lined with Russian birchwood panels that evoke the same cozy appeal as the forest’s surrounding trees. During the day, the home is entirely brightened with natural sunlight and remains a nest-like haven come dark. Centered around the kitchen, Grand-Pic Chalet strays away from unnecessary walls and doors to give the interior an unrestricted and candid personality, much like the forest that it calls home.

Designer: Appareil Architecture

The post A cottage in the woods inspired by the surrounding trees reaches lofty heights with it’s open-plan layout! first appeared on Yanko Design.

Architecture with green roofs designed to meet the needs of humans and nature alike!

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Green roofs have been gaining a lot of popularity these days! They are slowly and steadily cementing their place as a beneficial addition to sustainable living setups in the world of architecture. They’re an eco-friendly alternative to conventional roofs as they provide natural insulation against heat and maintain a cool temperature. They also serve as efficient rainwater buffers and reduce energy usage! Not to mention they add an organic and natural touch to homes and help them effortlessly integrate with their surroundings. We’re major fans of green roofs, and we’ve curation a collection of architectural designs that truly showcase their beauty and utility. From a passive house with a living green roof to a rammed earth tiny home concept with a pitched green roof – these structures will have you ditching traditional roofs, and opting for greener ones!

In the hills of Harriman State Park (New York), plans were made to build a beautiful, contemporary-style hobbit hole known as the Black Villa. The house is stunning inside and out, especially its most eye-catching feature: the luscious grass-covered roof. Green roofs have been growing slowly in popularity over the past decade, due to their economic and environmental advantages. They can reduce energy usage by 0.7% by providing natural insulation against heat and maintaining temperatures that are 30-40°F lower than conventional rooftops. (The Black Villa also decreases the need for electricity by using skylights and floor-to-ceiling windows.) Green roofs also reduce and slow down stormwater runoff, which helps immensely in areas with poor drainage systems (usually in urban areas).

Hill House is a passive house designed and constructed by Snegiri Architects with a living green roof that blends the home seamlessly with its natural woodland surroundings. Plotted with diverse plant life and shrubbery, Hill House’s living green roof sprawls with a grass carpet filled with stonecrop and dwarf plants including chamomile and sedum. The gradual incline of Hill House’s green roof conceals the home’s structural presence, bringing the home inch by inch into the bordering woods. The rest of Hill House’s exterior strikes a balance between black-stained wood-paneled facades and natural, unstained wood-paneled eaves.

Tucked in a coastal town outside of Rio De Janeiro, Ortiz designed the residence using the ancient indigenous ‘Taperá style’ as a reference. This unique style is usually characterized to be a visually simple home with open enclosures. And this particular home follows the Taperá style in true fashion! The minimal structure features large glass facades that allow for an ample amount of natural lighting to enter and then carefully uses the streams of natural light and ventilation to its advantage. Of course, the home’s most exquisite feature is its sleek and curved green roof. The monumental roof unifies the entire home, which has been separated into three levels and follows the gentle slope of the landscape, almost concealing the segregated sections of the home, making it seem like one long and leveled structure.

In conceptualizing the Rammed Earth House, the team of architects set out to balance contemporary energy production practices with traditional building methods. Located in Dobrava, a settlement in Slovenia’s flatland region, the Rammed Earth House is inspired by the famed floating roof designed by Slovenian architect Oton Jugovec. Since rammed earth involves compacting a mixture of subsoil into an externally supported framework, the three architects behind Rammed Earth House conceptualized a concrete foundation and timber framework. It’s generally difficult to make changes to a rammed earth structure, but the home’s overhang roof allows cement to be added in the case that extra stability is needed.

Known for designing bold, daredevil retreats stationed on the edge of mountain summits and cliffsides, Eshtiyaghi maintained the same mythical energy for his most recent rendering of Tehran’s Modern Art Museum. From an aerial viewpoint, Eshtiyaghi’s museum does not form any distinct shape, progressing past geometric, sharp angles for a gleaming white roof that slopes and bulges like a white tarp covering a wild landscape. Modern museums are generally known for their conceptual architecture, a form Milad Eshtiyaghi executes well considering his wide array of escapist hideaways. The green space that surrounds Eshtiyaghi’s museum tightens the museum’s abstract energy with rolling green roofs that mimic the overlapping lines of soundwaves, offering a place to rest on its manicured lawns.

Parking Parc was inspired by the pun in its own name– Maeiyat reinterpreted the garage as both a space for parking the vehicle and as an actual greenway that resembles a children’s park. Shaped like a rolling hillside, Parking Parc provides a storage area for parked vehicles that rests beneath the garage’s grassy, recreational exterior. As currently conceptualized, photovoltaic panels punctuate the taller regions of the garage’s exterior, providing clean energy for Volvo’s XC40 Recharge to well, recharge, and enough energy to sustain the rest of the garage’s inside operations.

WTTJH is built within a rejuvenated heritage façade of rendered masonry, steel, timber, and greenery – it is where Victorian row terrace housing meets and a post-industrial warehouse aesthetic. The two-story home was close to collapse and originally occupied the 90sqm triangular site. Due to strict heritage controls, it was untouched and in despair till the rejuvenation project by CPlusC brought it back to life in a way that was conducive towards a better future for the industry and the planet. The rooftop is made from steel planter beds that provide deep soil for native plants and fruit and vegetables. The garden beds are irrigated from the fishpond providing nutrient-rich water created by the edible silver perch (fish)!

Architecture firm Coldefy will be creating a mixed-use building in Northern France. Named ‘Echo’, the structure will include an office space, and a catering and recreation program. The building will be accentuated by green terraces that will cascade one after the other, almost resembling a green river. Echo will be the ‘first bio-based building in Euralille’!

Cuba-based Veliz Arquitecto conceptualized a modern eco home called Hugging House that integrates the land’s rolling terrain and surrounding trees into the layout of the building. Hugging House is a large, bi-level, cantilevered home located somewhere with dense forestry and overhead treetop canopies. The two sections that comprise Hugging House merge together as if in an embrace. Concrete slabs comprise the home’s surrounding driveway that leads to the ground level and outdoor leisure areas.

Cohen developed the Living Shell, an architectural shell built by growing jute, felt, and wheatgrass into a form of a textile that’s laid over a bamboo frame. Turning to textile technology, Living Shell was born from Cohen’s quest to evolve layers of wheatgrass root systems into elastic, textile materials. Settling on the shell’s curvilinear structural shape, the wheatgrass textile wraps over its bamboo frame, forming layers of insulation and shade while it continues to grow. Cohen found durability in the inexpensive building material he developed from jute, felt, and wheatgrass. Layering the different roots together in a pattern that allows room for sustained growth periods, the textile’s thickness and durability increase over time as the roots continue to interlace and grow.

Homes designed to help you rejuvenate and add balance to your life!

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Our living space can really affect our moods, thoughts, and mindset! A happy and peaceful space means a happy and peaceful mind. Hence, it’s extremely important we create our homes in accordance with what sets our soul on fire! For me, my ideal home would be a cozy little cabin nestled in the woods. I would love to be away from the hustle-bustle of the city and be completely surrounded by nature. This collection of inspirational architectural designs attempt to be homes that heal, calm, and ground you! These warm and wholesome spaces will hopefully capture your heart, the way they did mine!

Liyanage’s Cliff Cabin, as he calls it, suspends from the side of a mountain, hovering in midair. In his 3D conceptualization, Liyanage visualizes Cliff Cabin locked in place above four support beams that are bored into the cliffside to create a secure enough foundation for Cliff Cabin to rest atop. In addition to its bottom support, four high-tensile cables are attached to the cabin’s roof and balance the cabin by drawing it back away from the cliff’s edge, evenly distributing the weight of the cabin. Globular spheres lock the cables in place and add an elegant and tidy touch to the cabin as a whole. Cliff Cabin takes on a primarily triangular shape, with right triangle glass facades sharpening the cabin’s sides and protruding out to their center of convergence.

Modern, minimal, and clean, the Lima cabin boasts an A-frame structure, although it cannot be compared to the traditional A-frame cabins we are so used to. Exquisitely pleasing to the eyes, yet highly functional, the cabin features two main areas or spaces. The two pyramid-shaped structures (which almost look like mountains, as the cabin has been inspired by the surrounding mountains!) represent these two spaces, and they are connected by a corridor, creating an open and spacious holiday home, while efficiently utilizing the square footage of the space. The living room is a beautiful communal space, wherein the residents of the home can lounge about, interact and connect. The wooden kitchen counter and dining table serve as intimate meal spots, where you can share a meal with your family and friends, and nurture the shared holiday spirit.

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To be honest, with the amount of natural beauty Iceland has to offer, and with its 300K population (that’s the entire country), ceilings and walls are A. a hindrance, since they block out the natural beauty of the land, and B. unnecessary, because, with its incredibly low population density, you really don’t need the privacy in the countryside. That’s why the Panorama Glass Lounge is all glass. Instead of beautifying its interiors with trinkets and furniture, it uses the outside’s natural beauty to make the interiors feel complete. The bedroom features all-glass walls, offering a clear panorama of the surrounding beauty as well as perfect views of the night’s sky that lights up with the Aurora Borealis, creating the most beautiful wallpaper you could ever ask for!

Designed and built by Joongwon Architects to minimize the home’s impact on the environment, Lightus Retreat was planned and built around the forest’s existing trees, creating a shape for the home that was defined by the land. Joongwon Architects built Lightus in a heavily wooded area, but they weren’t about to cut down any trees in the process. Moving away from the traditional symmetric and compact modes of vacation home architecture, Joongwon Architects aimed to design a lake house that first took cues from and worked in tandem with the environment. Opting to conceive the layout of Lightus by wrapping it around the forest’s existing trees, the final construction of Lightus forms an irregular and angular shape. Walking through the lake house, juxtaposing architectural accents seep the home in dynamic energy, moving between compressed corridors to open living areas and shadowed walls to bright spaces lit up by natural sunlight.

Italian architects Massimo Gnocchi and Paolo Danesi probably also can’t wait to enjoy some downtime and therefore created the Mountain Refuge to express their desire for travel. The cabin was designed as a ‘refuge for the mind’ and radiates warmth and coziness that relaxes you instantly. The visual aesthetic and interiors have been carefully crafted with earthy tones and natural materials. The sweeping polygonal windows let you soak nature in even if you don’t step outside. It lets in ample sunlight and makes the otherwise small space, spacious. Since it is so compact, the furniture has been kept minimal (in terms of size and design) and the one accent piece is the suspended fireplace which completes the perfect cabin picture.

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A perfect fit amidst Poland’s green terrain is this house, commissioned for a single-family, designed by SK Architekci and visualized by Ideal Arch Visuals. Paying tribute and respect to the greenery, the house has a number of vertical gardens near the side passage and back entrance. It even primarily makes use of wood, to give it a natural aura, and the front facade is made entirely of glass, almost making the house look a little like an idyllic greenhouse among the trees! The house’s exterior has a simple yet striking silhouette that echoes homeliness through its symbolic house shape. Plus, who wouldn’t feel at home amidst such stunning greenery?!

The Resort Manshausen Island in Norway is a collection of beautiful sea-cabins. With exquisite views of the sea and the mountains, it’s the best of both worlds! Located on natural ridges on the terrains, you can enjoy the view through the impressive floor-to-ceiling windows!

Monarch from The Bunkie Co., measures at 12′-6″W x 8′-6”D x 11′-6″H, comes complete with a fully glazed, floor-to-ceiling front-facade and standing seam steel metal cladding all around for a generally thicker grade of steel compared to typical metal cladding. While owners of Monarch have the choice of getting standard dual airflow vents installed onsite by the contractor, the rest of the tiny cabin comes outfitted with R22 insulated walls and floors, so Monarch could practically function as an escape from home on a year-round basis. Inside, Monarch can accommodate a small electric fireplace with heat control, as well as additional storage cabinets and table furniture like chairs and fold-out desks.

Nestled in a pine forest in Xin Yu City of the Jiangxi Province of China is a mushroom-shaped wooden house! Resembling a wild mushroom, the 50 square meter home was constructed by ZJJZ Architecture Practice. The spacious wooden architecture is a private haven in the serene forests of China and was designed to maintain a symbolic connection with nature. And indeed the structure really does harmoniously blend with its greenery-rich surroundings! The wooden house consists of two sections – the main mushroom-shaped area which comprises the bedroom. The bedroom features a panoramic window which provides amazing views of the surrounding landscape. You can sit on chairs and gaze at the lush greenery.

Imminent Studio and Grafito Design Studio have teamed up to create Dwelling Pod or D-Pod for short, a mono-volume residence inspired by the shape and form of a minivan and the functionality of modernism. While D-Pod hovers somewhere above the architectural category of ‘cabin,’ its design and aesthetic follow today’s trend of prefabricated ‘cabins in the woods.’ Constructed from concrete, glass, and metallic material, D-Pod is “based on the concept of lightness,” as Grafito Design Studio puts it, “where the separation of the ground is sought and lifted; its internal functional modules also use this concept of being ‘separated’ from the floor and ceiling.” In fact, D-Pod’s mono-volume nature makes it so that walls or dividers are unnecessary.