Villa Hermina

My new Czech roommate here in Edinburgh told me about this terrible pink house in the countryside of the Czech Republic. As a landscape architect, she can't stand the incongruity of the color with the natural flora and fauna, yet I find it a bit charming, in an obnoxious sort of way I suppose. I can't say that I could stand to live in this house more than a minute or two, but it's an interesting concept nonetheless.

The house was completed in 2009 by HSH Architekti and was built outside Černín, Czech Republic. Rather than digging into the hillside, the slope of the hill is mimicked in the floor plan. The whole design is focused around this interior spiraling ramp, leaving one half of the home with horizontal planes. Part of the inspiration for the unique floor plan came from the client's request for a home movie cinema fit within the compact 59 sq m. A pop-up panel reveals the projector equipment on the downhill wall and hanging basket chairs are positioned uphill for viewing.

Though many of their designs remain conceptual, it is worth 5 minutes to peruse their minimalist approach to modern living. HSH Architekti

Caroline Engel for Danish Teak Classics