Homes

Houses worth studying

Famous houses to learn from, a few room moods and a check you can run in any home. This is design guidance only, with no listings and no valuations.

Five houses

Drawn as simple elevations.

Villa Rotonda

Vicenza, Italy · Andrea Palladio, begun c. 1566

A square villa with a columned portico on each of its four sides and a central dome. Every room looks out onto a view.

Fallingwater

Pennsylvania, USA · Frank Lloyd Wright, 1935 to 1937

Built over a waterfall for the Kaufmann family, with concrete terraces that reach out like branches and local stone that matches the rock below.

Farnsworth House

Illinois, USA · Mies van der Rohe, 1945 to 1951

A glass box lifted on steel columns above a flood plain. One room, eight columns, and the landscape as wallpaper.

Casa Luis Barragán

Mexico City · 1948

The architect’s own home, built from planes of pink and ochre, with windows set to cut shafts of light. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

E-1027

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France · Eileen Gray with Jean Badovici, 1926 to 1929

A white seaside villa planned around how a person moves through it, with fold-away furniture and sliding screens.

Room moods

Pick a mood to see its palette, materials and light.

Palette

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Mediterranean

Materials: Lime plaster, terracotta tile, blue ceramic and olive wood.

LightWarm midday sun and deep shade from a loggia.

The walk-through check

Tick what is true of a home you are visiting or imagining.

The entrance gives you a pause before the main view opens.Ceilings feel generous in the rooms where you linger.Windows frame something worth looking at.One material repeats inside and outside.You can cross the house without cutting through the best seat.Natural light reaches the kitchen or the table.Storage is built in, so surfaces can stay clear.There is a place outdoors that feels like a room.

0 of 8. A blank canvas. Start with light and one good chair.