Perfect Houses

Does your home wake with the sun? Dress for the seasons? Listen to your needs? Virginia Tech students and professors say that their Lumenhaus solar home does all these things, and more. Taking inspiration from Mies van der Rohe'sFarnsworth House, Lumenhaus has moving walls and can grow and shrink to meet a family's needs.

_{Above: Lumenhaus photo by Stefano Paltera/US Dept. of Energy Solar Decathlon}

Neighborhood zoning boards often frown on duplexes, but when budgets are tight, a two-family home makes sense. Readers Terry and Jobi Laybourne from Australia wanted a house large enough to share with their adult son and his family. Here's the plan they drafted._{Above: House design by Terry and Jobi Laybourne. Click the image for a larger view.}

On September 18, 1793, America's first president, George Washington, laid the cornerstone for the Capitol building in Washington DC. Inspired by the Roman Pantheon, plans for the Capitol went through many revisions. The grand domed building we see today wasn't completed until the 1860s, during America's Civil War.

^{Photo of U.S. Capitol Building, ClipArt.com}

Creepy Buildings

 The ennis house by frank Lloid wright


Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Ennis House in Los Angeles, California is one of Hollywood's favorite spooky places. It's where Vincent Price held his creepy dinner party in the 1959 filmHouse on Haunted Hill. The Ennis House also appeared in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and in eerie TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twin Peaks. What makes the Ennis House so spooky? Maybe it's the pre-Columbian look of the textured concrete block. Or, maybe it's the years of weathering that put the the house on the National Trust's "Most Endangered" list. _{Photo: Ennis House © Mary Ann Sullivan, www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/}

kafka's prague   
Prague, the golden city in Czech Republic, has a secret side that is both beautiful and eerie. At the turn of the century, Prague was home to the surrealist author, Franz Kafka. Its convoluted streets and unpredictable architecture are reflected in his bizarre, disturbing stories. _{Photo: Archbishop's Palace at Prague Castle, Czech Republic. © Diane Macdonald/Getty Images}


the amityville horror house

Cream-colored siding and traditional shutters make this Dutch Colonial Revival home appear cheery and comfortable. Don't be fooled. This house has a horrific history that includes grisly murders and claims of paranormal activity. The story became famous in Jay Anson's best-selling novel,The Amityville Horror. _{Photo: Amityville Horror House © Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images}

Design With Color

A well-chosen selection of contrasting trim and accent colors can

 draw attention to architectural details and disguise design flaws

 A poor selection can make a house seem flat and featureless -- 

Or so garish that the color overwhelms the architecture.

_{Photo © Ryan McVay/Getty Images}

Why remodel? Sometimes all you need is a little bit of paint and 

a lot of magic. A community workshop in Vitoria, Spain produced

 this trompe l'oeil mural, turning an ordinary wall into an 

architectural fantasy.

_{Photo: Trompe l'oeil mural in Vitoria, Pais Vasco, Spain produced by}