This House Looks Like the Inside of a Geometry Textbook, and It Kicks Ass

Good to know someone is putting math class to good use

October 7, 2016 9:00 am

Without geometry, life is pointless.

(Everyone get it who’s going to? Great. Moving on.)

Thankfully, there’s the Klein Bottle House in Australia, which has more points than an origami crane, which incidentally, it also kind of resembles.

Designed by the architects McBride Charles Ryan, who we can only guess were mathletes in grade school (either that or tangram whizzes), the home’s form and name are a reference to the mathematical construct of a Klein bottle, a “non-orientable object” whose top, bottom and sides cannot be defined.

We’re not gonna pretend to fully understand that, but we can say that the house serves as a handsome application of how to use math in the real world. And we’re not alone in thinking this sculptural home is a thing of beauty. It’s won the World’s Best House from the World Architecture Festival, and a slew of other accolades from high-profile critics.

The beach-adjacent holiday home revolves around a central courtyard and staircase that connects all levels of the building. Much of its character derives from the facets and angles themselves, and the owners let the left-of-center design shine by keeping the furnishings minimal and relaxed.

Outside, the asymmetrical form is also a response to the uneven landscape of the surrounding area, while the matte black facade lends it a surprising camouflage against the greenery.

From the architect: “The surfaces that mathematicians have developed hold intrigue for architects as they hold a promise of new spatial relationships and configurations. Technology has played an important part in all this, and it is now more possible to efficiently describe more complex shapes and spaces and communicate these to the building.”

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