5 Stunning Global Homes That Invite The Outdoors In

Pavilions flanking patios, glass walls giving way to gardens, verandas amid treetops—homes in Europe and Asia fully synchronize with the natural world.

Explore Residential Designs That Prioritize Connection With Nature

Villa by Twobo Arquitectura

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Although located along the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, this villa in Empordà, Spain, by Twobo Arquitectura hints at the Case Study houses of Los Angeles, as the client couple spent time working in California and appreciated Richard Neutra’s experimental vision of modern living. But the series of three pavilions and corresponding courtyards, each set devoted to socializing, sleeping, or contemplation, nods to a nearby influence, too: Catalonia’s ancient Empúries, its ruins now a collection of vestiges and voids. The décor skews local as well; ceramic latticework and tile are by Ceràmica Ferrés, its workshop a few miles away. Passive energy solutions—natural cross ventilation, insulating walls, gray water tanks, solar arrays—are similarly thoughtful. 

Family Home by Paulíny Hovorka Architects

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Thanks to an ingenious Y-shape plan, this single-story family home in Banka, Slovakia, by Paulíny Hovorka Architects simultaneously separates public and private areas while fully connecting with and maintaining the mature landscape; in fact, preserving every existing tree was part of the brief, which was achieved by having the three wings extend outward at 120-degree angles, accommodating all plant life and dividing the ½-acre plot into smaller garden segments. Then, windows with ultra-slim frames that retract into pockets and large glazed walls that slide open to a covered terrace merge inside and out, as does the natural material palette, comprising exposed concrete, engineered oak, and thermally modified pine.

Home by Iroje Khm Architects

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

One could assume the interiors of this four-bedroom home by Iroje Khm Architects capped by a traditional numaru, or gazebo, roofline to be dark—just two small windows punctuate its exposed-concrete facade. But, courtesy of a nearly fully glazed opposite elevation and a two-story inner madang (courtyard), this home in Jeonju, South Korea, is the epitome of light and bright and affords unobstructed water views. The catwalk leads to the main entrance and public spaces on the second floor, its fluid living-dining-kitchen area furnished with Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs and table. Hovering above like a cloud—the project is called ho-un, Korean for cloud on the lake—is the family room, contained in a vinyl-finished volume.

Cottage by Noke Architects

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

Farmhouse, but make it modern. That could be the slogan for the rustic yet refined two-bedroom cottage nestled in the postcard-perfect Masurian region of Pasym, Poland, part of a 6½-acre residential development also planned by Noke. Utilizing prefabricated-timber technology, traditional elements like stable, cowshed, and barn were reimagined as interconnected, cohesive volumes with contemporary flair. Glazed corridors, expansive windows, and upper-level verandas immerse the home in the landscape, while interiors, collaborated on with Paulina Cziba, feature Polish linen curtains on rods forged by a local blacksmith, custom oak furniture, and pieces by such area designers as Maja Ganszyniec, Malwina Konopacka, and Ola Niepsuj, further tying project to site. 

Home by Minarc

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

With its snow-white upper facade of StoVentec engineered rainscreen cladding, this energy-efficient, four-bedroom home is like a Tetris-inspired igloo. But its tinted cement base is dark like lava. That’s because Minarc‘s founders, native Icelanders now based in Santa Monica, drew from their country’s elemental palette when conceiving the exterior. The same goes for the interiors, where such woods as oak and maple recall the region’s golden summer sun and floor-to-ceiling expanses of glass frame picturesque vistas of the verdant surrounding landscape— particularly visible when perched on the second-floor living area’s custom Dropi chair, its sling in pine-green Sunbrella.