Let’s Look at Seashell-Shaped Houses!

There was a bit of bad news on both Poldark and The Walking Dead last night (no spoilers, I promise), so I’m feeling a bit gutted today. Add in Pete Burns sad death, a lingering cold, and a weird ka-thunking in my car, and it’s a wonder I make out through the day. Sometime pictures of puppies in pajamas cheer me up. Sometimes it’s General Hospital star Ryan Paevy in his underwear that does the trick.

Today, though, the only thing that’s going to keep me going are these seashell-shaped houses.

Check them out below, and wallow in your wildest “running away from it all and moving into a seashell” fantasies.

Casa Caracol on the Isla Mujeres in Mexico (above) – It’s an AirBNB!

The Shell house is the most original house in Isla Mujeres or maybe in the world. One of the most sensual houses you will ever enjoy. Experience the beauty of the Caribbean Ocean with180 degrees of ocean views. Have your ever imagine living inside a sea shell? Taken a bath under a shell fountain. The pleasure of waking with the ocean’s murmur and the gentle caress of the ocean’s breeze. Dip in your on private pool. Reach with just a few steps amazing cliffs and beaches that appear and disappeared with the tides, where the ocean shares incredible gifts, amazing shells and corals you find along the sea. Awaken to the most incredible sunrises where you need to pinch yourself to make sure you are not still dreaming. A sky full of stars like you have never experience, Moon rises that you have seen only in your dreams.

The Nautalus House in Mexico City (below)

This giant seashell house is located in Mexico City, and was built and designed by Arquitectura Organica’s own Javier Senosiain. The home was built back in 2006, and features a smooth front facade met with a giant wall of colored mosaics, lighting up the living space in a stunning rainbow effect. Inspired by the works of Gaudi and Frank Lloyd Wright (as can be seen by the natural plantings and spiral staircases located throughout the dwelling) the structure houses a young family that includes two children. Whether you think it looks like a giant snail or seashell,the home is definitely quite strange, but it was actually designed to blend in with the natural surroundings in what Senosiain likes to call “Bio-Architecture.”

Via tdrinc:

The Tsui House in Florence Italy (below)

This structure is based upon the world’s most indestructable living creature–the Tardigrade, with its oval plan and parabolic top it utilizes the same structural principles nature employs in creating an astoundingly durable design. Internationally touted as the world’s safest house it features an oval reinforced concrete foundation over a series of large perforated drain pipes that immediately dispel any water built up and heaving from the soil or sudden flood conditions. Water is immediately taken out through a large storm drain. The house is partially buried in the soil about 1.5 meters and the walls are made of recycled styrofoam and cement block called “Rastrablock”. It is impervious to water, fire, termites, has a 40+ R-Value rating and reduces sound by 50 decibels. It is also 10% less expensive then conventional framing construction and much less labor intensive since the blocks are simply glued together, rebar placed inside and concrete poured in. The upper structure is a series of parabolic arches connected by stressed wood sheathing and sprayed with reinforced concrete tied into the recycled block system creating a continuous, unified shell. A series of black flex tubing is placed on the roof to act as passive solar warm air vents. The house has proven itself to be cool in the hot summer months and warm in the cold winter months, all without mechanical air conditioning and heating machinery. A 5 meter diameter south-facing window acts as a light and heat (winter) magnifier to provide light to the central 10 meter high rotunda living area. From this open rotunda light and heat is distributed to the rooms of the house at two levels. Inside, the house contains three ever-deepening levels at the ground floor. The house grows more spacious the deeper one walks into it. The core living area features a suspended spiral ramp with steel cables radiating from the roof skylight. The 220+ square meter house contains a living/conversation area, a recreation room, music/study room, laundry, kitchen and antique display area, three bathrooms, three bedrooms, continuous hallway cabinets, sunken outdoor patio and garden. All but three of the windows in the entire house are openable. All shelves and cabinets are built into the structure of the house and cannot be broken apart in an earthquake. All forms are curvilinear for safety and ease of passing. Every part of the house is interconnected structurally with every other part of the house. The structure disperses stresses and strains that act upon it unilaterally. Manually operated opening and closing “Nostril” windows let in fresh air without letting in insects. Its aerodynamic shape also prevents fire, carried by wind, from adhering to its surface, helping to prevent fire.

Via TrendHunter

Kotaro Ide’s Seashell House Is Nestled in the Forests of Japan (below):

There is no denying the captivating quality of this seashell-inspired home designed by Kotaro Ide. The sculptural quality of this vacation home built in the woods of Karuizawa in the Nagano prefecture of Japan, shies away from the use of the decay-prone wood commonly utilized for villas in this region.

The reinforced concrete elliptical shells were formed together to resemble the shape of a conch shell.

In addition, the flowing shape of the structure is surrounded by ulin wood terraces, which seem to grown from the main buildings. The ergonomic shape and integration of the house with the surrounding forest are testaments to the considerations of man working with nature, while still producing a habitable structure.

The creation of the seashell house was a long time in realization, with eighteen months to plan, and two and a half years to complete the actual building

Via Inhabitat (below):

One of ArchStudia Vega’s clients loves the sea and its exotic inhabitants so much that they asked the Russian firm to build a home that looks like a giant seashell! Each level of the three-story structure represents different levels of the sea – from the ocean bed to the sky above – and receives its natural lighting from an impressive 7-meter-tall stained glass window.

Each of the three levels represents some aspect of the sea. The top level represents sea air while the second level represents the surface of the water.

Located in the Tavatuy community in theSverdlovsk region of Russia, this funky, 228 square meter home really does look like some kind of wild sea creature. Inside, the top level of the home, the main bedroom, represents the air above the sea. The giant stained glass window affords views across the nearby lake, while strategically placed skylights permit additional natural lighting….

Via IfItsHipItsHere

A glimpse inside Thomas Cowen’s Big Sur home (below)

You may have seen this modern concrete and wood structure, with it’s living roof, referred to as the Seashell-Inspired House or The Abalone House. The unusual modern home (it’s really just a small beach house) in Big Sur, California has been recently featured, with few images, on several blogs (trendir, designyoutrust and inthralld for example) and Pinterest, even though it was completed four years ago.

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