Beatriz Colomina
La casa suburbana, espejo y escaparate  The Suburban House, Mirror and Showcase

Mark Robbins
Ecosistemas domésticos  Domestic Ecosystems

Miradas encendidas  Blazing Gazes

Picture Window House, Izu (Japón)  Picture Window House, Izu (Japan)
Shigeru Ban

Casa Kessler, S. Sebastián de los Reyes (España)  Kessler House, S. Sebastián de los Reyes (Spain)
Alberto Morell

Casa Peter, Tegna (Suiza)  Peter House, Tegna (Switzerland)
Francesco & Britta Buzzi

Casa MR, Pomponne (Francia)  MR House, Pomponne (France)
Emmanuelle & David Marin-Trottin

Resonancias urbanas  Urban Echoes

Dirty House, Londres (Reino Unido)  Dirty House, London (United Kingdom)
David Adjaye

Casa Roja, Londres (Reino Unido) Red House, London (United Kingdom)
Tony Fretton

Casa Elipse, Tokio (Japón)  Ellipse House, Tokyo (Japan) 
Endoh & Ikeda

Casa Hu-tong (Japón)  Hu-tong House (Japan)
Waro Kishi

Vientos locales  Local Winds

Casa en la playa, Punta Ixtapa (México)  House by the Beach, Punta Ixtapa (México)
LCM / Fernando Romero

Casa de secano, Fuente Álamo (España) House on a Dry Field, Fuente Álamo (Spain)
Ad hoc

Casa M-Lidia, Montagut (España)  M-Lidia House, Montagut (Spain) 
Aranda, Pigem & Vilalta

Casa Cocoon, Wye River (Australia)  Cocoon House, Wye River (Australia)
Bellemo & Cat

Sabores complejos  Complex Flavors

Casa de vacaciones, Corrubedo (España)  Holiday House, Corrubedo (Spain)
David Chipperfield

Casa Garriga-Poch, Lles de Cerdanya (España)  Garriga-Poch House, Lles de Cerdanya (Spain)
Arturo Frediani

Casa Baete-Doubbel, Gits (Bélgica)  Baete-Doubbel House, Gits (Belgium)
Wim Cuyvers

Casa Lang-Kröll, Gleissenberg (Alemania)  Lang-Kröll House, Gleissenberg (Germany)
Florian Nagler

Texturas próximas  Close Textures

Casa de la península, Victoria (Australia)  Peninsula House, Victoria (Australia)
Sean Godsell

Casa de plástico, Tokio (Japón)  Plastic House, Tokyo (Japan)
Kengo Kuma

Casa y cobertizo, Breezand (Holanda)  House and Barn, Breezand (Holland)
Nat Architects

Casa en el lago, Ermatingen (Suiza) House on the Lake, Ermatingen (Switzerland)
Oliver Schwarz

We like to imagine the house as a warm nest, woven around to protect us like the cocoon shelters the worm, and in which to fearlessly surrender to the pleasures of the senses: locked in with a single toy, or else shut out in a private place cluttered with familiar objects. In this way, we have rehearsed here a haphazard order that brings together our signature houses around the convention of the perceptive organs: the bright light of horizons and lamps, the ear attentive to the noise of traffic or to the ringing of bells, the perfume of moving air, the mixed cold flavors of food, the texture of materials in the dark softness of beds. However, this enumeration of the senses is drained of meaning when we expose it to the elements of repetition and risk, and both the anomy of sprawl and the physical insecurity of the border habitation draws a solitary and soulless landscape, one that is built around the resounding hole of a spiritual void.

Houses with sense and consented devastation: such seems to be the oxymoronic panorama of the present city. We feign living while we are surviving, and our inability to shape the territory is similar to our failure in the conciliation of conflict. Failing in geography and failing in history, the inhabitants of this fragile planet prefer to ignore the cracks that cover its tattered skin while we sink into the narcotic laudanum of the self-absorbed dwelling. But the morbid beauty of the house becomes obscene when it is shielded from the collapse of the world, closing its eyes to violence, turning a deaf ear to offense, refusing to follow the scent of abuse, concealing the persistent taste of pain and escaping the abrasive contact with misery. The designer houses digs out an autistic niche in space and time, an ephemeral and sweet scenario of daily life momentarily suspended: a private oasis in the public desert.