The Most Minimalist House Ever Designed

Do you love minimalism in architecture? Yes? No? Either way, you have to see this outstanding home which architect calls “the most minimalist house ever designed”. Is it really? You will have to decide it for yourself. Take a look and see what makes it so different from other homes.

First, let’s see a few facts about the project. The Glass Pavilion. This is the name of “the most minimalist house ever designed”. Architect behind the project is Los Angeles starchitect Steve Hermann. As you can already guess, the house is built in California, precisely, in Montecito, Santa Barbara, back in 2010. Steve Hermann designed this minimalist house for himself, but somewhere along the way, he suddenly changed his mind and decided to sell it. Can you imagine the price? It was $30 million. Even though house has art gallery with his car collection, cars were not included in the price. Neither was furniture. So, $35 million for the naked “most minimalist house ever designed”? It didn’t went quite well.

House was later offered with $11 million discount, for as “little” as $24 million. And as I can see on the official sale website of Glass Pavilion house, it is sold now. (It’s hard to say no when someone offers you a $11 million discount, right?)

So, let’s take a look at the design of this minimalist house. First thing that I noticed when I saw it (I believe it was 2 years ago) is that is probably inspired by the Philip Johnson‘s famous Glass House. You can’t deny it. Suzanne Perkins described it the best: “The Glass Pavilion is a redefining structure within modernism. It is a benchmark building that sets the bar as to what modernism is and can be. Throughout the last century there has been a few great buildings that defined modernism and inspired a generation to imagine what is possible not only within architecture but as a society as a whole. Mies Van Der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion and Farnsworth house, as well as Philip Johnson’s glass house were these type of defining structures. Now, Steve Hermann’s Glass Pavilion takes the architectural tenants of these greats and catapults these concepts into the new millennium”.

Yes, it is a big deal when you see how valuable is in architectural aspects, but what about “ordinary people”? What would general public say about it? Is it too open? Glass walls? Too much? Probably yes. I believe 95% of people would say they would never live in the minimalist house like this. And this is exactly what makes it so special and different from other homes and why I choose it for Architecture Beast.

So, now I would like to hear what you think about “the most minimalist house ever designed”. Would you live there? Would you feel comfortable with the glass walls? Let me know! Then, if you like what you see or you want more ideas for your own place, you can check out this small minimalist home I published earlier as well.

All photos © Jim Bartsch