As homebuilders, we love seeing imaginative, innovative home designs. We thought we’d share some of the wildest of the wild. Though we can’t all live in eccentric New York penthouses or utopian Swiss mountain homes, we can certainly ogle them to spark our own creativity. In that spirit, here are seven unique home designs to spark your imagination and show just how wild architecture and home design can be!
1. New York: Sky House
Image: © Eric Laignel
This functional spiral slide is one of the many dramatic and reality-bending features of an apartment that resides in the top four storeys of a late nineteenth century tower in lower Manhattan. The apartment had never been used as a residence until David Hotson and Ghislaine Vinas worked their magic on the space. The slide begins in the attic and spirals through all four storeys of the apartment, with places to exit and continue on each floor. The reflective surface (made of polished stainless steel) adds an extra dimension of irreality.
Images: © Eric Laignel
The home has other fun features, such as a swing and hand and footholds that allow you to literally climb the rafters. With the views of the city, the balconies and climbing walls, this apartment is probably not the best for anyone squeamish about heights. But if you’re excited by the idea of climbing to your room for a good night’s sleep then sliding down to breakfast in the morning, this is a dream home.
2. Dietikon (Switzerland): Hobbit House
image credit: https://mymodernmet.com/peter-vetsch-architektur-earth-house-estate-lattenstrasse/
Though far from the only underground homes in the world, this cluster of houses in Dietkon is especially beautiful architecturally. 9 such houses are connected to one another through sets of stairs and a common basement area.The homes encircle a small lake and so enjoy a particularly lovely natural setting as well.
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Underground homes are environmentally friendly, and though some of them remind us of hobbit houses both inside and out, this particular cluster would be home to only the most stylish and modern of hobbits, with its smooth shapes and minimalist design.
3. Malibu: Skateboard House
Image source: https://mymodernmet.com/peter-vetsch-architektur-earth-house-estate-lattenstrasse/
Pierre Andre Senizergues (PAS), a former World champion and Pro Skater imagined this house concept in which one could skate on any surface, but also live as comfortably as one would in a regular home. Made to PAS’s specifications, this unique home design was groundbreaking enough that the prototype version was put in a museum.
The Skateboard House is in Malibu, California. It has three sections: one for a kitchen and living area, one for a bed and bath, and one devoted entirely to skate practice. It just goes to show that your home space should be built around who you are as a person, your interests and hobbies–whatever those might be!
4. Mexico City: Seashell House
Image source: https://hiconsumption.com/nautilus-giant-seashell-house-in-mexico-city/
Javier Senosiain designed this seashell-shaped home with plenty of colorful mosaics and stained glass. Deceptively spacious, this house has a whimsical feel, but is 100% functional. The indoor green spaces are notable as well, and add to the “fairy” vibe.
5. Tehran-Puzzle House
Photography: Parham Taghioff, Mandana Mansouri, Salar Motahari, Majid Jahangiri
There’s something positively futuristic about this crazy home design in Tehran, Iran. Each floor moves, as if the building were some sort of handheld puzzle, changing the residents’ view, the lighting and the orientation of the room. Owners can shift the home to optimize their enjoyment of each season.
6. Quepos (Costa Rica): Plane House
Image Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/hotel-costa-verde-airplane-suite-fuselage-boeing-727-photos-2018-7
This is technically not a home, but a hotel suite that you can actually stay in. This vintage Boeing 747 was originally part of the now-defunct Aeropostale fleet, before it was purchased for $2,000 by Joanne Ussary. It’s now the executive suite at Hotel Costa Verde. If you stayed here, you’d find the original airplane windows are above the headboard of the bed, wood panelling sourced locally, and a porch with a lovely view of the ocean and rainforest.
5. Moscow: Spaceship House
Image source: https://www.udesign.es/6-crazy-futuristic-homes-that-actually-exist/
If you can look at this house and not see echoes of the Enterprise from Star Trek, then you either haven’t watched much sci-fi, or you’re not looking close enough. This villa tucked away in a suburb of Moscow is the product of a collaboration between the villa’s owner, Vladislav Doronin, and architect Zaha Hadid. The design is intended to maximize the inhabitants’ enjoyment of nature and the sense of freedom and openness that comes with that. Because of the many windows and location above the treeline, this was certainly accomplished, but the proximity to nature doesn’t at all diminish that sense that any moment this house could go warp speed and leave Moscow in the dust.
So, did you get any ideas scrolling through this unchartered territory? Do you find yourself drawn to the ultra-modern spareness of the Spaceship House, or the bright, rainbow-colored stained glass of the Shell House? Do you like the tech innovations of the Puzzle House, or the lo-fi, environmentally friendly aspects of the Hobbit House? Which of these wild homes is the most inspiring to you?
Or maybe you have your own crazy home design concept that’s completely unique.
If you’re ready to talk about building a home you love (maybe even one with a slide!) contact us today https://www.builtbyhamilton.com/contact-hamilton-homes/.