a+u 2026:08 Feature: Architects’ Houses 20th-Century and Contemporary Experiments
Content
This issue features architects’ own houses. What do architects consider when designing for themselves, and what do they hope to achieve? What do they seek from their homes today? The feature presents responses from 17 contemporary architects and practices, together with their projects.
The feature begins with an essay by Ken Tadashi Oshima and houses designed by major architects of the 20th century. Oshima describes the architect’s own house as a place to explore and realize an imagined space. Frank Lloyd Wright’s house and studio, Balkrishna Doshi’s passive environmental design, and Alvar Aalto’s Experimental House show different ways of testing architectural ideas that remain relevant today.
One architect notes that designing without a client can be especially difficult. Without requirements, fixed conditions, or a completion date, freedom may become a challenge. Many architects continue to question their ideas while living with spaces that are never fully complete. Their own houses may therefore reflect the architectural concerns of their time.
Essay:
Architects’ Own Houses
Existential Experiments Through Time and Space
Ken Tadashi Oshima
John Pawson
Home Farm
Pezo von Ellrichshausen
LUNA House
Andra Matin
AM Residence
Manuel Aires Mateus
House in Encosta do Castelo
Vincent Van Duysen
Casa M
Wendy Lewin and Glenn Murcutt
Murcutt-Lewin House
christoph ingenhoven architects
Private House
selgascano
Silicon House
Bjarke Ingels
Houseboat Bukken Bruse
WORKac
Riverhouse
Ensamble Studio
Hemeroscopium House
Point Supreme
Petralona House
fala
[067] house and atelier
[143] house around a column
[150] oasis under a building
adamo-faiden
Plaza Mafalda Building
Treinta y Tres Orientales 138 Buildingy
Boonserm Premthada
Back of the House
AMAA
1:1 Study Model
Barozzi Veiga
Private Apartment G47
Private Apartment P19
Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition 2026:
Next generation ICT and its potential for Architecture and Urbanism 154
Judges: Katsuhiko Kawazoe, Jun Aoki, Yukiko Shikata,
Shin-Ichi Fukuoka, Yuji Yoshimura
Umwelt perceptual contexts unpack complex realities