T
he idea of blurring indoor and outdoor
spaces has been a recurring theme in
architecture and interiors. Having
the comfort of the indoors while being
immersed in the great outdoors is the
stuff dreams are made of. I mean, who doesn’t want
to have their cake and eat it too?
Perhaps it’s our collective fatigue from the fast
pace of urban living, the saturation of screen
culture, infinite new technologies or a combination
of all three, but we’re definitely seeing a rise in
projects that really push these boundaries. A superb
example comes in the shape of a holiday house in
a forest at the foothills of a mountain in Monterrey,
Mexico. Designed by acclaimed Mexico-city
architect Tatiana Bilbao, Los Terrenos (The Terrain)
appears as a mesmerising illusion made up of threefragmented volumes
based on function.
The living room
pavilion is encased
in mirrored glass
and rendered almost
invisible among the
trees. The second
pavilion incorporates
two bedrooms with
rammed earth walls.
Each room features
a retractable wall that
opens to the outdoors.
The final, yet-to-be-built
pavilion will be the main
bedroom contained in
a timber house on stilts,
with views across the
treetops. Yes, please.
Also in Mexico is Casa
La Quinta by architects
Pérez Palacios and
Alfonso de la Concha
Rojas. This blissful
sanctuary is located
within San Miguel de
Allende’s urban context.
The house is squeezed
into a site surrounded by
walls, so the architects
had to be exceptionally
resourceful in creating
an illusion of openness
and space. The team
designed a home with
no internal boundaries, with all rooms facing three
inner courtyards, flowing outdoors through
generous openings and sliding glass panels.
Closer to home, Austin Maynard Architects has
conceived one of its latest projects, King Bill, as
a love letter to Fitzroy in Melbourne’s inner-city.
The architects were commissioned to design a
family of four’s “forever house” by renovating a
two-storey terrace, an old stable to the rear, and
incorporating an adjacent empty garden site.
Austin Maynard flipped the terrace concept on its
head. The entry was moved to the side, becoming a
corridor that links the old house with the stable and
the new pavilion. “With the entry moved, the original
terrace entry porch is now a garden, and the corridor
is now a bathroom, which brings delight to the owners
as they watch visitors scratch their heads while they
figure out how to find their way inside,” says Maynard.
Although many of us may crave exceptional
architecture to live in, it’s often the un-designed
outdoor spaces that tap into our basic instincts
for being immersed in nature, for spending time
in uncomplicated settings that support and
enhance the concept of ‘togetherness’ — an
essential element of any home. VL
tatianabilbao.com; perezpalacios.mx;
maynardarchitects.comLos Terrenos, a holiday
home in Mexico, blends
seamlessly with the
surrounding forest due to
its mirrored glass façade.Blurring the boundaries between indoors and out goes
next level with these clever takes on form and function.Out of the box
DESIGN
By Dana Tomic Hughes ́
62 vogueliving.com.au
PHOTOGRAPHER: RORY GARDINER/OTTO/RAVEN & SNOWVLife