DESIGNBOOM ROUNDS UP THE TOP 10 PRIVATE HOUSE OF 2023

Over the past year, designboom has featured a variety of residential projects, each offering unique retreats for its inhabitants. In our 2023 coverage of BIG private house stories, we focused on designs that seamlessly integrate with their surrounding nature, as well as sensitive restoration efforts. Regardless of size, cultural context, or financial constraints, these approaches unveil diverse examples of residential innovation – from a half-subterranean dwelling tucked into a Greek hillside to a suspended residence poised on stilts above undulating Argentine terrain alongside a Memphis-style apartment renovation in Warsaw. Keep reading to see more of our TOP 10 picks of private houses featured on designboom in 2023.

SET LIKE A BENDING BODY, MUTANT’S CASA DE BOURO SEEMINGLY HUGS THE PORTUGUESE LANDSCAPE

all images © Ivo Tavares Studio

Signed by Mutant Arquitectura & Design and captured by photographer Ivo Tavares, Casa de Bouro nestles in rural Portugal as a sculptural residence that seemingly hugs its surroundings with a sweeping motion. To create that impression, the architects bent the structure’s original rectangular concrete design so as to encircle the south-oriented land, forming a central patio. Program-wise, Casa de Bouro spans two floors: a basement intended for the garage and technical areas and an upper-level housing the social and private rooms. The latter includes an entrance hall, four suites, one with a walk-in closet, a kitchen, and a living room, all communicating directly with one another. Completing the program is a service toilet and a pantry to support the kitchen.

CONCRETE CASA TALLER RISES FROM THE TREETOPS OF LA PAISANITA, ARGENTINA

images © Federico Cairoli

Casa Taller in La Paisanita, has been designed by Agustín Berzero and Manuel Gonzalez Veglia, as a fortress dwelling emerging from the sloping terrain surrounding Córdoba, Argentina. The home takes shape as an austere contrast to its lush, natural context while offering a poetic retreat for living, working, and writing away from the city. The spirit of the project lies in its ‘juxtaposition of opposites.’ The lower portion exhibits imposing weightiness, while the upper portion is perched lightly atop a series of stilts. This duality allows the structure to engage with its surroundings in two distinct ways, while its reinforced concrete construction creates a monolithic presence, a threshold between the earth and the sky.

A31 CARVES ARID MYKONIAN LANDSCAPE WITH SUBTERRANEAN LATYPI RESIDENCE IN GREECE

image by Yiannis Hadjiaslanis

Athens-based architecture office A31 has realized a half-subterranean complex nestled on a hillside of the picturesque Mykonian island in Greece. Named the Latypi Residence, the resulting structure is a contemporary intervention within the Cycladic terrain, weaving together traditional architecture and the natural environment. Overlooking Delos and Rineia islands, on a sloping 4000 sqm plot, the above-ground part of the residence spans 120 sqm, while the underground section measures approximately 130 sqm. With its full-height panoramic windows, the structure provides unobstructed vistas of the Mediterranean, enclosed by the pristine hillside terrain.

BRAZILIAN STUDIO ENTRE ESCALAS BUILDS A TINY PINK SWIMMING HOUSE FOR ‘CASA VILA MARIANA’

images © Pedro Kok

In São Paulo‘s residential district of Vila Mariana, this newly renovated and expanded townhouse exemplifies the innovative vision of Brazilian architecture studio Entre Escalas. The design process of Casa Vila Mariana began with the fusion of two semi-detached houses, shaping a home-studio for a budding young artist. The initial renovation focused on essential aspects, introducing structural enhancements along with refining spaces such as the kitchen, bathrooms, a laundry room, and a shaded swimming pool. The new volume and the side walls of Entre Escalas’ expansion is finished with a distinctive mineral paint in captivating pink hues, while the swimming pool evokes an earthy elegance with its natural green stone facade. The interplay of light throughout the day floods the space with dynamic water reflections.

MISTOVIA’S MEMPHIS-STYLE APARTMENT IN WARSAW BLENDS PINK TERRAZZO, STEEL & WALNUT BURL

mistovia-studio-bold-apartment-mid-century-building-warsaw-designboom-1800

all images © ONI Studio

In Praga Północ, a district of Warsaw, Polish interior design studio Mistovia took up the renovation of a 45 square-meter apartment for an art director, Paulina, and her dachshund, Gustaw. The uplifted living spaces belong to the post-war Praga II estate, a building designed by architects Jerzy Gieysztor and Jerzy Kumelowski in the 1950s, following the spirit of socialist realism. Completed in under five months, the project brings a truly post-modern mix to the post-war setting; Mistovia effectively concocted a Memphis-style atmosphere with strong textures, design classics, unique color tones and materials, vintage furniture, and tailor-made pieces. ‘Paulina was very open to bold ideas,’ notes Mistovia studio founder Marcin Czopek.

BOONSERM PREMTHADA’S RECYCLED BRICK RESIDENCE IN THAILAND FEATURES ‘REVERSE SEAM’ FAÇADE

all images courtesy of Spaceshift Studio

In the midst of the fabric in Chon Buri, Thailand, Boonserm Premthada has designed a new building to house his studio and family residence, replacing his two old wooden houses that had undergone multiple renovations. Located right next to a traditional Thai house, the three-story building is made of recycled fly ash cement bricks and concrete that are left exposed and feature a striking façade texture that mimics a reverse seam. The mortar protruding between the bricks represents the translation of flaws into art. ‘A house of imperfections, flaws and rawness, unembellished nature, exposure, surprise, and simple materials is a pure expression of humanity.’ shares Premthada, lead architect of Bangkok Project Studio, and recipient of THE DESIGN PRIZE 2021|22 in the category ‘Social Impact’. ‘A question of ‘What’s the reason for having a house?’ is the essence of this house.’

NKS2 ARCHITECTS CROWNS JAPANESE DWELLING WITH A LARGE, VESSEL-SHAPED ROOF

all images © YASHIRO PHOTO OFFICE

In Fukuoka, Japan, the Sky Vessel House emerges as a large, sculptural dwelling that breaks away from typical suburban architecture. Local practice NKS2 Architects completed the project for a Japanese couple endowed with a very active social life. ‘The clients often entertained visitors, for work and leisure. Therefore, they needed a spacious interior capable of accommodating a large number a guest. An open and spacious garden was also desired to host parties and other events,’ writes the practice. Tucked within a densely packed neighborhood where significant traffic plagues the front road, Sky Vessel House is designed as an open building that embraces the site’s rich landscape while offering privacy for its residents. To create such an effect, the team at NKS Architects crowned the house’s distorted circular plan and perimeter wall with an impressive vessel-shaped tile roof that gently curves inward, blocking the views from the surroundings while keeping the open sky visible from the central courtyard.

LANGARITA-NAVARRO CROWNS CASA PS-50 IN COASTAL SPAIN WITH A ZIGZAGGING CONCRETE ROOF

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all images © Luis Díaz Díaz

Sited in Tarifa, Spain, along the Atlantic Ocean, Casa PS-50 breaks out of its thick, rugged coastal surroundings as a self-imposed yet seemingly integrated concrete residence. Local studio Langarita-Navarro Arquitectos completed the project with a desire to invoke the unexpected behaviors of bodies and matters. Materializing that vision is an expansive roof volume that takes on the shape of a large section of the terrain, elevated onto a concrete slab that supports the weight of an intensive green roof, restoring the pre-existing vegetation. The roof’s characteristic zigzag design allows it to cover long spans and reduce its weight, conveying a sense of near-impossible lightness, almost like a fabric blowing in the wind.

H&P ARCHITECTS’ LATEST CLAY TILE STRUCTURE UNFOLDS AS A NATURE-INFUSED DWELLING IN VIETNAM

Following its eye-grabbing ‘Ngói Space’ building outside Hanoi, H&P Architects returns with another exploration into using clay roof tiles to create a porous architectural skin. Dubbed Tile Nest, the studio’s latest project takes shape as a private residence cocooned in a newly developing urban area of Phu Ly in Vienam’s Ha Nam province. ‘The house communicates the idea of creating a space, a blend of the Nest with many nooks and crannies finding all their way up to the ground and the Ancient Pit House partially hidden underground. This combination gives the house’s architecture a distinct corrugated appearance, with the shell felt like porous/ perforated on the outside and large space on the inside,’ shares the team.

WALLMAKERS’ SUBTERRANEAN HOME IN INDIA REVEALS SWIRLING LAYERS OF PRECAST DEBRIS & WASTE

Architect Vinu Daniel from Wallmakers presents Chuzhi, a subterranean two-bedroom home emerging from the harsh, rocky landscape of a gated community in Schoolagiri, India. Nodding to the anatomy of whirlpools, the structure reveals swirling forms that snake around three large Tamarind trees found on site. To build these spiraling shapes, Daniel used ‘precast poured debris earth composite bottle beams, fashioned from 4000 discarded plastic bottles.’ The team at Wallmakers took on the Chuzhi project to better understand how unsuitable sites can be converted to habitable grounds. At first glance, prior to intervention, the combination of steep rocky topography, giant trees, and thick vegetation would make any client feel reluctant to inject a home amid such a wild landscape. But Daniel and his team are no strangers to ‘building with nature’.