Art & Home | Imagination to Innovation

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Erik Weinbrecht

The latest volume of Art & Home is here! This month, Iyna Bort Caruso takes us to the forefront of design and innovation.

There are architects who design homes. And then there are visionaries who rethink the very definition of what a home is and how it should be experienced. 

$6,700,000 USD | Park City, Utah | Summit Sotheby’s International Realty

In certain circles, innovative architecture is a boundary-pushing test of one-upmanship. Architects are juxtaposing styles and exaggerating silhouettes to create what seems like newly invented forms. They’re embracing the element of surprise and a hint of playfulness. 

$5,995,000 USD | Austin, Texas | Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty

To be successful, however, innovative design has to do more than break with the past. It has to be functional. It is the architect’s responsibility to create designs that better the lives of the people who inhabit the home, says Dan Brunn, a Los Angeles, California-based architect whose residences have incorporated pivoting walls to display (or conceal) artwork and zig zag-shaped balconies. Bringing shapes and spaces together, capturing volume and light, framing views and choreographing floor plans so that “forms comes alive” are the attributes of great architecture, Brunn says.   

3.500.000 € EUR | Saxony, Germany | Berlin Sotheby’s International Realty

In areas like Scottsdale, Arizona, some luxury home buyers are shifting away from traditional Tuscan and Southwest Territorial styles. They’re opting for statement-making properties with striking contemporary lines that “contrast with our Sonoran Desert, yet balance with its natural setting in terms of aesthetics,” says Deems Dickinson, president and principal broker of Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty in Scottsdale. A custom home located on the 17th fairway of the prestigious Mirabel Golf Club community, for instance, is a remarkable example of modern architecture that stands out in the openness of the desert surroundings. The home features an indoor atrium with a bamboo garden, a floating staircase and windows that extend from the floor to ceiling and beyond, becoming full-length skylights. 

$4,490,000 USD | Scottsdale, Arizona | Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty

Architecture that challenges conventions has the power to turn heads. But architecture that’s fueled by transformational design has the power to turn homes into instant landmarks.

$3,275,000 USD | Orange Beach, Alabama | Kaiser Sotheby’s International Realty

See homes from around the world in previous editions of Art & Home