thinking inside. and outside. the home as a box

let's start this dark, freezing rain filmed monday morning with two images here. one from the back deck. and one through my front window which is covered in ice from last night's freezing rain.

deck lines.


ochre ice window


thinking inside. and outside. the box.

the home and the office can come in any form. proof stands around the world. here are two architects - who have taken the box and and thought outside and inside it in such a way as to render it art.

tna is a small japanese architectural firm that has made a name for itself in providing small intelligent home design solutions.

ring house.

the design team at tna - mokoto takei and chei nabeshima - are two thirty somethings with a minimalist design ethos. the ring house is wrapped in rings of glass and wood and has an uninterrupted 360-degree view of the forest. tna designed rings around the facade so that areas of private space and utilities could be met. the height of each ring was decided by the function concealed behind it. the glass between the rings allows you to look straight into the forest, so the whole house appears to dissolve into the forest. as sunlight floods into the interior by day (or electric illumination glows from within the volume by night), the wrapper allows views straight through the house. the house comes complete with three 20-foot-square floors, including a basement partially embedded in the hillside, the architects provided entrances at the lowest and middle levels.

here is a gallery of images of the ring house

wood wear house

taking a very small space and opening it out is the gift of this lovely little home. the design incorporates rectangular boxes but somehow avoids monotony through the flow of natural light and the designed illusion of openness.

here is a gallery of images of the
wood wear house