Cottage, chalet, villa, retreat, summerhouse and holiday home; no matter where you are or what you call it, the weekend home is has been a staple and counter-response to urban life. It means an escape from the day-to-day banality of the work week and a chance to reconnect with nature. Today we celebrate architecture’s ode to the weekend with ÅVONTUURA’s Top 10 Weekend Homes from 2022.
Lone Madrone
Architect: Heliotrope Architects
Location: Orcas Island, Washington
Located on a rocky, wind-swept south facing shoreline; this retreat home nestles into the landscape to harmonize with its surroundings and minimize exposure to weather. The home is a vacation retreat for a family of four, who desired a low-impact home with strong connections to land and sea. The design solution utilizes a simple ‘wedge’ shape geometry, mimicking the hillside slope beyond, and is tucked into a natural depression in the shoreline to diminish its visual impact. Living spaces open completely on north (garden) and south (water) sides via a custom lift-slide door system. Bedrooms focus primarily on the more private, forested slope to the west and the kitchen opens onto an adjacent a rock promontory to the east. [From the architects]
Stone Summerhouse
Architect: GinnerupArkitekter
Location: Denmark
On a small Danish island is a very simple cottage right down to the water and with an open English landscape as a backdrop. A natural stone house with a saddle roof that finds inspiration in nature, and which stands raised on a small plinth that acts as a coastal protection in severe storms and elevated water levels. [From the architects]
Macha
Architect: Abin Design Studio
Location: Langalberia, West Bengal, India
Located in rural farmlands on the outskirts of Kolkata, the brief for this two-bedroom weekend retreat was to create a space that matched the tranquil surroundings of its setting. A place that blends in with the land, rather that breaks away from it. Set within a guava orchard in the farm, the idea was to build a ‘Macha’, or an elevated observation platform, that becomes a place of reprieve from the rigours of urban life. [From the architects]
Small vacation cottages „u Gai”
Architect: SAN Architektura Rafał Oleksik
Location: Radomice, Powiat lwówecki, Poland
The cottages were built on a hill with a beautiful view of the Karkonosze Mountains. The area is rich in flora and fauna. As part of the investment, two summer houses with a total usable area of approximately 80 m2 were designed. In the near future, a third larger building will be built as the next stage of the project – a single-family house for the hosts. During an on-site inspection, it was found that there was a closed quarry near the plot. There was an idea to refer to this unusual neighborhood in the project. The plot is located on a steep slope, so the houses have been arranged in such a way as to give the impression of freely scattered boulders. The buildings resemble hewn cubes. [From the architects]
Made of Sand
Architect: Studio Weave
Location: Devon, United Kingdom
Studio Weave has added a double storey timber artist’s retreat to a stone cottage in Devon, completing the revival of the holiday home for a family based between London and the countryside.
Made of Sand is set on a secluded property in the Blackdown Hills, and takes its name from the sites’ historic origins as a local sandpit. Made of Sand was conceived as a flexible guest and creative space for the clients’ local family, friends, and artists. The retreat offers those wishing to connect with nature, their art or craft, and organisations in the region an independent space on the peaceful property. Keen music lovers and creatives, clients Tom Baker and Natalie Silk appointed Studio Weave to design an extension that can be inhabited separately from the main cottage, yet sits harmoniously in the rural landscape while adopting a contemporary aesthetic. Studio Weave designed a striking two storey cubic addition with a geometric timber facade and large glazed apertures. A restored stone stair on the Eastern elevation bookends the new space between the existing cottage and hillside. [From the architects]
Chalé SBS
Architect: Silvia Acar Arquitetura and Gil Barbieri Arquitetura
Location: São Bento do Sapucaí, Brazil
Located near Pedra do Baú, the main tourist spot in the municipality of São Bento do Sapucaí, the chalet SBS was designed to function as a guesthouse. The house located on a top of a mountain, near the border between the state of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, with a wide view of the region. The construction was conceived as two volumes of equal dimensions that support a unique light roof, and which are crossed – and joined – by a balcony that extends towards the slope and the astonishing view, forming a viewpoint that extends to the horizon. One of the volumes houses a living room and kitchen, in addition to a laundry/technical area, which is accessed by a deck located at the back of the building. The other one, a bedroom and a bathroom with two doors, for access both through the bedroom, and by the balcony, also serving people who eventually occupy the room. [From the architects]
Caraccard
Architect: Chevallier Architectes
Location: Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France
Caraccard is first and foremost a story of family continuity and family connections. The client himself is the son of a client of the architect’s father, and he chose the agency to make his alpine dream come true based on the strength of that relationship of trust that was forged during their previous collaboration. The owner knew that the architect embraced the same values as his father, and that mutual trust contributed to a fluid and easy connection from the start of the project. In that context, the architect was able to be creative, and the owners chose to flow with his inspiration. [From the architects]
Concrete Cabin
Architect: Hamran/Johansen Arkitekter AS (HAJA)
Location: Norway
The concrete cabin is located on a steep slope directly adjacent to the ski resort. The southern part of the site has been relocated in connection with the establishment of the alpine facility, so that it is less problematic to do excavation. The northern part of the plot has a natural character with heather grabs and mountain vegetation that is taken care of as much as possible. The house is closed to the mountain and the access side, and opens onto the view. The roof is triangulated folds, which reach almost down to the terrain at the rear edge. The roof is covered with peat, so that the building appears as an abstract extension of the landscape. The entrance level contains a spacious entrance hall, living room / kitchen, and master bedroom and bathroom. Downstairs contains the other three bedrooms, a separate living room and bathroom with sauna. The steps protrude elegantly, with a thickness of 40mm. This is made possible by the use of fiber-reinforced concrete. [From the architects]
Ziemeļi Holiday Home
Architect: Open AD
Location: Latvia
Latvian legislation does not permit newbuilds within the proximity of the coastline, however, it is allowed to build on existing foundations. With this in mind Open AD’s clients purchased a coastal property with the intent of transforming it.
The property consisted of four mismatched buildings – the main house, a garage, shed and garden house. Open AD established how to keep all the structures, unify them stylistically and tie them in with the location. The two dominant cladding materials – larch and galvanized steel – are inspired by the colours of the sea and sky. The shape of the buildings and their gable roofs echo the vernacular architecture of the historical fishermen’s dwellings, which the area is known for. [From the architects]
Hale Nukumoi
Architect: Walker Warner Architects
Location: Kauai, Hawaii
Hale Nukumoi is the quintessential Hawaiian beach retreat: open and casual—the opposite of fussy. Set amidst mature palm trees, the complex is ready-made for family and friends. Composed of a main house and guest house, the site features a large yard and pool, as well as beach access. An indoor/outdoor lifestyle is exemplified by the home’s airy design: large sliding doors and walls, a custom two-story rainscreen, and layered plantings balance connections to nature with privacy. [From the architects]
