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Homes that used to be something elseThey were converted from churches, water towers and other buildings.
10 weirdly shaped homesWe know about the woman who lived in a shoe. But what about the mushroom?
Yurts so goodStylish and funky, these round houses also may be energy-efficient.
3 bedrooms, 1 art gallery Peek inside the house one family uses for sleeping and selling art.
Amazingly private house of glassThis largely invisible house has hidden chambers for occupant privacy.
10 strangely shaped homesOdd angles and interesting shapes make these houses anything but ordinary.
These homes have curve appealFrom a silo to a tiny rolling house, these round structures stand out.
Incredible, impenetrable homesThese 10 fortress homes often keep the rest of the world out.
10 peculiarly colorful homesWith bold palettes and materials, these houses brighten the neighborhood.
© Abaton
© Hunters Estate Agents Ilkley West Yorkshire UK
© Realestate.com.au
© Amit Geron
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Well I GIVE UP! The rich are taking everything they can and no one seems to question how they are doing it. I KNOW! Do you want to see how they are getting a ton of cash for their stock budgets? Google the term "FAST STOCK BUDGET" and go to the first site or right to the site with the same name. They have a penny stock page that shows what the rich don't want you to see. If you are tired of being poor and want in on the action, then this is a must see. Be prepared to see how the other half lives.
went to the website and i found out allot of cool stuff and as for a 14 year old boy im going to tell my perants to get involved on these huge
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
By Colleen Kane of CNBC
Unique converted homes 2012
Great satisfaction can be taken in starting out with something humble and transforming it into something mighty. Architects especially may enjoy this act of transformation. Last year's Unique Converted Homes slide show on CNBC.com showcased 10 such architectural rags-to-riches stories.
Now, we take a look at 10 more amazing examples of "adaptive reuse." For this go-round, we have an apartment with a view that was integrated into an ancient structure and a masterful factory conversion that became the architect's residence and company offices. This collection also shows homes made out of a former school and former shelters for emergency vehicles. The global locations range from a tiny island off Scotland to a rural Spanish hillside to the Mediterranean coast of Tel Aviv, Israel.
Many have modern styles, but it's clear the designers have a reverence for the structure that came before. One architect who revamped a building in the following collection, Pitsou Kedem, wrote of his work, "The project succeeds in both honoring and preserving the historical and almost romantic values of the structure whilst creating a contemporary project, modern and suited to its period." The same could be said about nearly all of the following unique converted homes.
- Bing Cube: View more photos of converted homes
- On our blog, 'Listed': Trying to save R. Buckminster Fuller's dome home
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Stables
Location: Caceres, Spain
Architect: Abaton
This former abandoned cow stable is in Caceres, a province in western Spain where settlements date from ancient times. The cow-raising methods aren't much different today due to the hilly landscape, where it's not possible to use modern farm equipment.
The home belongs to Abaton partners Carlos Alonso and his sister Camino, who created this new version of the building as a country house for their family. So guests won't feel as if they're sleeping in a stable, bedrooms feature cutout doors to the outside. For los niños, there's a bunk room with a kids' bathroom, which has troughlike sinks at two heights.
Because of the remote location, the architects designed this house to be off the grid. A solar-panel system helps with energy during the summer, and the southern-facing position enables it to be passively heated by sunlight. In the winter, the home is powered by turbines using the property's two streams. The filtered stream water is even used for bathing and drinking. Collected water in the courtyard helps to cool the house in summer. The sun reflects from the outdoor pool onto the walls. The resulting house blends with the landscape and uses the natural resources and is simple and modern inside.
For further proof that a home doesn't need two of each top-of-the-line kitchen appliance to ensure happiness, watch the video tour. You may never see anyone more pleased with a house.
- MSN Living: Inside singer Neko Case's Vermont home
- Video: 'Magic mushroom' house
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Parksite ambulance garage
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Architect: Doepel Strijkers
This 2,800-square-foot living space was converted in 2008 from an ambulance garage. The Doepel Strijkers team transformed what was a flat space into a multilevel habitation by creating a dugout in the center.
That dugout also created room for a second level. The bedrooms are suspended over the sunken kitchen area in a polycarbonate "light box" with integrated LED lights. The kitchen has custom cupboards. Chunks on the stairs to the living room act as seating or tables. A new glass wall looks out to the greenery of a park.
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Tulane barn
Location: Montgomery Township, N.J.
Architect: John Hutchison
This former barn near Princeton was built in the first half of the 19th century by Louis Tulane and his son Paul. Tulane University in Louisiana took the family's name after an endowment from Paul. Conversion of the barn to a house began in 2009 and was completed in 2011, and it just sold to new owners in February.
The award-winning finished product has five bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths in about 5,000 square feet of space. The massive floor trusses that once formed the hayloft were retained. The house has built-ins that look like leftovers from whatever old farmhouse once matched the barn, a soaking tub reminiscent of a rain-catching water basin and a walk-in closet so tall that it has its own hayloft for off-season clothes, accessed by a rolling ladder.
Details like that are intentional. "Our underlying strategy was to create an interesting dialogue between the historic structure and new interventions," architect John Hutchison says.
And while many nods to the building's original use remain, it is designed so residents don't feel as if they're living in a barn. Hutchison designed five primary living spaces that are thermally isolated from each other to keep energy costs down. With the thermal isolation and the three-story main room bringing light and passive warmth to other parts of the home, energy costs were reduced by more than half.
- MSN Living: 6 designer tips for a cozy home
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Cement factory
Location: Sant Just Desvern, Spain
Architect: Ricardo Bofill
This incredible industrial conversion was once a partially ruined, turn-of-the-century cement factory, which architect Ricardo Bofill discovered near Barcelona in 1973. He saw the potential in its 30 silos, underground galleries and spacious engine rooms.
By 1975, he transformed the complex into his residence and his firm's main office. Now with eight silos left, it includes a modeling laboratory, archives, a library, a projection room and an event space dubbed The Cathedral. In the intervening decades, the planted foliage has taken hold and added lush beauty to the Gothic-gone-post-industrial effect.
- Bing Cube: View more photos of converted homes
- On our blog, 'Listed': Trying to save R. Buckminster Fuller's dome home
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Water-pumping station
Location: West Yorkshire, England
Architect: N/A
This home, on Ilkley Moor, is a former water-pumping station from 1848. In its new incarnation, it has open-plan living space, three bedrooms, two baths fitted with Italian marble, and a solid oak staircase. It is for sale for a little more than $1 million.
With a relatively unchanged stone-block exterior, the building cuts a low profile that's fit for a secret agent, with the technology to match. The pump house features a hydraulic garage lift system — perhaps to bring lots of groceries upstairs to the kitchen's four ovens — a theater downstairs, electric gates and an infrared security system.
- Video: Top 10 weird houses
- MSN Living: 6 designer tips for a cozy home
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Schoolhouse
Location: Morrison, Colo.
Architect: Faleide Architects
The sandstone exterior of this former schoolhouse near Denver has been left much the same as when it was new in 1875. However, the bell tower is gone, and it now has a contemporary deck and an addition with a spacious glass-walled kitchen and a breakfast bar.
The American Institute of Architects Colorado bestowed its approval when the home won a merit award in 2006.
- MSN Living: Inside singer Neko Case's Vermont home
- Video: 'Magic mushroom' house
- On our blog, 'Listed': House by Crate and Barrel?
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Shipping containers
Location: San Andres, Mexico
Designer: Gabriel Caram Esper
Many shipping containers are being put into new service as homes, and with good reason. They might not be conventionally pretty, but they're sturdy and they're cheap: One blogger put the average cost at $1,500 to $3,000 each.
Container City, pictured here, is one such adaptation. At approximately 50,000 square feet, it's a center of restaurants, bars, shops and galleries as well as apartments made from shipping containers. All the construction, remodeling and maintenance are done by local carpenters, blacksmiths, glaziers, service personnel and gardeners.
- Bing Cube: View more photos of converted homes
- On our blog, 'Listed': Trying to save R. Buckminster Fuller's dome home
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Fire-station stable
Location: Richmond, Australia
Architect: N/A
This former fire-station stable in Richmond, a Melbourne suburb, has been converted from something humble and utilitarian to a luxury residence, complete with three bedrooms, three baths and a two-car garage.
Fancier features include abundant skylights, a Miele kitchen, a rooftop deck, a courtyard and a gym. It is on the market for an undisclosed price.
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
Jaffa apartment
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Architect: Pitsou Kedem
This antique structure with walls of sand, clay and stone was always a home, but it was a more primitive style before. The exact age is unknown, but architect Pitsou Kedem says it is hundreds of years old.
A large part of Kedem's task was restoring the structure to its original beauty, after years of neglect and additions. The space, which overlooks the Mediterranean, is now a tranquil apartment of approximately 1,077 square feet that marries modern minimalism with the traditional structure.
- MSN Living: Inside singer Neko Case's Vermont home
- Video: 'Magic mushroom' house
- On our blog, 'Listed': House by Crate and Barrel?
10 unique structures transformed into astonishing homes
The White House
Location: Isle of Coll, Scotland
Architect: WT Architecture
This White House predates the better-known one in Washington, D.C. Located on the tiny Isle of Coll, off the west coast of Scotland, this new home is built using the ruins of the White House described in travel narratives of 18th-century writers James Boswell and Samuel Johnson.
The new house was completed in 2010. The original structure sports a prominent, distinctive crack that makes quite a dramatic sight at night when it's illuminated from inside.
