Designing a comfortable home can be a routine task for many architects, but sometimes an architect designs a house to make a statement. These “statement” homes don’t trigger the same emotions in people.
A house that you describe as bizarre, might be a house conveying a positive message, and vice versa. When architects design houses to address current issues, such as global warming – interesting structures may appear in our neighborhoods.
We’ve researched some of the most curious houses in the world and discovered houses that are either making a statement or address a current issue. Read on to learn more about them.
The Toilet House, South Korea
Did you know that there is a house in South Korea in the shape of a large toilet? It was built in 2007 by Mr. Sim who later founded the World Toilet Association!
Although it is seen as one of the most bizarre designs ever and nicknamed the Toilet House, the Covid-19 epidemic might stop us making fun of the design.
According to Mr. Sim, the house’s design has to remind people to practice toilet cleanliness to prevent epidemics around the world. To represent a clean white toilet the house was built with steel, white concrete, and glass.
The Transparent House, Japan
If you love having natural daylight in your house and have nothing to hide, then the Transparent House in Japan might be just for you. The completely transparent house was designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects.
The white steel-frame structure has no resemblance to a tree, but the life experienced in this space is according to the architect “a contemporary adaptation of the richness once experienced by the ancient predecessors from the time when they inhabited trees”.
The Keret House, Poland
The Keret House in Warsaw, Poland is a concept developed by Jakub Szczesny. It is the world’s slimmest house and is fitted between 2 existing structures. It’s only 5 feet wide on its widest point.
As this windowless structure is almost transparent, it’s interior is lit by natural light. Because of the natural light, you will not feel claustrophobic inside. The interior is big enough to live and work in. The Keret House is popular with artists who live and work there for short periods.
The Floating House
Do you want to get the feeling that you are getting away from everything when you go home? The floating house might be just for you. Designed by Dymitr Malcew, the floating house combines luxury with an isolated way of living that has a minimal influence on the surroundings.
The house has an open feeling as the rooms open directly on the terrace around the house. If you have to leave the floating house, just float to the nearest pier or marina.
The Meera Sky Garden House
With the Meera Sky Garden House in Singapore, Guz Architects created an extraordinary four-story house. With their design, they successfully integrated outdoor living with indoor living.
To accomplish that they included accessible gardens at all levels with a roof garden as part of the design. The lawns on all the levels also store less heat than other roofing material. This has the effect that the building itself is cooler and almost no artificial cooling systems are needed.
The Caterpillar House
To build the caterpillar house, designer Sebastián Irarrázaval used 12 recycled shipping containers: 11 for the house itself and 1 open-top container for a swimming pool.
The containers were chosen because of the low cost and low long term maintenance. The containers have been used and the structure designed in such a way that natural airflow is all that’s needed to keep the house cool.
Conclusion
Like any artist, architects express themselves through their designs. All the examples above are expressions of some kind. Whether you agree with our labeling of the houses or not doesn’t matter – as long as we all agree that every house is the result of an artist’s highly skilled work.