Houses Natural / Natural Houses

A seductive, stylish, compelling, and authoritative assembly of vanguard small-scale houses that tread very lightly in nature, leading the way for architects, homeowners, and dreamers to rethink ways we can live, reside, and flourish.

Architects have sought more and more to integrate residences into their settings minimally disturbing nature, with houses that float on the water or up in the trees. This book reveals 51 designs that bring their residences into nature, even allowing the natural setting to enter the very walls, with priority given to sustainability and carbon footprint. Each of the book’s homes is carefully chosen for its innovative and seductive design, approachable scale, and stunning location, whether cocooned within the earth itself or soaring high amongst the treetops, surrounded by cooling waters, or resisting the desert heat.

Considerations of energy consumption can dictate a green roof in some cases, while blending ever more fully into the environment gives the satisfaction of not existing in contradiction with the world, a kind of escape to the original garden, or more precisely, a return to fundamental, incontrovertible values.

The book’s collection spans the globe—from a remote bay on Bruny Island (Tasmania) to an isolated beach in Nicaragua or cabin perched above a fjord in Norway. Today’s architectural vanguard is represented, as well as established firms working at the forefront of twenty-first-century design, such as Tom Kundig of the Seattle practice Olson Kundig and Snøhetta from Oslo. With a wealth of photographs showcasing each house inside and out, plus plans, Houses Natural/Natural Houses offers inspiration—and tranquility.

Review

"This globe-spanning compendium spotlights 51 homes that "return to nature"--that is, sustainable, small-scale residences that exist harmoniously within unspoiled and often remote landscapes. Touching down in locales ranging from Nicaragua to Norway, Tasmania to Joshua Tree, are: projects by the expected firms (for example, Olson Kundig and Snøhetta); a number of Antipodean architects (such as Sean Godsell and John Wardle); and a smattering of Design Vanguards, including Thailand's Sher Maker (2024) and Chile's Max Núñez (2017)." -- ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

About the Author

Philip Jodidio was editor in chief of the French art monthly Connaissance des arts from 1980 to 2002. Jodidio has written over 100 books about contemporary architecture.