Tour a Yurt-Inspired Colorado Home, a Mini-Castle and More | WSJ Mansion
TLDRThis video explores a variety of unique, architecturally interesting homes and their residents across the globe. From a mini-castle in England to a spaceship-inspired house in California, viewers go behind the scenes and hear firsthand from homeowners and architects about the inspirations, challenges, and personal touches involved in creating these distinctive spaces that balance livability with striking and modern design.
Takeaways
- 😊 The script describes unique, custom-designed homes and interviews their owners/architects
- 🌳 Many homes are designed to connect with nature by using lots of windows, outdoor spaces, views, and natural materials
- 💡 Homeowners work closely with architects to create very personalized designs catering to their aesthetic tastes, family needs, etc.
- 🏠 Home features aim for open, multifunctional spaces rather than closed-off, single purpose rooms
- ⛺ Several houses take inspiration from other structures like castles, tents, treehouses
- 💰 Building these custom homes requires significant investments of over $1 million in many cases
- 🛠 Homeowners are very hands-on, serving as designers, project managers, contractors during construction
- 🌄 Panoramic views of surroundings (hills, mountains, water bodies) dictate site selection and layouts
- 👪 Accommodating family and friends is a priority reflected in guest rooms, bunk beds, large common areas
- 🎨 Many owners fill their homes with cherished art/artifact collections or pieces with personal significance
Q & A
What architectural styles influenced the design of Carol's home?
-Carol was influenced by Japanese architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright's designs, and mid-century modern style. She ultimately decided on the simplicity and beauty of Tadao Ando's architecture.
What sustainable building materials were used in Carol's home?
-Carol used bamboo flooring from sustainably harvested forests. She also has a geothermal system for heating/cooling and solar panels to provide energy.
What was unique about the design of Kristen's Colorado lake house?
-Kristen's home was designed to integrate indoor and outdoor living. It consists of three connected yurts, which create a welcoming circular layout. There are full outdoor kitchen and living areas.
Why did the owners decide to build Denton Castle?
-Kim and her husband purchased Denton Castle when it was in ruins. They spent over £400,000 restoring it over decades because they wanted to save the historical building and raise their family there.
What was one of the biggest challenges in restoring Barkley Castle?
-One major challenge was removing cement that had been plastered onto the entrance hallway walls. It took months to chisel all of it off by hand in order to restore the original stone walls.
How did the triangular shape of the Megara residence come about?
-Architect Thanos Romano states that the triangular form was conceived as a 'resistance' to the sunlight, bending to meet the sun's east-west passage across the sky.
What sustainable features were incorporated into Bill's Lake Chelan home?
-Bill installed a large solar hot water heating array to heat water instead of using electricity. He also used local basalt rock and materials salvaged from old structures.
What was the inspiration behind the design of Dr. Carol Herxing's home?
-Carol was inspired by her love of the Hudson River, as well as Japanese architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright's organic style. She wanted to challenge herself by building from scratch.
What was unique about the design of David and Sue's North Carolina home?
-Their home utilizes dramatic suspended cantilevered volumes to create the feeling of flying/floating over the surrounding nature.
Why did Sue decide on a 'treehouse' design for her home?
-After Sue's husband passed away, she found healing being up in the trees. She wanted her new home to recreate the feeling of being immersed in nature up in the treetops.
Outlines
😊 Restoring a mini castle in England
This paragraph describes Kim and Jimmy Fernandez's experience restoring a 250-year-old mini castle called Denton Castle in Buckinghamshire, England. They spent over £400,000 to purchase and renovate the ruined castle, with Kim taking on the roles of owner, architect, and designer. The castle has 3 floors with spaces like the kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and 2 bedrooms. Kim tried to preserve original aspects like the brickwork and fireplace while renovating.
👷♂️ Architect builds geometric Greek island home
This paragraph discusses Greek architect Tacos Andrianopoulos designing and building a triangular, minimalist modern home for himself and his wife on a remote 30 acre olive grove property in Greece. The 200 sqm house has 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms and an internal garden. Tacos wanted something simple but elegant inspired by the Doric ancient Greek style.
💡Creative lighting and views in unique island home
This paragraph describes Christe's "dream home" she built overlooking the water on an island in Ketchikan, Alaska. It's designed to feel like a boat hovering over the water. The living room has creative lighting and maximizes the water views. The kitchen features details like her favorite cooking stove range and a rainwater collection system.
👪 Modern art-filled family home after fire
This paragraph discusses David's modern 6,000 sqft, 4-bedroom family home built in California after their previous home burned down. It has a gallery to display their art collection and entertain guests. The long hallways create revealing views, with specially selected art to draw eyes through the home.
🌲 A hillside treehouse haven and oasis
This paragraph describes Sue's hillside "treehouse" home built as a refuge and oasis for her in Great Falls, Virginia after her husband passed away. It was designed by architect Robert to maximize indoor/outdoor living with features like a breezeway entry bridge and a floor-to-ceiling screened porch upstairs.
🎹 Canal-inspired North Carolina living spaces
This paragraph discusses the Behrens' new modern, single-level "agent place" home designed by architect Toby in North Carolina, inspired by canalevered spaces in a museum. It has creative living spaces like a music room with a piano shaped floorplan and floating, elevated outdoor deck spaces.
🚀 A Star Trek inspired modern dream home
This paragraph covers architect Malka Janed's ultra modern 10 million dollar dream home she designed for her family in Los Altos Hills, California. It has 6 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, a dining room shaped like the Star Trek Enterprise, and playful innovations like an automated spice rack and hidden bookshelf stairs.
💰 Artistic NYC townhouse experiments with money
This paragraph discusses artist and landlord Arthur Becker's peculiar townhouse residence and art studio he created in NYC. He produces and displays conceptual money-related art, like origami butterflies or wall collages made from currency. It reveals his fascination with creatively transforming paper money into art.
👁️ The philosophical tear of god house in Greece
This paragraph covers George's philosophically-designed exposed concrete residence built into a hillside in Greece. He describes the curved facade as resisting the sun, with a volume piercing tear representing the tear or all-seeing eye of god gazing out from the angled form.
🏕 High-end modern lakefront Colorado yurt home
This paragraph discusses Kristen's lakefront Colorado home composed of 3 connected yurts, blending high-end comforts with camp-like outdoor living. It has a round main living space, lakeside master bedroom, kids bunk room, and full outdoor kitchen and living areas.
🌳 Tranquil modernist treehouse in New York
This paragraph describes Dr. Carol Herxing’s peaceful, modern 3,000 sq ft geothermal powered home she custom built herself in Garrison, NY overlooking trees and the Hudson River. It has an open living space, spare bedroom spaces, and is designed to be environmentally sustainable.
😎 Mid-century modern Seattle summer camp home
This paragraph covers Bill's 7,700 sq ft mid-century modern vacation home on Lake Cavanaugh designed to function like a summer camp, with six bedrooms sleeping 30 people. It has industrial appliances and reclaimed woods to handle large groups enjoying the home's common spaces and surrounding nature.
🏰 Restoring a historic castle hideaway in Scotland
This paragraph discusses Lady Fern barklay's experience over decades restoring the ruined 19th century Balcklay Castle in Scotland into an historic, hidden home with thick walls and secret nooks. She restored original spaces like the kitchen, great hall, dining room, and library step-by-step over 50 years.
🛖 Bespoke wooden Triangle retreat in California
This paragraph covers architect Robert Swatt's design process creating a minimalist, livable wooden triangle-shaped refuge home custom-tailored to his client Sue's needs overlooking nature. He aimed to create free, liberating spaces by addressing her needs instead of sticking to a particular style.
💔 A healing treehouse haven after spousal loss
This paragraph describes Sue's emotional journey and connection to her unique treehouse home Robert Swatt designed for her healing process after losing her husband. It's filled with touches honoring him and spaces facilitating her grief reading, designed to support moving forward.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Architecture
💡Design
💡Nature
💡Sustainability
💡Minimalism
💡Customization
💡Multifunctional spaces
💡Indoor-outdoor flow
💡Views
💡History
Highlights
The castle was originally built in 1769 by a gentleman that wanted to house his ammonite fil collection.
I try to keep as much as the original building original fabric I could.
The greenhouse was complete when we bought the property. The only thing that was missing was the greenhouse itself.
The style of the house is very minimalistic modern. It's a very much of an open floor plan.
I wanted to test out quite a lot of things in this house that I want to use in our clients homes.
She was very very clear about what she wanted but she never said what style.
The floors are cement that was a priority that I let the Architects no I want cement floors, and I want them heated.
Good architecture is a place where people want to be and they want to have fun and it really improves their mood.
It has all the features the thick walls the shot holes the gun Loops everything you want in a castle is here.
We spent 100,000 purchasing the property, and then more than 300,000 on the renovation.
I feel I have a personal responsibility to the environment. Planet earth has a finite amount of resources.
The whole aspect of the house was that it should be livable. It was designed for our family.
We pay $400,000 for 5 and 1/4 Acres with almost 500 ft of Shoreline.
Often times we have large groups family and it really provides kind of a comfortable space for everybody to get together in and talk.
To me good architecture is not about style it's about addressing the actual needs that you have.
Transcripts
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