Villa NM in upstate New York by UNStudio

Affluent homeowners armed with easy credit poured huge amounts of money into building houses during the past decade, as a property boom gripped many parts of the industrialised world. Freshly designed residences, commissioned by a global set of wealthy people increasingly appreciative of modern architecture, now dot prosperous areas around the world.

In the US, the epicentre of the housing boom, Americans poured a staggering $4,700bn into housebuilding over the past 10 years, erecting more single-family homes than at any time since the second world war. The global construction movement even seduced star architects, who began accepting residential projects after spending the better part of their distinguished careers shunning them in favour of important civic and cultural commissions.

But as the housing boom gave way to a bust in many places, leading designers, cultural scholars and design critics are now assessing the results of an unparalleled epoch in residential architecture. Some wonder if the period will be seen as the profession’s golden era, in which a new breed of designer boldly pursued higher levels of sustainability, innovation and architectural excellence. Others fear that remarkably few new ideas emerged in a massive expansion that was marked by bloated wealth, architectural egotism and a depressing “more is more” aesthetic.

“We’ve certainly seen innovative design ideas emerge during this period, particularly when you consider the area of sustainable design,” says Ulf Meyer, dean at the college of architecture at the Berlin University of the Arts and lecturer at Germany’s Bauhaus University in Weimar. “On the whole, though, only a few architects really managed to push bold ideas that will be universally admired in the years to come.”

In Asia, scores of architects were lauded for bucking the bigger-is-better trend. Shigeru Ban and Makoto Takei of Japan created smaller, more efficient residences that employed geometric complexity while encouraging their owners to take advantage of outside spaces.

European architects, from Katarina Grundsell in Sweden to André Campos in Portugal, impressed colleagues the world over by creating houses with sophisticated green technology that incorporated recycled materials and wind and geothermal energy while utilising locally harvested building materials. Newly built residences across Europe now successfully link contemporary architectural methods to ageless construction techniques, heralding a new relationship between the worlds of green design and modern architecture, say European critics.

Younger architects, bankrolled by a younger, more progressive clientele, emerged in the US by challenging the traditional concept of a single-family home. Intricate schemes by Eric Gartner in New York, Scot Di Stefano in Florida and Jennifer Siegal in California employed unique design elements while successfully integrating computer technology and other high-tech components.

“I believe important and powerful residential designs from this period will ultimately represent a leap forward in architecture,” says Joseph Rosa, chief curator at the Art Institute of Chicago’s department of architecture and design and a former chief curator at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. “When you look across Europe and Asia and consider what’s been accomplished in America, these designs and the architects behind them represent a bold push forward in residential design.”

A true survey of all the influential and inspiring residences assembled during the past decade is not possible, say experts. Yet some home designs were universally admired among architects and critics alike.

Maison Bordeaux, in Bordeaux, France, is widely seen as a triumph in residential design. It was created in 1998 by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, which is headed by Rem Koolhaas, the celebrated Dutch architect behind the designs of the Seattle Public Library and the China Central Television headquarters in Beijing.

The elegant residence is perched on a set of rectangles topped by a colossal dark box with sides punctuated by holes. It seemingly floats, tethered to the ground by a transparent column. Its building materials of cement, glass and aluminium create a striking structural ambiguity .

Sunken House in De Beauvoir Town, east London by David Adjaye

David Adjaye, a rising star in the field, is often cited for his design of Sunken House, a black, boxy structure among the 1830s brick Georgian homes that populate east London’s De Beauvoir Town. The glass façade of the property, named Sunken House because the first floor is above ground but below the street, resembles Adjaye’s Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, US.

“The real genius of the house isn’t merely its wonderfully sharp design,” says Ed Reeve, the owner of the 2,000 sq ft residence. “It’s the level of sophistication and functionality that runs throughout the property.”

In Asia, the Picture Window House in Shizuoka, Japan, about 110 miles south-west of Tokyo, is considered exceptional by many architecture critics because of the way it takes advantage of its surrounding space. Designed in 2002 by Shigeru Ban Architects, it has wide ocean views, says Ban, a principal designer of the residence. Galvanised steel and aluminium panels make up the home’s exteriors. The bottom floor is a wide rectangular box that is open to the elements, while the living quarters upstairs are contained by floor-to-ceiling glass.

“My immediate response was to frame the wonderful view of the ocean stretching horizontally,” says Ban. “That is to say that the building itself should become a picture window.”

In the US, UNStudio’s design for Villa NM in upstate New York garnered attention among critics for its seamless yet intricate modernist design scheme. Located about 100 miles north of the city and completed in 2007 by Dutch designers Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, the 3,200 sq ft house sits on two acres of land on a hilltop with views of rolling pastures and forests. A box-like wing splits into two separate portions; one seamlessly following the northern slope; the other lifted above the hilltop.

“This design allows a fluid continuity between interior and landscape,” van Berkel says. “From the exterior, the reflective glass seems to become one with its surroundings.”

Rick Joy Architects’ Tyler House in Arizona

And on a knoll surrounded by desert mountain peaks in the US state of Arizona sits Tyler House. Created in 2000 by Rick Joy Architects, the 2,700 sq ft residence is hailed by some critics for its simple, modernist design, finely detailed interiors and use of native and regional materials. Adobe, oxidised metals and packed gravel and clay are used to link the home’s design to the dry Arizona landscape, Joy says. “The house is in harmony with the desert brush,” the architect says.

Sustainable design – long considered at the fringes of residential architecture – went mainstream during the boom period. “Just a few years ago there were still many architects who thought of green architecture as something only very few people would consider,” says Canadian architect Stephen Bauer, of design firm Reigo & Bauer in Toronto, Ontario. “Today’s clients are pushing architects for better and more stylish sustainable solutions.”

Among the residences noted for sustainable design is Glenburn House in Glenburn, Victoria, Australia. Completed two years ago, the eco-friendly residence, located on a peninsula south of Melbourne, was designed by the noted architect Sean Godsell and “reinterprets the relationship between the house and the water,” he says. The rust-red steel box employs solar photovoltaics – devices that convert light into electricity – as well as hot water collectors to recycle water and mounds of earth to deflect warm winds.

Residential projects have long served as labs for new ideas for top architects. Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe built their reputations on cutting-edge home designs. Architect Daniel Libeskind, the designer of the Jewish Museum in Berlin, says that because homes are much smaller than sprawling commercial projects, clients are willing to let architects experiment. “Commercial architecture is a bottom-line business,” says Libeskind, who recently completed a design for a residence in Connecticut. “Residential clients are after something unique and therefore give architects more leverage to create something special.”

Yet he warns that single-family homes can present challenges, especially when architects try to impose their signature styles on them. “Architecture is about scale and developing something very unique to the person,” he says. “So shaping the space for intimacy and fitting the design to the client’s life is the biggest challenge.”

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Residences by noted architects

Florida Modern
Scot DiStefano, an emerging young architect in the US, designed a curving, contemporary home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He says the two-bedroom, 2,200 sq ft residence “exemplifies Organtech Architecture by synthesising copper, corrugated metal, stainless steel, stained concrete, exposed masonry, heavy timber and impact glass in a distinctly contemporary order.” It includes an artist’s studio and is listed at $750,000.
www.newcastles.com

Prefab by Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind recently became the highest-profile architect to venture into the market for prefabricated single-family homes. The design features the same sharp angles and towering windows found in his work for the Jewish Museum in Berlin. The two-storey villa (pictured right) measures 5,500 sq ft and can be shipped and assembled anywhere. It carries a price of €2m-€3m.
www.daniel-libeskind.com

Minimal London
John Pawson, noted for his rigorous and austere creations, designed a complex of flats in London’s upmarket Notting Hill area. Developed by Octagon, the site has one three-bedroom apartment on each of its five floors. They vary in size from 1,986 sq ft to 2,275 sq ft.
www.octagon.co.uk

Villas by Hadid
Zaha Hadid, the only female recipient of a Pritzker Prize, recently designed two villas in the Swiss town of Küsnacht, a leafy lakeside community outside Zurich. Each five-level residence will have about 10,000 sq ft of living space, including 2,000 sq ft master bedroom suites. Galleries and large terrace spaces will also run throughout the residences. Prices available on request.
www.brealestate.ch