My wife and I are currently in the market to buy a home here in beautiful Durango, Colorado. Maybe it’s my transitional upbringing, but every time we go and visit a “traditional home”, I think it’s boring. Blame it on time spent in different areas across the U.S., being exposed to different regional architecture and living in different kinds of homes (including tents, teepees, travel trailers and pop-up campers). And maybe it’s her more traditional upbringing having grown up in pretty much one area her whole life and spending much of her childhood in a farmhouse dating back over 100 years, but I think she is just holding her breath through this process and hoping we end up in something “normal”.

So, because I love architecture and crazy home designs, I thought I’d do a little looking around at some houses that I think are pretty much just about awesome. Hey, a guy can dream 🙂

Underground Homes:

Yes, I thought the houses the Hobbits lived in were pretty dang sweet. Some people have taken the hobbit idea of living underground and ran with. Love the idea.

Tree Houses:

On the other side of the spectrum are tree houses. I remember thinking, as a kid, that I would love to live like the Swiss Family Robinson. Every time you had a visitor, they would have to announce themselves with a password and present a small gift of admittance like a pineapple or iced latte before a rope ladder would drop out of the sky and land at their feet. Awesome.

Shipping Container Homes:

I’ve always been a fan of the found materials/industrial look. So when I came across homes built out of shipping containers, I was sold. It’s apparently a building material that we have in serious excess on earth and it makes great sense for a lot of climates. I’ve heard it’s tough to use in a colder climate like Colorado because you lose a lot of interior space when you try to insulate for heating, but I’m sold on the look and idea. Being a huge fan of legos, these things are like a dream come true with their ability to arrange different shipping modules however you want.

Hundertwasser:

One of my favorite artists, Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser was also a pretty visionary architect (in my opinion) and had one of the better names on earth. He had a theory that straight lines didn’t appear naturally and were a constant agitation on the sub-conscience. His artwork and architectural designs certainly displayed his distaste for straight lines which he called “the devil’s tools.” I would definitely live in one of these places although furniture placement may be a challenge if this aesthetic of his was carried over to the floors. How cool would it be to have a picnic on your grass covered, tree shaded roof!