Lakeside Retreat | Postcard House | Kimberling City | Missouri | Hufft Projects

This lakeside retreat is anything but ordinary. Taking design inspiration from a vintage Polaroid Camera, the form of the building is intended to frame the scenic setting from every angle – creating ‘postcards’ from within. It is all about the views and the experience. The main materials for the home are aluminum and Western Red Cedar. It is also built in a low impact manner by placing the home on columns and minimizing impervious pavement. The entire house utilizes natural daylight and natural ventilation. Recycled and Low VOC materials were used throughout..........more

Barton Phelps Associates | Sinquefield House | Osage County, Missouri

Sinquefield is a rural house, a conference center and an ecological reserve. It is inhabited by a large family on a permanent basis by groups of young circumstantially, and is home to some educational institutions. The design reflects some ideas about the relationship between social interaction and the experience of the natural environment.

The complex is within a rural settlement of 400 hectares, at an elevation of wooded limestone and overlooking the Osage River. The set was located to the minimal impact on the natural land and agricultural development activities, preserving forests and meadows around her. From the home side a network of trails that lead visitors to points of interest in the nature of the place: lookouts, rock formations, canyons, etc..

The dual-use public / private building is reflected in the project through a gradual structure of spaces. The pavilions enclose a central courtyard and define a kind of refuge in the grandeur of the landscape. The large patio is integrated into the foyer, separated only by a glass membrane. This foyer is the main public space covered, and which can be accessed from the fan to the others.
More of the house here

House on Stilts | Christian Arnold | Kansas City, Missouri

In a leafy residential area a few miles from downtown Kansas City, Missouri, an enterprising architect saw opportunity where others saw trouble. He took a sloping, triangular lot and designed a new home for his growing family—an open, tree house–like structure on stilts that hovers at the quirky edge of a conventional neighborhood.

A primary goal of the project was to keep the process and the house itself as green as possible—–to “touch the earth lightly,” as Australian architect Glenn Murcutt famously says. Despite the sloping lot, no dirt was added to the site, minimizing the need to bring in exhaust-spewing trucks during the construction. Trees were left in place, providing shade for the hot summers but allowing warm sunlight indoors in the winter once the leaves have fallen. The Arnolds chose long-lasting materials like slate tiles for the house’s exterior and a recycled metal roof with an estimated 50-year life span. The construction itself yielded some materials, like extra rebar from the foundation now used as railings.

With tall windows on all sides of the house, the Arnolds worried that heating and cooling bills would be very expensive, but a radiant floor heating system, along with natural light and a much-used fireplace, have kept costs down. “We haven’t changed a lightbulb since we’ve been here,” Julie notes, nearly a year after moving in.......

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