Rigour and Restraint: Das Glashaus by Sigurd Larsen.

This striking structure in the countryside of Uckermark is a weekend house just north of Berlin. Designed by Sigurd Larsen, the generous weekender for a small family—with plenty of space for guests—offers an unparalleled opportunity to take in the tranquil surroundings from all angles, from the rolling hills to nearby forests and lakes.

Larsen is a Berlin-based Danish architect and furniture designer. The OMA alumni has made a name for himself by combining the aesthetics of high-quality materials with concepts, focusing on functionality in a complex context—and clearly so.

Art Barn by Thomas Randall-Page for his Artist Father.

A free-standing creature known as the winter studio stands on stone hooves – a room within a room is just one of the unsuspecting details in this storage and archival facility...

Das Glashaus a design of rigour and restraint. The house follows a simple floor plan with a curved wall to create privacy from the road. All rooms overlook the open landscape to the west and have access to the large covered terrace. In the bedrooms, beds are positioned along the facade so they can be accessed both from the inside and directly from the terrace. Likewise, the shower can be reached directly from the outside, blurring the lines between inside and outside.

When the long row of glass doors are open, the small bedrooms and shower feel like intimate alcoves spread along the covered terrace. The staircase and the kitchen block are built into solid volumes of concrete bricks that frame the main living space. The curved stone wall is recessed towards East to create a small court for the first rays of morning sun protected from the wind.

The wooden pitched roof, otherwise transparent, forms a greenhouse on the first floor. It contains a large and bright space that functions as a studio for creative work with an unbelievable view and access to daylight regardless of the changing weather. A bed, a working table and in due time a bathtub turn the greenhouse into the epitome of golden hour during Spring and Autumn.

Home for a Craftsman: Avala House in Belgrade by TEN Studio.

Taking cues from Yugoslav modernism, TEN Studio has utilised local material and construction knowledge to design...

Towards west, the entire roof surface is glass so the view over the green valley and sunset can be experienced from inside. The eastern slope of the roof is polycarbonate, creating a spectacular play with light, shadow and changing colours as the sun moves over the house. As Larsen attests—“Every day is a new experience”.

In the warm seasons, interior and exterior spaces grow together through the many openings on the garden facade. The interior of the house appears to merge with the garden defined by the curving wall of the house and the green hedges of the garden. In the winter, the compact insulated one-storey house becomes a cosy and intimate place to withdraw and see the landscape and changing light through the panoramic windows. The greenhouse upstairs offers an extra feature and can be used when the sun has warmed it up, or the wind has cooled it down. Sunrise, sunset, or midday, it feels like the glasshouse never disappoints.

Restaurang ÄNG in Sweden by Norm Architects.

Sitting as a solitary diamond in the fields of Ästad Vingård this partly underground restaurant stands as a modern and refined interpretation of a greenhouse turned inside out...

[Images courtesy of Sigurd Larsen. Photography by Tobias König and Michael Romstöck.]