‘Moiré’ – referring to a kind of shimmering or rippling visual effect produced by the superposition of two similar patterns – is a technique that has been used in art and design for centuries. In this project, visitors might notice a similar effect produced by the criss-cross of metal mesh in the central stair's railing, which led to the apartment’s name.

Tour Moiré, a Brasília apartment with drama at its heart

The 294 sq m urban apartment was designed to be the main residence in town for a doctor and a lawyer, and their small dog. ‘We sought to enhance the existing space while meeting the specific demands of the clients, who wanted a guest kitchen integrated into the living room, but also a more private kitchen for everyday use,’ explain the architects. ‘Furthermore, the request for three suites, a guest bathroom, a TV room, and an office evidences the concern for creating a functional and integrated space.’

The apartment was designed to accommodate the client's brief, while also leaving the concrete beams and pillars exposed, to infuse a sense of rawness and material honesty into the space. The predominant style is modern and contemporary, with the main staircase (an existing feature, but now with its new metal railing and handrail) at the apartment’s core.

The honeycomb ceiling is a subtle yet intriguing design element. The greys of its metal grid and the surrounding concrete contrast with the warm, darker tones of the staircase and wood. ‘The apartment was based on the desire to create integrated and functional spaces, reflecting the client's needs and preferences. The search for harmony between practicality and sophisticated design was the guiding principle for the firm in conceiving the project,’ say the architects.

Two kitchens were carefully designed to fit their respective purposes: one is more formal, integrated with the living room for entertaining, while the other is fit for daily use. Some spatial swaps were needed as part of the renovation, including moving a powder room. Say the architects: ‘One bathroom was converted into two, and a new powder room was created, which [allowed us to] expand the living room.’

The design's material palette spans from the feature wood panelling in the entertaining area to the dynamic honeycomb ceiling, the sleek metal staircase and the Guatemala marble kitchen countertop.

Each bathroom has a distinct personality – there’s the primary suite, a green suite, and a blue suite. The second-floor balconies connect the main bedroom to an office and a secondary bedroom. The result throughout is a timeless, understated residence that balances bespoke, contemporary living while offering a warm environment for both entertaining and relaxation.

coda.com.br

RIBA House of the Year 2025, RIBA.org

Caochan na Creige by Izat Arundell

The first project to be nominated is a self-build project, built on a remote site in Bay of Harris in the Outer Hebrides by Eilidh Izat and Jack Arundell of Izat Arundell. The duo, partners in work and life, designed and constructed the modest one-bedroom house on a rocky site overlooking the sea to the island of Rùm.

At just 85m2, Caochan na Creige is one of the smallest projects to be nominated for the House of the Year. With a timber structure and local stone cladding, there’s also an exposed concrete ring beam to add additional texture to complement the rocky site. Inside, lime plaster walls and polished concrete floors are paired with Scottish larch ceilings and bespoke beech joinery made by Izat’s furniture maker brother Alastair.

Caochan na Creige (the name means 'little quiet one by the rock') is intensely personal, not just because of the physical labour required to build it but because every nook and cranny has been shaped to cater to the couple’s possessions and artworks, as well as the views across the sea and glen. The constructed process also involved working with many local artisans, helping foster stronger community ties for this small practice.

IzatArundell.com, Izat.Arundell

Hastings House by Hugh Strange Architects

The house, which was also shortlisted for this year RIBA Stirling Prize (losing out to Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann) follows on from earlier domestic projects like the house reconfiguration in Peckham, South London.

In Hastings, however, Hugh Strange and his team were tasked with updating a 19th-century detached house in the heart of the town centre, with a precipitous level change across the site. The main house has been retained and restored, with special focus given to original features like mouldings, stained glass, fretted barge boards and decorative clay tiles. The real shifts in perception come at the rear.

An existing extension was replaced with a series of galvanised steel units that step the multi-terraced rear garden. Each of these news rooms is given large timber sliding doors, while the existing retaining wall is paired with a new concrete slab yet retains the scars of use over the centuries. It’s a series of interventions that enhances the original house without scouring the site of its history, with contemporary materials and details providing a strong contrast to what went before.

HughStrange.com, @HughStrangeArchitects

He remembers how much his grandfather enjoyed his work, and wanted to be like him. Leafing through a monograph, he chanced upon Julius Shulman’s 1960 nocturnal photograph of Pierre Koenig’s Stahl House in the Hollywood Hills, depicting two women in white dresses, seemingly suspended in a capsule of steel and glass, floating above a carpet of lights. For Cano-Lasso, it ignited a dream of living in LA and, years later, he moved there, got his master’s degree at SCI-Arc and settled in the city.

Tour Cano House, a colourful Los Angeles hills dwelling

In 2019, he teamed up with SelgasCano, the Madrid firm co-founded by his aunt Lucia and her husband José Selgas, to construct the Second Home Hollywood co-working space (now operating under different owners as The Preserve). They also purchased a steep site on Mount Washington in north-east LA, and each designed a house for themselves, side by side, similar in construction, but radically different in appearance. SelgasCano indulged its love of colour, cladding the exterior in polychromatic recycled aluminium tubes, an echo of the pavilion it designed for the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2015.

Cano-Lasso’s incarnation is a lightweight, two-storey, post-and-beam structure with a narrow garden. The house cantilevers out from the hillside, with decked terraces at both levels offering views of the Elysian Valley and Hollywood Hills. Glass doors pivot open on both sides to capture the California breezes. ‘The idea behind this house was to create an environment conducive to the lifestyle LA offers: abundant natural light, a connection to nature, enchanting city views and tranquillity,’ says Cano-Lasso. ‘I feel most at home in the garden. It’s a sanctuary, looking out to the city through the living room, yet sheltered from it; surrounded by flowers, birds and the soothing sound of a fountain.’

The first structural engineer that the architect approached insisted the design wouldn’t meet the city’s tough building code. The second made adjustments to secure approval, and a team of skilled workers slotted 42ft-long glulam beams into steel tube columns by hand, tying them back to the fully-exposed concrete retaining wall. Meanwhile, lower-level rooms sport ribbed wood ceilings. Cano-Lasso finds a lyrical rhythm in the repetition of the joists and ribs, recalling Goethe’s definition of architecture as ‘frozen music’.

The floors are made of American red oak, while walls are lined in radiata pine plywood. Cano-Lasso had come to appreciate plywood while living in Rudolph Schindler’s Sachs apartments – it was one of the Austrian-born architect’s favourite materials. To block the intense heat of the westerly afternoon sun, louvred redwood planks on the terraces can be turned and wooden Venetian blinds lowered.

The floorplan, drawn up by SelgasCano, features an open-plan living and dining area, which opens onto the garden, and two bedrooms on the upper level, while a spiral staircase descends to another bedroom, an office and recreational areas on the lower level. Cano-Lasso’s brother, Alejandro, who sometimes works under the name Doctor Cato, created a mural of vibrantly coloured zellige tiles, imported from Morocco, to animate a concrete wall in the garden. The pivoting glass doors were brought from Spain, and ceramic downspouts were repurposed as wall lamps.

The house is sparsely furnished with a series of thoughtfully curated, custom-made pieces. Alejandro created several lamps, as well as some chairs inspired by the work of Wright and Schindler. Andrew Riiska, an artist whom Cano-Lasso met at SCI-Arc, contributed a bench and stool enriched with colourful upholstered blobs. Two massive boulders, found on site, were craned into the house before the windows were installed and double as side tables. At the outset, Cano-Lasso, his wife and brother moved things around to achieve a satisfying composition. ‘We were looking for pieces that were individually appealing and had a relationship with each other, but I didn’t want to lose the sense of open space,’ says Cano-Lasso.

Building this house was no picnic. It took seven years from design to completion, including a three-year shutdown during the pandemic, but it validated the skill of a fledgling architect whose website is full of speculative designs for fanciful hillside houses. Even if these go unrealised, Cano-Lasso has demonstrated that he can master the challenge of a difficult site, creating a home that is down-to-earth yet infused with poetry. It should serve as a springboard to many future commissions.

diegocanolasso.com

selgascano.net

This article appears in the December 2025 Entertaining Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 6 November. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

'For the first time, we found ourselves simultaneously being the clients, the architects, and the contractors,' says Tsergas. 'Balancing all three roles at once was challenging, but also incredibly insightful. It gave us a deeper understanding of every layer of the process.'

Explore Block722's Athens penthouse

The home was the result of an intense and rewarding period of research and exploration by the two founders, who worked with local contractors Thekla Construction on the overall build. This investigation phase was followed by delicate and precise detailing and spatial planning, orchestrating an interior that would 'fit like a glove' to the lifestyle of its inhabitants.

At the same time, the space reflects the studio's ethos and overall approach of 'organic luxury'. This means using natural materials (here, marble, wood, and travertine) and maintaining a strong relationship with the outdoors, emphasising wellness and environmental health. To achieve this, the interiors are highly bespoke, as the architects worked with specialist craftspeople for lots of the fittings, fixtures and furniture, as well as designing a number of the products and built-in elements in-house.

'We don’t regret for a moment the countless hours we spent reflecting on how we live as a family – our needs, our habits, our routines, and our aspirations,' Tsergas explains. 'This type of self-observation proved invaluable, and it’s something we will encourage our clients to engage with more deeply. Understanding who they are inside their home and how they move through their day offers such rich information for the design. The aesthetics and spatial solutions that emerge from this process are inevitably more authentic, personal, and beautiful.'

The penthouse, titled Lumen Residence, was conceived as a duplex, spread across 230 sq m. The first level contains a flowing and carefully composed living area, while bedrooms are located upstairs. On the top level is also an expansive roof terrace, partially planted and partially paved and operating as an outdoor living room for resting and entertaining – as well as sports, as it also contains a half-size basketball pitch and a swimming pool. The Athenian skyline beyond becomes a key part of the experience.

'Designing a home so high above the city gave us a rare opportunity to work with natural light in a completely different way. With almost nothing obstructing our views, we were able to bring abundant daylight into every space – even those oriented northwards – and then soften and filter it through sheer fabrics, wooden jalousies, and the timber grille that channels light into the master bathroom through a skylight,' says Tsergas.

'We also knew from the beginning the type of qualities we wanted for our new home: a sense of seclusion and privacy, and a calm, grounding energy that would contrast with the vibrant pulse of Athens below. Although we didn’t intentionally set out to create a “resort-like” home within the city, that is exactly the atmosphere that emerged. The water element on the rooftop and the extensive planting across both floors contributed significantly to this feeling.

'Ultimately, what thrilled us most was achieving all the qualities you would expect from a single-family home – comfort, openness, connection to nature – but experiencing them in the sky, with a panoramic relationship to the city, the sunset, the stars, Mount Hymettus, and the entire Athenian landscape. That feeling is truly indescribable.'

The pair have been living in their tailor-made home for a few months already, but they say that it feels like they've always been there. Two comments keep coming up when friends and collaborators visit their new home, the couple add: 'This is so you!' and 'It’s clearly a Block722 home – but in a way that feels different and unexpected.' No doubt, the type of feedback that subtly signals a resounding success.

block722.com

Located in Chennevières-sur-Marne, roughly 15km outside the capital, the single-storey property exemplifies the modernist architecture ideal of harmonising the built environment with nature. Set on a 220 sq m footprint, the house sits within a tranquil, green environment, withdrawn from the main road and approached via a private lane. Chennevières-sur-Marne itself offers a leafy escape from the city, close to the banks of the Marne.

Shaped in an L-plan, the house clearly delineates day and night spaces. The living wing consists of a generous living room with an alcove, a kitchen with a pantry, and a bathroom – all opening directly onto terraces and a landscaped garden. A hallway distinguished by built-in storage and its original wooden ceiling leads to the sleeping wing, which includes a master suite with a private bathroom and two further bedrooms, each with its own bath or shower room. This area also features a dressing room and an additional bathroom.

The home is an instructive case study in both the Wogenscky’s style and the modernist movement at large. The movement champions functionality, material honesty and integration with the landscape, and this home checks all the boxes. Materially, the structure blends textured concrete, brick, glass and wood, creating the modernist interplay of geometric rigour and warmth. Here Wogenscky’s personal sensibility shines through, with interior spaces shaped by subtle variations in colour, texture and atmosphere – always anchored by functional intent.

In terms of environmental integration, the property features a green roof terrace and expansive bay windows, its western exposure further amplifying natural light. The layout physically and visually binds the interior to the outdoors, with many of the spaces enjoying direct access to the terrace and garden.

Wogenscky (1916-2004), a long-time collaborator of Le Corbusier and his chief assistant from the post-war years until Le Corbusier’s death (in 1965), played a key role in France’s post-war reconstruction. Wogenscky’s body of work – spanning industrial and administrative complexes, schools, hospitals and transport infrastructure as well as private residences – combined technological innovation with site sensitivity. His career was defined by a quest for harmony between architecture and nature, guided by humanist values and a commitment to social progress.

A modernist architect to the core, Wogenscky carried forward Le Corbusier’s legacy with conviction, and this house stands as a testament to that lineage.

The André Wogenscky home is on the market for €880,000 with Architecture de Collection

Retrofit House is an initiative set in Birmingham's Ladywood and part of a nationwide programme promoting imaginative yet thoroughly accessible redesign solutions to 21st-century architecture problems – climate change's rising temperatures and waters, and declining biodiversity, coupled with the UK's urgent need to update and increase housing stock. Its aim? To invite everyone on board the architectural journey of home-building and future-proofing.

Explore Retrofit House and be inspired

The powerhouses behind Retrofit House are a trio of design, architecture and urban planning practices: Civic Square, Dark Matter Labs and Material Cultures. The project is the real, bricks-and-mortar result of the efforts of Immy Kaur, the founder and co-director of Civic Square, and her project partners, over the better part of a decade. It forms part of the UK-wide collective movement, Retrofit Reimagined.

So, what does it look like? The initiative takes over an entire Victorian terraced house in Ladywood, on a suburban, residential street. Using the building's fabric, the architects from the three organisations proceeded to dissect it, boring holes in walls, removing plaster and revealing the structure's bones, using the house as a showcase of what homes of that era –which are typical not only across Birmingham but throughout the UK – are made of.

At the same time, displays of an array of biomaterials in the home offer options for anyone interested in repairing, adapting and improving their own home using sustainable architecture methods and resources. Biomaterials are known for their kinder impact on the environment (when responsibly sourced), as well as on our health.

'People don't often understand [retrofitting],' says Kaur. 'And, over the last five years, we have had a number of government schemes that have done poor work, eroded trust, wasted money.' As a neighbourhood-based initiative, Civic Square, through Retrofit House, aims to inspire 'an uptake for better quality housing on streets that are cleaner, where communities are at the forefront of that work'.

'But it is really important to unlock all of the capacity that exists in neighbourhoods, and in civil society and all these community organisations that have huge amounts of social capital, to understand their places and make the story of retrofit less about just understanding the deep technical things that you need to do, but more about the fact that we've all got something to bring to this. Because it is about better quality homes that are better for your health, that are cheaper to run, that are better for your children, that create better health outcomes.'

The residence's rooms will be used for workshops – both hands-on labs, and idea discussions and debate panels – aimed at helping the local community, and others beyond, feel confident about the methods and skills needed. This includes not only the homeowners themselves – to whom the project presents agency and choice – but also architects, tradespeople and contractors who wish to enrich their skillset by working with biomaterials, as part of Re:Builders, a six-month learning programme for workers in the built environment.

The result? A boost to ecological and social architecture infrastructure as Retrofit House itself slowly gets retrofitted and used to show how it's done.

'It is important to see this as a space of imagination and possibility, not just for decarbonising, which is super important, but for something far greater, which is the revitalisation of our democracy, of our communities and of our neighbourhoods,' Kaur continues.

'For Civic Square, Retrofit House is connected to a larger plan. What is the infrastructure needed to put communities at the forefront of their climate transition, of their recovery? [We aim to show that] it's not a big, scary thing that they don't understand, but in fact, something that they feel liberated and excited by. And everyone's got something to share, and everyone's got something to learn.'

Retrofit House launched with an Open House week in November 2025 and will remain accessible to all via appointment and through its learning programme, serving as an important beacon for sustainable architecture action. It is one of three Retrofit Reimagined demonstrator projects currently in effect – the others are We Can Make in Bristol and Retrofit Balsall Heath in south Birmingham.

For more information, visit:

civicsquare.cc

darkmatterlabs.org

materialcultures.org

Retrofit Reimagined

Favouring reuse over starting from scratch and working with natural materials - often predominantly wood - Oza Sabbeth Architects (and now, Oza Studio) has been carving its own, distinct niche within architecture and in its part of the world; which is also where its newest project, a bespoke haven for a couple who own a car repair outfit in the Bronx, is located.

Tour this Montauk house on Hither Hills

'The clients of Hither Hill are some of the most genuine and down-to-earth folks we've ever had, and one of our favourite clients ever. They own and operate an auto body paint shop in the Bronx. And they LOVE the house. It is a coming-of-age for them, a celebration of their lives so far... It is their lair,' Oza explains.

The couple approached him with a commission for a holiday home on Hither Hills, a stretch of sand with a long, southerly view of the Atlantic Ocean. Set on elevated ground, the site captures wide Atlantic views at both sunrise and sunset.

Right from the start of the project, Oza spotted an opportunity to bring his approach of radically reimagining existing building fabric for 21st-century needs to good use. He says: 'The clients wanted to tear down the house and start from scratch. There was no ambition to make it grand. The ambition was to make it theirs – more open, more light, yet still humble.'

However, the architect quickly established that the cost to demolish and start from scratch would be twice as much as that of a reuse. Additionally, ironically, by demolishing, 'less would have been possible – both in terms of size and proximity to the side lot lines.'

The tired, existing structure on site felt mundane and uninspiring, yet held lots of potential. Oza and his team reorientated the house to look out towards the water, ensuring there is expansive glazing in nearly every interior space. A new top roof deck and a terrace spilling out from the living spaces accentuate this connection between indoors and outdoors.

'The large ocean-facing deck anchors the home to its site, while the street-facing side is kept more reserved with screened windows that filter sunlight and shield the interiors from exposure,' says Oza. 'The result is a home that balances openness and retreat, transforming a once-static shell into a coastal dwelling that serves as both sanctuary and outlook, as well as refuge and prospect.'

The Montauk house on Hither Hills spans some 3,250 Sq Ft. The top level features the roof deck, which contains a viewing lounge, green roof, a powder room and kitchenette. Just below is the home's piano nobile, featuring the main entrance, and living spaces (sitting, kitchen and dining areas inside and out on the second deck), but also the primary bedroom. A lower level offers space for three guestrooms, a gym, a lounge, a secondary entrance and the garage.

'The design process felt like chiselling out a noisy form to excavate a quiet interior,' Oza explains. 'The constraints were many – structural limits, tight site slope, zoning, and budget. But we found answers by stripping back 'noise': we simplified the plan for better flow, we extended the roof deck to pull the horizon in, we used vertical siding to create rhythm and calm, and we carved in light, shielded privacy made the house breathe.'

Meanwhile, wrapping the structure with a single material - vertical wood planks - produced a visually consistent and bold overall volume. This timber skin goes around all facades and the entire body of the house, creating a gently dramatic, sculptural impression. 'The wood planks extend from the siding to the roof, visually simplifying and connecting the entire shell of the house,' Oza notes.

oza-studio.com

Explore Woodstock House, a new, sustainable Belgian vacation home

The house sits beside a river that often floods, within an isolated valley in the Ardennes in southern Belgium. 'Most people wouldn’t build here but there’s something beautiful about a landscape that’s constantly changing,' says BC Architects’ co-founder Wes Degreef.

He designed the project using the practice’s bioregional architecture philosophy: timber, stone and earth were largely sourced within a 30km radius and the project draws on vernacular building methods. 'In every project, we always take cues from local materials and crafts, while showing that you don’t need concrete to build a house.'

BC Architects demolished the existing stone ruins on the site, giving their components – windows, tiles, furniture and roofing – away to local housebuilders, neighbours and building merchants, but they reused some of the stone, crushing it to form gravel. This was compressed into layers on the schist bedrock, using an ancient building technique, to eliminate the need for concrete slab foundations.

Woodstock House’s three vaulted stone towers are built from a hard Belgian sandstone called Grès du Condroz from a local quarry, using a lime and sand mortar. The towers hold functional spaces (such as bathrooms) and spare bedrooms, which are insulated with hemp. Main living areas and family bedrooms are housed on a diaphanous glazed deck that bisects the towers and appears to float above the river.

'You enter on this level from the road behind, so it’s like you’re boarding a ship,' says Degreef. It is built from untreated larch from a local saw mill, which will change colour over time – the supporting pilotis echoing the trunks of the surrounding trees. Steel feet protect them from rising water levels, and the structure has a roof clad in thin stone slabs, recalling the local vernacular.

BC, which stands for Brussels Corporation, is a highly experimental hybrid organisation including BC Studies (a non-profit educational laboratory) and BC Materials, which transforms excavated earth into building materials. It is pushing for systemic change in the construction industry with what it calls ‘acts of building’ – each project being a prototype for challenging norms, reimagining what is possible with local materials and rethinking the architect’s role.

Past projects include Lot 8 at Luma Arles in France – a collaborative renovation of the Magasin Electrique with Atelier Luma and Assemble Studio, using earth and biomaterials from the local Camargue region – and Usquare Feder in Brussels, which used the city as a quarry.

Woodstock House draws on the hybrid practice’s material expertise: walls of the stone towers, for example, are lined with humidity-controlling rammed earth, made by mixing local clay with crushed waste from the quarry where the stone was sourced. ‘The project has given us added conviction in our bioregional approach,’ says Degreef. But the house – which is warmed by a ground source heat pump and will soon be powered by a water turbine – is more than a sustainability prototype: it's a richly textured, inviting and highly liveable one-off.

The high iron content in the local clay gives the rammed earth walls a warm, terracotta tone, and almost all of the furniture and cabinetry was made for the house from local oak – even the slender pendant lights, which were created by Degreef’s father-in-law. Woodstock House is born from the landscape, while being a finely crafted vessel from which to view the ever-changing surrounding scenery.

bc-asm.org

Tour a minimalist Portuguese house for two musicians

Located in Carnota, in the municipality of Alenquer, Portugal, the house was designed for two DJs, who wanted a simple design, but with a very important musical addition, as practice founder Matteo Arnone explains. ‘The clients’ brief was very simple. They needed two functional spaces: a living room and a bedroom; and two identical recording studios.’ Focusing on this duality, Arnone naturally leaned into a symmetrical approach to his design.

The architecture firm used an existing ruin, an old winery building originally used for storing large barrels, as the foundation for the new home. ‘From the very beginning, the main idea was to create voids that carve into the original volume, introducing internal patios to bring natural light and spatial depth that could embrace the two identical spaces,’ says Arnone.

‘Looking from the inside out, the absence of corners in the patio geometry creates a very calm feeling – almost a sense of infinity. The continuous, curved geometry gently precludes a direct view to vineyards, allowing the landscape to reveal itself gradually, with a harmonious rhythm that soothes the space.’

As a result, the long floor plan is perfectly symmetrical. The main living spaces are located on the ground floor, including a living room/kitchen area and a bedroom. The pair of identical recording studios are on the upper floor, nestled into the curvature of the building.

The integration of thick perimeter walls serves more than a structural purpose. It acts as the backbone for the mirrored layout and brings with it intriguing architectural features, such as the curved staircase and built-in furniture.

A key design element is the patio passageways, which weave through the house. For Arnone, this feature offers a quiet transition between architectural intimacy and nature, and offers a curated trajectory towards the pool. The curved aesthetic adds to the soothing nature of the home.

Says Arnone: ‘​By placing all the main functions within the thickness of the walls, the interior is left pure and open. Visitors experience a sense of calm as they enter – every space feels harmonious, balanced, and free from visual noise.’

matteoarnone.com

In fact, in creating anything from clothing – a custom-fitted white T-shirt – to a strap-on sub-woofer, Stone has brought a fresh perspective to every design he has developed, while going for aesthetics that set his work apart from the current mainstream. His early career was spent overseeing architecture projects in Los Angeles while developing an art practice with gallery and museum exhibits in the US and Europe. Eventually, this journey led him back to architecture, offering a take that feels entirely unique to the field.

Robert Stone's new desert house case study

Stone’s architectural style looks different because he thinks differently about architecture. ‘Like all other architects, I am enamoured with the abstract qualities of form and spatial compositions, but I am also interested in creating new aesthetics from current culture and the meaning that we attach to buildings and materials.’ As he’s not interested in perpetuating a fake past or future, Stone found a vast unexplored realm to make architecture that connects to ‘who we are now.’

After building the highly praised Rosa Muerta house in Joshua Tree – which was the site for a campaign photo shoot by Saint Laurent – Stone’s new home in Palm Springs comprises a main dwelling and a guest house. His inspiration finds its roots in its locale and Southern California culture, from Chicano to modernist. ‘Dreamer / Lil’ Dreamer’ isn't about a client or the architect, but endeavours to address the current ethos of its territory, while creating connections that might resonate with a wider art and design audience.

Examining the sloping roof

Almost like an exaggerated A-Frame, the project's sloped roof with reflective tiles and the abstract stacking of breeze blocks in different sizes showcase how Stone works hard to challenge the norm of what a contemporary Palm Springs house might look like. ‘I want to get them past “Wow, this looks different”, to “this makes me look at things differently”.’

The first noticeable element is that the roof touches the ground, but the floors don't. The house's shape emerged from a new formal concept. ‘It is a modern glass box and a Spanish tract house re-spawned at the same coordinates and digitally edited together,’ he notes. ‘The roof sits on the dirt like a dropped lowrider, while the floors hover above the earth as cantilevered planes.

‘In most homes, nothing happens until you get four feet above a person's head. And I like to do things that engage the body at the ankle, knee, hip, shoulders, and head. So, by bringing the roof down to the ground, it gives it this entirely different relationship to the body and the ground.’

This desert house certainly wakes up the senses, which is one of Stone’s goals, along with reinventing formal and design relationships while creating dynamic spaces. ‘Here, we are doing this by reinvigorating the basic vocabulary of desert architecture,' he says.

Astroturf and breeze blocks

Born and raised in Palm Springs, Stone draws from all elements of this context: architecture from classic modernism to Spanish, abandoned tract houses to golf courses, the desert lifestyle, multi-cultural chic, art, music, design, and fashion aesthetics, all converge to help him produce something that feels ‘relevant here and now.’

‘Palm Springs has an amazing history of iconic houses, but I was always lost by its disconnect with contemporary culture,’ he says. ‘In my past work, I have gravitated toward raw desert areas where I can produce highly cultured architecture that is amplified by its contrast with nature.' While Stone aims to move beyond the borders of modern architecture, he’s not working in opposition to modernism. ‘I just want to make architecture that engages our time. We're alive now. I tell my clients that the audience is not them or me, it's the world.’

To that end, Stone decided to elevate the artificial astroturf lawn – an element that is here reframed as a key building material. ‘It intersects the house, pool, and landscape in ways that a real lawn couldn’t, and it flows into the living room interior to rethink our connection to nature with a candour that fits our time, and I think it's more interesting in those qualities than just a perfect lawn.’

Stone also redefined a cornerstone of Southern California's traditional handcrafted materials and architecture, the Spanish tiled roof. The pottery-made tiles on the Dreamer home glitter with new glazes and four shades of silver that suggest a new kind of ‘California Chicano futurism’.

Stone strives to find a new kind of truth and beauty in his work with everyday items that are not normally celebrated. Case in point, the air-conditioner units that were transformed into gold-coated cube sculptures set on prominent podiums and presented as ‘idealised representations of ubiquitous equipment’ that are usually hidden. These pieces are now put in the spotlight as the ‘jewellery’ of the house, and an ‘honest assertion of our relationship to nature’.

Stone also approaches the quintessential, often mass-produced, modernist breeze block more like an artist’s composition on a canvas or sculpture. The house features perforated walls in various patterns and configurations that express both the beauty and limitations of its machine aesthetics, blending them with handmade craft. ‘Each block placed in the wall is a decision made by a person – arranged to pull the eye along it, create open and dense areas, and to suggest a pictorial reading.’

Mirrored ceilings and Spanish fusion

In the stainless steel and green-coloured kitchen, Stone took inspiration from Japanese Tansu cabinets and Prada handbags. Crocodile-textured leather and custom-made stainless hardware help create a new domestic interior aesthetic.

He is also seeking fresh surface combinations and uses ‘tension between colours to find new and unique beauty’. Copper pink, metallic avocado, shades of silver, purple, and green hues are combined in a way that draws from contemporary fashion references. ‘I went to the Miuccia Prada school of colour,’ he says. ‘I love colours that kind of like work against each other, but then come together beautifully.’

Polished stainless wrought iron at the front of the house turns the ubiquitous indicator of perceived ‘bad neighbourhoods’ in Southern California into an abstract sculptural form of Spanish fusion. ‘What would California be without that stuff? Our culture is 50 per cent Mexican-American,’ he says.

‘There's a little bit of a strategy that runs through a lot of my work. If you can change the proportions of something – and fashion designers do this all the time – you can make something really connect differently and wake up your senses. Lowriders do that by taking a 1963 Impala that is stock height, but if you drop it five inches, everything about it changes, and it becomes kind of sinister.’

Along with ‘refreshing the roof-ground relationship’, Stone’s use of the square mirrored ceiling panels is recurrent in his practice. They blend inside and outside by reflecting the desert flora when you look at the ceiling, while bringing natural daylight into the room.

One element that Stone pointed out about the mirrored ceiling is that not all the panels are perfectly set, so it’s a little bit like a disco ball; when you walk around, everything moves, and the reflections jump a little bit from the panels. It's a bold move. ‘You think it's going to be kind of tacky, but if it's detailed and done right, it can be taken seriously. It feels like what California architecture should be, but it can also be sexy and kind of druggie. That is who we are.’

In the end, Stone wants to make architecture that inspires the audience to attach meaning to it. ‘And, rather than being above or outside of culture, I am right there alongside the audience, questioning and connecting this architecture to the world we live in.’

robertstonedesign.com

The Bangalore-based firm designed the House by the Grove to be a ‘synergy between people, space, and nature’, thanks to its use of open verandas and walkways, with living spaces raised up above the surrounding landscape.

Tour this new Indian country residence

The built-up area extends over 5,400 sq ft, with much of the accommodation contained on the L-shaped ground floor. The core of the living space is housed in the great room at the heart of the house – with soaring ceiling heights and sliding glass partitions on each side allowing the entire space to be opened up to the elements – flanked by long verandas that are covered by the steeply pitched roof.

This room houses the kitchen, dining space and seating area, a linear arrangement sandwiched between a central service core, with store, utility spaces, and the principal bedroom. In contrast to the open living area, this room is more enclosed, with a curved, open air shower area projecting out from the building line, creating a sculptural contrast with the straight concrete walls.

A similar en-suite arrangement is found at the other end of the great hall, across a patio and water feature. From this patio, an external staircase leads up to the second floor. Here, twin walkways flank the void above the great hall, leading to a library and a third en-suite bedroom.

Finally, the accommodation extends out into the surroundings courtesy of another a covered veranda, this time with a smaller pitched roof and completely open sides. This forms the entrance block, distinct from the living block, with the two different roof heights creating a distinctly domestic scale composition. All roofs are clad with traditional ridged red Mangalore tiles.

The house is inserted into a space alongside mature trees and large boulders, with the raised concrete plinth creating a sense of being a part of the landscape. The material palette is simple, with a steel frame holding up the roof above hand-finished cement walls and columns. The latter add a rhythm to the view, framing the lush green surroundings and casting shadows across the interior and verandas. Underfoot, Kota stone flooring in the living areas is paired with Sira stone in the bathrooms.

House by the Grove combines its openness with niches and nooks for privacy and discovery, as well as the contemplative water feature by the entrance. By having bathrooms that are open to the sky, the elements are even brought into the more secluded bedroom spaces.

‘The farmhouse is ultimately a place of balance – between openness and privacy, light and shade, built form and landscape,’ say architects Shalini Chandrashekar and Ar G S Mahaboob Basha. ‘It is a home designed for gatherings and conversations, but equally for solitude and retreat, where architecture and nature seamlessly converge to create a timeless and soulful living experience.’

Chandrashekar and Mahaboob Basha founded Taliesyn in 2010 and have an impressive portfolio of private houses, public spaces and retail projects.

Taliesyn.in

Explore the renovation of a Clerkenwell rooftop in London

The couple were already familiar with the site. They had lived within the building in the past, in a flat on the second floor, but were looking to relocate. They 'long envisioned the rooftop as a potential site,' so 'the setting and conditions were already well known, as were our design requirements,' explains Bell, whose past works include a slick Cajrati Crivelli house in Bel-Air.

While the rooftop home would be an extension to the existing building, the architect wanted to ensure that the addition felt like it had always been there. The site, overlooking the Spa Fields Park across the street, offered openness and greenery. By crafting a design that is set back from the existing structure's façade line, allowed not only for a terrace to wrap around two sides of the property, creating outdoor space for the residents; but it also made sure the upwards build did not feel imposing, altering the feel of the wider neighbourhood.

At the same time, the columns of the new structure were designed to be perfectly aligned with the piers of the original building, to maintain visual continuity. This, as a result creates a grid which is either left open to the elements, to provide a pergola-like external space, or has been filled with glass panels that bring plenty of natural light in and offer views out. The gesture makes for an addition that feels light and airy, despite its comfortable size.

The interior contains a large, open-plan living space that includes a kitchen and dining areas and is wrapped in glazing. The expansive views span south toward the City of London, past the nearby church on Exmouth Market in the west, and through to the Grade II listed BT Tower towards central London. The rear of the apartment contains a generous main bedroom, bathroom and utility spaces.

'I am interested in creating flexible open space that does not compromise on function,' Bell describes the project. 'Although the footprint could have accommodated a permanently partitioned bedroom and/or office, our desire was for an open plan as spacious as possible. To allow for working and to accommodate guests when needed, a stained oak monolith at the east end of the living space serves several functions.'

She continues: 'Doors on one side conceal a work studio; on the other side a hinged desk provides a second workspace. When friends stay, the monolith slides on industrial hardware away from the east glazing, expanding the space sufficiently to fold down a king size bed. Other doors hinge out to close off the ‘guest bedroom’ from the living space. A series of sliding and folding doors on the adjacent wall conceals a guest wardrobe as well as a dedicated storage and layout space for the work studio.'

The pair have furnished their space with products and pieces they have lovingly collected over decades. Interiors include vintage pieces, such as pairs of Westerham and Selsdon chairs designed by the British designer William Plunkett in the 1960s, a pair of early Eames aluminium group lounge chairs, and a coffee table by Poul Kjaerholm.

studiofelicitybell.com

‘If I learned one lesson from this project, it is “Beware of tackling bridges”,’ founder Vinu Daniel says with a laugh. ‘But these challenges are what get me up in the morning.’ Merging bridge and home was also prudent for the client. ‘It saved them money and reserved more land for farming.’

Constraints often give rise to ingenuity and here, they were plentiful. The foundations couldn’t rest within the 100ft width of the spillway; there needed to be enough clearance for a JCB to clean the stream beneath; and Wallmakers wanted to use local materials – following Gandhi’s principle that the ideal house should be built with those from a five mile radius – but the only abundant local option was grass. Added to this, it wished to avoid using a central pillar, which usually holds most of the weight of a bridge, as this would dissect the core of the house.

Its response was to create four hyperbolic paraboloids – double-curved surfaces that resemble saddles – using minimal steel pipes and tendons to give the structure tensile strength. Positioned on their sides in pairs towards each end of the bridge, and supported by poles in the water, these saddles form voids for living spaces.

But the poles and tendons weren’t enough: Wallmakers needed to add compression strength. The practice is known for its Debris Wall construction, combining earth with all manner of waste, but this time it looked to straw. ‘I’d always known I’d try thatching one day but I was looking for the right project,’ says Daniel. Like in many parts of the world, thatching has declined in the region but it has not entirely vanished. ‘We had to become students again,’ he adds. A composite of thatch and mud would provide the requisite strength for the house’s shell, while the latter would stop animals from burrowing into the straw – a perennial problem in the area.

Trying to thatch double curves, however, is no easy feat, particularly because it gives water a chance to penetrate from both sides. ‘First we looked at fish scales, then we hit upon pangolin scales, which move as the animal moves,’ Daniel explains. ‘We did a few tests with thatch and mud scales and they worked. The scales allow movement, while ensuring water can’t get through.’ Used for the underside of the house too, they give it the appearance of a suspended cocoon amid the forest and, as with many of Wallmakers’ material choices, they also camouflage the building within its surroundings. Meanwhile, the lightweight structure just has four footings, for minimal intrusion on the landscape.

Visitors enter on the upper floor of the house, which holds two bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen and dining area at one end, overlooking a triangular-shaped pool. At the core of the bridge is a living area, decked in reclaimed wood from the shipping industry (Daniel allows more mileage leeway for reclaimed materials). It’s a space where the inhabitants can enjoy the elements: an open oculus above allows rain water to pour through the building’s heart, running through holes in the floor to the stream below. They can also relax on chairs made from folded carpets with fibres made from PET bottles and abandoned fishing nets, which Wallmakers will soon launch as a collection in collaboration with a carpet company. Meanwhile the lower level holds two further bedrooms, including the master, which has expansive glazing overlooking the surrounding forest.

Daniel has developed a close-knit construction team of masons, welders and craftspeople, who he works with from project to project and this stretched their skills to the max. ‘The steel ropes were made by people I’ve been working with for 15 years and my welders are now in the second generation. Challenging projects like these create a lot of memories for us. We crossed the bridge together.’

wallmakers.org

Tour this contemporary house in Cunha

‘The main inspiration for this project came from the site itself – a small plateau at 1,300m above sea level, set within a rugged mountain region with privileged views in every direction,’ says Roberto Brotero, founder of the practice.

‘The idea was for the house to become part of the mountain without disappearing into it, and for the windows to frame the landscape in different ways from each room, so that the view would never feel flat or uniform inside the house.’

The residence wasn't designed to mimic its mountainous context. Instead, it emerged from a desire to add to the continuous horizon. As a result, the home creates a dialogue between architecture and view.

Brotero studied old Brazilian farmhouses during the design development; however, he was keen to avoid romanticism. The design is distinctly contemporary – from its white volumes to its stone flooring and plastered masonry. Yet the integration of timber and traditional elements, such as a large fireplace and a red wood-burning stove, add a hint of nostalgia and warmth to the whole. The architects have created a harmonious balance between cosy rustic charm and the clean lines of a modern, airy space.

The living space's corner glass windows, which extend the rich landscape and invite it inside the house, are Brotero’s favourite design element. Slotting neatly into the structure's block volumes of varying sizes and heights, the glass dissolves the boundary between indoors and outdoors.

Inside, the Cunha house is awash with natural light and gentle ventilation. Each part of the home is designed to offer different views of the mountain or closer contact with the surrounding vegetation. The design assertively inhabits the landscape, but does not compete with it.

Brotero says: ‘The intention is that the architecture gradually reveals the surrounding mountain views, framing the landscape differently through each space.’

robertobrotero.com

To ensure you don’t miss a thing – and to showcase the scope of residential architecture today – we’ve launched a monthly series: The Architecture Edit. Each instalment will highlight our favourite houses of the month: buildings that demonstrate creative planning, innovative methods and, of course, aesthetic excellence.

A terraced home transformation

Architects Edward Williams and Laura Carrara-Cagni of Cagni Williams Associates reimagined this Edwardian terraced house in south London as a sustainable, light-filled home. A striking new ‘gallery’ extension – clad in Corten steel and glass – replaces the old conservatory and brings a sculptural modernity to the rear façade. The rest of design balances bold forms with natural warmth, linking home and garden through large pivoting doors and oak-lined interiors. From the outset, sustainability guided the project, which features an air-source heat pump and underfloor heating.

A Malibu beach pad

Interior designer Pamela Shamshiri has transformed a 1990s Malibu beachfront compound for producer Jana Bezdek, fusing Hollywood glamour with Brazilian modernism. Inspired by Lina Bo Bardi and James Bond, the main house features a sculptural De Sede sofa, white terrazzo floors and a curved timber bar, all cast in an elegant taupe-to-caramel palette. Elsewhere, a crimson screening room exudes California luxury, and mirrored walls ensure ocean views from the bedroom and office. Outside, lush landscaping and tiered terraces further blur the boundary between indoor and out.

An Arizona compound

Prompted by a zoning law change that sanctioned attached secondary units, architect Benjamin Hall converted this suburban Phoenix house into a multigenerational desert compound. Using cost-efficient concrete masonry units (CMU), he designed a 1,700 sq ft addition that harmonises with the desert landscape both aesthetically and environmentally – thick, insulated walls, concrete floors and maple cabinetry create a minimalist yet welcoming interior, while sliding doors open onto a courtyard planted with native flora and framed by mountain views.

A Canadian modernist gem

Perched on Bowen Island near Vancouver, Morse House (1983) by Dick Mann of Thompson Berwick Pratt epitomises West Coast modernism. Crafted from cedar, fir, stone and glass, the 21,526 sq ft residence immerses its occupants in forest and ocean panoramas. A cedar staircase descends to a glazed façade surrounded by gardens and waterfalls, leading to an atrium centred around a 50ft pool and a soaring great hall. With its guesthouse, gym and private dock, this handcrafted home achieves a rare equilibrium between architecture and nature.

An eco-brutalist sanctuary

On the outskirts of Hyderabad, Antriya by 23 Degrees Design Shift redefines brutalism as lush, livable and sustainable. Constructed from local Khammam sandstone and Markapuram slate, and softened with reclaimed teak and abundant greenery, the 14,500 sq ft residence accommodates three generations of one family. Cascading plants and lily pad-filled ponds blur boundaries between architecture and nature while passively regulating the tropical climate. Concealed behind boundary walls, the home seems to emerge from the undergrowth as you approach – a tactile, nature-infused reimagining of brutalism.

A Canadian cabin 

In Ontario’s wooded hills, AKB Architects’ Timbertop is a minimalist four-bedroom retreat designed for family gatherings and outdoor adventure. The single-storey, barn-inspired home marries rural simplicity with modern refinement. Clad in crisp white to contrast with the surrounding evergreens, the home withstands heavy snow and wind while maintaining warmth and intimacy under its pitched gabled roof. Open-plan living, kitchen and library spaces create a cosy refuge amid the winter landscape.

A rainforest retreat

Set deep in the Costa Rican jungle, Studio House by Dagmar Štěpánová of Formafatal appears to float above a slope on concrete and Corten steel supports, minimising impact on the terrain. Designed as Štěpánová’s personal residence, the 125 sq m structure consists of open terraces, raw concrete interiors and a glazing-free ocean-facing window which immerses the home in the sounds and textures of the forest. Two simple bedrooms and an infinity pool continue the elemental aesthetic, while the rooftop and east terraces offer uninterrupted views of the Pacific.

A brick and concrete home

In Ahmedabad, architect Vaissnavi Shukl’s Teen Vaults reinterprets brick-and-concrete construction. Originally conceived as a weekend retreat, it evolved into a full-time family residence organised around three vaulted volumes – one for for dining, one for living, and one for reading. Exposed brick walls, terrazzo floors and teak furniture evoke a grounded simplicity, while a folded concrete staircase with a wooden-bead railing adds sculptural elegance. A central courtyard surrounded by mango and frangipani trees serves as the home’s spiritual heart.

Discover the inspiration behind this tranquil Mexican home

‘Our inspiration was the territory, the landscape and the topography. We focused on how to position the project over and into the ravine and how to integrate the territory in the project through the colours of the earth, the framing of the views and a serene sense of place,’ explain the architects at SOA.

The residence sits all on one level and each material element reflects the surrounding landscape and was chosen for its timeless quality, such as concrete, stone, and wood. The design balances shadow and light creating a warm, yet cooling space. Anchoring the home is an espino tree which survived construction and stands tall between the terrace and pool.

Entering through the courtyard area, the house unfolds in a series of flowing interiors. To begin, the kitchen, dining and living area seamlessly blend into each other, allowing for an open social hub. The furniture reflects the architecture with sofas and tables crafted from linen, cotton and stone, adding to the raw and honest space.

This entry sequence is the architects’ favourite element in the space, they explain to Wallpaper*: ‘This is the point when you enter the house and you have a first glance of the landscape framed in its entirety by the architecture. The hall acts as a divide between the public and the private areas, making it a core space of the house.’

A flat-roofed volume organises three bedrooms along a corridor. The primary suite takes in its ravine vista, while at the opposite end of the corridor, is a covered terrace overlooking a rain-fed water feature.

On the other side of the central courtyard is the guest pavilion with two bedrooms. The atmosphere is cool and calm, rooted in raw honesty with a hint of brutalist flair, with grey stone underfoot and the cocooning tactility of the interior walls.

‘We want visitors to feel a sense of discovery of the place and the project itself, say the architects. ‘They should feel a sense of human scale, a calm, welcoming space where the architecture, the interiors and the landscape are integrated through spatial composition and a thorough selection of materials.’

The Zone 5 regulations stipulated elements of the design like the distance between boundary and structure, as well as capping built square metres to a percentage of the plot area. Other strictures determined the environmental credentials of the house, governing the amount of plot given over to permeable surfaces, for example, as well as the number of solar panels required and insulation rating.

‘In terms of the proposed architecture, we had quite a lot of freedom,’ says the practice’s Hiéronyme Lacroix, ‘I would say that it was not complicated to propose this type of architecture for the permission.’ The neo-brutalism of the exterior, with the visible vertical shuttering marks, is paired with polished concrete floors and exposed concrete interior walls. Stone edging adds another material dimension.

‘The combination of raw concrete construction and interior insulation was unbeatable,’ Lacroix continues, adding that the key constraint was economic. The house is designed in such a way that the walls were all poured as solid elements with no holes for windows. Instead, floor-to-ceiling gaps for doors and windows were created in between the concrete structure.

In addition, the house features many step backs and angled elements on the ground floor level, what the architects describe as the ‘fragmentation of the cascading volumes.’ This has the effect of making the living spaces feel much larger than they are, with views long axial views contrasted with the diagonal views between angled walls, niches and full-length windows. Care was taken to avoid large spans – and therefore costly structure – without compromising the sense of openness.

On the ground floor, the entrance hall, kitchen, dining room, and living room form a flowing sequence, with more private areas like a study and bathroom tucked away in the idiosyncratic floorplan. The ground floor also houses a self-contained one-bedroom flat for an older relative, and the house sits above the traditional Swiss basement, here used for storage and as a media and games room.

Upstairs, there’s a large principal bedroom with dressing area and top-lit ensuite, as well as two smaller bedrooms with a separate bathroom, also lit from above. The floor-to-ceiling fenestration also continues here, albeit with deliberately different alignments to the windows on the ground floor. The brutalism of the exterior also serves to distinguish the new villa within its eclectic, leafy suburb.

‘Our aim is to create quality architecture that is both contemporary and timeless,’ the architects write. Established in 2005 by Hiéronyme Lacroix and Simon Chessex, along with partners Grégoire Martin and Ludovic Durand, the award-winning office is based in Geneva.

‘Each commission is approached as a new avenue of exploration, without preconceived ideas, formal a priori, or advance knowledge of the final result,’ they continue, ‘Each project begins again at zero, forcing us to constantly challenge ourselves… In today’s globalized and generic world, we strive to create buildings specific to each site and its uses. Our structures must be able to elevate and enhance every one of these always unique situations.’

LacroixChessex.ch, @LacroixChessex

Tour this Athens apartment, bridging old and new

The architects worked hard to bridge those two characters – the home's existing material-rich, midcentury appeal, and the contemporary sensibilities of the owners' lifestyle. The team writes on its approach: 'The craftsmanship of 1960s Athens formed the foundation of our architectural intention: to respect it, preserve it and reinterpret it.'

'The residence is therefore not just a renovated apartment, but a comprehensive treatment of the materiality of the era – a bridge between two periods, where craftsmanship and memory of the past are transformed into tools for the practice of architecture.'

The existing surface palette and décor in the penthouse includes some fine Athenian craftsmanship - from refined marblework and intricate wood details to hand-painted ceilings, all enveloped in the residential building’s original façade, which is distinctly clad in travertine marble featuring a range of decorative motifs.

The design team centred its reimagining of the apartment on a key gesture: they reworked the kitchen as the heart of the home, wrapping it in glass blocks which offer separation but also plenty of natural light where needed, and carving out strategic openings that frame views across the home, opening up the overall layout arrangement.

More design interventions include adding Didyma marble to the interior, which gently nods to the travertine exterior skin of the building. Existing Tinos marble, aged with beautiful, natural patina, was complemented with green Cipollino in bathrooms. Elsewhere, colourful tiles add another dimension in select areas.

A lot of the existing fabric was kept and carefully maintained to extend its natural life. This includes the hand-painted ceilings, the wooden inlays in the living room, and the herringbone parquet in the bedrooms (there are four of them). The result is a family home that thrives in its 20th-century identity but also feels distinctly contemporary, perfectly fitted to its owner's daily life.

Tour the New York home of architect Victoria Blau

When looking for inspiration, Blau naturally found herself first turning to the building itself. Designed in 1926 by John B Peterkin, the 15-storey structure features a limestone façade and an ornate Italianate lobby, with expressively veined grey marble walls, a chequerboard marble floor, and finely detailed mouldings. While she desired a space that expressed her architectural identity, she didn’t want a complete stylistic break from the rest of the building, especially since her unit is on a lower floor and has a strong relationship to the streetscape.

As she was designing the apartment, she recalled how jarring it was to visit Antoni Gaudí’s residential projects in Barcelona and experience the artistry of his façades and shared areas, such as the stairwells, then to head into renovated apartments that did not connect to the whole. ‘I felt having continuity was important,’ Blau says. With too stark a contrast, ‘the story gets lost’.

In essence, Blau nestled a minimalist modern box into a traditional shell. This meant retaining the landmark windows and, wherever possible, the original ceiling mouldings (which needed to be repaired or reconstructed). She then established a datum line below the mouldings and designed everything beneath it to be modern – a technique that enabled her to also tuck mechanical infrastructure into the walls without obscuring the ceiling.

Then, on the first day of renovations, her neighbour informed her that she was putting her unit on the market. Blau had already completed the arduous design and permitting process, but saw a unique chance to combine the apartments and create a residence with a sophisticated promenade architecturale. ‘We already had enough square footage, but it was an opportunity for a grander plan,’ she says.

The resulting corner unit is a play on the public and the private, the formal and the informal. The living room, dining room and library face Fifth Avenue and Blau designed the sequence of spaces so that it’s possible to walk directly from one end of the apartment to the other. On the side facing 83rd Street, which is a much quieter one-way road, she sited the family’s working and living quarters, with each room becoming slightly more private than the one preceding it: Blau’s home office, the family room, children’s and guest bedrooms, then the primary bedroom suite at the end, which includes an expansive dressing room.

To keep the interior from feeling stark, Blau emphasised materiality throughout. This included tinted lime-plaster walls that have the texture of suede, black lacquered millwork that was wire brushed until it achieved the finish of a Steinway piano, custom-made antique brass mesh draperies, and herringbone wood floors. And, occasionally, highly expressive materials punctuate the space, including a macassar ebony vanity in one bathroom and grey-veined Italian marble that completely envelops another bathroom.

‘Even though a lot of the detailing was modern, it has a very warm feel,’ she says. Many of the features reference projects that Blau designed for clients. She enjoyed collaborating with the skilled craftspeople and subcontractors so much that she brought them in to work on her home. ‘As an architect, it’s a gift to work with people who care so much about the final product or their small piece of the job,’ she says. ‘It’s what keeps me going on wanting to do the next project and the next one and the next.’

The attention to detail extends to the furnishings, which have restrained silhouettes but remarkable materiality and craftsmanship. In the living room, Blau specified Vladimir Kagan sofas upholstered in boiled wool Chamonix and cashmere silk, a brass coffee table by Willy Daro, and glass chandeliers by Erik Höglund displayed like sculptures. For the dining room, where the family has hosted 30-person dinners, Blau commissioned an acacia wood table on bronze Eric Schmitt bases and surrounded it with chairs custom-made by Dune and upholstered in Armani Casa fabric.

A sculpted bronze console by Paul Evans, and a Harry Bertoia Sonambient sound sculpture deepen the space’s textural composition. In the public areas, Blau used a neutral palette of hues dotted with deeply saturated accents that complement the artworks, a fine example being the Mies van der Rohe ‘Brno’ chairs in the breakfast room, which are covered in a soft blue ultrasuede that picks up on the palette of an abstract Ryan Wallace painting.

The family’s art collection reads like a who’s who of 20th and 21st-century practitioners, including the likes of Cecily Brown, Rita Ackermann and George Condo. And while much of the apartment’s wallspace is dedicated to these works, Blau also installed glass vitrines for her husband to display his hockey memorabilia, a testament to how she designed the space for the specific character of her family. ‘It was a labour of love,’ she says.

In south London, the pair has transformed a large Edwardian terraced house into a sustainable contemporary living space, with a striking new bespoke extension replacing an old conservatory. Completed in summer 2025, the light, open and energy-efficient house completely fulfils the clients’ brief.

Enter the Corten-clad Gallery house extension

‘My day job is working alongside architects and engineers to guide large-scale projects to completion,’ explains the client, a senior building industry figure. ‘When my wife and I turned our attention to our own home, we wanted to commission something that would feel very special. We knew Cagni William’s work, and their reputation for inventive use of space, immaculate detailing and coherent use of materials. Plus the practice is a leader in sustainability.’

Carrara-Cagni relished the opportunity to work with such an enthusiastic and informed client and found the brief inspiring. ‘It helped us produce something quite different from a standard glass box or traditional conservatory,’ she says. ‘And the clients’ ambition to create an energy-efficient, climate-friendly house enabled us to embed sustainability from the start. The terraced houses may look similar from the street, but at the rear and inside this home is very special.’

A bold Corten steel and glass volume known as the Gallery, the new extension certainly makes a big impression, with curved glass corners; perfectly executed joinery by WG Studio; large pivot patio doors; a central column hiding a wood-burning stove; and a welded roof supporting a wildflower garden. But its unique shape presented some unexpected challenges.

In Europe, Corten is sold only in sheets, so the architects had to change the columns from circular to welded cross shapes. ‘The curved glass corners with tight radii are only made in one factory in Germany, so this added lead time to the programme,’ they explain. ‘The pivot patio doors were made bespoke from Corten frames to fit into the structure, together with other Corten elements, and the whole gallery was given a final oil coat to blend them all together.’

Between the Gallery and the original Edwardian terraced house is a large timber and expressed steel open space kitchen/dining room with a long wall in textured oak panelling unit running the whole width of one side and concealing plenty of storage space, kitchen appliances and services.

The dining nook is connected to the Gallery by an opening in the original back wall which creates an enclosing space for the dining table. Oak shutters can be left open to admire views into the new extension and garden beyond, or can be closed to create a cosy dining space.

‘The glazed pivot doors create a glide from the entrance to the garden through the kitchen/dining open space, but when we open the shutters the whole home is seamlessly connected with the garden, the garden comes in the home and the home in the garden. We love this,’ say the clients.

The project is underpinned by the highest standards in craftsmanship, but also by the search for sustainability. In 2025, the practice launched Cagni Williams Energy, a dedicated subsidiary with a mission to accelerate decarbonisation in the built environment, helping clients to meet ambitious sustainability goals.

Thanks to an air source heat pump in the garden, underfloor heating throughout the new ground floor, and augmented by ventilation to avoid overheating and condensation, the entire house is now heated by electricity only.

cagniwilliams.com

Luckily, the property itself was not short of cinematic charisma. The narrow, half-acre plot featured three structures, built in the late 1990s, that bookended a garden and a pool. These included a pair of two-storey volumes containing a 5,000 sq ft primary residence and guest suites. From the beach-facing main house, with its broad expanses of windows and low-slung profile, it felt like you could almost touch the Pacific Ocean.

Tour this modern Malibu beach house

For the property’s owner Jana Bezdek, co-founder of production company FourthWall Theatrical, the home fulfilled a lifelong yearning to be on the water. ‘My husband is from a neighbourhood called Rustic Canyon and I grew up in Del Mar, California. We were always drawn to being close to the beach,’ she says.

So when she came across the property four years ago, Bezdek pounced. The house would not only serve as a beach escape for her family, but it would also be a romantic nod to her husband, who proposed to her on that very section of beach. To realise her vision, Bezdek tapped Shamshiri, who had previously designed her family’s main residence in LA, as well as her New York pied-à-terre. ‘She was the only person I could imagine working with,’ Bezdek says.

Shamshiri was struck by the compound’s low-slung modernist vocabulary, something of an anomaly in this part of Malibu. A silver screen-worthy concept emerged, one with modernism as its protagonist. ‘We were like, what if it’s 007 at the beach? What if Lina Bo Bardi, her Brazilian modernist friends and a Bond girl could all walk in and have a cocktail?’ the designer remembers. ‘We really treated it as a Brazilian pavilion in Malibu.’

Fortunately, the structures required zero spatial rejiggering, leaving Shamshiri and her team to focus on infusing the spaces with drama. For inspiration, they researched Bo Bardi’s oeuvre – which encompasses some of Brazil’s most renowned modernist buildings – and watched back-to-back Bond films.

For the main residence, which contained the kitchen, living and entertaining spaces on the ground floor and the primary bedroom suite on the upper level, the designer wanted to incorporate ocean views everywhere, even when you weren’t facing it directly. So she installed dark mirrors on all of the surf-facing walls. ‘I love mirrors,’ Shamshiri says. ‘They can act as a portal that transports you to somewhere else. You’re just in a swirl of water in motion.’ Structural steel columns, meanwhile, were painted in a deep ocean blue hue for added effect.

To counter the gleaming surfaces, the design team wanted to create a cocooning sensation. Though the main house was largely open plan, the ceilings were low. Shamshiri and her team ran with it. ‘We accepted right away that the ceilings were low. So we created a sandwich of white ceilings above and white floors below, and then made everything else dark,’ she says.

The team opted for a palette of taupe, mocha and caramel. A wall backing the kitchen was painted black (‘It’s like a faded black T-shirt colour,’ Shamshiri says), while corridors and the primary bedroom were swaddled in a luxurious suede wallcovering (‘It came with a brush!’ she adds).

Entering the open-plan living space, with the ocean waves crashing in view, offers the chance to both take a load off and become the most glamorous version of yourself. The pièce de résistance here is a ‘DS-600’ leather sofa, a 1972 design by De Sede, which snakes across practically the entire length of the room, creating discrete seating nooks within its curves, populated with pieces by Bo Bardi contemporaries such as Joaquim Tenreiro. ‘I love that living room so much,’ Shamshiri says. ‘If you’re two people or you’re 50 people, it doesn’t make a difference.’

The clients love to entertain, so having a standout cocktail set-up was a must. The custom-made timber bar, whose undulating form echoes the shape of the sofa, comes clad in a row of olive-green tiles for a funky kick. You can almost imagine Bond, perched on a ‘Mexique’ stool by Charlotte Perriand, ordering his signature martini. ‘We wanted it to feel that you could be barefoot, in your bathing suit, making a drink, and it still feels elevated,’ Shamshiri explains.

Up a set of floating stairs is the primary bedroom suite. The mood here quietens down, but like the living area, the bedroom is anchored by a statement sofa, a pair of Patricia Urquiola ‘Tufty-Time’ sofas for B&B Italia arranged back-to-back. ‘We emphasised the horizontal, because the horizon is the greatest thing about being at the beach,’ the designer says. There’s also an office space for Bezdek and her husband, where, thanks to mirrors cleverly installed behind the shelves, the ocean is always nearby.

In fact, nature is always close at hand, thanks to lush grounds created by LA-based landscape designer Matthew Brown. Working alongside Shamshiri, he created a series of outdoor spaces including a firepit, a pool deck and, most striking of all, an oceanfront living room. ‘He has such a great way of softening and letting things feel very native in California, but overgrown,’ notes Shamshiri.

One of the guest suites contains a glamorous secret: a screening room where every surface, from the carpet and the ceiling to the Loro Piana fabric on the ‘Togo’ sofas, is drenched in the same crimson hue. ‘If this is Hollywood at the beach, what colour would you want to be drenched in? We were like, red,’ says Shamshiri. Here, Bezdek, her husband and their two young sons can pile in for movie nights. A bar hidden behind the red panelled walls is perfect for hosting friends. ‘Late at night, everyone always ends up in that room, even just to talk,’ Shamshiri adds.

Bezdek and her family are putting the house to good use, hosting impromptu dance parties in the living room and taking in the crash of waves on the terraces. ‘She can intuit someone’s inner vision, and then deliver something far beyond what anyone could have ever imagined,’ Bezdek says of Shamshiri. For the designer, that’s the sign of a job well done. ‘I love seeing how much everyone smiles,’ she says. ‘People just love this house.’

studioshamshiri.com

Tour this Arizona home by Benjamin Hall

Hall, whose studio is based in Arizona's capital city, met with a retired couple who wanted to make good on an unusual offer they had made their daughter and son-in-law. The younger family members returned home with their then-baby, now toddler son, contingent upon the promise of moving into in the family base of over three decades while the elder generation lived elsewhere.

However, the plan didn't require a major move, since the idea was to simultaneously nurture familial closeness and healthy boundaries by designing and constructing a contiguous addition to the late 1970s suburban house. 'We had been looking to downsize, but never found what we wanted,' the husband says. 'So we did it by building.'

A friend of the clients' son-in-law recommended Hall, who had earlier in his career worked for Will Bruder. They were already familiar with the noted architect's work at the synagogue they attend, which Bruder designed in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Hall had long nurtured an interest in mixed-generational housing that began during the year he lived and studied in Copenhagen, and lamented the lack of such arrangements in the US. It was an auspicious confluence. 'When this project landed in my lap, it resonated,' he says. 'I wanted something to be a case study for Phoenix.'

When the effort began in 2023, Hall was tasked with devising a scheme for a self-contained, 1,700-square-foot expansion on an underutilised part of the spacious lot. Conforming to the existing single-family zone requirements was a challenge, given that the code didn't allow for a second fully equipped kitchen with a range. The adoption of a 2024 ordinance permitting an additional unit on SFR lots, however, meant that building an attached home with a proper kitchen became legal.

Budget concerns scuttled early plans for a cast-in-place concrete structure. So, Hall, who has extensively researched and developed expertise using earthen materials that specifically tap into the region's history and heritage, proposed an intriguing solution. 'I had discovered on my own from saw-cutting grade CMU (concrete masonry unit) walls that there's an unusual mix of aggregate,' he explains about the resulting reddish hue. When used artfully, premade goods readily available from building suppliers could form the basis of warm and inviting spaces — not the cold, alienating environments often associated with industrial concrete block.

Hall's skill in optimising CMU structures for energy efficiency and heat mitigation made using the prosaic material in an unconventional way feasible. Each surface is strategically configured so that 'every wall directly exposed to the sun at minimum has to be a 12-inch-deep block,' with foam insulation in the core that provides an insulated barrier, he explains. To lighten up the interiors, features like poured concrete flooring and blonde maple wood built-ins offset 'this darker block that we weren't really sure what it would look like in the end,' Hall says. The bet paid off.

Following a one-year-long construction timeline with partner Rare Form Builder, the outcome is understatedly beautiful and extremely livable — and very much of its desert setting. Stacks of horizontally oriented, modified CMU blocks establish monolithic surfaces and envelop an open floor plan within flat-roof volumes.

'Here in Arizona, the north is the friendly side,' Hall observes, so fully pocketing doors lead from the dining area facing this direction, establishing an indoor-outdoor connection, with a mature olive tree in the adjacent courtyard and largely native vegetation flourishing on the grounds. Windows are cleverly integrated into the block and sized with respect to their position to the sun in order to facilitate the interplay of light and shadow through the large interior spans.

Finishes strike a balance between accessible and bespoke. Ikea's high gloss white kitchen cabinetry and storage modules can be further customized if needed, Hall notes, and he designed maple wood doors that are compatible with the company's closet systems. One departure from the overall minimalist sensibility is in the shower, for which the clients commissioned a boldly geometric and colourful ceramic tile installation during a trip to Morocco.

Best of all, the occupants are thrilled with the lifestyle improvement, as well as how Hall enhanced a previously hidden asset. 'He saw there's a mountain a mile away we needed to pay attention to,' the wife says about Lookout Mountain, a landmark that became the focal point. The addition, which anticipates aging-in-place needs such as wider doorways and a consistent grade, has piqued the interest of many of the couple's friends who also want to live very near — but not necessarily with — their children, and vice versa.

A swath of the original stucco is intact in the hallway where a connecting doorway links the two homes, an element that will likely remain after the main house undergoes a remodel that Hall is in the preliminary stages of designing. It's all part of an ever-evolving family story. 'We get these little knocks in the mornings or the evenings,' the matriarch says about the regular visits from her grandson. 'We have our space and they have theirs, but it's community.'

benjaminhalldesign.com

Designed in 1983 by Dick Mann, a principal at the legendary firm Thompson Berwick Pratt (one that employed the likes of Arthur Erickson and Ron Thom), the home hearkens back to a midcentury era – when less was more, and connection to site was all.

Discover the riches of Vancouver modernism with Morse House

An anachronism to the 1980s postmodernism that reigned supreme at its inception, the artful architecture of Mann manages to make the 21,526 sq ft residence situated on a 23-acre lot feel cosy.

Designed with a simple yet elegant palette of cedar, fir, glass and stone, the materials reflect the surrounding environment, which includes a grove of 800-year-old conifers. The house becomes a device for viewing the surrounding forest and ocean, reflecting it back to the viewer from the outside and drawing it deep within the interior.

When approaching the steeply graded site carved out of bedrock that processes down to the shores of the Pacific, where whales and eagles are regular features in the ever-shifting panorama, one is greeted by a protective fortress of cedar. Only a triangular slice of peekaboo window hints at what lies within.

As one walks north towards the water, the real entrance is revealed, via a descending cedar staircase, and a façade of glazing, cedar and Colorado quartz. Framed by lush landscaping, gardens of ferns and waterfalls, it feels like a West Coast modern Moorish courtyard, with tiles of fossilised sunrise flagstone from a lake in Utah offering textural intrigue. Intricately angled geometries of roofs and windows amplify and contain the space at once, with every edge and reveal finely crafted.

Inside, the house is anchored by a giant atrium, featuring a 50ft swimming pool, and adjacent children’s bedrooms grounded by south-facing window views of earth and native greenery. Light streams through floor-to-ceiling atrium glazing, while the language of cedar beams supported by fir posts continues through to the adjacent great hall, mitigating scale with angled intimacy. All is a grand visual dance drawing the eye to the Pacific waters below – including the upstairs master bedroom that practically levitates over the ocean – while trees shelter this unique sanctuary.

An adjoining guesthouse up the eastern slope features a gym and a tennis court, as well as a garage converted into a studio by TBP’s Fook Weng Chan. While this house has starred in several Hollywood movies, its scale, simplicity and embrace of nature remain decidedly Canadian. Its private beach and dock allow for boating to the mainland and, along with its lovingly crafted design – with materials barged in and cast on site – mean that a home like this can never be built again. And in a province with no heritage laws to protect it, one can only hope that its exquisite beauty will save it.

The Morse House by Thompson, Berwick & Pratt Architects, 1982, Bowen Island, British Columbia, is on the market through West Coast Modern

Many architects seek tabula rasa conditions in designing their homes. Graves was different, building his house gradually within a literal self-storage warehouse. Where others once stored surplus belongings in cubes, he saw possibility. Built by Italian stonemasons of hollow clay tile, brick, and stucco, Graves was taken with the warehouse’s look. Karen Nichols, currently principal at Michael Graves and an employee since 1977 (when the firm was Michael Graves & Associates), explains: 'When he went to the American Academy in Rome, he became enamoured of all things Italian. When he found the house, in around 1974, he was dumbfounded that it was a Tuscan vernacular building in terms of both construction type and its formal characteristics.'

Tour the Michael Graves house in Princeton

Graves did not, of course, live in the warehouse’s 44, 10ft lockers. He revamped the interior multiple times, first finishing half of the L-shaped structure in neo-deco style (while the remainder retained a dirt floor for years), then switching to neoclassicism for the second half. He returned and classicised the first half (save for one bathroom, which remains a green and black deco artefact). He rearranged its internal circulation, shifting from a double-loaded corridor plan to a main circulation axis along one side. He carved through several double-height spaces along the way and made some modifications to the exterior. The main entrance is the former truck-loading dock, which likely can't be said of a single other architect's house in history.

The property remains with us in perfect condition thanks to Kean University, whose main campus is located about 40 miles to the north and is home to the Michael Graves College (which includes schools of architecture and design). It acquired the house in 2016 as a gift from Graves’ estate on the condition that it would preserve the property. Universities are undersung stewards of a number of distinguished properties; USC operated the Gamble house in Pasadena for 50 years, until 2019, and its policy of public access continues; Stanford owns Wright's Hanna house in Palo Alto. These sorts of properties often don't have tours you can simply walk up to – but they can be arranged by contacting the institutions, as at Kean.

Michael Graves was an architect of great talent whose quality of work was, for a time, obscured by some of his most successful commissions. He started out as an orthodox late modernist, leagued famously with Richard Meier, Peter Eisenman and Charles Gwathmey among the more formalist 'Whites', against the more contextual and eclectic tastes of the 'Greys', such as Charles Moore and Robert Venturi (the two groups represent different strands of postmodernism in the US). Graves soon morphed radically, moving well beyond grey to become a postmodern harlequin. He was an enormously successful architect in the 1980s and 1990s, eventually building the Swan and Dolphin resorts at Walt Disney World and designing housewares lines for Target and JCPenney.

For all general wishes that architects should venture into popular design, they're often criticised when they do it, and Graves was no exception. The quality of his work has received much-warranted re-evaluation in recent years, with his Portland Building in Oregon City becoming an object of preservation attention, as is, more recently, his excellent Humana building in Louisville, Kentucky, which is soon to be sold by the company of that name. He built many excellent houses, from the Hanselmann House in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to the Plocek House in Warren, New Jersey, but your odds of getting into most of them are low – save for here.

Graves’ own house provides an intensely strong argument for the value of his design philosophy. It is an elegant home that wields classical devices in all sorts of clever ways. It is also as far from an open-plan house as one can get, instead, wielding vistas and subtle shifts in form to lend constant variation. Ian Volner, in his biography of Graves, wrote of his later works’ 'far stronger focus on poche – the walls made thicker and indented with niches and recesses, such that each room had a different spatial character and a different quality of light'.

Nichols relates, 'You'll see a round room, then you'll see a passage, then you'll see something else. He liked the composition of things, he liked the axial view, he liked the terminus.'

The main passage ends at the library on one side and the dining room on the other; there are numerous excellent internal views throughout the house beyond these. Nichols continues: 'Graves also placed a special emphasis on shaping the ceiling. It's a part of what draws you through and makes you understand the architecture.' This wasn't all. She explains that he even used slightly different shades of white throughout the house to accentuate his other devices. Sometimes, he would also brazen out an architectural point; the exaggerated entasis in living and dining room columns is simply enjoyable.

The result is exceptionally comfortable and even intimate, belying the idea that classical detailing needs to be grandiose. David Mohney, dean of the Michael Graves College at Kean, says: 'What surprised me the most is the domestic scale of the house.' If there are palazzo-like elements within, the whole is really not all that large, containing only three bedrooms. Of the living room, he comments: 'This is the biggest space in the house. You can't fit more than a dozen people in it. You can't fit more than eight people at the dining table. It's all very personal and very domestic.'

The double-height library at one end of the house is especially striking. Towering bookcases filled with volumes on everyone from Wittgenstein to Christopher Wren to McKim, Mead & White, rise within this skylit space – overlooked by Graves’ own bedroom. There you'll find one of several cheeky design shortcuts. The bookcases look luxe; their supports are actually PVC pipes painted to resemble the grain of bird’s-eye maple. As Nichols quips, 'he was pretty cheap'.

Make no mistake, there are plenty of actually costly items around. The library holds Etruscan pots, including reproductions and examples the architect collected in Italy (while this was still legal). Still, Graves did maintain artificial distinctions about high- and low-cost permissibility in the home.

The living room is an elegant space; there are expensive features and also, humanisingly, those that only pretend to be so. The largest piece of art in the room – which looks like a painting of Psyche at the Bath – is actually framed wallpaper. It also contains Graves’ own copy of a Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot view of Rome. A steady source of interest throughout the property is seeing the architect’s own designs of all sorts of ages. His armchairs for Sunar are there, as are his Alessi kettles and Target clocks and phones. Alabaster lighting fixtures in the living room were bespoke.

Furnishings throughout the house also vary dramatically. There's a Le Corbusier chaise and lounge chair, 19th-century Biedermeier pieces, and also things that it's believed Graves simply bought at local flea markets.

You will chuckle throughout. The candelabras on the dining room table have birds’ feet as a base. Nichols explains: 'The objects are not always [about] serious collecting, sometimes they're just for fun; he was full of wit and whimsy.' Scattered throughout the house are other collectors’ novelties: a range of magnifying glasses and 12 inkwells in the shape of the Temple of Vesta. There are also all sorts of engrossing architectural prints.

The breakfast nook is another double-height, exceptionally bright space studded with busts mounted on brackets, this time with a rather unmistakable influence. Nichols explains: ‘Charles Jencks took us to John Soane’s house and also his Dulwich Picture Gallery. A lot of what you see in the house after [that] was influenced by Soane.’

Stairs are sculptural and topped, naturally, by a bust. Upstairs, the primary bedroom directly overlooks the library; there are no windows or shutters. As Mohney comments: 'There are no barriers to the [view] into the library. Privacy came about not through barriers but through distance.' The main bathroom features five sources of natural light on the sides and above. The guest bedroom is also exceptionally airy.

The second floor features clear traces of Graves’ paralysis due to a spinal cord infection in 2003. His hospital bed remains, as do the necessary alterations: a balustrade around a circular area was removed, a blue-tiled wheel-in shower was converted from a former closet, and an elevator was also installed.

A prime attraction is Graves’ painting studio. Works there might seem like plein-air exercises, but Nichols explains that all of them date from after he was paralysed. 'He often drew from memory or from books. Those are all remembered or imagined compositions influenced by artists like Morandi or Cezanne.'

And that's all, merely skimming the surface of interests to be found in the house. Kean University uses another building on the site for classes and has hopes of providing lodging for more permanent student guides on site in two apartments. The house itself is used occasionally for university meetings. The Michael Graves firm continues to hold a summer picnic in the grounds.

The Michael Graves house in Princeton remains a singular chance to see a postmodern interior when you're not on Larry Ellison's dinner-party invitation list (he owns a Graves house in Malibu). More importantly, you can actually see the architect’s life just as it was lived. Says Mohney: 'This was his own private museum of architecture on his own terms.' And now ours as well.

Access to the Michael Graves house may be addressed to the Michael Graves College at Kean University

Designed by 23 Degrees Design Shift, Antriya is the dream home of two brothers who envisioned a retreat to be shared across three generations of their family. Spanning 14,500 sq ft, the building is constructed from locally sourced Khammam brown sandstone and Markapuram slate, and, indoors, reclaimed teak and grey lime plaster. These choices subtly soften the harshness associated with brutalism, leaning into a more tactile, natural aesthetic.

Inside, the home is visually and physically open. Expansive living areas boast soaring 15ft ceilings, while coconut trees and curtain creepers break down the building’s scale. Greenery planted on the overhang slab is visible through clerestory windows, reinforcing the sense of living within the landscape. The flexible configurations and profusion of greenery continually blur the boundary between indoors and out – Antriya is all light, air, earth and sky.

The integration of greenery is not merely aesthetic – it’s also functional. In Hyderabad’s humid climate, passive cooling is essential. The home uses natural airflow, cantilevered overhangs and and expansive lawns to mitigate heat.

Among the many standout features is a sculptural staircase that serves as the backdrop to a semi-open lounge. Nearby, a verandah – the social heart of the home – can be opened or enclosed with sliding glass panels. The pool, meanwhile, is a sequestered sanctuary with vines hanging from the ceiling.

A lily pad-covered water body encircles the home, making it feel as though it is floating (the feature also serves the practical purpose of keeping wildlife out). This effect lends another layer of contrast between the manmade and the natural, and is repeated throughout Antriya’s design: from the elevated walkway that leads to the main entrance to the thickly planted landscape by Kiasma Studio that shrouds the house, making it seem to emerge from the undergrowth like a brutalist treehouse. On approach, vision-blocking boundary walls preserve the drama of the reveal, keeping the house hidden until the last possible moment.

In many ways, Antriya redefines what the brutalist style can be: not cold and detached, but alive, responsive and connected. This is a multi-layered family home primed for connection, but it is also a carefully choreographed architectural experience.

Inside Serena House, a contemporary Brazilian home

The clients, a middle-aged couple with teenage children, wanted a base to host and entertain family and friends. The residence comprises two volumes in an L-shaped layout, its formation nodding to the openness and clear forms of contemporary Brazilian architecture.

The architects wanted to make the residence more than a roof over the clients' heads, telling Wallpaper*: ‘It is more than that. It's a living organism where the interaction between space, light, and nature creates memorable settings for intense family life.’

Padovani decided on the use of natural materials and surfaces that invite the touch, such as exposed concrete, stone and wood. These timeless tones and lighter elements create a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

This is also seen in the long metal eaves, which were clad in wood, resulting in a playful interaction between shadow and light. This further accentuates the low volumes and sleek, horizontal lines of the building.

The main entrance is discreet, tucked away behind the green tropical vegetation. Through the pathway via the gardens, the home opens up. Venturing inside, the residence is large and airy, consisting of a living room, dining room, home theatre, four-car garage, wine cellar, pantry, laundry area, gourmet area, sauna, six master suites, two staff bedrooms, and ten bathrooms (including the suites).

On one side of the home are the living areas, which sit perpendicular to the main entrance and dining room. On the upper floor, the primary suite extends onto a large open balcony that laps up the surrounding vista. This Brazilian home's calming views allow a moment to pause, which is sometimes hard to find in the rush of city living.

padovaniarquitetos.com

Tour Itapororoca Casa by Bloco Arquitetos

The inspiration behind the house was centred on creating a respectful integration between the built space and the natural environment. ‘We made the decision to use a Glued Laminated Timber (GLT) structure, with small spans and transparency, allowing us to create a light, precise structure that connects seamlessly with the surrounding tropical landscape,’ explains Daniel Mangabeira, co-founder and one of the lead architects at Bloco Arquitetos.

It is this direct relationship between the building and open space, as well as the references to the verandas seen on colonial homes, which helped guide the design, as Mangabeira says: ‘Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, a Brazilian author, discusses the colonial house as part of the country’s cultural formation. The veranda emerges as an intermediate space of sociability, a point of mediation between public and private. For him, the veranda is an expression of a life turned outward and toward others.’

In Itapororoca House, the veranda serves as a transitional space between interior and exterior, emphasised through large porches and generous roof space. The linear repetition of the pillar structures around the building adds visual intrigue. ‘This spatial logic is also present in modern architecture in Brasília, where our studio is based, especially in the palaces designed by Oscar Niemeyer, such as the Palácio do Planalto and the Palácio da Alvorada,’ says Mangabeira.

The architecture studio’s project is an accumulation of different sources of inspiration drawn from Brazil's rich architectural history, including the modernist architecture from Brasília. Past solutions have, here, been adapted to the topography and climatic conditions of the Bahian coast.

‘The main challenge was reconciling a large-scale wooden structure with the technical complexity of the site, especially considering the mandatory 15m setback from the bluff and the proximity to the sea,’ say Henrique Coutinho and Matheus Seco, also co-founders at the studio. ‘It was a balancing act between engineering and architecture, respecting the material’s limits while enhancing its expressiveness in an extremely sensitive area of the Brazilian coastline, protected by IPHAN – the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage.’

The residence is located on a 3m slope and 30m from a steep cliff. Taking advantage of the plot, the project consists of a semi-underground structure that helps integrate it into the natural terrain. The result means the building takes advantage of an optical illusion; from the entrance level, it looks like a single-storey home, while from the beachside, it unveils its two levels.

The living areas and bedrooms face the east. However, the most intriguing part of the building is the mezzanine with its colourful panels designed by the architecture studio. It filters in light and the colour, adding movement to the interior.

The architect’s vision for the home was to create a sense of continuity between the natural and built environments, as the co-founders tell Wallpaper*: ‘The goal for the space is not to impose itself, but to reveal itself little by little, as an extension of the landscape, especially at the back of the house, which opens up to the Atlantic Ocean.’

bloco.arq.br/

Situated on top of a clearing within the landscape that the client lovingly calls the 'Rolling Hills of Old Ontario', the 200-acre property has remained in the same family for many generations. When the land was first purchased and built upon, the old structure on site eventually outlived its usefulness and was removed, leaving behind space for a new residence.

Tour this minimalist Canadian cabin

Timbertop was designed with the intention of serving as a weekend getaway for the new generation of the family and its three young children. Given its location, it is the perfect spot to enjoy the surrounding trails while walking, horseback riding, snowmobiling, and using ATVs. The woodland is home to deer, porcupines and turkeys.

When designing the home for their clients, the architects referenced local barns and farm structures. ‘The design draws inspiration from local agrarian building typologies, reinterpreted through a contemporary lens,’ explains AKB Architects’ creative director Kelly Buffey, also behind striking holiday homes such as Whistling Wind. ‘It pays homage to the powerful simplicity of utilitarian barn forms and the understated character of traditional Ontario farmhouses, historically clad in white-painted clapboard.' This creates a narrative between past and present and creates, what Buffey describes as a ‘subtle tension that feels both bold and restrained’.

Words such as 'bold' and 'restrained' could also extend to the environment, which posed the biggest challenge for the architects when designing the home. ‘Construction spanned two winter seasons, bringing relentless snowfall and drifting snow. Situated on a plateau at the crest of a hill, the site is exposed and often windy. Before the structure was enclosed, snow had to be cleared from the interior repeatedly, only to blow back in with each wind squall,’ says Buffey.

Regardless, the team prevailed, their efforts resulting in a cosy cabin-like home. Inside the residence, the open kitchen with a harvest table acts as a social area, bookmarked by a built-in pantry and library wall.

However, it is the main living space which is Buffey’s favourite area. Located beneath the gabled roof, the long windows invite light, which animates the interior. Buffey tells Wallpaper*: ‘It provides a space of mental stillness, where everything feels inevitable, effortless, and deeply human.

‘I want visitors to feel an immediate sense of intimacy and belonging – like a warm embrace. The architecture is meant to dissolve rather than impress; it invites presence. Light is choreographed to move quietly through the spaces, revealing subtle textures and framing views of the surrounding landscape. There’s a balance of precision and warmth where beauty inspires an experience that I hope makes people feel both uplifted and grounded.’

akb.ca

Enter the Costa Rican jungle, and Studio House

Štěpánová describes the project as a ‘simple yet spatially rich residence that creates unique moments at every turn – [it is] born from the harmony of architecture and place…. visually and spatially open yet wrapped in a green mantle that protects its intimacy and fragility.’ The 125 square metre project was designed as her own permanent home, as well as serving as a ‘seasonal retreat’ for friend and partner Karel Vančura.

With such a personal project, the architect had scope to experiment, starting with the structure that anchors the two-structure structure into the sloping site. By raising the upper floor living area above a compact ground floor, the house appears to float above the greenery – the small footprint required by the foundations preserved nearby mature trees.

The entrance is on the upper floor, leading from a terrace into a long open plan kitchen, dining and living area aligned north-south. To the south is the ocean, with a terrace opening out from the living space. There’s also space to sit out on the flat roof, and the remote jungle setting and less stringent safety regulations has enabled the architects to do away with any balustrades or railings, keeping the view unobstructed.

Whilst the other openings in the living room have sliding panels of glass, the south-facing window is completely open to the elements. ‘A living scene, shifting with every moment of the day, flows through the house and merges back into the surrounding jungle,’ says Štěpánová , ‘All present jungle, air, sound, and light awaken all senses, dissolving the boundaries between interior and exterior. Instead of a passive observer looking through a window, one becomes a part of it.’

The monumental kitchen counter is formed from poured concrete, a technique that has also been used to create the generous in situ barbeque on the east terrace, where it stands like a small architectural barrier against the dense jungle.

From this terrace, a staircase made from folded Corten steel leads to the roof, whilst another stair leads down to the triangular 10m infinity pool, which tapers to a point as the vegetation takes over.

On the lower floor are two identical cell-like bedrooms, alongside a bathroom (tucked beneath the entrance platform) and a store and utility space. There’s another terrace here, leading directly to the pool – this is the only access way to the bedrooms.

Inside, furnishings are minimal with an emphasis on hard-wearing materials that will wear and patinate over time. Štěpánová has included paintings by artists Josef Achrer Jr and Lukáš Musil, along with textiles from Prague-based Studio Geometr.

The new house is located on the same plot as Achioté, Formafatal’s earlier pair of Costa Rican retreats.

Formafatal.cz

Inside the Bengaluru Villa 1374, an urban oasis

Bengaluru is an amalgamation of urbanisation and greenery. Developments and buildings have cascading plants hanging from balconies, while large gardens remain at the heart of many residences. As urban density increases and daily living space decreases, The Purple Ink Studio believes it is integral to not only preserve existing pockets of greenery but reimagine nature’s role in urban living. The architects ask the question: 'Can the home itself become a vessel for nature?'

Villa 1374 is a response to this. Nestled into a northern Bengaluru plot, which is surrounded by wide streets lined with trees, the residence takes on a monolithic form. The solid base anchors the home, while curved upper layers and staggered volumes provide a softness to the design.

Inside, the social spaces flow into each other, with gardens tucked into the fabric of the home. The interior plays with light and shadow, with soft furnishings paying homage to local craftsmanship.

The architects carefully chose materials which will age gracefully in time, while creating a textural palette throughout. The hues are earthy – think, stones, charcoal and neutrals – while warmth is added through terracotta and bespoke furniture.

The home acts as a cosy cocoon. The staircase unfolds in layers, with corridors interconnecting with each other. Upstairs, a swimming pool and entertainment areas make the most of the highest level of the home, with a welcoming openness.

What anchors the project is its crafted landscape. The Purple Ink Studio wanted to make sure the villa is in constant harmony with its surroundings, and that the greenery would act like a ‘quiet companion' to daily life. In the clients’ previous home, plants were central in their lives. Using this existing, mature collection, along with new flora, the architects created a personal urban oasis.

thepurpleinkstudio.com

Kundig, a principal/owner and founder of Seattle-based practice Olson Kundig, has spent some 40 years perfecting the art of creating the ideal home, starting with a series of cosy cabins in the US before building on six continents. He’s received some of the world’s highest design honours, and features in our very own Wallpaper* 400 as one of the key talents shaping creative America.

Explore 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses'

The new book, by editor Dung Ngo, offers a deep dive into a world of beautifully thought-through, light-filled spaces, and shines a light on the architect’s approach, which combines continual exploration, risk-taking and reinvention.

‘Residential work is where my architecture practice began and continues to evolve,’ says Kundig. ‘Each home is a chance to test an idea, refine a detail, or take a risk. This book is a moment of reflection in my practice, an attempt to capture something that is always in motion.’

Ngo first met Kundig in 2006 to work on the architect’s first monograph, Tom Kundig: Houses. A ‘modest but impactful’ book, it contained all the houses Kundig had worked on until then – about 50 projects. Twenty years later, the architect’s output has mushroomed to over 460 residential projects.

All are featured in this new volume, which includes a detailed chronology of the projects, with 38 homes explored in depth, and 12 previously unseen completed homes. It is bound in vibrant cloth with an embossed architectural sketch, and housed in a slipcase featuring project photography.

‘For me, it’s simple: an extraordinary house actively embraces whatever the context is outside the doors and windows, in a beautifully choreographed, poetic way, so you break down that wall between the outside and the inside,’ explains Kundig to Ngo in one of a series of interviews included in the book.

‘It means the house should be a sculpture you walk through, that feels as if it’s connected to the outside,’ he continues. ‘It should be a much larger experience than just the perimeter of the place.’

This is certainly the case in projects such as The Pierre, a retreat nestled into a rocky outcrop in the San Juan Islands near Vancouver; a teak tree house offering treetop views of the surrounding jungle in Costa Rica; or Maxon Studios in Washington, which sits on railroad tracks that allow it to be moved.

The monograph will be followed by a companion volume in 2027, Tom Kundig: Complete Works, which will trace the influence of the architect’s residential designs on his other projects.

Discover this Krakow house

‘The House in White’ is located in Wola Justowska, known for being one of the most popular residential districts of Krakow. Playfully known as the city’s Beverly Hills, the neighbourhood balances the urban with green space and a woodland park.

The architects wanted to combine a modern form with environmentally friendly solutions. They looked at the form of the region's typical urban villa as the foundation of their design, adopting a flat roof and a uniform white volume. The building evolved from there, the architects playing with shape and texture, and adding dynamism to the façade.

The primary material used was concrete. The white cement's forms were shaped by 'chiselling away' the archetypal cube's layers. Further concrete details found in sills, overhangs, and cornices bring visual intrigue to the building.

The residence comprises an upper floor featuring a carefully composed, 'concave lens-shaped form', say the architects, and recessed ground-floor terraces. Throughout the whole building, the attention to detail is evident, from the carved concrete surfaces to the façade lines and the flooring of the terraces.

The architects were equally conscious of environmental concerns. When planning the design, UCEES made sure that all existing trees on the plot were preserved. The team also emphasised sustainability through material use, for example, going for TioCem cement, which removes nitrogen oxides from polluted air.

The resulting single-family house is a captivating case study of what happens when brutalist materialities meet contemporary concerns, resulting in an urban villa full of visual intrigue.

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This entrance level also houses the bedrooms and home office, with the three primary suites orientated south across the garden to the lake view beyond. Guest accommodation is located adjacent to the hallway. On descending the cantilevered entrance staircase, one arrives in the main living area, a large open-plan space with a glazed sliding wall that opens up a covered outdoor space adjoining the pool.

The views are orientated towards the horizon, with service areas and staff quarters also located on this floor. The broad patio and pool run the width of the house, alongside a staircase that descends the sloping garden. Another external staircase runs alongside the house, hugging the edge of the plot.

Beneath the pool there’s a changing area, sauna and gym overlooking the garden, making the most of the steep gradient. This arrangement, which raises the pool up above the landscape as it drops away puts the water on the same level as the tree tops, inviting reflections and ‘amplifying the sense of suspension that defines the house,’ according to the architects.

The house is made from structural concrete, with shuttering patterns left exposed and contrasting with the delicate hardwood timber screens and slats that create privacy and transformation for the exterior façades in addition to adding warmth to the interiors. ‘Casa Cedro is more than a residence,’ say the architects, ‘it is an immersion into the landscape and a poetic dialogue between architecture, nature and materiality.’

Fernanda Padula & Juliana Risso, FernandaPadula.com, @fefepadula, @julianarissoarq

The project, a mixed-use scheme for St William (part of the Berkeley Group), has a difficult balance to achieve. It has to provide new homes for a demanding, design-savvy clientele (likely a mix of locals looking to upgrade and London enthusiasts after a bolthole in the UK capital); create a sense of place out of a site which has long been underused and impenetrable to the public; and ensure the large chunk of land it occupies weaves seamlessly into its much loved, lived in, east London surroundings. Not an easy feat, perhaps, for a newly built project – yet one which the architects at RSHP took on with enthusiasm.

Tour the apartments at Regent's View

The relatively large-scale project occupies the site of a long-decommissioned set of large Victorian gasholders, and will comprise five volumes (two within the refurbished gasholder structures, and three entirely new ones) and an open green park for both residents and the wider local community to enjoy. Retail spaces on the ground level will add amenities to the neighbourhood, and a part of the canalside walk, previously closed off to the public, will now be accessible to all. The wider development is set to add 555 new homes to the area – some privately owned, some affordable, in a mix of rentals and apartments for sale.

The Wright Building is the first of the five residential buildings on the 4.5-acre site to complete – and visitors were allowed in for a first tour this week. A range of apartments, from one- to three-bedrooms, are available to experience, featuring interiors by studio MAWD.

Different apartment typologies ensure character-rich layouts and lots of outdoor space, which lends a sense of place and identity to the interiors. Balconies, which are set back into the façade, not only maintain the building's overall circular-inspired shape but also protect the outdoor areas from excess sun or rain, depending on the season, while offering long vistas of typical London skylines – including the City and Canary Wharf.

Craig Miles, managing director at St William, said at the launch: 'The completion of the first buildings at Regent’s View is a major milestone and exciting next step for the development. With our first residents soon to follow and the painstakingly restored gasholders in the process of being reinstalled, our vision for this iconic site is coming to fruition. Our first in-situ show homes perfectly encapsulate how life in the development could look for future residents.'

Regent's View's Wright Building is welcoming residents from November 2025, while the next phase, the Westwood Building, is due to be completed in spring 2026

berkeleygroup.co.uk

rshp.com

Tour Brick House by RLDA Studio

‘The inspiration behind the project was to use a basic building material to create an architectural and climatic context on a semi-rural site,’ explains Rahoul Singh, who co-founded RLDA Studio alongside Lakshmi Chand Singh, who also co-designed Brick House. ‘Brick, with its deep connection to India’s material history and craft tradition, was an obvious choice — it ages well, has tactile richness, and carries vernacular resonance.'

'The design draws from this tradition while using form, brick patterns, trellises, and courtyards to respond to climate through cooling, shade, and ventilation. It creates spaces that shift with light and time, balancing solidity with dynamism. Rooted in its site of trees, topography, and orientation, the house continues the long historical continuum of brick building across geographies.’

The residence’s four volumes consist of a circular guard room, a cubic pump room and two residential blocks. The façade offers different wall typologies, creating an intriguing visual character through the use of distinct and varied brick coursing. Inside the home, four courtyards break up the space. A kitchen overlooks the swimming pool, which is situated between the two residential blocks, set underneath an overhead trellis.

This pronounced, intricate brickwork is unusual, and it took some discussion for everyone to get on board, Singh tells us: ‘The project faced several challenges, from construction complexities to the difficulty of sourcing bricks of consistent quality. The greatest challenge, however, lay in convincing people of the expressive potential of brick — that it could embody a contemporary language while also creating a kind of ‘wall art’ and functioning as a shading device to keep the walls cool during Delhi’s hot summer months.’

The brick layering is at its densest at the base of the building. It gets more sparse as it rises; this is to emphasise the building's height, while also responding to the position of the sun, creating different patterns which evolve throughout the day. The shadow the brickwork casts is the architect’s favourite design element.

‘The spatial layout of the house, together with the use of brick and elements like trellises, responds directly to the movement of the sun,’ says Singh. ‘As a result, the façades are in constant flux, and the image of the building is never static.’

rldastudio.com

However, the clients, a couple with two children, were captivated by the tranquillity of the site and decided to make it their permanent residence. Shukl decided to blend craft and comfort, creating a home with spaces which had distinct functions.

‘The original idea was to work with bricks and experiment with some bold forms,’ explains the architect and founder. ‘Way back in 2011, during the third semester of my Bachelor of Architecture program at CEPT, I had done a studio project wherein I was exploring vaults as roofs.'

'That came back to me this time and we proposed a plan that had three vaults, each comprising the day-to-day functions that form the basis of modern-day living: an open dining and kitchen space, a living room and a library.’

The position of the residence allows abundant northern light to illuminate, while on the south side, strategic openings bring in warm winter sun on cooler days. Westerly winds provide natural ventilation ensuring a gentle flow of breeze through the home.

Although Teen Vaults has a bold architectural language, the residence feels anything but austere. Grounded in honest materiality, the home boasts brick walls and concrete vaults, as well as terrazzo floors with subtle colour and solid teak furniture with brass accents.

Design touches include a sculptural folded concrete staircase and a delicately strung wooden-bead railing, which leads to the upper floor. Softening the concrete elements is the courtyard at the heart of the home, planted with fragrant frangipani and tulsi.

For Shukl, the aim was to create a space for anyone to feel like they have come home, as she says: ‘The forecourt welcomes one with a dense, lush plantation centred around a bunch of mango and frangipani trees with a meek stone walkway that leads to the entrance courtyard. A black granite Nandi idol subtly gestures towards the lattice gate.'

‘The open sky entrance courtyard is the first space one encounters after passing through the gate. Centred around a frangipani tree and a ceremonial tulsi planter, the courtyard is bookended by the mandir (temple) on one side and the main door of the house on the other. Once one enters the house, they know they are finally at home.’

vaissnavishukl.com

Danish modernist houses: a brief history

The development of modernism in Denmark, and indeed wider Scandinavia, followed the movement's spread across France, Germany, the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia. The strong presence of Nordic classicism in the region in the first decades of the 20th century, and its use of brick, gradually shifted to more modern styles, as highlighted, for instance, in the work of Peder Vilhelm Jensen Klint (his Grundtvig's Church in Bispebjerg, completed in 1940, is an example). Modern expressions continued to evolve in the works of architects such as Kay Fisker, Wilhelm Lauritzen, Arne Jacobsen, Frits Schlegel and Mogens Lassen – and houses were a key component of this change.

During the 1930s, Danish functionalism was fully developed into the specific regional form often referred to as 'Funkis'. At that time, Jacobsen, Schlegel and Lassen started experimenting with replacing brick masonry with the white volumes of Le Corbusier's 'machines for living'. When the growing popularity of the country's vernacular-influenced structures marked a return to designing with bricks, wood and glass in abstracted horizontal forms in the postwar era, homes also evolved into what soon became the typical expression of the golden age of Danish 20th-century architecture. The genre, combining modernist architecture principles with warmth, tactility and a communion with nature, remains popular to this day. One of the movement's last living representatives, architect and designer Knud Holscher, passed away in June 2025.

Three Danish modernist houses to explore

Our contributor, architecture historian Adam Štěch, recently travelled to Copenhagen to document the late Knud Holscher’s groundbreaking house. The trio of homes below (one of which is Holcher's) pays homage to 20th-century Danish modernism and its contribution to residential architecture. The examples here showcase different approaches and the breadth found in the work of Danish modernist architects and their house designs.

Oscar Alfred Borum House (1930/31)

Frits Schlegel was one of the first architects in Denmark to use poured-in-situ concrete to build houses, as well as public buildings. Born in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, in 1896, Schlegel was an instrumental figure in early 20th-century Danish architecture's transition from traditional to modern forms. Between 1916 and 1923, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and later worked for Danish modernist pioneers Edward Thomsen and Gudmund Nyeland Brandt.

While he worked with brick for an early project, the house for a judge and professor of Law at the University of Copenhagen, Schlegel moved to concrete later on. He set up his own studio in 1934 and mastered his concrete skills in the iconic Mariebjerg Chapel in 1936; the Girafe House in Copenhagen Zoo in 1939; and a private house at Bernstorffsvej 17 in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen.

Between 1930 and 1931, Schlegel designed the Oscar Alfred Borum House as a low cubic two-storey home, highlighting its horizontal form with roof overhangs and adjacent volumes. Schlegel’s design was influenced by the Dutch architecture of the time, most notably by Willem Marinus Dudok, and the organic approach of American Frank Lloyd Wright. Stepping through the main entrance, the interior is still kept in its authentic, pristine condition. Large windows bring enough light into the hallway, which features the original geometric handrails and stairs.

Schlegel designed most of the furniture and other interior elements from scratch. Gold-coloured tiles cover a free-standing fireplace in the middle of the living room, and three steps lead to the dining room, which is dominated by a wooden table featuring marquetry that represents an abstract map of the nearby streets, including a portrait of the house itself. Originally, the walls were covered with floral wallpaper. In 1934, Shlegel returned to his work and changed an open veranda into an enclosed winter garden.

Iver and Kirstine Jespersen House (1938)

Just like Frits Schlegel, architect Mogens Lassen – and his brother Fleming – was among the pioneers of Danish modernism. Lassen was born in 1901 into the artistic family of painters. He also studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Arts before working in various architecture studios, including the one run by functionalist Tyge Hvass. An important milestone in his career was his stay in Paris between 1927 and 1928, where he worked for the Danish construction company Christiani & Nielsen.

During his stay, he came across the work of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, which had a huge influence on his later work. As a result, Lassen designed several private houses during the 1930s using concrete and Le Corbusier’s construction principles, including pilotis, roof terraces, strip windows, and open-plan living spaces. Influenced by the rise of more organic approaches in architecture at the end of the 1930s, Lassen designed Iper Iversen House, one of the most imaginative and playful Danish modernist structures.

Built for publisher Iver Jespersen and his wife, psychologist Kirstine, the house completes a row of modernist dwellings on Sølystvej Street. For the Iver and Kirstine Jespersen House, Lassen divided the structure into volumes of different shapes and connected them, following the curve of the gently sloping site. Each of the three main volumes has a different roof, from flat to pitched and vaulted, and covers different zones and functions of the house.

The main living area sits beneath the sloping roof and opens up as a double-height, flowing space. In reality, the living and dining rooms are divided spatially by a simple, streamlined suspended staircase, reminiscent of a ship ladder. Organic features are also seen throughout, such as in a beautifully curved brick fireplace. In 1947, Jespersens commissioned designer Finn Juhl to create a series of furniture pieces for the house, including a free-form coffee table and a curved built-in sofa. The house, which is a protected historical monument, is now for sale.

Knud Holscher House (early 1970s)

At the end of June 2025, Denmark bid farewell to one of its last great modernists: architect and industrial designer Knud Holscher, who passed away peacefully in the house he designed for himself in the early 1970s. Born in 1930, Holscher trained under some of the most influential figures of Danish modernism, including Erik Christian Sørensen and Arne Jacobsen. In 1960, he joined Jacobsen’s office and, two years later, moved to England to oversee the construction of St. Catherine’s College. Upon returning to Copenhagen, he became a partner at the renowned architecture firm Krohn & Hartvig Rasmussen (KHRAS).

During this period, he designed his own home in Holte, north of Copenhagen – a project that would become both personal retreat and design manifesto. The house is a study in refined simplicity. Two long brick walls embrace an open, double-height living space, creating both shelter and direction. At one end, a full-height glass façade opens the room to the pond and garden, dissolving the boundary between house and landscape. A glass façade opening guides the gaze toward a tranquil pond and garden.

In the home, Holscher’s dual passions for architecture and industrial design merge seamlessly. Exposed brick walls contrast with crisp white tile surfaces, while metal stairs and handrails create a sense of lightness. The stainless-steel kitchen counters and sleek aluminium cabinetry add a cool, crisp quality to the interiors, reflecting Holscher’s dedication to functional elegance.

In 1995, at the age of 65, Holscher founded his own industrial design studio, further cementing his legacy as one of Denmark’s most prolific designers. He also taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he became a professor of design in 1994, consistently championing a holistic ethos of 'good design' – whether for a building or a teacup. Today, his house stands as a testament to his well-rounded approach to design, a minimalist celebration of everyday life, and a reminder of the enduring strength of his vision.

To ensure you don’t miss a thing – and to showcase the scope of residential architecture today – we’ve launched a new monthly series: The Architecture Edit. Each instalment will highlight our favourite houses of the month: buildings that demonstrate creative planning, innovative methods and, of course, aesthetic excellence.

A Neutra landmark

Perched in the Pacific Palisades, this landmark of Californian modernism went on the market in September. It was designed by Richard Neutra in 1948 for Arts & Architecture magazine’s Case Study Houses programme – an experimental post-war housing initiative. Neutra’s only contribution to the series embodies midcentury ideals with natural materials like birchwood and mahogany, and encompasses forward-thinking features including a prefabricated utility core for plumbing and heating. The original owners lived here for over five decades, commissioning additions such as a guest house, but the property retains its original finishes, integrated glazing and indoor-outdoor flow. Located near Will Rogers Beach and the Eames Foundation, Case Study House #20 presents a rare opportunity to own an authentic piece of Neutra’s legacy and California’s architectural history.

A midcentury gem

The Norton House by Buff, Straub & Hensman – key figures in Southern California’s postwar residential boom – has also come on the market. Built in a wooded gully in Pasadena in 1954, the house exemplifies the era’s lightweight, nature-integrated architecture: it features terraces, decks and bridges suspended over a central stream, while a post-and-beam Douglas fir structure enables open-plan living. Finally, large glass panels flood the space with light and frame woodland views. Still-present original details include cork flooring, built-in seating, and a concrete block fireplace that separates living spaces. While the kitchen has been updated, the home retains its authentic midcentury character.

A cottage transformation

The Black and Stone project by London-based Mallett reimagines a derelict 1930s farmer’s cottage in Perthshire, combining heritage conservation with contemporary design. Rather than demolish, the team restored the stone shell before inserting a new timber-framed structure inspired by Norwegian hytter (cabins). The dark-stained larch exterior contrasts with the pale original stone, while salvaged material has been repurposed – most notably in a kitchen feature wall – and existing window openings realigned to frame key views. The former three-room cottage has been transformed into a four-bedroom family home, blending rugged Scottish charm with modern architectural sensibilities.

A clifftop retreat

Casa Piscina del Cielo, a dramatic coastal retreat by Zozaya Arquitectos, is perched high above the Pacific near Zihuatanejo. The private residence includes two bedrooms, a guest wing, and multiple indoor-outdoor living zones – from a cinema and gym to breezy lounges. The showstopper is a 27m-long pool that extends over the cliff edge, with a transparent floor panel giving swimmers the surreal experience of floating above the ocean. The home is carved into native rock, with a palapa-thatched roof and lush landscaping. Inside, the open-plan layout connects directly to the pool terrace, offering sweeping sea views and a profound sense of place.

A Le Corbusier icon

Though it was snapped up quickly, a duplex apartment in Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille recently hit the market – offering a rare glimpse inside one of the 20th century’s most important Brutalist buildings, now a Unesco World Heritage site (Wallpaper* was also recently invited to meet residents in their homes). Completed between 1947 and 1952, the building is based on Le Corbusier’s 'modulor' system – a scale of proportions derived from the human body and the golden ratio. This 100 sq m, two-bedroom unit spans two levels, with an open-plan living and dining space illuminated by a glazed façade. The current owners have embraced Le Corbusier’s signature palette, using primary-coloured panels on walls and doors.

A concrete sanctuary

Stealth House by Apollo Architects is an enigmatic residence in Tokyo defined by its monolithic concrete exterior – which conceals a surprisingly lush and luxurious retreat. Designed with privacy and security in mind, the home features an expansive infinity pool and terrace that flow from the main living area. Inside, the design embraces Japanese minimalism with airy volumes and refined materials. A built-in garage accommodates eight cars, with a dedicated car lounge that doubles as a gallery, while the basement is home to a gym, golf room and karaoke lounge, all lit by a sunken courtyard.

A coastal monolith

Designed by McLean Quinlan, Bay House is a robust and elegant modern home nestled into the North Devon coastline. Curving gently along the site’s natural contours, the structure blends into its landscape with a resilient, monolithic presence. Clad in Dorset Purbeck stone, the 550 sq m residence unfolds over three levels, with expansive windows and balconies framing views of sea and farmland. The design prioritises energy efficiency, featuring high-performance insulation, airtight construction, a ground source heat pump, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and photovoltaic solar panels. The result is a rugged yet refined residence, blending environmental consciousness with contemporary design.

Discover the Mountain Residence by Nelson Chow

The location offers views across Hong Kong's fabled skyline, but Chow was more interested in creating an interior landscape that could hold its own. His approach centred on what he calls ‘a harmonious blend of functionality, nature-inspired serenity, and bespoke luxury’, though the reality is more nuanced than that description suggests. ‘We eliminated sharp corners to ensure safety for the elderly, while muted, warm tones foster a profoundly calming atmosphere,' he explains, revealing how practical concerns often drive the most elegant solutions.

Italian travertine anchors the material palette, appearing on tables, walls, columns, and even door handles with a level of consistency that might read as effortless, but required considerable coordination. ‘By committing to a singular stone throughout the public spaces, we needed to have meticulous customisation at every turn,’ Chow notes, adding that warm teak wood cabinetry provides textural contrast.

The most complex element in the whole home proved to be the kimono-inspired TV cabinet-slash-fireplace whose intricate, three-dimensional organic screens glide apart seamlessly, a feat of precision engineering resolved through close collaboration with specialised fabricators. When closed, the screens create a warm, gallery-like atmosphere that the client prefers for entertaining. ‘This centrepiece reflects the family's cultural interests while solving, quite poetically, I feel, the perennial problem of concealing technology,’ Chow says.

The client's aversion to visible metal mullions, ubiquitous in modern construction, especially in Hong Kong, led to another intervention: all vertical elements are wrapped in rounded teak or travertine, creating what Chow describes as ‘a soft, inviting tactility’.

Meanwhile, the furniture selection reads like an address book of international design, including a coffee table from May Galerie in Paris, sculptural lighting by Achille Salvagni Atelier’s London outpost, wall sconces from Holly Hunt in Chicago, and seating from Cassina in Milan. Each piece was chosen to create what Chow calls ‘a pristine, thoughtfully assembled ensemble’.

Sustainability considerations run deeper than surface gestures, a feature enhanced by a design aesthetic inspired by wabi-sabi principles of imperfection and longevity. Bamboo fibre carpet replaces silk, while the bespoke paint comprises over 95 per cent travertine stone, providing durability against mountain humidity. 'Sustainability is a cornerstone of our practice,' Chow says. ‘We express it through considered material selection as we prioritise natural, durable elements like travertine and bamboo that will age gracefully while minimising environmental impact.’

For Chow, the living room encapsulates the project's success. ‘It’s my favourite space, especially because of the fireplace and TV cabinet. It's the heart of the home. I really feel its graceful lines allow the panoramic skyline views to also share centerstage.’ The design serves as a visual stamp that reflects the broader philosophy of his studio, which he describes as ‘a blend of understated elegance, meticulous materiality, and narrative-driven functionality’.

In every sense, Mountain Residence represents Chow’s commitment to creating spaces that feel ‘timeless, personal, and deeply connected to their context’.

Clearly, it’s a commitment that resonates, as his practice, which the University of Waterloo alum set up in 2011, continues expanding. The next six months will see the completion of the new Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hangzhou, a luxury residential renovation in Hong Kong, and a flagship mall in Dubai, each project reinforcing his commitment to immersive harmony – spaces, like the Mountain Residence, where architecture, furnishings, lighting, and art dovetail with such pleasing results.

The project began when the design firm’s founders, longtime friends and business partners Miroslava Brooks and Daniel Markiewicz, purchased a nine-acre lot with a central clearing in Hillsdale, two hours north of New York City. Both were renting in the city and dreamed of an off-grid sanctuary. True to their designer’s spirit, they placed the distinctive form squarely in the middle of the wooded lot.

Conceived as a weekend escape, the ‘House on a Hill’ journey from vision to reality spanned five years. Originally planning a larger home, Brooks and Markiewicz faced soaring construction costs and labour shortages amid the pandemic, forcing them to rethink the project entirely. Over two years, they developed two completely new house plans before settling on the final design.

The result is a compact, uniquely configured home that exemplifies Forma’s signature approach: deliberate architectural planning, typological exploration, and a touch of whimsy. Sitting on a modest 700 sq ft footprint, the vertical layout minimises foundation costs without compromising liveability or aesthetics.

Carved from cedar, the home presents as a striking black cube, yet its architectural character shifts as you move around it. On the west side, vertical window alignments and wood siding create a sleek façade, while the east side reveals angled ‘legs’, pentagon-shaped windows, and slanted planks that open into the surrounding landscape. A covered ground-level deck appears carved from the structure itself.

The dark-stained exterior contrasts with warm, inviting interiors, consisting of three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a double-height living room which floods the space with natural light and frames views of the Catskills and the Berkshires. Ensuite bedrooms are stacked on the west side for privacy, while the living and dining areas – which feature a brilliant contemporary fireplace – sit with a north-facing kitchen.

The House on a Hill is a testament to the power of design ingenuity in the face of real-world challenges, and a captivatingly discordant addition to the land it inhabits.

Step inside The Sanctuary

The site is impressive, with far-reaching views across the valley to Stawamus Chief Mountain, a 700m peak rising up above the Howe Sound beyond. Notched into the slope, with granite outcrops forming part of the terrace and rear elevation, thanks to clever structural engineering by Natural Balance, The Sanctuary serves as a frame for the ever-changing spectacle of nature.

Inside, the architects have arranged nearly 4,000 square feet of accommodation as a series of volumes that twist and turn to reveal a new vista on every level. The focus has also been turned on the wellness of the occupants, with a design brief that rejected man-made and synthetic materials in favour of natural solutions.

According to the architects, ‘every material was considered for its effect on both body and environment.’ This includes halogen lighting specially calibrated to daylight cycles and an advanced air and water system that uses passive cooling.

No detail was too small, from the way the porcelain tiles have been left unsealed to the calming palette of natural materials, including white oak joinery, hemlock-lined ceilings, stone floors, and linen drapes.

The house, which was completed in 2019, is described as a sanctuary by the original clients. For them, life in the house could be broken down into a series of simple rituals, from growing herbs and vegetables for cooking, to using the outdoor pizza oven or saltwater tub and shower. There’s even a meditation room.

The Sanctuary sits on a steep quarter acre site, with landscaping design undertaken by BattersbyHowat’s own design team. Many of the included furnishings were custom designed for the project, including the sofa by Cloth Studio and lighting by Davide Groppi. David Battersby and Heather Howat set up their studio in 1996. It has won a number of national design awards, with a focus on private residences and cultural spaces.

The Sanctuary is for sale via West Coast Modern, $6,850,000, WestCoastModern.ca, @WestCoastModernHomes, BattersbyHowat.com, @BattersbyHowat

Discover Upstate São Paulo house Casa MM by Equipe Lamas

‘Casa MM begins with the residents’ wish for a single-level, welcoming home. The design looks to the cultural landscape of São José do Rio Pardo, where ceramic-tiled roofs, balanced proportions and natural materials shape a collective memory,’ explains practice founder and architect, Samuel Lamas.

‘These elements are reimagined in a contemporary way, for example, laminated eucalyptus beams spanning 16m, a gabled roof, and a palette of stone, wood and clay that echoes the city’s oldest constructions. The house extends this memory into the present, affirming both continuity with the landscape and its own contemporary identity.’

Lamas was careful to make sure the proposal did not mindlessly replicate the past, but rather created a thoughtful dialogue by being rooted in local identity. His goal is demonstrated through form, material, and a careful reinterpretation of traditional construction. The result is a light contemporary pavilion, resting on a base of São Tomé stone.

Lamas found it a challenge to work on the steeply angled corner plot as it ‘demanded a synthesis of programme and topography.’ However, with the incorporation of the stone base, the house is anchored to its site. At the same time, this gesture helped accommodate service spaces and secured the terrain. This solid-feeling foundation also creates a juxtaposition against the structural lightness of the timber pavilion atop.

The main volume sits under a gabled roof. Leading up to it, a side ramp completes the sequence and acts as a path that guides visitors to a tropical garden filled with native vegetation.

All bedrooms face north and are protected by movable freijó wood screens. They open up into a veranda with garden views. Variations in ceiling height add layers of visual intrigue to the space. The floors are finished in terrazzo, while in bedrooms, peroba wood flooring lends warmth.

The veranda, which overlooks the pool, acts as a transitional living space, merging indoor and outdoor lifestyles. ‘The veranda distils the essence of Casa MM,’ says Lamas. ‘It is both centre and threshold, where interior and exterior dissolve, where domestic life extends into the garden, and where shade, breeze and water compose an atmosphere of continuity. It embodies the meeting of tradition and modernity, transforming construction into lived experience.’ Through this space, visitors will find a bathroom to the right, a kitchen, and an office, while to the left lies a living room, two suites and the primary bedroom with a walk-in closet.

Casa MM is a fusion of comfort and a sense of place, rooted in the culture and the location that inspires it, as Lamas says: ‘The atmosphere is that of an oasis of intimacy within a residential setting. The experience conveys serenity and belonging, as if [you are] entering a place rooted in the city’s memory yet expressed in a contemporary voice.’

equipelamas.com

Explore this Islington house by Emil Eve Architects

Headed by Ross and Emma Perkin, Emil Eve Architects is a deft hand at residential redesigns – its Aden Grove house winning the 2024 Don't Move, Improve Home of the Year category for its space-saving, impactful yet highly functional refresh. This new project required some smart thinking, too.

The Islington house project maximises the small footprint's potential by 'swapping the layouts of the ground and first floors, adding two new bathrooms, and creating outside space in the form of terraces to the front and back,' the architects explain.

This not only brought in plenty of light, but also created a generosity of space, including a wealth of nooks and wall space to host the owner's growing collection of objects and art. Items on display include Lino Sabattini silverware and paintings by Gino Gregori and Paul Verdell, as well as ‘Foglio’ wall lights, designed in the 1960s by Tobia Scarpa for Flos.

A minimalist look throughout, focusing on warm neutral colours, natural timber hues and pared-back decor, ensures nothing distracts from the pieces inside. Meanwhile, the composition creates a soft, cocooning interior that does not feel too stark.

Some complex spatial planning resulted in what might at first glance feel like a simple layout; there are living spaces on the ground floor, bedrooms upstairs (including a third, new one on the mezzanine) and a new terrace overlooking the neighbourhood's lush green gardens.

Community and entertaining were also important for the brief. The architects explain: '[The client] chose Islington for its village-y feel and ease of commute to his work. He comes from an Italian family, and his father is a chef, so having space for cooking and entertaining was important, in particular being able to host friends and family for sit-down meals.'

Under the auspices of lead architect Rogelio Vallejo Bores, along with the studio’s Oscar Didier Ascencio Castro and Nik Zaret Cervantes Ordaz, the Tao House emerges from this unlikely context with serenity and precision. Arranged across four levels, the house is defined by the curved concrete wall that encloses the site, leading towards the second level (or the first floor, in European parlance).

A drone's-eye view of the house showcases the carefully stage-managed geometry, with a circular planter screening the entrance from the street and the slim concrete wall rising up as it curves around. Tucked in behind it is a lightwell that serves the three en-suite bedrooms on the first level (at ground level).

The main living space is located on the upper level, which is defined as a large concrete box rising up above the curved wall. In addition to a double-height kitchen, dining and living space, top-lit by neatly defined high level windows, these concrete lined spaces also contain an upper gallery, complete with office and library area.

Designed for photographer and aesthete Gustavo Quiroz and Cynthia Rosaura Sandoval, the architects set out to shape a space that conjured up Quiroz’s memories of his childhood and the importance of light, space and material. ‘He grew up in a humble house made more of effort than of materials,’ the architects say, ‘[As a child, he lived] in Puerto Vallarta, a place on the Pacific coast of Mexico, where sun and humidity define the rhythm of the days, and where shade is not an accident, but a precious asset - a true refuge.’

To recapture these sensations and the important relationship with the sun and shade, light and dark, HW Studio have given the bedrooms a cave-like ambience, with the only illumination coming from the glazed wall looking into the lightwell. Even the basement has its own lightwell, while the carefully controlled lighting in the living area emphasises dark corners and hidden voids.

The architects have managed to treat the ‘concept of shade’ as an ‘emotional condition: a promise of calm, of breath, of silent protection against a clamorous world.’ Even the slender pool, set between two high concrete walls, reads as a hidden oasis tucked away from the sun.

Before commissioning the house, Quiroz and his young family undertook a significant trip to Japan, where they revelled in the ‘aesthetics of emptiness, compositional cleanliness, the stillness contained in every architectural gesture.’ According to HW Studio, part of the brief was to make them ‘feel as if we were living inside a Japanese museum.’

By placing all the service spaces, along with the bedrooms and garage, at the base of the house, the architects were able to give the social life of the structure its own discrete space, shielded from the street.

This insular series of spaces is defined by the curve of the wall, the carefully sited planting and the Zen Garden on the upper-level deck. ‘The elevated patios act as terraces for contemplation,’ say the architects, ‘small platforms from which to better breathe the scent of flowers and hear the murmur of wind among the treetops.’

The inner world of the bedrooms contrasts strongly with the more expansive living spaces, and even these only open themselves up to the exterior on their own terms; it’s a house that appears closed off from the neighbourhood, offering an invitation rather than a series of public facing statements. ‘Everything is arranged so that living happens in a slower, fuller way - more open to the invisible,’ say the architects.

The choice of concrete felt natural, and not just because of its link to serene Japanese houses. It was a way of avoiding dazzling sunlight, instead filtering rays through a soft, absorbent surface that doesn’t scatter light but shapes it. As a result, the restrained forms and shapes of the walls and cell-like rooms become more contemplative. ‘Every corner invites one to remain, not to pass through, and every shadow is a promise of well-being,’ according to HW Studio.

HW-Studio.com, @HWStudioarq

Step inside Norton House, now on the market

The house, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, is a true manifestation of the indoor-outdoor living experience delivered by Californian exponents of modernism. Built by the clients themselves, using a structure of Douglas fir, and supervised by the architects, the Norton House uses the classic post-and-beam approach, allowing for open-plan living areas and large expanses of glass.

The house contains four bedrooms and three bathrooms across 2,564 sq ft. Carefully sited terraces, decks and bridges shape the exterior, with the interior aligned to provide views across ornamental ponds, the stream and the trees beyond. Many of the original features survive, including cork flooring, built-in seating and the centrepiece concrete block fireplace that also serves as a room divider.

The main bedroom suite has its own access to the garden, along with an adjoining office area. Other elements have been updated, including the new kitchen but the overall feel of the house is remarkably true to the original vision of the architects and clients.

Buff, Straub & Hensman was established in the late 1940s by Conrad Buff III and Don Hensman, with Calvin Straub joining the firm later and ultimately leaving in 1961. It was a particularly rich era of residential design in Southern California, and the Buff, Straub & Hensman client list spanned film stars to politicians, from the actor Steve McQueen to Judge Sandra Day O'Connor.

The firm is best known for its house for graphic designer and filmmaker Saul Bass in Altadena, created as part of Art & Architecture’s Case Study Houses programme. Numbered #20B (not to be confused with Richard Neutra’s House #20 – also on the market), it demonstrated the use of prefabricated panels and post-and-beam construction and incorporated Bass’ own designs for tiled panels.

820 Burleigh Drive, Pasadena, CA 91105, $2,750,000, more details at GeorgePennerTeam.com

Tour a Spanish house designed to be touched

Barcelona-based architect Raúl Sánchez, who designed the house, explains: 'precisely because their work is so immaterial, they wanted their future house to be the opposite: material over immaterial, volume and mass over lightness, experience over immediacy. Accustomed to an environment where all that is solid melts into air, they longed for their home to provide not just shelter, but a tangible, physical experience.'

Titled ‘House at Cala Tamarit’, the home was designed between two parallel, reinforced concrete walls, orientated to make the most of large openings carved towards the sloped site's views. Visitors enter via a sunken entry courtyard, accessible by descending a cascading exterior staircase.

This moment of immersion is juxtaposed by the double-height ceilings of the main social spaces within, which offer a generous interior enriched by carefully selected design-led furniture and green vistas across the tree canopies.

Inside, solid block surfaces delineate different areas in the house in an otherwise flowing living space. Meanwhile, solid blocks within the floorplan are designed to contain storage, bathrooms, and the kitchen.

Sánchez describes his design as a 'play of contrasts', and it is easy to see why – the concrete's weighty nature feels light in the context of this home's flowing nature and cantilevers. The scale fluctuates between generous and intimate, according to each space's function, while opaque, textured walls are balanced by long, blue-and-green vistas.

The furniture populating the spaces is similarly carefully considered, comprising classics (for instance, by Carlo Scarpa, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Miguel Milá – all sourced through Fenix Originals) and contemporary design pieces by art-inspired creatives such as Maxime Halot and Alex Bellotti (represented by EastWest Space in Barcelona).

Art plays an important role too. Pieces by Francisco Suárez and Malgosia Jankowska (both from Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo gallery in Barcelona) adorn the walls, strategically adding a touch of colour to the otherwise fairly neutral-hued interior.

A rainwater harvesting system, a simple, locally sourced palette of materials and timber elements that reduce the use of concrete support the architect's environmental strategy. He elaborates on the home's sustainable architecture features: 'Much of the Portland cement was replaced with natural pozzolans; recycled aggregates were used in place of quarried stone; and superplasticisers were added to minimise cement usage. Additionally, the façade incorporates larch wood from sustainably managed forests.'

As a whole, the home exemplifies Sánchez's bold but at the same time elegantly composed and considered take on architecture – past residential works include Barcelona house BSP 20, and Casa Magarola, in the suburbs outside the Catalan capital.

Now you can own a key part of the architect’s oeuvre, a project that dovetails the work of émigré European modernists with the progressive and idealist American strain of residential design that emerged after the war.

This is 219 Chautauqua Blvd, better known as Case Study House #20. Neutra’s only entry into this seminal series of experimental residences, House #20 is located in the Pacific Palisades, one of 25 built as a result of Arts & Architecture magazine’s pioneering experimental programme, helmed by editor John Entenza.

Originally designed for the young dentist Dr Stuart Bailey and his wife June, the project was published in Arts & Architecture in 1947 and completed the following year. The Bailey family lived in the house for over 50 years and engaged Neutra to complete two additions to the house in 1950 and 1958, including the addition of a free-standing guest house.

After Dr Bailey sold the house at the turn of the century, it was acquired by the late architecture fan and TV producer Sam Simon, one of the co-developers of The Simpsons. Simon oversaw a substantial restoration, helmed by prominent local studio Marmol Radziner.

A second house was also built on the plot, creating a 1.5-acre compound. Following Simon’s death in 2015 house was bought by the owners of Australian active-wear brand Lorna Jane, and another round of updates followed, again courtesy of Marmol Radziner. After this period of ownership the compound was split in two.

The Bailey House is now available again, courtesy of realtors Compass. Offered fully furnished, the house sits on a prime lot above Will Rogers Beach State Park and practically adjoining the Eames Foundation. At just 1,849 square feet it’s modest by local standards.

Originally containing just two bedrooms, Neutra designed the house ‘to serve young parents who find they can afford just that much, although their land is large enough to add later when the evolution of their lives may require it,’ which is exactly what happened.

From the classic Californian arrangement of an entrance alongside a carport, the house immediately opens up into spacious living quarters, with sliding glass doors leading on to a patio. As originally built there were sea views to be had, but vegetation and other building gives the garden a more insular, enclosed feel.

Neutra also designed the house to incorporate a ‘pre-fabricated utility core,’ containing all plumbing and heating in a ready-made package. This places the kitchen and bathrooms in the heart of the house.

Neutra noted that the use of natural wood ‘would reduce later redecorating costs’, but today’s buyer will treat the expanse of blond birchwood and Costa Rican mahogany as definite plus points, not cost-saving measures. A built-in banquette in the living room, integral wardrobes and cupboards throughout and the careful integration of high and low-level windows into the bedrooms and kitchen infuse the house with light at all times.

More self-contained and insular than some of the other houses in the A&A series, House #20 is a rare opportunity to own a legendary part of California’s modernist legacy, as well as a work by one of the era’s most accomplished architects.

Neutra’s influence continues to be felt across all facets of contemporary house design, right down to the numbers on the door. Other key Neutra projects in the area include LA's Strathmore Apartments, the VDL House, the Josef Kun House #1 and the recently refurbished Lord House.

Case Study House #20, Richard Neutra, $10,500,000, More details at Compass.com

Inside Black and Stone: a reimagined farmer’s cottage

The project, now a family home titled Black and Stone, is located in Perthshire, a region also known as ‘Big Tree Country’ for its expansive woodlands.

Mallett set about reworking the stone cottage, which had long been abandoned, when a demolition and rebuild might have been a more obvious, and reliable, decision.

Yet, for Mallett’s design director, Simon Dickson, the road less travelled seemed the most intriguing option, as he explains: ‘Our overwhelming desire was to find a viable way to save as much as possible of the existing ruined cottage. It has such careful stone details and wonderful aspects.

‘The original house is a cut above other old farm cottages; the original designer created something considered and rather beautiful in an understated way. We wanted to respect that but create a new modern home with the space that contemporary living and sustainable design call for.’

Given the existing building's fragile nature, the architecture firm worked closely with the client, a structural engineer, the local authority and a team of skilled craftspeople. This shared effort enabled a careful balance between conservation and innovation, with locally sourced materials and traditional techniques.

Looking at the raw material honesty of Norwegian ‘hytte’ architecture (the simple, traditional Nordic cabin), the practice developed a modern twist on rural living. This began with the building of a timber-framed structure within the existing stone shell.

However, preserving the site’s historical character wasn’t easy, as Dickson explains: ‘Every change would require counter measures or repositioning of all internal walls, door and window openings and connections to the roof. It was a real challenge, but ultimately one that focused us and shaped the end building.’

The dark larch-wood façade provides a visually intriguing contrast to the building's original light stonework. In the interior, stones were painstakingly salvaged, cleaned, sorted by hand, and used for an internal feature wall in the kitchen.

On the ground floor, the windows are precisely positioned within the original openings, a detail which Dickson particularly enjoys highlighting: ‘We've aligned them perfectly behind the original stone openings, but a touch higher so you see more of the lintels above. Inside, it sets out the landscape beautifully; this thick stone border gives the appearance of a massive picture frame, perfectly capturing the view within. In the evening, as the light fades, there are soft lights that light up the stone from outside, and the sense of the old building really comes alive at dusk. ‘

Inside, the materiality is a textural palette of timber, stone and white walls, coupled with black accents and micro-cement flooring, creating a soothing and grounding environment. The goal for the architecture studio was to create a feeling of spaciousness, transforming the confines of an original three-roomed cottage into a generous four-bedroom house.

‘That shift was the challenge, and I think we feel happy as a practice that it delivers exactly that,’ shares Dickson. ‘With the large windows, flowing internal light and vaulted ceilings beneath the steep roofs, it really feels like a generous space. I hope that's what strikes people when they enter it, and enjoy the new mixed with old, as well as the stunning landscape views.’

mallett.uk.com

Tour this contemporary Cornwall retreat by De Rosee Sa

Clad in timber, the house is crafted in simple geometries and minimalist lines, featuring dark-framed openings which elegantly punctuate the facades. It comes as a pleasingly abstract iteration of local vernacular forms, while breaking down the home's overall volume, which spans a comfortable 335 sq m.

A garden made of wildflowers, grasses and Cornish stone creates a perfect, naturalistic landscape for the house to emerge from - ensuring it remains in tune with surrounding native plant life, and flowing organically down to the cliffside below.

Inside, similar themes prevail, with neutral colours and materials such as clay and lime paints, and wide oak boards dominating the interior – drawing directly from the region's overall palette. Surfaces are tactile and textures echo sand, stone and driftwood.

A sculptural limestone fireplace becomes a key feature in the main living space, with a large picture window drawing the eye out towards the long sea views on the other end of the room. Vaulted timber ceilings and rooflights ensure interiors feel spacious and natural light reaches every corner.

Beyond the main residential areas – living, kitchen and dining areas, and bedrooms – a series of additional spaces make sure the home is perfectly tailored to its residents' lifestyle. These include a cocoon-like snug, a bespoke bunk room, and space for changing and storage before and after surfing sessions.

Max de Rosee, who co-founded De Rosee Sa together with partner Claire Sa, says: 'The Cornish landscape is dramatic, and we wanted to celebrate that. The front door acts like a pause: plain, almost mute, until the sea takes over. Every key space is oriented to the view. Light and outlook were treated as materials in their own right, shaping how the interiors are experienced.'

'Timber-lined ceilings, clay and lime walls, natural oak - all chosen to create a tactile, breathable environment that feels made, not manufactured. By tucking the third floor into the roofline, we preserved the village scale while giving the family the space they needed. The result is a house designed for ease of living, comfort and longevity.'

Casa Piscina del cielo, a dramatic clifftop retreat on Mexico's Pacific Coast

The result was Casa Piscina del cielo, a generous home sprawled across 1,900 sq m, and including two generous bedrooms, an independent guest wing, several indoor and outdoor living spaces, a wealth of leisure rooms, such as a cinema and a gym, and supporting areas for storage and services. The star protagonist among them, however, is without a doubt the long, blue swimming pool that juts out of the main home and towards the ocean, strikingly hanging off the cliff.

The home was conceived to be woven into the cliff and green surroundings, ensuring it marks its presence with a few distinctive features, but at the same time feels unobtrusive from the mainland, and does not jar in its natural setting. The entrance emerges from the ground among native foliage, responding to the land's natural contours.

Walking through a central courtyard off the main entrance, visitors are guided into the heart of the home: an expansive living space, including a kitchen, dining area and terrace. It all sits under a palapa - a traditional Mexican roofing structure often made of palm leaves - leading to the pool deck and the 27-meter-long body of water looking out towards the horizon.

The architects, headed by practice founder Enrique Zozaya, write of the experience of standing on the pool deck: 'Through a window embedded in the pool’s floor, you can watch the waves crash against the cliffs below—creating the surreal sensation of floating, as if the sea and sky had merged beneath your feet.'

The relationship between indoors and outdoors is prominent throughout, offering both a sense of space and a connection with the elements in this part of the world, where the climate is pleasant almost year-round.

Landscape design by Taller Entorno is crucial in creating this feeling of effortless flow and in crafting the outdoors to both connect with the interior but also the wider environment. The architects explain: 'The landscaping reinforces the illusion that the house has always belonged here, that nature simply shaped itself around it.'

Sustainability was among the architects' considerations too, ensuring the house has passive heating, cooling and ventilation, uses environment-sensitive materials such as the palapa, and a water treatment plant for greywater recycles greywater for irrigation.

'This house does not merely occupy the land—it listens to it, interprets it, and elevates it,' the architects conclude.