gabions get hip

The humble gabion is having its day. Gabions are wire or steel cages filled with rip-rap or other stone. Long an engineering standard as cheap, reliable retaining walls, as of late they've been commonly used to stabilize highway embankments and other industrial landscapes. Suddenly hip, they are popping up in contemporary residential landscapes, and in the hands of designers they are quite lovely. 

entry walls

gabion terraces

Hill House

Check out my Walls Pinterest board for more ideas.
                                                                    

modern beach

The Stinson Beach House by Blasen Landscape Architecture is a lovely example of a contemporary landscape that balances clean, simple lines with softness and warmth. I love the rich materiality of the built features juxtaposed with the soft texture and movement of the grasses. Although this project takes place in the California landscape, this style would transfer quite nicely to coastal Nova Scotia.

outcrops.

Molly's Cabin

 I currently have a bit of an obsession with cabins built on outcrops, as you can see from my Pinterest board Cabin (have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest?). I came across photos of this cabin last night and almost went out of my mind. 

Molly's Cabin

Molly's Cabin, by husband and wife architecture team AGATHOM, is located in Pointe au Baril, an archipelago in Georgian Bay. The 1000 suare foot cabin is a simple, yet rich, reinterpretation of the architectural vernacular found in this area that responds quite beautifully to its context.

Architect Albert Frey's home in Palm Springs

I am curious to know more about the connection details involved in attaching to the bedrock. I still have time before I decide on a piece of land and attempt to build a cabin of my own (perhaps on one of the plentiful outcrops here in NS). Time to research, plan, dream and of course time to clip images of simple, beautiful and inspiring homes.