All About Sage Green

Image via Studio McGee

Muted colors are coming in like a warm blanket to give our interiors an ultra-calming vibe, and none are looking more popular for 2023 than sage green. This soothing, slightly dusty hue works for contemporary and antique design styles alike, pairing beautifully with just about everything — including black, white, and natural wood tones.

Finding Meaning

This past year was dominated by eclectic, maximalist interior design trends, with designers buying all kinds of attention-drawing objects to place on clients’ their tables and shelves. As we move into 2023, the process of choosing those objects is becoming more intentional. Instead of random trinkets, people are choosing items that resonate on a personal level for their homes. Perhaps that’s an antique passed down from a relative, a gift from a friend, or an object that reminds you of a favorite memory.

Arches and More Arches

Image via Vaunt Design

Hallways, doors, shower niches. Arches are coming back in a big way in 2023, building on the curved furniture trends we’ve seen in previous years. More recently, they’ve taken over luxury commercial spaces like hotels and designer retail stores. We’ll soon see homeowners renovating their interiors to achieve a similar effect.

Multi-Use Rooms

Modern life can change in the blink of an eye, so we could all use a little more flexibility. Perhaps one day you want to use that little corner of your living room as a music listening area, and the next day you want to use it as a home office. Perhaps your extra room needs to work for both yoga practice and a guest space. Adaptable furniture and multi-use setups are a top priority nowadays, so it’s time to get creative to make the most of our spaces.

Natural Stone

Image via Lynn Byrne

Bold, textural, and evocative of nature, natural stone is never really out of style, but be on the lookout for interiors using it in a whole new way next year. Designers are using stone slabs with interesting colors and patterns as backsplashes, countertops, bathroom floors, and even ceilings.

Small Luxuries

Maybe you can’t afford that one-of-a-kind sculptural sofa on 1stDibs, but it’s not as much of a stretch to save up for an amazing table lamp or an original work of art. These kinds of small-scale luxuries can make a big impact in a space, especially if you make them a focal point. When possible, it’s nice to invest in higher quality and handmade pieces instead of mass-produced “fast furniture” objects and decor, most of which fall apart after just a few years.

Restoring Thrift Store Finds

Image via A Ray of Sunlight

Thrift stores are full of items that have tons of potential, if only you can see past their current condition. Sometimes all it takes is a little elbow grease, polish, paint, or new hardware to give a junky-looking piece a whole new life. The process can be a lot less involved than you imagine, even if you don’t have a lot of experience. Pinterest is packed with DIY thrift store furniture projects you can browse for inspiration.

A Balance Between Minimalism and Maximalism

Minimalism was king for a long time before maximalism swung in like a wrecking ball to shake things up. But the reality is that most people’s preferences lie somewhere in the middle, and we’re starting to see that reflected in higher-end interior design, too. That means one thing you’re doing is on-trend without you even trying. Congrats! In the coming year, we’ll likely see a lot more professional examples of well-balanced spaces to give us inspiration for our own homes.

The post Top 8 Interior Design Trends to Refresh Your Home in 2023 first appeared on Dornob.

Volcanic rocks form the base of each piece, left mostly in their natural form. Mined in Japan, these hunks of rock have a rust-like outer layer that developed as a result of air and moisture penetrating fissures in the crust of the Earth and oxidizing the iron content of the stones. When cracked or chiseled open, they reveal deep, dark inner cores. Park tops each one with steel polished almost to a mirror finish to contrast the grittiness of the rock.

“All the texture in the stone is actually created by unexpected accidents and it’s never the same, and this is so intriguing to me,” Park says, adding that “the cut of the stone is vital to the success of each piece. Its linearity is something that nature cannot produce – only humans work in straight lines. Their flat-cut sides serve to highlight the textured lines and irregularities of the stones’ exteriors and emphasize their natural beauty. The steel adds dimension to the cut line of the stone and extends it further into space, creating volume and balance.”

Park’s inspiration for this collection is rooted in the Japanese and Korean artists of the 20th century Mono-ha movement, which combined natural and industrial materials to visualize the tension between nature and the rapid development of Japan in the 1960s. Mono-ha, which translates as “School of Things,” focused on an exploration of materials rather than representation.

Although Parks’ work is both sculptural and functional, the spirit of Mono-ha is evident, even when he uses more refined contemporary materials. Straddling the line between “practical commodity and fine art,” as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea described it, Parks’ oeuvre examines the ways in which materials can conjure certain feelings and associations.

His cast resin pieces, for instance, aim for a “sense of lightness and purity,” a texture that gives him “the sensation of painting enveloped air.” Its translucence enables him to convey the quality of light found in the sky, in water, and in rainbows, with colors he painstakingly mixes himself before combining them with the resin base and molding the material into slabs.

Metal, in contrast, is all about form and structure, as Park previously demonstrated with his “Plain Cuts” series. Sheets of aluminum come together into stark intersecting shapes, almost entirely rigid and rectilinear with just the slightest curve visible every now and then. “Stone + Steel” is a continuation of that series, and manages to give volcanic rock an almost malleable quality in its irregularity.

“In my designs, I want my objects to speak for themselves,” says Park. “To be beautiful, attractive, and engage with their surroundings. My work embraces simplicity, purity, and subtlety. People who experience my designs have the space to explore their own sensations and emotions.”

The post Stone + Steel: Weighty Korean Minimalist Furniture by Wonmin Park first appeared on Dornob.

Yasmine started with 16 assembled blocks of stone measuring 16.5 inches on each side, making a single continuous cut into each one to produce two objects, one the negative shape of the other. That means no material was lost in the process of carving the stone into its final form, a dual-purpose table/stool. As you can imagine, that’s not easy to pull off. Less skilled creators might make a far simpler cut to ensure that the two objects were perfectly intact at the end, but Yasmine’s vision is a little more ambitious.

“Flowing Fragments” is inspired by the remnants of Greco-Roman civilization as we view them today, thousands of years later. Once, these architectural fragments were whole and nearly perfect. Now, most of the arches and columns have cracked and fallen so we only see them as parts of each other. But the fragmenting hasn’t necessarily interrupted the beauty of these objects. We can still sense the harmony and rhythm in their proportions and outlines.

With these sculptural objects, Yasmine hopes to remind us all of the importance of our global cultural heritage. “It’s an awareness to save remaining forgotten fragments of previous civilizations in addition to help protect abandoned sites while highlighting on the antiquities trafficking [and] the destruction of authentic and deserted landmarks nowadays when heritage is threatened by urban development,” he says.

Classic shapes and graphic motifs commonly find their way into Yasmine’s work. Another collection, “After Ego,” takes references from Postmodernism, Memphis Design, and Art Deco but distills them to their simplest forms. Each piece was created by drawing layered arches and then rotating and flipping them so they intersect and interact in new ways. “After Ego” is a tribute to Yasmine’s home city of Beirut in the aftermath of the blast that occurred on August 4th, 2020, and the complex mixture of emotions that arose from the tragedy. Made of foam, lightweight concrete plaster, acrylic, and clay, the series represents Yasmine’s quest to communicate these emotions through the use of simple lines.

“As a person filled with imagination, I use my imaginary world as a simulation to try out new ideas and create new objects, and that’s how it all starts,” Yasmine said in an interview with The Artling. “My inspiration comes from everyday life, objects, and emotions. From the human body, its physiology, and its needs. But also from an internal chaos combined with a certain innate sensitivity, sometimes extreme and provocative and not even expected by others but still minimal. I always practice my imagination to create new objects. I never tend to identify the difference between reality and imagination, this is what helps me create intriguing and controversial design objects that are complicated in their production process. However, this is also distinctive in my personality.”

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A gorgeous fusion of old and new, this dwelling incorporates historic stone walls already on the building site, tapping into the leftover structural walls and foundation of a bygone barn.

In this gorgeous adaptive reuse project by McGarry-Moon Architects (images by Adam Currie) in Northern Ireland, the historic structural stone of a crumbling ruined barn segues into contemporary metal and wood siding, creating a lovely juxtaposition of past and present materials, balancing weathered history and streamlined modernity.

As compelling as the finished product of this historic renovation is, the process photographs really help tell the story of preservation and architectural adaptation involved in this sensitive intervention. Existing walls had to be tested, stabilized, sliced, capped and protected before introducing the new steel frame (and in turn finer-grid wooden frame) for the additional sections of house. Each intersection required careful planning and execution. The result of the barn remodel is clearly worthwhile, however, proving that we shouldn’t demolish old structures just because they’re no longer usable in their current condition.

“This unassuming residence is a responsive configuration of skilfully contained views from the interior the manipulation of natural light combined with fluid, informal spaces allowing us to create architecture that has some dramatic moments but does not overly dominate the character of the existing stone barn. The house is surprising which engages people and allows the dwelling a unique character without having to resort to reproducing a replica of the past.”

“The original stone structure, the splendid views of ‘Slemish’ and the desire for comfortable understated interiors were the principles that focused us as architects. The preservation and consolidation of the stone structure was fundamental in achieving an architecture where the old and new complemented each other. Thus the residence was designed by fusing new technologies with older building techniques whilst incorporating sustainability ideals in order to create a rural architecture for the 21st century, rather than simply remodeling or recreating the methods and manners of the past.”

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It seems too strange to be real – a home emerging from a set of giant stones, seemingly cut out of the rock itself. Yet there it stands in rural Portgual with the pictures and video to prove it. No, it is not an optical illusion nor a fancy photo-editing job … this is the real deal.

As the television interview illustrates, the home is truly bordered by two boulders that inform the interior spaces – but it is also filled in with smaller stones to finish the effect. Crooked windows complete the curious picture on the outside while rough-cut log furniture, stairs and railings add to the organic feel of the interior spaces. Of course, this design is naturally eco-friendly as it incorporates local materials and more natural elements requiring less energy to turn into structural supports, finishes or cladding.

Inspired by none other than the Flintstones, this is not a work of installation art nor a themed hotel – it is simply the private residence of one person who saw a unique design opportunity and creatively integrated the natural environment while constructing his custom home on hill with a view (images via Jsome).

The post Rock the House: Bizarre Rural Boulder and Stone Home Design first appeared on Dornob.

Though Dorsey’s eponymous studio is based in Dallas, Texas, he more recently opened up a Los Angeles outpost in hopes of broadening his horizons. These newfound coastal surroundings, as well as the “anything is possible” attitude so prominent in California, seem to have played a big role in shaping his new collection, whose diverse pieces are near-direct reflections of the state’s awe-inspiring topographies.

STRIKE offers us six bold sculptural designs — Calistoga, Laguna, Malibu, Ojai, Sausalito, and Sea Ranch — each available in nine types of marble and limestone: White, Poseidon, Pewter, Nero, Montclaire, Danby, Cream, Charcoal, and Breccia Nuvole. On top of that, each fireplace can be adorned with one of three types of finish. And while that may sound like a lot of options to choose from, you can rest assured that every piece in this collection is refreshingly textural, unapologetically modern, and undeniably thought-provoking.

“A lot of traditional fireplaces are already available, but there were hardly any modern options at all,” Dorsey explains. “I started designing my own streamlined fireplaces for interiors projects and expanded upon that for the line.”

“People are more interested now in stones that have a lot more texture and movement of pattern,” he adds. “Breccia Nuvole gray marble is one of my favorites, because it looks like lava stone, especially when it’s given a rough finish.”

Hailing from Tennessee, Dorsey’s passion for architecture began early on, eventually leading him to pursue a degree in architecture and, after that, a career in hospitality design. He’s since overseen projects like clubs, hotels, airplane interiors, and luxury residences — all worth a collective $2 billion.

The designer’s website notes that “his aesthetic is best described as ‘relaxed luxury,’ which is defined by a quiet palette, custom furnishings with handcrafted details, meaningful objects, and a true sense of the people who live there. He believes furnishings should be impactful without being overwhelming, and rooms should flow and transition seamlessly.” This style is evident in Dorsey’s interiors projects, too, whether it be his ultra-beachy “Surf Shack” retreat in Dallas’ Forest Hills neighborhood, a super sophisticated, LA-inspired “La La Land” home, or a graphic wonderland of a Hamptons Showhouse.

In a recent interview with California Home Design, Dorsey expounded further on his distinct brand of “relaxed luxury,” explaining that for him, “relaxed luxury is the idea of living casually with things a person loves to touch and feel in a way that is approachable and not precious. Relaxed luxury is understated. Often quiet, it can go unnoticed, but the user with a discerning eye will appreciate the details and the soothing feeling. Relaxed luxury is achieved with custom furnishings incorporating handcrafted details, meaningful objects, and a true sense of the people who live there.”

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Harking back 11,500 years, the Göbekli Tepe is the oldest known temple on the planet. Discovered in southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, the stone temple has quickly created a hum of enthusiasm for researchers piecing together the purpose of its design, and more specifically, the planning process involved prior to its construction.

As with all architecture, especially an example dating back to the Stone Age, purpose always comes to mind. What was it used for? Why is it shaped the way it is? In this case, researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority used architectural analysis to learn that the builders of these round stone structures used a lot of geometry in their design calculations.

The Göbekli Tepe complex was discovered in 1994 by German archaeologist Dr. Klaus Schmidt. Since then, scientists have considered many theories regarding the planning process involved in erecting such a complex. While many researchers agree the entire thing was built over time, Gil Haklay of the Israel Antiquities Authority, a PhD candidate at Tel Aviv University, and Professor Avi Gopher of TAU’s Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations used a computer algorithm to come to the conclusion that at least three of the structures were designed as a single project. Their findings were published in Cambridge Archaeological Journal in May 2020.

“Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological wonder,” Professor Gopher explains. “Built by Neolithic communities 11,500 to 11,000 years ago, it features enormous, round stone structures and monumental stone pillars up to 5.5 meters high. Since there is no evidence of farming or animal domestication at the time, the site is believed to have been built by hunter-gatherers. However, its architectural complexity is highly unusual for them.”

“The layout of the complex is characterized by spatial and symbolic hierarchies that reflect changes in the spiritual world and in the social structure,” Haklay adds. “In our research, we used an analytic tool — an algorithm based on standard deviation mapping — to identify an underlying geometric pattern that regulated the design.”

“This research introduces important information regarding the early development of architectural planning in the Levant and in the world,” Professor Gopher adds. “It opens the door to new interpretations of this site in general, and of the nature of its megalithic anthropomorphic pillars specifically.”

This information pushes back the timeline on the belief that the use of geometry and formulation of pre-designed floor plans came about 500 to 1,000 years later, around 10,500 years ago. This original connection between the farming communities and type of architectural planning, which came mostly as a result of a nomadic hunter/gatherer lifestyle, was based on the use of rectangular design elements not previously seen.

“The most important and basic methods of architectural planning were devised in the Levant in the Late Epipaleolithic period as part of the Natufian culture and through the early Neolithic period. Our new research indicates that the methods of architectural planning, abstract design rules, and organizational patterns were already being used during this formative period in human history,” Haklay says.

The post This 12,000-Year-Old Temple Exhibits Modern Architectural Characteristics first appeared on Dornob.

Now, over a century later, many carriage houses have been converted into homes, and they often have significant historic value. In Dublin, on a 200-year-old estate called Bolton Hall, both the main house and carriage house are protected structures. So when Ferreira Architects was commissioned to helm a renovation, they had to adhere to strict rules about what could be updated, and about what must be restored.

To preserve all of the carriage house’s original details while bringing in some modern flair, the architects worked alongside interior design firm Kingston Lafferty Design from the very beginning, involving them in fundamental decisions that would influence the overall look and feel. The renovation also involved reimagining the interior architecture and incorporating a new contemporary addition and exterior terraces.

The firm also developed the home’s interior design, landscape design, and much of the furniture design, bringing together a cohesive palette of colors and materials that you might not expect to find in a rural setting.

“The new design combines and juxtaposes the old and new buildings as one interesting and exciting multi-level, unique space,” they explain. “The existing coach house is brimming with character, charm, and original detail, so we opted to maximize this with the design. We deliberately created interesting spaces, nooks, and crannies, contrasting the old building with a juxtaposing minimal and streamlined extension design.”

“We wanted to provide the user with the optimum exciting experience, with multiple routes and ways to use the space. We employed mild steel portals to link the different areas and a floating timber stair[case] to act as a strong feature connecting the stone walls. To maximize the beautiful exterior spaces, we designed two exterior terraces, with one linking the indoor to outdoor via a fully tiled cantilevered table and bi-folding window detail.”

The vaulted brick ceilings and stonework of the original carriage house are clearly the dominating element, setting the tone and providing a whole lot of character. To balance its ruggedness, Kingston Lafferty brought in clean-lined, minimalist elements like smooth, pale wood floors, sharply defined doorways, and translucent panels, all of which have been married to the stone by way of textured concrete.

What makes this renovation stand out, however, is the elegant, feminine sensibility of the custom furnishings and fixtures, like a striking pink couch accented by red hanging lamps. A lot of designers would have leaned into the industrial nature of the building’s history, giving it a bit more of a masculine energy, but instead of an overabundance of concrete and metal pipes, we find polished marble, patterned tile, and gleaming brass.

The juxtaposition of these elements is thrillingly effective and enhanced by the fluidity of the spatial layout, making it seem like there’s always something interesting to discover around the next corner.

The post Modern Accents Meet Historic Stone in Dublin’s Bolton Coach House first appeared on Dornob.

Through her series “Alien Autopsy,” Swedish artist Åsa Stenerhag experiments with these feelings. The artist, who taught herself sculpting techniques by watching YouTube videos, engaged in an unusual collaboration with design firm Massproductions for the installation, which opened at the firm’s showroom in Stockholm.

The series of stoneware sculptures was designed to be displayed atop Massproductions’ new Landa table, a minimalist design with the unusual ability to support a long surface with just four to six wide-spaced legs. The design uses two parallel steel beams to support the long tabletops, creating “significant and comfortable voids” underneath. The result is streamlined and lightweight, leaving plenty of room for chairs and objects atop the table to shine.

“It’s easy to make tables, but we decided to make it difficult by developing a system that can make very long tables, with fewer table legs and without visible fittings” says Chris Martin, Design Manager and Co-Founder of Massproductions.

The designers took inspiration from NASA’s lunar module for the table, which in turn guided Stenerhag’s creative direction. Looking at the ceramic sculptures, you can see why the installation is called “Alien Autopsy” in a nod to a controversial 1995 short film by Ray Santillis. Stenerhag used unconventional media and methods of coloring them, like gouache, shoe polish, and linseed oil, so they soaked up the color unevenly.

“It started with a request to do something in connection with the launch of Landa,” she explains. “The name of the installation challenged and helped me to further develop the design language. It’s like lighting a spark. When parameters are set, ideas are triggered. The idea started from the long table. How we could tell a story, create a feeling, an exciting one, unified together. For me, creation is primarily about intuitive work though also about channeling a feeling. In this case, it is a life energy, which is shaping and explor[ing] itself. Both on the inside and the outside.”

“My work usually starts with a feeling, an energy and desire that then comes down to material, surface, and shape until it becomes a whole. It’s also about being fully present in what I do. Clay is a living material and must be taken care of in different ways throughout all stages of the drying process. It is a constant collaboration between me and the clay. For me the process is as important as the result. That’s what drives me.”

Whatever your feelings may be about Stenerhag’s sculptures, there’s no denying that “Alien Autopsy” is an interesting way to bring fine art and product design together around a fun, albeit somewhat odd, narrative.

The post Alien Autopsy: A Series of Strange Ceramic Creations by Åsa Stenerhag first appeared on Dornob.

Designing for a hot climate, small site and hillside lot are difficult enough individual constraints for architects to overcome alone – let alone all at the same time. This marvelous little home by P + T architects manages to make the most of a seemingly difficult situation through a few critical design moves that turn problems into opportunities.

The result is a two-volume solution in which the top level overlaps the lower story to create a shield from the bright sun while also providing views out over the valley below. The odd triangular lot shape led to a complex angular form that conforms to the site without violating the legal boundaries of the buildable lot area.

Variegated stone fences create a conceptual barrier that blends in with the desert-like natural surroundings while the rectilinear wood and dark gray stone of the house proper set it apart from the landscape. In the end, this house manages to be both contextual and contemporary, using local materials but clearly differentiated as a modern home on the hill.

“The terrain presented three conditions that determined the actions taken that would finally define the project. Because of the lot being of triangular shape located in a corner, the legal edification lines left the constructible area in the center, a steep incline of 40%, and finally, sun exposure and views towards the valley.”

“The operation consists in separating the architecture program into two overlapping volumes parallel to the terrain lines, so when seen in section both volumes relate to the landscape.”

“The lower volume is buried in the terrain and adopts a materiality that allows you to understand it as a socle that blends with the landscape as well as the stone walls that enclose the site. In this volume the bedrooms connect with the garden that exists over the street level below.”

The post Built Despite Tiny Site: Small Stone Hillside Home Design first appeared on Dornob.

Reportedly making the top of the mesa their home for around 600 years, scientists can’t explain why the Pueblo abandoned the flat land in favor of the cliff dwellings, which were impressively built and nearly impossible to access. Of course, that could have been the entire point, with one theory suggesting that the tribe moved into the hillside as a defensive move, as it provided a good lookout from which to spot rival tribes. Another theory is that the cliff overhangs offered protection from the elements during what could have been an extremely hot or cold time period.

Considering today’s weather patterns in the area, snow likely accumulated heavily during the winter in the Mesa Verde of old. But regardless of the reasons why the moved, it’s clear the Pueblos migrated from the mesa to the cliff dwellings around the year 1190. From that point on, the tribe was broken into villages around a massive canyon, with houses and meeting areas meticulously sculpted into nearly inaccessible caverns. The dwellings ranged in size from small storage areas to massive complexes with up to 150 rooms.

Today, a visit to Mesa Verde National Park provides you with the remnants of around 600 ruins scattered throughout the region, many of which are remarkably preserved.

Discovered in 1888 by cowboys Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law Charlie Mason while out looking for errant cattle, Cliff Palace, the largest of the cliff dwellings, was still loaded with baskets, sandals, necklaces, spears, knives, mugs, and other artifacts. Although there is evidence that perhaps some of the dwellings had been previously discovered, the area was largely untouched, as if frozen in time from centuries before. A harvest of corn even sat preserved in a nearby storage area, indicating that the Pueblo may have left in a hurry.

Besides the artifacts themselves, the story of Pueblo design lives on in the sandstone. Wooden beams made from felled trees and lowered over the cliff hangings offered central support to many of the structures. Anchored with sandstone and mortar, walls and towers were erected to create rooms. Mortar was made using local soil, water, and ash. Chinking, a mixture made from small bits of stones, was also added to enhance the strength of the dwellings.

Large pits in the ground called kivas were contoured into the design and covered with criss-crossed timber roofing. The Pueblo used ladders to climb in and out of these pits, which were used as religious spaces and meeting areas during the long winter days. Most impressively, all of this construction took place with rudimentary tools, mostly sharp rocks collected from nearby riverbeds.

Outside of the dwellings, the tribe continued to grow and harvest crops on the mesa above, requiring individuals to scale up the rock face with little more than toe and finger holes carved out of the nearly-vertical surfaces. Tools equivalent to basic sticks left clues about how the people managed to till the soil and grow crops.

After nearly a century of development, the Pueblo people began to leave the region, electing to join other tribes in what is now New Mexico and Arizona. By the late 1200s, the region was totally abandoned.

At the very least, we can all be thankful that the ruins and evidence of their people’s innovative building techniques still stand today. 

All photos courtesy of the National Park Service

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While some renovations take great pains to keep impact on the existing structures to a minimum, others forge boldly ahead with complete remodels, adding contrasting modern elements that visually highlight the passage of time. An example of the former approach might make all modern alterations temporary and removable, like a 300-year-old Japanese home wrapped in a protective extension, or virtually invisible from the road, like a rural homestead that’s sort of like the architectural version of a mullet: traditional from the front, ultramodern out back. In cases like “A Country Home in Chievo” by Italian architecture firm Studio Wok, the original structure becomes little more than an envelope containing a whole new house.

The country villa was actually not a house but a barn in its former life. Located in a rural area outside Verona near the river Adige, the building’s earthy facade offered an intriguing possibility for rebirth as a family residence that maintained traditional architectural typologies of the area with its extensive use of river pebbles and local stone. Since its interiors were almost entirely open, it was essentially a blank canvas for Studio Wok’s vision.

The architects removed the existing barn loft and stalls, adding new interior volumes along with modern energy-efficient doors and windows framed in larch wood. They reopened a large arch facing the garden “as a reminder of the site’s historical function,” focusing views on a mature magnolia tree the clients wished to preserve.

“The project’s leitmotif is a spatial and material dialogue between history and modernity, and it is also characterized by the great care taken in terms of environmental sustainability,” say the architects. “In addition to the use of technical devices and systems for efficient energy, special attention has been given to the surrounding territory and landscape in the use of materials and design choices.”

Inside, birch plywood cladding creates smooth, unfussy surfaces to complement the rugged nature of the stone and brick, defining the interior spaces and making a clear distinction between the older and newer elements of the villa. Set across three floors, the house features a full-height living room, a library with a brick fireplace, and bedrooms tucked into the new wooden volumes that appear to hang from the ceiling. Outside, the all-important magnolia offsets a gorgeous swimming pool.

“Bordered by a square black flowerbed, in contrast to the stone flooring on which the pool is set, the tree is the protagonist of the outdoor space and perfectly dialogues with the house: the shadow of its foliage is projected at sunset on the stone facade and is visible from all rooms.”

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On Scotland’s Isle of Man, a new country home by Foster Lomas expertly blends periods and materials for an effect that’s thoroughly modern yet very much a product of its environment. Set just down the hillside from an existing structure known as Cloud 9, the Sartfell Retreat was designed with utmost sensitivity to the landscape and vernacular architecture in mind. Cloud 9 is itself a local landmark, and its renovation was part of the building project.

“The client, a couple whose background combines biological science, medicine, and education, and who also share a passion for birdwatching, created a brief with a long-term strategy for the restoration, conservation, and management of the seven and a half acres of Nature Reserve on Sartfell Mountain,” explain the architects.

“Foster Lomas’ response to the site goes back to [our] research and experience of drystone construction whilst working in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Building on this vernacular technology, [we] have reinterpreted the local Manx stone structures to create an original building in a unique setting.”

The new home features a cast-in-place concrete core surrounded by thick, naturally insulating hand-constructed drystone walls. The stone — harvested on site while excavating the ground floor and cleaning up collapsed walls on the land — will weather over time and eventually become home to plants and lichens, allowing it to seamlessly blend into the landscape. A ribbon of glass stretches across the building’s facade, set back from the exterior to minimize solar gain while offering the inhabitants the same stunning views of the Irish Sea (and the local birds) they originally craved.

While the use of local stone makes the Sartfell Retreat feel like a natural extension of its landscape, its unique angled silhouette and sleek concrete-clad interiors give it an edge. An open plan creates visual connections between various parts of the interior, including a stunning library that spans three floors within an atrium-like stairwell. The new volume connects to the existing structure through a glazed corridor for a sense of cohesion.

Dedication to the site’s biodiversity and sustainability extends beyond the materials used for construction. The home also features a green roof “designed to carefully emulate the flora of the immediate area and complement the drystone walling,” ground source heating, a natural processing sewage system, and a wind turbine.

The owners plan to rent out Cloud 9 to fellow birdwatching enthusiasts while residing in the new addition themselves. Envisioned as a private nature preserve, the land will also host a visitor center and artist’s studio, both of which will also be designed by Foster Lomas.

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