Homes Built Into Nature

Steppingstone – Helsby Hill, Cheshire, U.K.
This luxury home – aptly named Steppingstone – has been constructed in a sandstone cavern in Cheshire, England. The surrounding system of caves also acts as a nifty temperature regulator inside the unusual house.





Fallingwater – Bear Run Nature Reserve, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
The astonishing Japanese-inspired Fallingwater sits at the top of a 30-foot waterfall in Mill Run, Pennsylvania’s Bear Run Nature Reserve. It was conceived in 1935 by prolific American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, originally for Pittsburgh businessman Edgar Kaufmann Sr. and his family. The ingenious designer even assimilated a natural spring into the creation, letting it trickle into the interior and running it back outside.





Lakeside Retreat – Adirondack Mountains, New York
In a forested enclave among the Adirondack Mountains, this semi-subterranean lake house sits brilliantly disguised under a grassy rooftop at the water’s edge. The undulating layout of the main home and accompanying recreation area is flawlessly woven into the terrain, and that camouflaged roof has the additional benefit of keeping heat in during winter and providing a touch of cool in the summer months. New York’s GLUCK+ was responsible for the design of the home, which was completed in 2010.





Edgeland House – Austin, Texas
traditional Native American pit-house served as the inspiration for the ingeniously crafted Edgeland House in Austin, Texas. International architecture and construction firm Bercy Chen Studio conceived the sustainable home in 2012 for a science-fiction writer. What’s more, the designers used the surrounding earth as a natural thermostat to keep the dwelling at a comfortable temperature throughout the seasons.





Private Residence – Kelowna, Canada
With this design for a private client, Abbotsford-based architect David Tyrell seamlessly created 10,000 square feet of contemporary luxury integrated into a breathtakingly beautiful setting on the edge of Okanagan Lake near Kelowna, Canada. The home was completed in 2011, having taken two years to build – during which time an arborist had to be consulted to ensure that no lasting damage was done to the surrounding woodland.





Rockland Ranch – Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah
In the late 1970s a mammoth sandstone rock in Canyonlands National Park was blown apart to create a new home for Utah’s polygamous community. The uniquely conceived living quarters were subsequently equipped with every modern amenity and have since become home to an estimated 100 devout Mormons.





Earth House Project – Tirana, Albania
In rural Tirana, Albania, the Pristina, Kosovo-based architectural firm Molos Group designed a contemporary family home that is touched by nature from all quarters. What has appropriately been named the “Earth House Project” is built into a gently sloping hillside, with the visible grassy mound providing the unlikely abode with some very unique walls.





Villa Vals – Vals, Switzerland
This Swiss vacation home is concealed within an Alpine incline close to the sleepy town of Vals and is intriguingly accessible via a 72-foot-long tunnel. It’s the product of a four-year team-up between the Amsterdam-based SeARCH and Rotterdam and Zürich’s Christian Müller Architects – who had to be careful not to obstruct any panoramas from the close-by Therme Vals spa – and was completed in 2009.





Dune House – Atlantic Beach, Florida
When Hurricane Dora swept across Florida in 1964, she dumped this sandy hillock on the backyard of architect William Morgan, who saw its creative potential. So it was that in 1975 Morgan cleverly extended his property portfolio by building into the dune to create a stunning seafront duplex – set so that it would not obstruct the view from his neighboring home and intended to be used as a vacation dwelling.