Underground • 2017 • episode "S1E4" • The World's Most Extraordinary Homes

Category: Design

Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin explore unusual homes built underground. In Greece, they view a house hidden beneath the landscape that still boasts stunning sea views. In the Swiss Alps, they visit a house made so invisible it has to be accessed via a tunnel. Next it's over to New Zealand's South Island to a house built underground to soften its impact on the landscape as well as withstand the threat of earthquakes, before the pair inspects a Dutch house created by deep excavation, which features a huge, light-filled open-plan living space.

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The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2017 - 2019 • 12 episodes •

Mountain

They begin in California, viewing a property built from the wings and tail fins of a Boeing 747. In Arizona, the pair stay in a modern house with an innovative take on an ancient technique of absorbing the heat during the day and releasing it at night. In New Zealand, Caroline and Piers view a house camouflaged using cedar cladding, while their last stop takes them to a hexagonal alpine chalet with a steel chimney core that anchors it to the mountain.

2017 • Design

Forest

Architect Piers Taylor and actress Caroline Quentin explore unusual homes built in or near areas of forest. After trips to properties near Madrid and the Catskill Mountains in New York State, they arrive in Piha, New Zealand, to a house built within an indigenous forest of pohutukawa trees. Navigating very strict environmental laws, this wooden-cladded and glass-roofed property mimics the branches of the surrounding trees, while its huge sliding glass walls open up to allow the surrounding forest to become an intrinsic part of the house itself.

2017 • Design

Coast

Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin visit an island in Norway, spending two days in a house built on a footprint of just 100 square metres. In Spain, the pair head to a home built into a steep cliff face overlooking the Mediterranean, featuring a cantilevered terrace offering maximum sea views and a swimming pool as well as an unusual tiled roof. After viewing a house in New Zealand crafted from two separate wooden cladded structures, the duo explore a home in Canada inspired by two ships in dry dock, designed to peer over the coast, allowing the sea to pass underneath.

2017 • Design

Underground

Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin explore unusual homes built underground. In Greece, they view a house hidden beneath the landscape that still boasts stunning sea views. In the Swiss Alps, they visit a house made so invisible it has to be accessed via a tunnel. Next it's over to New Zealand's South Island to a house built underground to soften its impact on the landscape as well as withstand the threat of earthquakes, before the pair inspects a Dutch house created by deep excavation, which features a huge, light-filled open-plan living space.

2017 • Design

USA

Piers and Caroline end their tour in Florida with a waterfront wonder, a modest pavilion, a modernist showpiece and a high-end home built on stilts

2018 • Design

Portugal

Caroline and Piers start the season in Portugal, where a fully automated home, a serpentine design, an X-shaped stunner and a woodland property await

2018 • Design

Switzerland

In Switzerland, Piers and Caroline tour a modern chalet, a concrete retreat, an S-shaped home and a house built for it's owner's classic cars

2018 • Design

Japan

Caroline and Piers visit Japan to see a V-shaped home, an eccentric gathering place, a Zen-like escape, and a glass and concrete marvel

2018 • Design

Spain

In Spain, Caroline and Piers see a farmhouse made of steel, a home with a floating pool, a circular sanctuary and a shared dwelling for three sisters.

2019 • Design

India

A tour of India includes an airy fortress, a fluid home with origami-like roofs, a new take on a tea plantation house and a lovely "patchwork" property.

2019 • Design

Norway

Piers and Caroline travel to Norway to see a charming family cottage, a summer house built around a rock, a daring concrete home and a rugged retreat.

2019 • Design

Israel

Israel serves up a palatial family estate, a pastoral property that filters the elements, a house built on a cliff and a home with three gardens.

2019 • Design

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Portugal

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S2E2 • The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2018 • Design

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2018 • Design

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S2E5 • The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2019 • Design

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S2E6 • The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2019 • Design

The Origami Revolution

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The centuries-old tradition of folding two-dimensional paper into three-dimensional shapes is inspiring a scientific revolution. The rules of folding are at the heart of many natural phenomena, from how leaves blossom to how beetles fly. But now, engineers and designers are applying its principles to reshape the world around us—and even within us, designing new drugs, micro-robots, and future space missions. With this burgeoning field of origami-inspired-design, the question is: can the mathematics of origami be boiled down to one elegant algorithm—a fail-proof guidebook to make any object out of a flat surface, just by folding? And if so, what would that mean for the future of design? Explore the high-tech future of this age-old art as NOVA unfolds “The Origami Revolution.”

NOVA PBS • 2017 • Design