designboom’s top 10 private houses of 2024

In 2024, the architectural world has brought forth a thought-provoking array of residential projects that redefine how we live and interact with our environments. From eco-conscious innovations to poetic explorations of space and materiality, designboom’s top 10 private houses of the year celebrate diversity with a particular penchant for indoor-outdoor connectivity and a balance between privacy and openness.

Emerging themes unite these explorations — some subtly rooted in their landscapes and vernacular, with others boldly adopting sculptural approaches. Local context cues take center stage, as seen in the reuse of materials and integration of energy-efficient systems. Sustainability efforts too have introduced some noteworthy architectural expressions, as with nendo’s innovative integration of CO2 absorbing concrete blocks that shape a house that breathes along with its woodland setting. Elsewhere, cultural storytelling weaves through designs that honor local traditions while questioning where boundaries of private living lie.

Whether it’s a house without angles in Prague, a toy-laden facade in India, or an ode to independence in Chile, each of designboom’s selected standout residences offers a distinct perspective on what it means to design for the future while being deeply rooted in the present. Read on to learn more about our favourite projects of the year as we continue our annual BIG stories roundup.

NENDO SCREENS JAPANESE HOME WITH WORLD’S FIRST CO2-ABSORBING CONCRETE BLOCKS

image © Masahiro Ohgami

Japanese practice nendo introduces dynamic screening walls to a private residence in Karuizawa, Nagano, using CO2-SUICOM, an eco-friendly carbon removal concrete. Along the road lies the distinctive triangular property extending 110 meters in length, pushing the design studio to concoct a creative solution for securing privacy from passing traffic and pedestrians while acting as a foil for basking in the natural surroundings.

With the stacking of concrete, nendo orchestrates the line of sight by adjusting the angles of each block, fine-tuned by occasionally overlapping two rows of CO2-SUICOM. The view is set in one direction in areas with a single row. With two rows, the view on the other side opens up only when the angles in the front and back rows align; otherwise, the view gets obstructed.  

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CHRISTIAN KEREZ’S HOUSE OKAMURA UNFOLDS AS A CLUSTER OF CIRCULAR BRICK VOLUMES IN CZECHIA

image © Maxime Delvaux

In Prague 6, within close proximity to Villa Müller by Adolf Loos, architect Christian Kerez completes House Okamura as a clear example of a very traditional, almost archaic method of constructing brick ‘circles’. The project, designed as an aggregate of column-like volumes, hosts three apartments with 39 rooms, combined. Kerez omitted dividing walls from the interior layout, making the outline of every single space visible from the outside. More so, thanks to their unique configuration, the apartments shift positions from floor to floor so that rooms in the vertical shafts belong to different owners. All spaces within one apartment of House Okamura are open to each other, with the different sizes of the overlapping circular rooms creating unpredictable changes in the direction of these openings.

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OFIS UPLIFTS 1930S MODERNIST DWELLING WITH A CURVED AND FLOATING PAVILION IN SLOVENIA

image © Janez Martincic

Slovenian practice OFIS Architects takes us to the former suburbs of Ljubljana, where the curious Ring House finds shelter amid middle-class villas erected between the wars. The project revitalizes a 1930s modernist dwelling with a light and floating pavilion that follows the cubic building’s original curvatures. While touring the house, one notices semicircular fringes and subtle detailing extending towards the garden, as well as a slanted roof that crowned the originally flat top following a 1980s intervention. In light of that, OFIS sought to restore the building’s original qualities. The first step involved omitting the added roof and introducing a smaller terrace that effortlessly completes the existing volume and features. 

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WALLMAKERS WEAVES RECYCLED PLASTIC TOYS INTO THE EARTHEN FACADE OF THIS HOME IN INDIA

Responding by the ubiquitous presence of toys and the lingering pain of stepping on a LEGO brick, Wallmakers‘ Toy Storey Residence in Vadakara, North Kerala, reimagines plastic waste into a sculptural and sustainable home. ‘Have you ever stepped on a LEGO block?’ asks Vinu Daniel, lead architect at Wallmakers. This seemingly ordinary experience sparked a deeper exploration of the overuse of plastic, particularly in toys, and its potential for repurposing. The resulting home takes shape with a complex, latticework facade of earthen tiles which integrate over 6,200 discarded toys. ‘Plastic has managed to snake its way into almost every aspect of our daily lives,’ Daniel observes, highlighting the stark contrast between traditional wooden toys and the current reliance on non-biodegradable materials.

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FRAN SILVESTRE SHAPES CASA SABATER BY ITS SLOPING COASTAL SITE IN SPAIN 

image © Fernando Guerra

This newly completed home has been designed by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos to descend gradually down a grassy hillside in Alicante, Spain. Casa Sabater’s origins lie in its thoughtful integration with the environment. Departing from the conventional, familiar housing typology, the building unfolds with a clear geometry shaped by the landscape. This coupled with the slender proportions of the construction, extends the dwelling’s perimeter, giving rise to a series of terraced courtyards that lend a unique living experience proudly connected with the outdoors.

The home is designed to navigate the hillside and the existing trees on the site, furthering drawing inspiration from terraces seen commonly among rural landscapes. This logic thus takes shape as an aggregated system ready for potential expansion based on the occupant’s needs.

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STUDIO COCHI ARCHITECTS’ HOUSE IN NISHIZAKI STANDS AS A WINDOWLESS CONCRETE BLOCK

image © Studio Cochi Architects

Designed for a couple and a child, House in Nishizaki by Studio Cochi Architects sits as a concrete monilith in a newly developed residential area in the southern part of Okinawa‘s main island, which was reclaimed by landfill. The site is surrounded by a mix of commercial, residential, and industrial facilities, requiring the architects to find a balance between the chaotic landscape with Okinawa’s natural charm while addressing noise, dense housing, and the constant threat of typhoons to create a comfortable indoor environment. 

With that in mind, the client requested a home that acts as a visual buffer from the surrounding area yet brings in as much daylight and wind as possible. Studio Cochi Architects translates these wishes by crafting a rectangular concrete building that matches the shape of the site.

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LIJO RENY FRONTS THE STOIC WALL RESIDENCE WITH FLUTED TERRACOTTA BLOCKS IN KERALA

The Stoic Wall Residence in Kadirur, Kerala, was built by LIJO RENY architects for a hot, humid climate with heavy monsoon rains. The dwelling with terracotta blocks hosts courtyards, landscaped areas, and biophilic design elements that connect the house to its surroundings, imbuing its occupants with a holistic sense of wellbeing.

The extensive footprint, exceeding 680 square meters, carefully accommodates the site’s irregular contours, existing trees of varying sizes, a subtle northeastern slope, and accessibility from two main roads. This intricate interplay of natural and physical elements, along with considerations like solar path and seasonal wind patterns, eventually informed the precise positioning of the house.

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‘NEST HOUSE’ FLOATS IN VIETNAM WITH BREEZY, MINIMALIST DESIGN BY ARCHITECT HO KHUE

image © Trieu Chien

Hòa Khánh Nam, Vietnam, is now home to the recently completed Nest House, a project by architect Ho Khue that embodies the dreams of a young couple. This new residence is designed to suit the clients’ professional aspirations while serving as a welcoming, plant-filled retreat for their children to grow in the city.

The project stemmed from the needs of the young clients, a journalist and a teacher, who had outgrown their existing one-story home and sought a more inspiring space that would fuel their creativity and productivity. The artistic husband, who shared his passion for music with the architect, particularly resonated with a heartwarming moment, a piano duet with his daughter. This scene sparked the concept of a ‘bird’s nest,’ a warm environment where the family could grow and pursue their passions, and so the concept of a welcoming ‘grove’ emerged.

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MONOLITHIC ‘HUMO HOUSE’ RISES IN RURAL CHILE WITH FOLDING ARCHITECTURE BY IVÁN BRAVO

image © Marcos Zegers

Humo House completed by Iván Bravo in collaboration with associate architect Martín Rojas and Juan Oyarzún, is located in the rural landscape of Futrono, Chile. The inspiration for this unique residence comes from the verses of Pablo Neruda’s Crepusculario: ‘That nothing binds us / that nothing unites us.’ These lines resonate deeply with the couple for whom the house was built, who despite having a stable relationship, had always lived in separate but nearby apartments in Santiago, Chile.

The house’s exterior and interior are unified by the use of rough wooden slats, creating a cohesive spatial sequence. The pronounced roofs enhance this unity, leading from a spacious living room to the bedrooms. These rooms are symmetrically positioned at the end of a hallway, allowing the inhabitants to enjoy both independence and the feeling of jointly forming their residence.

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CURVILINEAR SOLAR ROOFS OUTLINE POSITIVE ENERGY HOUSE IN COASTAL SHENZHEN

Sited in the Longgang District of Shenzhen, the Positive Energy House is inspired by nature’s resilience and rejuvenation. People’s Architecture Office took on the project back in 2021, transforming an existing dwelling into a net-positive energy building, powered by layers of solar roofs. This new renovation renovation involved adding two additional layers to the existing structure, enveloping it with a well-sealed and insulated skin for better energy efficiency. This new layer creates an interstitial atrium space on the south side of the Positive Energy House, beyond the original building but within the insulated shell. Enclosed with a triple-glazed glass facade, the atrium incorporates operable windows and doors for passive ventilation during mild weather.

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see designboom’s TOP 10 stories archive:

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