CONTEMPORIST just posted the trailer for Coast Modern. An Independent documentary film about West Coast modernism in architecture. Los Angeles to Vancouver and all points in between. "The film by Vancouver, Canada based filmmakers Michael Bernard and Gavin Froome will take us on a journey through three generations of modern...

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These days, the much-abused abbreviation "eco" is relating to our pocket as much as our planet, and many of us are back to an appreciation of the 3 R's - regeneration, renewal, reformation. With this in mind, architects Jose Ulloa Davet and Delphine Ding teamed up to reform a family...

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The Floating House (or Das Schwimmhaus) may, with its prefab style set aboard a floating platform as if a cabin, seem like a confused direction, but, in fact, this German-designed and German-moored home is making good use of urban density and sprirally living costs for its owners. Combining the dual experiences of...

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“...with all the chutzpah and brilliance of a well-performed magic trick... this project is a triumph over adversity.”  - Kevin McCloud, Grand DesignsIf you love the smell of horse poo in the morning, then get yourself to 'Nham. That's Cheltenham, the West Country's Regency wonderland and home to the famous equine...

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The RIBA award-winning Casa Kike in Costa Rica by Gianni Botsford Architects is not only one writer's paradise, but an architectural aphrodisiac for the eyes. Set in lush natural landscape, this shoreside home boasts the "coupling [of] indigenous techniques and materials with modern design technologies and aesthetics" and is stunningly...

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If you're cravin' a haven, this little prefab sprout could be just what you need. Read-Nest (Need-Rest?) is a 10m-squared prefabricated structure created to be your own private mini-hideaway situated wherever you choose for a spot of sanctuary. This smart update on the traditional garden shed is constructed with an...

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Living in the city all too often means sacrificing nature's hand in our habitat, a decision which, for the less green-fingered among us, can be a gladly made and conscious one. However, two Yale professors are working to change this attitude, to help us embrace more greenery in our immediate...

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Baumraum is a german company specialising in treehouses. In our modern times, as we strive to create a haven for our children or child-like hideaway for ourselves, this is becoming less and less of a unique trade. Many companies these days have tapped into this want, creating rustic treetop nests...

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Wingardh Architects, Sweden, are "committed to the artistic and poetic dimensions of architecture." This guest house and sauna, simply entitled The Mill House, is situated in Vastra Karup, rural southern Sweden, and adheres to this committment by its soul-enriching and sympathetic yet modernist design. Wingardh Architects are selling sanctuary, a...

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Architect Juan Robles seeks for a balance between design and nature, for a committed and respectful interaction of the two, where architecture can at once stand out and blend in to its environment. MC1 House (Casa MC1) exhibits exquisite conformity to this concept, working its striking modernity into the lush...

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The Waters Edge Development is set at the heart of the Cotswold water park. Each of the homes offer completely unobstructed views from the large decks built directly over the lake. The houses take cues from continental modernism, something still rare in the UK, with its stringent planning regulations...

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This modern Swiss home finished in 2007, is set amongst panoramic views of lake Walensse and the mountains of Churfürsten. The way the scenery is framed by the floor to ceiling glass is simply sublime. Set on beautiful sloping meadowland this beautiful modern house generates most of its own energy...

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Those of us living in UK have enjoyed (or not depending on your property ladder status) an enormous and unprecedented boom in the housing market in recent years. Now that a looming bubble burst is upon us we have all considered the financial effects that this will have, but how...

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Typically when we come across examples of contemporary residential architecture, it generally does not call the UK it’s homeland. So imagine our surprise when we came across a whole development of such, not just on UK soil, but in the prestigious and much revered Cotswolds, home of winding lanes, rickety...

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In a move to aid the regeneration of the Great Jackson Street Framework, Manchester City Council has approved West Properties’ planned Owen Street development. The development, which will be part of the re-invigoration of the brownfield site, form a section of the council’s strategic plan for the area and will...

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Part of the New Islington development in Ancoats, Manchester, Bryant Homes’ The Botanic promises to bring environmental harmony to contemporary, urban living. UK-native plants, mature trees and grass fill the garden enclave, enclosed and protected by the twin apartment blocks to which they bring an oasis of nature amid city...

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The Northern Quarter is fast becoming one of Manchester's most desirable areas for both shoppers and residents alike, and Stonehurst Estates is making good on this increasingly up-and-coming area with the Light House - a beautiful, Conran-designed complex offering a total of 106 apartments at a finished value of £32m.The...

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With over 20,000 self-build homes a year, Britain is fast casting a continental eye over its custom constructions, with a growing preference for glass-fronted timber frames over traditional bricks and mortar. Ever since seeing the German custom-build house on Grand Designs, I've been fairly in love with this prefab self-build...

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Whomever termed 'square' a word for dull frigidity has obviously never laid eyes on Werner Aisslinger's Loftcube. These individual life units take into consideration the dual purpose of the needs of urban dwellers and the use of their environment. Aisslinger's concept works on the principal of wasted city living space...

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Multi award-winning architect, Will Alsop, purveyor of distinctive modernist buildings, many of them constructed in the UK, has lent his incomparative vision to the Tees Valley Regeneration project (TVR.) Alsop's company, SMC Alsop, have termed the project the "Middlehaven Masterplan," and it is a plan which centres on, though not...

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