Yes, re-used church pews can look great, especially when you see them used well in bars & restaurants here in NYC other cities.  As big of a fan I am of re-purposing, I think they never look as good as when they are in an old church, as above.

Mt. Enon Baptist Church interior, ca. 1888 via Vanishing South Georgia.. Brian Brown is in the process of photographing nearly every old structure in south Georgia. His blog is truly a visual parade of southern vernacular architecture and other beautiful structures.

I first thought this house was Photoshopped on this cliff..  what an amazing location!!  Located close to Slaughterhouse Beach in Maui, it was designed by Olson Kundig Architects with the concept of a surfing hut combined with traditional features.

“The structure’s walls are constructed from rammed earth. In this process, different local earth-based mixtures are packed together, and the resulting striated layers are visible both inside and outside the building. The walls blend in with the surroundings, are low maintenance, virtually fireproof, and a strong barrier to sound.”  Amazing!

via freshome

Sometimes I come across certain things that truly make me feel like I’m the last to know.  Case and point:  The Chand Baori Stepwell. No idea how this one slipped by me..

Located near the Harshat Mata Temple, it’s one of the largest (and deepest) step wells in India, although it more closely resembles and MC Escher drawing. It was built in the 9th century and has 3500 narrow steps that go down 13 stories.  AMAZING!

via indiamarks

These are incredible!  Located in Harads, Sweden the ‘tree hotel‘ currently consisting of four rooms: The Cabin, The Blue Cone, The Nest and The Mirrorcube (my favorite!), and is set to open this weekend.

Mirrorcube

The Blue Cone

The Cabin

The Nest

via designboom

This cute little place is the home of artist Jo Van Rijckeghem and his family.  I would have loved playing around this place as a kid.

via OWI

I’m always a little partial to an old farmhouse over something newly built, but this home is the perfect mix of both. Set in the Swiss Alps, it combines natural and modern elements, (in some rooms one dominates more than the other), but overall has a very warm, comfortable feel to it.  And check out that view in the 2nd picture..  wowza!

via freshome

I have admired this cabin for a while, and seen it on numerous blogs in the past, the trouble is, I just can’t forget it.   There are a lot of similarities between the shack at Hinkle farm and the Permenant Camping project by the Australian architects, Casey Brown that we posted on recently.  I really admire the simplicity and the off-the shelf nature of this structure.  The garage door is an attractive and practical method of keeping the space light and focused on why you are there.  I can see myself building this pretty easily. Bet this is in use this 4th of July weekend!

I don’t know much about this next house, other than that it is the home of an artist and sculptor who lives and works Ghent.  Pretty though, isn’t it?

via owi

This type of architecture is really my style, there is a lot to like in this project.  It helps to have such a beautiful site. The timber-frame structural method coupled with the corrugated copper sheathing is a really nice combination. This material combination give a nice honest nod to rural/agricultural buildings, but is also luxurious in a way.  There is nothing ostentatious about the structure, and this slightly luxurious material combination will probably offer the most meaningful luxury to the owner by requiring very little maintenance for decades.  I guess my only question about the material choice would be what will the cabin look like when the copper patinas?

The care that went into the design and construction are really evident.  The stout timber construction facilitates the views- if you had typical modern “stick-built” construction using 2×4″s these views just would not be possible.  A lot of structures on this scale do not read as architecturally as this project does.  This is as about as small of a two story as I can imagine having, and to really nice effect.  The interior space seems like a lot of fun, warm and practical too.

Here is the summary from the architect’s site:

“Located on a remote pristine mountain on a sheep station in central Western NSW, this structure was the realisation of a dream for the client. Sited at the edge of a ridge surrounded by large granite boulders and ancient dead trees, the tower has a panoramic views for hundreds of miles to the horizon.

Conceived as a retreat for one or two people, the building has a minimal 3x3m footprint providing shelter. The structure is a two storey copper clad tower; the sides open up on the ground levae to provide wide verandahs to the north,east and western elevations.  To the south a water tank and winches are located to operate the movable verandah roofs. when not in use, these roofs close down to completely enclose the timber and glass interior protecting it from the elements, in particular, brush fires.

Internally, the structure is beautifully crafted from recycled ironbark providing a sleeping loft and small kitchen with a Rais wood fired slow combustion stove.  Water is collected on the roof and a seperate WC, also in copper clad hardwood, is located a short walk to the West. The structure is heavily insulated from both cold winds and searing daytime temperatures with multi layered walls all ventilated top and bottom allowing free air movement.

Due to the isolated nature of the building site, the building was completely prefabricated by the builder Jeffery Broadfield in Sydney then transported to site and erected.”

I don’t know too much about this next house other than it once was an old water tower in Belgium, that was then converted into this modern home.

via Trendir

Ok, don’t even ask me why I was searching redneck mansions, but in my search I found these beauties that I thought would be fun to share..  Yeeehaaaw!

J. Morgan Puett emerged as a conceptual fashion designer in the mid-1980s, though she says that her work was more of an ongoing art project.  In the mid 90s she bought a small piece of land in Tyler Hill, PA and began to slowly create a sort of work-in-progress artist community.  There’s a great article from a couple of years ago at the NY Times.

Some students at Carleton College turned their observatory into R2D2.. with out defacing any school property.  They used only fabric and paper to cover the dome.  Pretty creative guys!

MC Motors is a 7,000 square-ft space that Castle Gibson Locations bought to rent out for events, photoshoots, and film locations.  Pretty stunning.

see more at Inspace

The iconic green wooden houses of the Zaan region are traditionally small and modest, but Wilfried van Winden found a way to use their characteristic architecture into an 11-storey hotel complex!  The Inntel Hotel will have 160 guest rooms, a bar-restaurant, swimming pool and a spa with a Finnish sauna and a Turkish bath.

via archdaily.com