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Built in 1894 by the state of New York for the National Guard, Amsterdam Castle is a 36,000 square foot private residence listed on the National Register of Historic Places New York originally built 100 of these armories, of which nearly 50 are still in use by the National Guard. Other “sister” armories uses include a military museum (Saratoga), art gallery (Manhattan East Side), and a concert hall (Albany). This armory was decommissioned in 1995 and is the only armory converted into a home.

Excerpts from article:http://www.coldwarmissilesilo.com/upstatecastlefront1200.jpg

This magnificent building has 2 suites (featuring King sized beds in each turret) for overnight guests in addition to a 10,000 sq ft gymnasium, a rifle range, a fallout shelter and billiard room. The current owners bought the building in 2005 and embarked on an extensive renovation and redecoration. In addition to returning the building to its lush Victorian decor, the renovation featured environmentally friendly building materials such as low VOC paints and repurposed wood. The castle has Wi-Fi, cable TV and high speed internet, onsite parking for 40 and ample street parking. The gymnasium can hold 1000+ (and 500 seated), making us the largest event and reception facility in the county. The 18” brick walls hold the temperature at a surprisingly ambient level, making it pleasant in summer and heat-effective in winter.

Link with fotos: http://www.upstatecastle.com

Excerpt from original article:

This treehouse by Japanese builder Kobayahsi Takashi was constructed with the express purpose of communicating with outer space. “A sparkling beacon among treetops, it is easy to imagine the dome succeeding at its mission to make contact with alien life,”

…. You can reach the house by a wood ladder and at halfway of your climbing you can stop on a terrace and have a view on the nature.
Link to original article

My comment: There are lots and lots of treehouses online, from very small to very large. Takahashi has built many treehouses. This one is my favorite – high off the ground, small, and elegant!!

Excerpt from the original article:

This conceptual proposal for a weekend beach house would be constructed on a vacant lot sandwiched in-between two existing houses along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu California. Here the houses line up side by side along the road with only a thin sliver of the ocean and beach visible between them.

The facade of the Malibu video beach house facing the highway is covered with thin gas-plasma television screens that create a full-size video interface with the real world. These screens display images and sounds of the real beach that is obscured by the house itself. The beach can be shown in real or recorded time. Day recordings can be played back at night; sunny day recordings can be played on cloudy days; summer days can be shown in winter. Over scaled detailed images of the beach and ocean can be shown as well as digitally altered images.

Link to article with lots of fotos!!

Excerpt from original article:

This amazing residence was built by Maziar Behrooz Architecture for a small family of two and their two big dogs. It’s located in East Hampton, NY, near the local airport and train track. The architects considered this fact and accentuated it in house’s exterior by making it look like an airplane hangar. Such structure does not only look extraordinary, but is also very cost-effective because it doesn?t require too many supporting walls or columns inside of the building. The arc contains just some of the facilities, such as living, dining rooms and the kitchen, whereas the rest of the house is very well integrated to the landscape, housing some of the more intimate areas.

The materials for the house were selected with energy saving in mind, making the power consuption of this house much lower than of the typical house of this size.

Click here to see lots of photos and more info!!

  Excerpt from original article:

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Shark house – Mexico city

Excerpt from original article:
Senosiain’s home, which he shares with his wife, Paloma, and their daughters, looks like an enormous shark set into a hillside-the dorsal fin protruding from the roof eliminates any doubt. The front door is an oval copper panel set hobbit-style in a vine-draped recess in the shark’s side. In the shark’s gaping jaws, the curved window of Senosiain’s upstairs studio overlooks the city. Another studio window, a small porthole, forms the shark’s eye.

The ferro-cement construction was decidedly low-tech. Senosiain first outlined an undulating shape with a skeleton of closely spaced steel bars. He then covered this frame in two layers of chicken wire, one on top of the reinforcing bars, one beneath, and used a hose to spray on 2 inches of cement and water. “During construction, it looked like a skateboard ramp, but after it looked more polished, like an eggshell,” he explains. Once the structure was in place, Senosiain coated above-ground portions of the exterior with polyurethane and UV-resistant elastomeric waterproofing.
link to original article

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