Tons to love here, though a couple things leave me scratching my head. First, a structural wonder. The “stem” simply do not look strong enough to support their load, though the pods attaching to one another must help with that. Inside, is a beautiful example of revealing the structural elements for both design “honesty” and artistic effect. The “Tree of Life” motif is a very old one, both spiritually and architecturally, having been used as a means to structure space as well as belief systems for millennia. It’s exceedingly well played out here.

Most details are also a WIN. Whether you like the artistic expression or not (and I do!) you have to respect the amount of work that went into inlaying all those stones and mosaic bits in both walls and floors. Check out the whimsical “overflow” and “puddle” of colored stones on the indoor spa tub. Or how about the built in kitchen table? Or the amazing entry hall, with its multi-paned window wall?

But there are a few details I question. I first noticed the tile flooring and wondered whose idea it was to use a highly regimented component in such a free-form place. (The non-uniform slate floor is much better.) Oh well… Then I saw the unfathomable decision to cram out-of-the-box standard window units into naturalistic arched openings. I simply cannot believe that an architect who could dream up and engineer this place would do something like that. And yet a retro-fit that bad by someone else seems like something he’d beg to fix when he came back to build the family room addition. Very strange.

Speaking of the addition, being underground I wonder if it’s accessible by underground tunnels. You know… mushroom rhizomes? Although I’m wondering now if the design concept really was mushrooms; the pods and stems look much more like lily pads, seen from underneath, that is. Not a problem… the lotus family of water lilies is also a hallucinogen. No matter the inspiration, the effect is the same. ;)