From Desert to Forest: 8 Unbuilt Houses Designed as Contemporary Retreats
Residential architecture remains a dynamic field for exploring unbuilt designs, allowing architects to rethink how homes can adapt to diverse landscapes, climates, and lifestyles. This collection showcases a range of residential projects, from houses to villas and retreats, that prioritize withdrawal, mediation, and everyday inhabitation. Instead of treating homes as static objects, these projects view them as adaptable spatial frameworks that balance exposure, privacy, and connection to their surroundings.
The projects span various locations, including the arid deserts of California and Saudi Arabia, the urban landscapes of Tehran and Nazareth, and the picturesque hillsides of New Zealand. They also extend to the coastal regions of Greece and Portugal. Each proposal offers a unique response to contemporary residential design, ranging from inward-looking courtyard houses and monolithic desert retreats to adaptive reuse and landscape-embedded dwellings shaped by topography and local traditions. Some focus on protection and climatic control, while others experiment with seamless interior-exterior connections, material restraint, and alternative domestic typologies.
Together, these projects provide a glimpse into the evolving nature of unbuilt residential architecture, demonstrating how it can be reimagined as a more intentional and contextually responsive form of living across different environments and cultures.
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About the Author
Nour Fakharany is a renowned architecture critic and researcher, known for their insightful analysis of contemporary architectural trends. They have published extensively on the interplay between architecture, environment, and culture, offering unique perspectives on the future of residential design.
