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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteNew Atlas’s December 25, 2023 selection of notable houses spans a flood-ready bamboo prototype, a 100-home 3D-printed development, a narrow urban residence, and projects that reuse existing buildings or materials. The ten projects are presented in no particular order: this is an editorial showcase, not a scored ranking.
How to read this selection
The projects offer different responses to site, climate, construction method, and reuse. They range from individual houses to a housing development, and from a proposed prototype to completed renovations and conversions. New Atlas’s descriptions and figures below are attributed to its December 25, 2023 feature; they are not a common technical assessment. The article supplies no comparable cost, lifecycle, or measured energy data, so it cannot establish an overall winner.
The 10 houses and housing projects
1. Chic Vid House — STD Design Consultant, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Designed for a constrained urban plot reported by New Atlas as 3.9 m wide and 19.6 m long, this five-storey house uses an operable facade intended to help manage ventilation and sunlight. Its defining challenge is fitting a home vertically into a very narrow site.
2. Floating Bamboo House — H&P Architects, Vietnam
This 36 sq m project is presented as a prototype concept for river-based communities facing climate-related threats, particularly around the Mekong Delta. New Atlas describes bamboo elements, corrugated iron, bamboo screens, and plastic drums beneath the structure to provide flotation. The proposed flexible layout spans two levels; it should be understood as a prototype, not as a completed, occupied home with established facilities.
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3. Green House — Hayhurst and Co., London
New Atlas identifies Green House as the 2023 RIBA House of the Year. Its features include an internal courtyard, sliding polycarbonate roof sheets, sustainably sourced timber, and roof-mounted solar panels. An atrium is intended to support stack ventilation, using the movement of warm air upward as part of the design’s ventilation strategy.
4. Wolf Ranch — BIG, ICON, and Lennar, near Austin, Texas
New Atlas describes Wolf Ranch as a 100-home development built using 3D-printed construction. At the time of its December 2023 article, the first residents had begun arriving that September. The feature reports homes of 1,500–2,100 sq ft, with eight floorplans and three- or four-bedroom layouts. These are the roundup’s reported project details, not independently verified specifications.
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5. Helvetia — Austin Maynard Architects, Melbourne, Australia
Helvetia reworks a residence whose history New Atlas traces to the late 19th century, after it had been divided and reconfigured. The architects retained parts of the existing structure and added an extension, an atrium, garden spaces, and solar panels. The project illustrates renovation as a way to combine retained fabric with new living space.
6. Woven — Giles Miller Studio, Kent, England
Described by New Atlas as Giles Miller Studio’s first residential project, Woven pairs extensive glazing with a trellis-like screen made from recycled thermoplastic polymer. Its structure uses steel and cross-laminated timber. The greenery on the screen was expected to increase over time, rather than being fully established when the project was described.
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7. Transmitter Bunker — Corstorphine & Wright, Dorset, England
This conversion adapts a World War II-era bunker into a vacation home. New Atlas says it was commissioned in early 1941 as part of the Chain Home radar system and reports a 60 sq m interior. The design retains exposed concrete and introduces a large glazed section. The roundup said the property was available to rent when published; that dated statement does not confirm current availability.
8. Casa Annunziata — Specht Architects, Massachusetts, United States
New Atlas describes this extensively glazed, single-storey house as commissioned by owners downsizing from an 18th-century mansion. The feature reports a 9.75-acre site and a 2,000 sq ft interior. The project’s scale and one-level arrangement contrast with the dense urban settings represented elsewhere in the selection.
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9. House Dokka — Snøhetta and engineer Tor Helge Dokka, Norway
This three-bedroom home is described as off-grid, with solar panels, insulation, and locally produced cross-laminated and glue-laminated timber. New Atlas characterizes it as producing more energy than it requires over a period of years. The roundup gives no measurement period, dataset, or methodology for that claim, so it should not be treated as a quantified, independently verified performance result.
10. Hundred Acre Wood — Denizen Works, Scotland
Overlooking Loch Awe, this house took eight years to realize, according to New Atlas. The feature describes exterior cladding made from crushed recycled television screens and an interior organized around a large central hall. Its material choice makes reuse part of the project’s architectural identity.
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What the projects show about residential construction
Different sites call for different design responses
Chic Vid House addresses limited urban width with a five-storey form, while the Floating Bamboo House explores flotation for flood-threatened river communities. Casa Annunziata occupies a reported 9.75-acre site, and Hundred Acre Wood is described in relation to its outlook over Loch Awe. These examples are not directly comparable in scale or setting, but they show how site conditions shape design decisions.
New construction, adaptation, and prototypes are not equivalent
Wolf Ranch is a development of new homes; Helvetia retains portions of an older residence; and the Transmitter Bunker converts a military structure. The Floating Bamboo House, by contrast, is described as a prototype concept. That distinction matters: a proposed response to flooding is not evidence of a completed building’s long-term performance, and a conversion presents different constraints from a new build.
Environmental features need evidence as well as labels
The roundup mentions solar panels at Green House and Helvetia, and describes House Dokka as energy-positive over a period of years. It also notes reused or recycled materials at Woven, the Transmitter Bunker, and Hundred Acre Wood. Those design details may be relevant to environmental goals, but the article does not provide common energy, lifecycle, or material-impact measurements with which to compare the projects.
Source and scope
Project descriptions and dimensions in this article are attributed to Adam Williams’s “Floating, 3D-printed, skinny and green: Top 10 Houses of 2023,” published by New Atlas on December 25, 2023. The figures are reported descriptions from that feature, not a standardized dataset. Award, current occupancy, rental availability, and performance details should be read within the dates and qualifications stated above.
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