Around the world, homeowners who seek solitude have built masterful retreats farther and farther away from metropolitan areas. And in the 21st century, these homes are frequently designed with a modern, minimalist touch, both inside and out. A new book by Ron Broadhurst titled Retreat: The Modern House in Nature (Rizzoli, $55) presents gorgeous images of such houses that will inspire you to leave the city for the wilderness.
Shown: Barbara Bestor’s Toro Canyon House in Santa Barbara County, California “For this getaway on a pristine hilltop site near Montecito, adjacent to national parkland, Bestor’s strategy was one of slow revelation and discovery of first the house and then the spectacular view,” Broadhurst writes. “Inside, a forty-foot-wide horizontal floor-to-ceiling wall of fully retractable windows provides views from the dining room to the dramatic linear swimming pool and the dazzling landscape beyond.”
Herbst Architects’ Under Pohutukawa in Piha, New Zealand
“When architects Lance and Nicola Herbst moved to New Zealand from South Africa, they were immediately fascinated by the local building type known as a bach—a modest beach cottage constructed from timber and corrugated iron,” he writes.
Fougeron Architecture’s Fall House in Big Sur, California
“Fougeron found the most challenging aspect of the project was to maintain a balance between the inevitable transformation of the site to accommodate the house while still respecting, if not quite deferring to, the site,” writes Broadhurst. The solution? “Fougeron made the house cling to the site in a linear structure that conformed to the bluff’s crags and contours.”
Studio MK27’s MM House in Bragança Paulista, Brazil
This modern residence masters indoor-outdoor living. Its grass-covered pitch roof insulates the home and helps to keep it cool year-round.
Fearon Hay Architects’ Island Retreat on Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Set on a hilltop overlooking a bay, this home comprises three freestanding structures surrounding a central courtyard. To protect the home from the strong winds at the site, the buildings sit in an excavated “saddle.”
Olson Kundig Architects’ the Pierre in the San Juan Islands, Washington
“Rather than setting this house at the site’s highest point, Kundig made the bold move of setting the house deep within the rocks that constituted the site’s surface, dynamiting into and excavating the site to create a below-grade plinth into which the house would be nestled,” writes Broadhurst.
The volume is available through Rizzoli.