The Perfect Renovation - Maison M at Rovigno ,Croatia - Tökéletes Renováció a Horvát tengerparton

Renovation and interior design of an eighteenth-century tower house, by Giorgio Zaetta Architect

The house, built completely of stone on what down to the nineteenth century was a fortified island, responds to the canons of housing typical of Rovinj, which extends vertically to make the most of the little land available.

The project
The house, now called Maison M, is laid out on four floors overlooking the sea and serves as a summer home for a French couple. The restructuring work carried out the architect Giorgio Zaetta makes it a unique space by its sensitivity and minimalism, with the hand of the designer gently exploring the historicity of the building without overpowering it.
The outstanding result is also due to the extraordinary sense of confidence that has developed in the two years of work between the architect and client.
Giorgio Zaetta graduated from the Venice IUAV is a native of Feltre, where he set up his practice. He is a great connoisseur of the Istrian coast, the result of his boyhood passion for sailing. For some years now he has had a small apartment at Rovinj in the attic of an old house, high above the sea. The whole restructuring project began with the restoration and conservation of the original walls, with full respect for them, so that no new structure or system comes into direct contact with them.
A fissure of light runs along the perimeter of the floor slabs as if they were independent of the imposing stone rock that rise austerely from the rocks all the way to the roof.
To stabilize the tower and make it even more stable seismically he original wood floors were reinforced with a lightweight concrete slab with rebars embedded in the thick walls of stone and rubble and sealed with organic lime.
Careful, almost obsessive, attention was paid to the architectural detail, which features lustrous stainless steel fittings.
The staircase is cantilevered, supported by a steel frame concealed in the infill panels and serves the technical spaces at all heights. The risers and treads, made of stainless steel just one centimetre thick, have a special dovetail joint that allows them to be assembled without welds. The handrail, where the staircase turns around its fan-shaped winder tread, changes from a rectangular to a square section to accompany the hand by always offering the right grip.
In its rich restraint the house plays at revealing its hidden history and keeping the technology hidden, so that even the electrical controls are concealed, recessed into the steel side of the cooker or embedded in tables and bookshelves.
The rigor and linearity of the interiors is enlivened by the contrast between the light and dark shades of colour which alternate and are combined in the house.

The Impressive Minimalist Renovation in Melbourne, Australia - Elképesztő Családi ház felújítás bátor színekkel

Wow this is impressive, brave use of colour which looks great – an old heritage house converted into modern home with touch of heritage background. Currently shortlisted for 2012 Colour In Residential Design & Residential Design Award.
Designed by  Matt Gibson Architecture + Design

The Modern Simple Family house from Stacked Stone by Peter Legge Associates - Modern kőház Írországból

“Connemara” is a reconstruction of two degraded cottages in Connemara, Ireland by Peter Legge Associates. Transformed into a single family residence located in the rural countryside, constructed with stacked stones and low lying stone walls that run through the bucolic landscape as the main entrance, the view towards both the Irish Sea and the twelve pins is astonishing. With views of the coast, the kitchen and dining areas are bordered with glass bi-fold doors which are connected with the outside, small windows within the thick stone walls allow daylight to seep in from the east and west, while the bedrooms and bath on the upper levels are illuminated with skylights towards the sea.

The Two-Storey House - Villa Rotonda by Bedaux de Brouwer Architecten - Kétarcú modern családi ház koncepció Hollandiából

Completed in 2010, this 2,368 square foot two-story residence is located in Goirle, a town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant.

Villa Rotonda was designed by the young architects Pieter and Thomas Bedaux, who are continuing the tradition of the bureau in Goirle which was started in the 1930s by their grandfather Jos Bedaux and taken over by their father Peer Bedaux. Since the 1950s, the bureau has been focusing on two streams: a contemporary traditionalism and an artisanal modernism. In both areas, security and comfort play a large part. From that point of view, the traditional houses with their pitched roofs and shuttered windows are not so different from the quiet, abstract architecture which the bureau has also been making for years. The residence in Goirle combines both directions.

From the street the house looks traditional and closed, from the garden it reveals itself as an open and modern space. The traditional look was dictated by the zoning plan, which specified a roof which would allow the new building to fit in with the rural atmosphere of Goirle – an atmosphere, incidentally, which has been determined to a significant extent by the work of the grandfather and father Bedaux. Except for two large windows, the house is closed off to the main street, protecting the residents from the noise pollution caused by the traffic from the nearby busy roundabout. This also explains the name of the house, Villa Rotonda. Rather than a reference to Andrea Palladio’s famous villa near Vicenza, Italy, it is an ironic commentary on the house’s location next to a roundabout intersection. The water partially surrounding the house reinforces its private, sealed off character.

On the street side, the house appears to be a variation on the archetypal Dutch residence, with a pitched slate roof and grey brick walls. On the garden side, that idea is toppled, and the atmosphere changes. The southern side of the house looks out onto the deep garden. Here, the façade is nearly completely transparent. The Reynaers sliding system CP 155-LS was usedfor the façades and can be operated automatically. This allows the living room-kitchen to be opened onto the garden so that indoors and outdoors form a continuous whole. The tilt-and-turn windows, made using CS 68-HV (hidden vent), can also be operated automatically.