If I were a Multi-Millionaire...

Shows like Cribs and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous are great shows. Letting the poor and downtrodden scum of the earth designers like me venture into the homes of celebrated personalities like pornstars and gangsta' rappers is not only thoughful, but downright American.

But when I think back through those shows, I seem to remember a lot of "houses". You know what I mean? Sure they were big houses, sure they had big pools, custom crown molding, marble tubs w/TV built in, king size beds for infants, and typically a really stocked fridge. Awesome. But they were Houses, like mine. Probably like yours. Pointy roof, shingles, windows, front door, garage, brick, carpeting or hard wood. Same basic design principal.

I guarantee you right now, if Ol' Rob ever wins the lottery or finally execute my grand jewel heist, my house will be unlike any home as I know it. And why not? If I have the financial opportunity to be imaginative, work with amazing designers and architects, and live uniquely, I say again, why not? I guess I'm a quality over quantity kind of guy.

But, I saw this "Shell" home today and it inspired me. Take a look.






This is what Designboom.com had to say about the home:

"The 'shell house' by architect kotaro ide, is a sculptural shell-like structure which has been built in the woods of karuizawa, located in the nagano prefecture of japan. the house is meant to function as a vacation home, which is able to withstand the humid summers and cold winters of the region. to accomplish this, ide opted not to use the typical wood structure of villas in the area because of their susceptibility to decay easily. instead, he used reinforced concrete to construct two elliptical shell forms which are supposed to represent a conch."

If Johnny Knoxville, Rev. Run, Dion Sanders and Kelly Clarkson want to spend their money on monstrous houses that all look generally the same, that's fine, but for me, I would go in a different direction. Or at least have a vacation home that did. The only problem would be that there wouldn't be enough closet space for all my guns, shoes and mistresses.