I love the first photo. It reminds me of a friend's apartment, a converted barn. The downstairs housed the bathroom which had the original stone foundation as one wall in the shower. Nooks and crannies held soap, shampoo, etc. They utilized stone stairs just like this. I thought the overall blend of new with old smart and chic. Of course I wanted to live there!

It's a shame that they won't let us build things like that first picture anymore. The only way to achieve that kind of design is to build around an existing element. It has more authenticity as a 'primitive element' that way, sure, but things like that are few and far between.

That fireplace looks like something out of Myst. I like.

@Bryant - That's so true!

I love the contrast of rustic with modern. It's so perfectly captured here.

lunarismoon.blospost.com

I think my appreciation of the juxtaposition of "primitive" and modern most definitely has something to with my innate tendencies. I tend to love old and new, organic and synthetic, traditional and modern, low tech and high tech. Therefore, my decor will most likely reflect these tendencies. I live in a converted warehouse loft that has concrete ceilings. I'll find myself studying something as simple as the meeting of a perfectly straight and finished extruded aluminum roller shade valance against the 100 year old concrete flecked with pieces of visible aggregate. Just yesterday, I was visiting a friend's modern home that is clad in corrugated steel and appreciating how you could look through the bridge that is formed by the stacking of two rectangular parts of the structure at the old Chicago Brick wall of the neighboring building. Sometimes the combination of these elements just happens and sometimes we recreate them.

the fireplace and sliding doors are very extreme! in such a primitive stuff sells in Europe, http://loftdesign.hu/en/

"It's a shame that they won't let us build things like that first picture anymore."

Who says?

While it may be prohibitively expensive for your run-of-the-mill housing, as long as it meets structural and safety requirements it's still a viable choice for new buildings.

Cool. This reminds me of an episode of House Hunters International on HGTV. A couple was looking for a cave house in Spain. It was really charming in a way. A little dark, but not scary since all the walls were whitewashed. The plush side was that the houses stayed consistently cool.

It's cool, but I would literally kill myself on those steps.

As a "physically broken" person who chose to crawl/drag myself up the stairs in my last place on my bad days (so I could be on the second floor in a borderline neighborhood going downhill fast), I would be willing to risk my life to live in C. Speck & Co.'s creation, ie: #1 which I adore ...truly one of the most incredible things in life to find yet another masterful hand/vision out there after all these years of sinking into architecture with a passion. Thanks AptThpy!

I feel, humble opinion: the main issue we face in America is that all the laws crash down on our heads and we are not allowed to live freely in actual ART as we envision it in our hearts and minds: much like many of the homes you see in Tokyo or Mexico with awe-inspiring stairs/no handrails, etc.- we'd never get the permits! (Though having the funds to build at all, I'd consider alterations after the fact. Easy to state this as it is to say I'd cuss like a sailor -on Mars. Just isn't going to happen!)

Barring being rich, powerful or your own savvy architect- "structural and safety requirements" vary wildly as you wander the globe and it's so evident in the buildings as they are created, and I've read many architects comment/complain about the restrictions in the USA.

I don't mean to sound terse overall- it's the end of a very long and hot day after a week of moving & I can't even find a fan- but I do feel as if in America we are over-regulated to death in areas like yard setbacks and harsh against granny flats, while the lack of big regulations I shall skip due to their inherent Political nature. Yet seeing incredible beauty in buildings found in self-descriptive books such as INFILL or Yasuhiro Yamashita's Lucky Drops home in Japan: never happen in America, all our personal/neighborhood tastes aside.

And TKPK: the Cave Homes in Southern Spain? My God, they glow -like living in a cool refuge of a jewel- don't they? Thanks for reminding me of them- lots of beauty pouring into my fevered head tonight!