Beginning the 2021 review, we’ve put together the 10 most impressive and interesting homes featured at Dezeen this year, including Indonesian concrete villas and mid-century California homes.
Bat Trang House in Vietnam by Vo Trong Nghia Architects
Wrapped in ceramic bricks, the house was designed to reflect the pottery heritage of the village of Bat Trang. Vo Trong Nghia Architects gave the building a perforated exterior wall to naturally cool and ventilate the interior space, dotted with small hill gardens throughout the building.
The house won the Urban House at the Dezeen Awards in 2021, and judges praised its “radical look, amazing elements, and unique use of materials.”
Find out more about Bat Trang Village ›
House Tokyo, Japan, by Unemori Architects
House Tokyo is squeezed into a small plot of just 26 square meters in a densely populated area of the Japanese capital.
Unemori Architects used a stacked box design to make the most of the limited space. With large windows in various orientations, the interior is bright all day long and the ceiling height reaches up to 5 meters.
Details of House Tokyo ›
Moore House, USA, Woods + Dangalan
Increasingly in 2021, architects have talked about the importance of reusing and upgrading existing buildings when possible. The Moore House on the hillside of Los Angeles is an example of how it can be very effective.
The rectangular one-story house was built in 1965, but was refurbished by the local studio Woods + Dangaran, with new glass installed on the walls and the existing wooden structure and nose cover restored.
Find out more about Moore House›
Holland, Villa Fifty-Fifty, by Studionine dots
What’s unusual about this house in Eindhoven is how to balance the outdoor and indoor spaces, apart from its industrial aesthetics.
Studioninedots placed the courtyard and pavilions as alternating patchwork, with much of the living area on the outside as much as on the inside. That’s why it was named Villa Fifty-Fifty.
Find out more about Villa Fifty Fifty ›
Es Pou, Formentera, Mari à Castelló
The house was designed by the Spanish architectural studio Marià Castelló in the Balearic Islands of Formentera and is divided into three white rectangular volumes.
Each volume contains one of the functions of the building. One is a protected pouch, one is for cooking, eating and relaxing, and the other is for sleeping.
Find out more about Es Pou ›
IH Residence by Andra Matin, Indonesia
The huge concrete roof of this house in Bandung, Indonesia is certainly eye-catching. Architectural studio Andramatan designed the house as a reinterpretation of a Dutch colonial mansion.
The overhanging roof is intended to protect the main part of the glass of the house from heavy rain and from direct sunlight.
Find out more about IH Residences›
Haus im Obstgarten, Austria, Firm Architekten
Austrian studio Firm Architekten built this rectangular parallelepiped house from materials procured from within a radius of 50 km, including wood from the client’s own private forest.
Standing on a concrete base on the hillside of the Alps, it offers panoramic mountain views.
Find out more about Haus im Obstgarten ›
Muzzle Beachfront Villa, Mexico, Revolution
These villas are located on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca by the Mexican architectural studio Revolution.
They are made of a combination of smooth reinforced concrete and coarse bricks and are designed to mimic the beach environment and be weather resistant.
Impressed by the balance of both radical and simple villas, the Dezeen Awards judges named the project a 2021 country house.
Find out more about Muzzle Beachfront Villa ›
By Xerolithi, Greece, Sinas Architects
Xerolithi is based on a stone retaining wall known as xerolithies, familiar in the Greek countryside.
“In a very subtle way, we reveal that humans exist in areas that appear to be unaffected by civilization. Experiment with this element and how it can create shapes and spaces. It seemed appropriate to see, “said George Sinas, founder of Sinas. architect.
The idea was to build a house that seamlessly blends into the sloping terrain, as opposed to the white boxes that were more commonly built on the Greek islands.
Find out more about Xerolithi›
Loch Tummel House in Scotland by WT Architecture
WT Architecture wanted the house, alongside Loch Tummel in the Scottish Highlands, to enhance the scenic environment rather than hide in it.
It emerges from a walled garden of ruins, reportedly abandoned unfinished, as a builder left to overlook the water to fight the Jacobite rising in 1745.
Find out more about Lake Tamel Houses›
