Home sweet home… Let’s agree that every single of us always dreams of ideal home. Some of us idealize house that brings back nostalgic memories of wonderful childhood. Some other might wish for a house big enough to live with their big families. While there are also people who just wish for a simple building as their settlement, many architects also come up public and introduce their ideas of luxurious living place.

How people imagine their home is interesting, but not all of them can come to realization. The issue is not only about how to fund it (but mostly, it is). Even those with sackful of cash on their bank accounts are likely to have obstacles to have their ideal house established. The list of obstacles can come from the to-be-house environment such as: climate, road access, topography, even Chinese consider the Feng Shui.

For individuals who live in the big cities for a long damn time, lots of them may have their depressions due to complexity of living among tall building or among millions other people which are strangers to them. Consideration of living away from very densely populated area becomes urges. Always become new destinations of ideal house are the mountains and the oceans environments.

In this sections, let me show you how the game of architecture boast their fangs in designing wonderful, eco-friendly estates suitable for luxurious relaxation a family can get, especially the wealthy ones. The first will be taking us to a mountains area in Poland, and the other to a peaceful area near ocean line in Florida, U.S. No more babbling, let’s view how awesome they are starting from The Edge house, Poland.

The Edge house, Poland

Living in the mountains or highlands shouldn’t be a bad thing. Beautiful view, fresh and clean air, and even Uniformed Service University has conducted a research resulting a conclusion that people who live in the mountains or highlands have low opportunity to have obesity problem. Cool! But the more reason to settle far away from metropolitan once you have this awesome house in Poland: The Edge house.

The Edge house is located in Cracow, Poland. It is a contemporary urban house design in a mountain environment. It is a three storey house and is a suitable house for a family. Let’s talk about size; this baby stands on 9,149 square foot (850 square meters). It owes its narration to a local anomaly which is a slope plot that gives a view of the mountains, such feast for eyes. The house was meant to be modern, but not deprived of connections to traditional forms. It was meant to be a hybrid of traditional building, built-in accordance with law, and of modern, timeless architectural form. There is a rock edge that divides the plot into two levels wherein the lower one provides full privacy to the house owners and the upper one allows one to get a panoramic view. The designers said that, “It is an expression of the seemingly impossible – to build a house on the edge and to connect to plot parts to be able to use its potential to the fullest.” Let’s take a good look!

A roof garden that stretches to the other areas of the house? Yes it is. From this angle you can say the unique of the house exterior design. On the ground where the building was built, very restrictive regulations have to be obliged, which determine aesthetics and parameters of newly built constructions, i.e. minimal roof pitch angle of 37 degrees, obligatory eaves etc., which were both obstacles and inspirations in the phase of creating the concept.. This house is no exception, of course. But it isn’t an ordinary pitch roof. The house design has a cubature that subjects to gravitation; tilting and ‘sliding’ down the slope.

You can see below is the glass railings of the upper level of the house as well as the interesting openings in the roof.

The design of the house looks like an “overturned box” which emphasizes the dramatic nature of its topography. The pitched roof is actually extended to an edge of the cliff but what you can see here is a balcony. You can find the living area in the lower part of the house allowing it connect with the outdoor area. You can relax and watch your kids from inside the house. Nice.

The combination of glass and woods are applied for the walls of the living area just right. Plus, you can also see that there is a skylight that lets natural light into this part of the home. In the interior, you will see an open plan layout. What caught my eye is this inverted conical modern fireplace.

The sloping of the roof is clearly perceived in the interior. It is nice in to the eyes to see perfect balance combination of wood and white. From the exterior, you can see that this part of the house is extended towards the edge. In truth, I am so impressed of this house design. I cannot imagine how the contractors worked on this! Such a challenging project indeed! Aside from the outdoor pool in front of the living area, there is another private pool located indoors.

Soft lines of the white arms of the building from the side of the garage form a closed space of the entrance to the house, from the other side they create swimming-pool space with SPA area, which is opened to the garden. The two parts mentioned before creating the functions of the house join together by means of 18 m long footbridge, overhanging the half-open atrium terrace.

The concept of the building is based on the optimal integration of the living space into the terrain. Therefore, the building becomes multidimensional. External structure of the building together with the interior forms many half-open interiors and openings which enlarge and diversify living space of the house. Second distinctive feature of the building is its front elevation which overhangs 8 meters high scarp. Cantilever overhanging white frame, piercing stony, graphite block, is completed with dynamic, sharp edge.

It is a wonderful design, isn’t it? It required lots of consideration of Mobius Architecture to come up with the design because the needed to follow the building laws in the area like the law that says, “All houses in the location must have pitched roofs with eaves and 37-degree slopes”. You can see the result of this creating a quadric-prism form located in the upper part of the plot. And yes it did have a pitch roof design! I am sure you love how this house was done.

What a great non-avat garde structure to live in! Living in a mountain has its own perks, and the most free perk of all is the scenery. How about another futuristic house at the shore line? Well, let this part of the article answer your wonder.

Acqua Liana, Usa

Frank McKinney, a five time bestselling author and a famous house designer, introduced the world the definition of leisure and luxury with his crown jewel, Acqua Liana (Tahitian and Fijian for “water flower).

When you click on his website, www.frank-mckinney.com, he even designs and builds homes for the world’s wealthiest people and also for the world’s poorest (Haitian Caring House Project). But do not worry, this article only concerns one of his most extravagant creations. The eco-friendly yet luxurious Acqua Liana, a $23 million oceanfront estate, is America’s largest green-certified home and the crown jewel of Mr McKinney’s twenty-five–year career as a self-proclaimed real-estate “artist”.

The house is located in Manalapan, Florida. Beside the fact that Acqua Liana comprises 1.6 acres of LEED-certified luxury, the mansion also a triple “green” certification through the U.S. Green Building Council (LEED Silver), the Florida Green Building Coalition and Energy Star for Homes. It is the first luxurious type house that received the prestigious honor. The massive private dwelling was designed and built according to eight key principles of human and environmental health: location, innovative design, sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, superior indoor air quality, environmentally preferable materials and ease of use/homeowner education. But it was also built with sheer opulence in mind.

So, what makes this house deserves its tipple ‘green’ certification while keeping its luxurious elements? You will understand once you see what this house is featured with (according to www.twistedsifter.com):

Solar panels, insulating characteristics, environmentally conscious lighting and ultra-high efficient appliances that cut electrical consumption by 60%. On certain days the home is energy neutral

A system that collects runoff water from the roof and fills the water garden

Ultra-high efficient air-conditioning and purification systems

An automated “bio-feedback” system that allows the owner to monitor resource consumption in real-time.

Going further, you’ll find efficiencies in air-conditioning and air-purification that create an indoor air quality that’s twice as clean as that of a hospital operating room. See? Even living at shore settlement still can provide your lungs with fresh air as good as that of mountains area. A system collecting water runoff from the roof is used to fill the water garden. Enough reusable water is collected to fill an average-sized swimming pool every twenty days. There’s even an automated biofeedback system that monitors the owner’s resource consumption in real-time.

The house boasts many green features; approximately $120,000 worth of solar panels generates enough electricity to power two average-sized homes. Eco-friendly lighting and ultra-efficient appliances translate into reductions of electrical consumption by nearly sixty percent, such that Acqua Liana is actually energy neutral on certain days. Terrific!

The Tahitian and Fijian word for “water flower,” Acqua Liana’s moniker captures the estate’s “calming and soothing inclusion of many forms of liquid serenity. How “water” is it, if you ask. Well, the house is featured with 24-foot oceanfront sheeting water walls, 10 foot kitchen and dining water wall, large garage with sub-surface windows peering into pool, meandering and swimmable water gardens, lounge and lap pools, reflecting pools, waterfall spa up to 16 persons containable (even with fire feature), and a private lagoon plunge pool. Guess it’s just totally fine to label “The Water Mansion” attribute for all of the facilities.

As if this estate never runs out of eco-friendly features, Acqua Liana’s construction utilized enough reclaimed and renewable wood to save over ten acres of rain forest, and furthermore recycled over 340,000 pounds of trash and debris, more than seventy-five percent of which was diverted from landfills. Energy-efficient and repurposed—you can’t get much greener than that, except maybe for the estate’s driveway, made from golf-course grass. Priced or valued at $23 million, a green home is priceless, nonetheless.

So, which one do you prefer to? Still, you need quite a lot of fortune to live in futuristic settlement, though. But, hey! It is okay to have your perfect imagination of your ideal home. Home sweet home, right? As long as you feel comfortable at where you’re living now, it doesn’t matter. Comfort wins over luxury. Nah, I’m kidding! Luxury brings more comfort to me than the average does. Live your life with something fun!