This Swedish villa, on the country’s southern tip, is a soothing family home set within the coastal town of Höllviken, rich in vibrant Viking history. Designed by Johan Sundberg, architect and founder of his eponymous firm, the residence, titled Villa HDV, is a direct response to its context, boasting a hard-shell façade that, when peeled back, unveils a cosy core.

Step inside this Swedish villa with a cosy interior

The residence is defined by its inner courtyard, which houses a pool and is bordered by the living areas and a bedroom. However, the plot was deep and not especially large, which meant that finding enough room to create this sheltered space took careful planning.

Sundberg explains, ‘There was also the accumulated complexity of making the building work. It has many corners and a freeform upper floor, combining a timber frame with a concrete structure. A great deal of work went into the timber detailing of the roofs, eaves and pergolas, and into resolving the zinc details around the curved upper floor. It comes down to many small decisions and adjustments. This is a patient and sometimes tedious part of architecture, but I think it deserves attention: much of the quality of the finished house depends on work that you might never consciously notice.’

Using this as a foundation, the architect made sure that the residence was in constant dialogue with nature, while also balancing a sense of enclosure. The concept's core? A home as a secret retreat embraced by nature.

‘The plan has shifts in it that create more intimate places, and we worked with the gardens in the same way. I thought of the concrete exterior as a protective shell, almost like a tortoise, with a softer and more sensitive inside where the family spaces and gardens are,’ Sundberg tells Wallpaper*. ‘From early on, we also wanted the character to come from the materials themselves: concrete, natural stone and timber, with their different textures and the way they change over time.’

The interior of the residence feels like a relaxing exhale. Soft curves let the eye travel across the interior, inviting users to unwind with the residence's rhythm. Wooden walls and cabinetry envelop the kitchen, while a living room window – with a seating nook – frames the garden outside. The bedrooms’ soft geometries continue the building’s gentle aesthetic.

Sundberg notes that the client has already embraced bringing the outdoors in, integrating planting throughout, and the architect hopes that the building will one day be covered in vegetation.

‘There seems to be no limit to the feeling of home that can develop through that relationship. This has interested me since my first houses, but here the relationship with the garden is more developed, reaching into different spaces around the building,’ says Sundberg. ‘I’m particularly fond of the kitchen garden to the east, with its morning sun. Seeing the planting grow into the architecture, and the family continue that process, is perhaps the most satisfying part of the project.’

The overall feel of Villa HDV is one of relaxation, as Sundberg concludes: ‘The views, materials and movement between rooms should invite you to explore, while also giving you places where you simply want to sit and stay. For me, comfort and curiosity belong together in a house.’

johansundberg.com

It's an exciting time in London when a big player makes their debut – and the Park Hyatt Residences, sales of which launch today (23 September 2026), offer such a moment. The project, housed above the Park Hyatt Hotel, which opened in 2025 within a contemporary twin-high-rise development designed by KPF, includes 103 turnkey branded residences. This was a tantalising prospect when it was first announced, but now eager buyers can get the full experience by exploring the first series of show apartments, which throw open their doors to visitors this week.

Step inside the new Park Hyatt Residences show apartments

The first family of interiors comprises two residences composed by South African designer Christian Bense. Looking to craft homes that respond both to the prospective buyers' contemporary sensibilities and the location's amazing context (the property is set right by the River Thames in Nine Elms), the creative curated an immersive domestic experience conceived to soothe and intrigue.

The interiors on offer are situated high up on Level 26, allowing long views of the London skyline, as well as close-up aerials of the neighbourhood's highlights, such as Battersea Power Station, the US Embassy and the Thames' swirling waters. The available layouts come in two different scales – a three-bedroom and a one-bedroom residence – to provide options and ignite guests' imagination.

Featured products and art include a sisal rug by Peter Page; an etching by Juan Escudero; a bespoke wool and silk rug by Amy Kent; a vintage Danish oak cabinet from The Modern Warehouse; and a bespoke sculptural triangular entry table, co-created by Bense with Atelier 278.

Bense drew on midcentury references spanning the 1950s to the 1970s to create interiors that bring together modern style and lush comfort. It was important to create pockets of cosiness and not direct all views and seating set-ups towards the outdoors – the aim was for this interior to feel like a real home that is used not just for its vistas but also for its luxurious feel and, ultimately, daily life.

He says: 'Not designing for a particular client does provide a challenge when doing a show apartment, but I feel that if you try and cater to everyone as a solution, you risk catering to no one. So it is important that you still aim to provide a unique point of view, a voice and a personality when you design. One would hope that anyone can appreciate good design when they see it, regardless of whether the style is to their taste. Ensuring that you design with a personality in mind goes a long way to ensuring the design has soul.

'In these apartments, we wanted to evoke the sense of a well-travelled client, returning home. So we combined a worldly view on antiques and all-over style, but mixed that with the comforts and familiarity of home. [There are] soft fabrics, a personalised art collection, interesting antique finds, etc. Together, this creates not only a depth of character to the design, but a personality to the home which I feel could resonate with [most people].'

A development such as this will no doubt bring a new layer to its ever-evolving Vauxhall neighbourhood. The homes are brought to market by luxury property consultancy Knightcrest, backed by London developer and placemaker Valouran.

'What makes Park Hyatt London River Thames Residences distinctive is the combination of an exceptional sense of place with the level of personalised service that defines Park Hyatt. The panoramic Thames views and Christian Bense’s beautifully considered interiors are undoubtedly part of the appeal, but what really sets the branded residences apart is the ability to pair these elements with the ease and discretion of Park Hyatt hospitality,' says Henry Barrow, sales director at Knightcrest.

He continues: 'Residents have the rare opportunity to enjoy a private home in one of London’s most dynamic new neighbourhoods, while having the services and experiences of Park Hyatt woven seamlessly into everyday life – from dedicated staff and 24-hour concierge to preferential access to the hotel’s dining and its spa, pool and fitness facilities. For us, it is this combination of a highly individual home, an extraordinary London setting and genuinely personalised hospitality that makes the proposition so special.'

Indeed, apartment residents at Park Hyatt Residences will have access to the nearby hotel's wealth of amenities – such as its swimming pool and concierge services. More amenities include a Residents' Lounge within the building, on Level 19.

Meanwhile, Bense's creative interpretation of the residences' interiors will be just the first of several planned launches and special reveals to come. The developers are planning more show apartment interiors by a curated selection of designers to be spotlighted over the next six months. Watch this space.

riverthamesresidences.com

What could the future of our homes look like, in this ever-changing, ever-challenging world? This is the type of question this new small house was conceived to address. Titled Null, the structure sits in Jackson, California, on the West Coast's mainland. Designed by architect Hasfa Burt and her studio, hb+a Architects, the small but perfectly formed project is a prototype and a thought experiment towards achieving climate-resilient architecture – and it is also a comfortable, boutique, private home.

Step inside Null, a small house design for a sustainable future

The small house was designed to be the home of the manager of a larger piece of land in the area – a 9-acre site – where Null sits on a plot shared with another, existing, building. The architect and her team (which operates out of three bases - in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Castro Valley) worked with their client to craft a structure as part of Burt's Box Lab initiative, a 2018 action 'focused on resilience measures in a changing climate for vulnerable communities subject to more than one challenge,' she explains.

Beyond the design development of this residence as a real home, Burt was intrigued to explore the typology as a testbed for her sustainable architecture. 'The project is exploring residential design in a changing world as a response to man-made and natural elements. It isn't a cabin; instead, it shifts thinking about the future of single-family housing, following a just-enough philosophy in program, systems, materials and spaces. The site is located in a part of Northern California where median income is 70% lower than the rest of California,' she says.

'The area is also prone to wildfires and experiences significant temperature swings from summer to winter. It was important not to rely on any source of fossil fuels for any of the operations and to use the site in its existing character, welcoming the wildlife that frequents the reservoir and can be heard and seen running around.'

The building is made of structural steel, with carefully insulated walls and ceilings. Its drywall elements and exterior wood cladding have been upcycled, taken from the construction surplus of another ongoing project nearby. It was important to Burt to keep materials to a 'bare minimum', covering the scheme's needs but not 'drowning in excessive exterior and interior finishes as a design language.'

Meanwhile, the architect's low-carbon approach extends from the building's construction to its upkeep and operational needs, ensuring it functions seamlessly and safely while keeping things simple and focusing on what's required rather than adding unnecessary ornamentation.

Burt adds: '[What makes this project special is] exploring a paradigm shift in residential programming focused on the future of this project type using a systems-thinking approach. Everything for me starts with the program, and I find it quite exciting to take apart and reassemble a more efficient version of an existing problem.'

'The project utilised an existing flat pad and, in a machine-like approach, which I insist on as an honest expression, systems are left exposed to showcase the workings instead of hiding them. It is positive energy connected to onsite solar [power] and has been oriented to maximise the site elements. Rainwater is harvested in 2500-gallon cisterns, with excess running off to a reservoir; environmental strategies weren't an add-on or late-stage consideration but were integrated at ideation.'

This small house can now act as a prototype and an example, which can be replicated in different areas and terrains as needed.

hbaarchitects.com

Elevated above the banks of the Garonne River in Toulouse, a 1950s house by the architects Bernard Calley and Georges Alet could now be yours. Designed in 1953, the home, now listed for €1,450,000, is brimming with bold colours and modernist architecture curves and layers, which make it stand out in its sleepy suburban context.

Tour this French 1950s house for sale

Situated on stilts on a 615 sq m plot, the house stretches over three levels. It features two interlocking volumes. The first defines its brick façade, with a ship as its obvious inspiration. Two porthole windows add to the composition's maritime references, which continue inside, in the second floor's cabin doors, for example.

The second volume is crisp and white – a nod to the surrounding buildings of Toulouse, a city defined by its ‘O’-shaped layout. With its offset space-age roof, the structure displays influences of the International Style, as the movement pushed the avant-garde away from art deco and towards the familiar midcentury modernism found across France.

The building feels eclectic and intriguing. Across a gangplank-like walkway, the house opens into a spacious entrance that leads to a bright living area with a decorative fireplace. Some original details remain, including a fitted canary-yellow kitchen and an office that overlooks the Garonne River.

A grand marble staircase sits at the core of the house, taking visitors up to a library area and lounge. Also on this level are three bedrooms and a bathroom with a large dressing room.

Venturing away from the marble staircase, another – this time bright red and almost pop-art-inspired – one leads up to the remaining levels. Here, visitors will find a reading nook and two attic bedrooms with porthole openings and skylights.

A ground level that hosts an additional bedroom, a laundry room, and a double garage completes the residence. There is also a motorhome garage leading to a separate, private terrace.

It all comes together to form a striking 1950s house – a finely tuned example of French 20th-century architecture.

Fifties House by Bernard Calley and Georges Alet is exclusively listed for €1,450,000 by Architecture de Collection, a real estate agency specialising in the preservation and promotion of 20th and 21st century architecture. To find out more, visit architecturedecollection.fr.

In Spain's Sotogrande enclave, where luxury villas abound, Villa Enso brings a subtly different proposition – a home with a design-led quality rooted in light, materiality and nature. The high-end property was designed by Cádiz-based Spanish studio ARK Architects and led by the practice's co-founder and creative director, Manuel Ruiz Moriche. Expansive spaces were designed to feel at one with the leafy outdoors in this pleasingly monolithic residence that feels at once solid and elevated.

The journey through the home was a key priority for the architects – as important as the material palette and volumetric composition. The spaces, indoor and outdoor, from living areas to courtyards, gardens, and terraces, were designed to seamlessly blend as movement flows from one space and function into the next. Open-plan areas and swathes of glazing ensure visual connections are ever-present, both internally and towards the green countryside beyond.

This is also where the power of natural light comes into crafting spaces and atmospheres. The architects explain: 'Natural light plays a central role in shaping the atmosphere of the house. Hidden courtyards introduce daylight and ventilation deep into the interior, creating changing reflections, shadows, and visual connections throughout the day. This constant interaction with light and vegetation gives each space a calm and dynamic character while reinforcing the connection with nature.'

The materials create a palette that nods to the country's natural resources and contemporary moods, crisp white plaster and Teruel Travertine marble (a sandblasted, open-pore finish that feels extra tactile and pleasing to the touch). The water element, which appears in a couple of ways, through swimming and reflecting pools throughout the property, adds a dynamism, reflecting the light and the surfaces around it.

The materials are often used continuously on floors, walls and ceilings. This gives the home its monolithic appearance and brings a seamless feel to its generous, 1,690.40 sq m interior.

ark-architects.com

A quiet icon of high-tech architecture, La Voile sits on a hillside site above Cap-Ferrat, one of the most desirable spots along France’s Mediterranean coast. Conveniently located between Monaco and Nice, without the sprawl and bustle of either, it’s also a landscape with a long history of avant-garde artistic and architectural associations. Just a short distance down the coast is Eileen Gray’s E-1027 villa, adjoining Le Corbusier’s Cabanon, and classic Belle Époque villas are interspersed with spectacular modernist outposts.

La Voile is one of the latter. Designed in the late 90s by Lord Norman Foster for his own use and constructed between 1999 and 2002, the new house began life as a modest 1950s structure that was expanded and upgraded on an ad-hoc basis as the peninsula grew in status and desirability.

Sited just a stone’s throw from the Four Seasons Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, the plot is near the southernmost tip of the peninsula. It cascades down the hill to the rocky coastline, with unencumbered Mediterranean views.

Foster first became aware of the site in the 90s when he lived in the French village of Grasse. Having acquired the original house, Foster stripped it right back to its core, using the five-storey structure as a framework for a new construction of glass and steel that drinks in the sea views, whilst also extending the accommodation up, down and to the sides.

Strict planning rules prevented an all-new construction, so the project was a masterful exercise in renovation, all done by the book under the watchful eye of the exacting French planning authorities.

The main focal point of the house is the spectacular double-height living space, set behind a 7m-tall sloping wall of glass that in turn is shaded by giant steel brise-soleils. This glazed surface slides open to bring the outside in, with each pane weighing in at around 18 tonnes. The towering rear wall is adorned with a vast mudwork mural by the artist Richard Long, commissioned for the house and created in situ.

A living area on the lowest level is overlooked by a dining room on the mezzanine, flanked by staircases that lead to the upper levels, each with an internal balcony above the inner void. The house’s name, ‘the sail’, comes from the canvas sails held aloft by two large steel arches that rise up from the lowest level and rise up and over the upper floors to shade the house in the summer months.

Four bedrooms are housed in the lowermost level, while the swimming pool is at the uppermost level swimming pool, along with discrete parking, services and the main entrance. Opaque glass walls shield the property from the roadway, giving little indication that a seven-storey structure lies beyond.

After Lord and Lady Foster moved on a few years after completion, the house was sold to the late CEO of Marimekko, Kirsti Paakkanen, and the house is now being sold by her estate.

La Voile, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, guide price €29.5m, Riviera.Savills.fr, @SavillsFrenchRiviera

The design story of this 310 sq m, duplex Medellín apartment began with an unusual existing condition: a vast void nearly six metres high, free of programme or spatial hierarchy. What might have been a limitation became the project’s conceptual core. For Danny Rozo - founding architect and creative director of OA+ - the real challenge was not filling the interior as such, but constructing meaningful architectural space within its emptiness.

Explore this Medellín apartment by OA+

The resulting design - titled Apartment SH - transforms this volume into a habitable experience by inserting a suspended second level: a large, wood-clad cube that houses the Medellín apartment's private areas and redefines the scale of the whole. This single gesture not only fits perfectly into the project's programme but also introduces a rich spatial sequence of contrasts, changing heights and transparencies.

Entry to the apartment is not upward but downward. The journey begins with a descent, a move that defies expectation and sets the tone for an unconventional architectural experience. Any suggestion of darkness or compression dissolves as a large door opens: light floods in immediately, and a generous vestibule gives way to a sculptural, curved metal staircase, painted white, which acts as the project’s first manifesto.

The first space to reveal itself is the open kitchen, conceived as a central object rather than a service area. From here, the eye moves uninterrupted towards the main living space, which quite literally floods the entire project with light. This is where the architecture asserts itself most powerfully: the six-metre-high void, the suspended timber-clad cube, the lattice that filters views, and a natural stone reflecting pool that introduces reflection, sound and an almost meditative dimension.

The project’s most striking element is undoubtedly the upper timber lattice, crafted in choibá wood. More than an enclosure, it functions as a permeable veil - a visual threshold that reveals without fully exposing, activating an almost scenographic reading of the space. 'It’s a screen that encapsulates the apartment’s private areas. It lets you see and not see. A private space that can be enjoyed without being closed off,' the architect says.

From the main living area - a tall, double-height space accompanied by the reflecting pool - the life of the apartment is perceived vertically. Bedrooms appear to float within the void, visually connected to the social areas below, reinforcing the idea of an open loft designed for a single occupant.

Natural wood, textured concrete, stone, stainless steel and glass exude permanence and tactility. They were selected not as a finish but as a sensory experience - for example, the warm wood balances out the rougher concrete surfaces. 'We were interested in honest materials - those that age, that can be felt, that hold value for what they are within a sensitive architecture,' Rozo notes.

This Medellín apartment does not propose a universal way of living, but a tailored, deeply personal one: transparent, coherent with its inhabitant's lifestyle, and free of unnecessary concessions. 'Spaces should reflect who you are, what drives you and what makes you happy,' the architect concludes.

In this sense, Apartment SH is not merely a residence, but a showcase of how architecture can support a way of life.

oamas.co

Designed by architect Alex Michaelis, this spectacular Cornwall beach house is on the market for the first time since completion. Originally designed as the architect’s own family retreat, Little Cottage is located above Praa Sands, a justifiably famed Cornish beach on the UK’s south coast.

Tour the Cornwall beach house now for sale

The house presents an unsullied view of the English Channel and the Atlantic beyond; it’s right there at the end of the garden, with the sandy beach itself just steps away. Arranged over two levels, with a separate self-contained bedroom shack tucked away behind the house, Little Cottage is not the ersatz rural dwelling implied by its name. Instead, 2,422 sq ft of accommodation is contained within a sculptural white box that owes more to Le Corbusian modernism and noughties minimalism than conventional seaside architecture.

The coastal façade is an exercise in asymmetric reductivist design. The ground floor is given over to a 50ft-long living room and kitchen, with central sliding glass doors that open it out onto the lawn. On the west side, the principal bedroom suite is tucked away behind a private sitting room, while the east wing houses the entrance, hallway, with the cylindrical stair tower leading off to the right, illuminated by a circular skylight.

Upstairs, there are three more en-suite bedrooms, all of which have views across the water. Curved walls create a sculptural upper level, with access to a balcony one end of the bedroom corridor. Detailing is minimal throughout, with white walls, floors and ceiling paired with frameless glazing to bring in as much light as possible. The material palette includes French-plastered walls and limestone, with Corian worktops in the kitchen, mosaic clad bathrooms and wide cedar floorboards throughout.

The ground floor also hosts a cloakroom and utility room, along with a wet room with direct outside access and special provision for drying and storing wetsuits. The stair leads up to a light-filled landing and corridor, while two of the three upstairs bedrooms occupied the curved ends of the first floor; all have free-standing baths while the bedrooms have Juliet balconies.

In addition to the separate Shack, which could also double up as a studio space, the property has a pair of sheds/surf stores and a number of parking spaces, as well as the rights to a mooring at nearby Porthleven Harbour. Michaelis, who founded Michaelis Boyd with Tim Boyd in 1996, has created a rare piece of uncompromising contemporary seaside architecture, a house that is as aesthetically rigorous as it is warm, inviting and functional.

Little Cottage is for sale through Lillicrap Chilcott for £2.5m, Tel: +44 1872 273473, LillicrapChillcot.com

Set in a cosy, friendly pocket of San Francisco, Precita House is a residence designed around light, explains its author, local architect Ryan Leidner. The home 'explores light as a material – at times expansive and open, at others softened through structure, threshold, and fabric,' he adds.

The project, created for a family of four, was designed to act as an urban retreat, a sheltering cocoon that remains in touch with the natural rhythm of time passing during the day, while balancing creature comforts with the sensibilities of a desert landscape – in the sense of being frugal with materials and smart with the points where the inside meets the outside.

Leidner's past experience – he's a deft hand at both urban and rural residential work – includes High Desert House, a modernist architecture-inspired Joshua Tree home conceived with similar principles in mind.

In the case of Precita House, the architect brings the same approach to a more urban environment, creating an internal journey within the existing home by completely redesigning its transition from the public-facing street elevation to the more private interior and the secluded-feeling garden at the rear.

The home's quiet, inward-facing presence sets the tone from the get-go. Meanwhile, the project's main communal and family areas are orientated towards the sleepy garden and its leafy planting, courtesy of Stephens Design Studio.

The architect's chosen material palette supports the house's organic minimalism throughout. Douglas Fir cladding floors, ceilings, cabinetry, and stair elements, meets Venetian plaster in a soft composition that invites the play of light.

Several elements across the plan serve as sculptural focal points: the deep green marble kitchen island; the geometric timber staircase; and the vertically slatted ceiling that brings beams of sunlight and moving shadows from the skylights above in.

'A muted palette and varied textures, informed by the clients’ affinity for desert environments, allow the landscape to function as an extension of daily living,' Leidner writes, explaining the project.

'Precita House brings together spatial clarity, material restraint, and moderated daylight to create a residence that balances privacy at the street with openness to the garden, shaping daily life through gradual transitions of light, space, and view.'

ryanleidner.com

Frank Lloyd Wright was nothing if not prolific. The great American architect was both a workaholic and a natural self-publicist, pioneering the use of elaborate conceptual schemes to draw attention to his studio and his work. Over the course of a long, long career, Wright reputedly designed over 1,100 buildings, of which around 46 per cent were actually built. A substantial number of these were houses, ranging from hilltop mansions to World Heritage-listed sites of global importance, and more modest, out-of-the-way buildings.

This house in Michigan is one of the latter. For sale through Signature Sotheby’s International Realty, the Samuel Eppstein House dates back to 1953, when Wright was very much in the twilight of his career (he was 85 when the house was completed). Nevertheless, the house, in Kalamazoo County, is a finely realised example of his ‘Usonian’ vision for middle-class housing, often located in pre-planned housing developments and intended to be a more generous and creative response to the homogeneity of suburban design.

The Eppstein House is modest in scale, at 2,500 sq ft. Containing five bedrooms, four of which are little more than compact sleeping cells, the house saves its powder for the primary living space at one end of the linear plan. Set beneath a soaring monopitch roof above an array of glazing leading out onto a terrace, this room stands in stark counterpoint to the rest of the single-storey, low-slung structure.

In common with the majority of the Usonian houses, the Eppstein House is made from monumental concrete blocks, visible both outside and in. Largely modified – and certainly not extended – it survives as an expression of the original architectural vision.

The surrounding areas are also pretty special. The plot is located on the Galesburg Country Homes community, a 70-acre spread of land half way between Detroit and Chicago that gives each house a unique rural outlook. In fact, it’s one of four Wright-designed houses at ‘The Acres’ – the others include the Weisblat House, the Curtis Meyer House and the Eric & Pat Pratt House. All follow similar design principles, animated by the use of sculpted building blocks, bespoke joinery and linear floor plans.

Joining the community of Frank Lloyd Wright owners is not for the faint-hearted, such is the demand for information, rentals and photoshoots. If you have the enthusiasm and passion for one of the true masters of modern architecture, then it’s good to know there are still opportunities for ownership.

Samuel Eppstein Residence, 11090 Hawthorne Drive, Galesburg, Michigan, USA, $2.1M at Signature Sotheby’s International Realty, SothebysRealty.com, @SothebysRealty

A new Melbourne house draws on the country's brutalist traditions – an architectural history that produced works such as Ken Woolley’s Sirius Building, an apartment block in Sydney; the Fisher Library at the University of Sydney; and Robin Gibson's Queensland Art Gallery. While not strictly following the same school of thought, Hill House nods to the raw surfaces and crisp forms of brutalist architecture; while adding its own contemporary approach and warmth.

Step inside a Melbourne house full of brutalist character

The monolithic family home comprises brick and concrete, designed to accommodate three generations of one family. The project was spearheaded by architecture firm Taylor Knights, who reimagined the idea of suburban living and crafted a house that nestles into the ridgeline in Wheelers Hill.

The multigenerational home had to accommodate the client’s wish for a base to support personal life, professional activity, and evolving family needs. ‘Hill House began with the idea of creating a home for a lifetime; not simply for the clients as they are today, but one capable of evolving with three generations of their family over many years,’ co-founder Peter Knights tells Wallpaper*.

‘The brief was unusually broad: family life, work, entertaining, wellness centre, sports facilities including a soccer pitch, pickleball court, and moments of solitude all needed to coexist within a single home and garden. Rather than treating these as separate functions, we became interested in how architecture could bring them together while still allowing each person their own sense of retreat.’

Knights explains that the site became fundamental to this idea, prompting them to create a home stepped with the terrain rather than sitting upon it. He continues, ‘From this emerged the central atrium: a vertical garden and light-filled void around which the different parts of the house are organised. In many ways, the house became less about designing individual rooms and more about creating a framework for family life to unfold and change over time.’

This atrium was central to accommodating the expansive brief. From this space, visitors can head towards welllness toward wellness, entertaining, and extended family and friends; up and left toward communal life; or upward again or right toward the more private family and working spaces. ‘The architecture is large, but we never wanted the experience of it to feel overwhelming,’ he says.

Hill House was designed to offer two different experiences. When approaching from the street, visitors find the house is, as Knights describes, ‘deliberately grounded and monolithic’. Relatively little is revealed about what lies behind the brickwork façade.

Upon entering the house, the solidity of the exterior gives way to a soft core. A bridge suspended above a sunken garden leads to an atrium, filtering in natural light. Knights concludes, ‘We wanted visitors to feel grounded and calm, but also curious, to have the sense that there is always another layer of the house to discover. That contrast is important to us: a house that feels protective from the outside, but generous and open from within’.

taylorknights.com.au

In a part of the world with abundant natural beauty, a new Chilean holiday home was designed to be in sync with its setting. LoyCo House was designed by Santiago-based CCRA Arquitectura to draw on the different identities of its region – being steps away from a small jetty on the shores of Vichuquén Lake on one hand, while also set close to Llico Beach on the central coast of Chile and the nearby Colchagua wine region.

Step inside this a Chilean holiday home by CCRA Arquitectura

The home's creators, architects Ricardo Atanacio and Carolina Contreras, drew on the organic feel, remote character and tactile nature of their site right from the get-go as they started developing this house, a getaway for a client with a regular base in a more urban setting.

Examining the brief, it felt imperative that Loyco bring its inhabitants close to the area's strong agricultural and fishing traditions – be it through incorporating the care of the native, rich vegetation (in the shape of garden space) or by allowing them to remain in touch with the complex river systems and ecologies of the different bodies of water in proximity to the site.

The residence itself is organised in an L-shaped floorplan, weaving public and private areas around an inner courtyard and two gardens. The property spans two levels. Four double bedroom suites and an expansive kitchen, dinning and living interior occupy the first. A further two double bedrooms (one is the primary suite with its own walk-in wardrobe) and a family breakout space are situated above.

An outside sport facility, including a 180 cm tall pool-pond built above natural ground level, completes the composition.

The Chilean holiday home's timber upper structure (glulam trusses) nods to the region's agricultural buildings while helping the house feel entirely of its place within the leafy, forested setting, which is hard to reach by conventional road. The timber cladding ages along with the house, offering a pleasing patina to the exterior and ensuring it maintains a natural feel.

At the same time, the outline of the overall composition's volumes is simple and nods to farming warehouses or small industrial structures, referencing local vernacular.

Everything is safely anchored to the ground by a slightly raised concrete basement. This gesture keeps the home away from water during possible flooding incidents and protects the building's steel-frame foundations. Meanwhile, landscape architects Cristóbal Elgueta and Macarena Calvo worked on an outdoor environment that elegantly wraps around the building, supporting the users' daily needs while blending architecture and surrounding nature.

ccra arquitectura

If the words 'Mykonos house' bring to mind island parties, beachside negronis and the big blue Aegean Sea, you might be surprised to find out that only one of these things define the experience at Anamesa. The new home, designed by Athens-based practice K-Studio, is a private residence in one of Greece's busiest, buzziest islands; yet it was designed to bring peace and balance to its inhabitants, who were keen to make the most of the island, and all its different facets.

Explore Anamesa, a new Mykonos house by K-Studio

Anamesa means 'in between', the architects explain, and it was the liminal place between buzz and quiet, business and domestic calm that they tried to capture for their client through this design. To achieve this, the plot, set above Kalafatis beach, on the quieter east side of the island, was picked for the choices it provides – activities on offer nearby range from social spots to sporting sites and more low-key corners, something to suit every mood.

This tension, option and balance set the scene for a Mykonos home that draws on local land and intelligence. The architects explain: 'Anamesa draws from this expanded field: inseparable from the rawness of its elements, the island spirit is honed by the Cycladic light, the meltemi winds and the salt of the sea force, into a culture of openness, conviviality, and exchange. Alongside this primal condition, Mykonos has evolved into a cosmopolitan crossroads defined by nightlife, multicultural energy, and a globally influential hospitality culture.

'At the same time, the ancestral presence of Delos with its open-air archaeological landscape bridges contemporary life with memory and heritage.'

The architects describe the forces at play here, such as solitude and celebration, rawness and refinement, stillness and movement, tradition and contemporary existence, 'not as oppositions, but as overlapping conditions'. The result is a home that feels at once welcoming and clearly defined, full of character yet not shouting for attention.

Soft corners, natural materials, neutral colours that sit comfortably within the broader context and an effortless transition between inside and out that helps to negotiate seasonal changes and different weather conditions make for a residence designed for easy living, to be used year-round.

Textures and surfaces were selected to complement each other - you will not find sharp juxtapositions and intensity here. The home's grandeur comes from its majestic poise as it sits nestled into the island's rocky terrain.

Semi-buried into the hill, the structure is orientated to look out towards the long views of the Aegean, while cosy – yet still expansive – rooms inside offer options to feel open to the horizon on offer, or remain cocooned within the land.

The interior spans private bedroom suites, wellness areas, and service functions, connected by a softened, skylit circulation system. Meanwhile, the outdoor areas and landscaping complete the composition.

'The landscape is not an extension but a continuation of the architecture, where stone retaining walls, native vegetation, and crafted outdoor moments include a Citrus House for dining and a circular threshing-floor fire lounge, gradually blurring the separation between built form and ground,' write the team.

Indeed, elements such as Citrus House, a round-shaped stone structure – a site-specific version of a conversation pit – on one of the open terraces, bring local vernacular elements into the contemporary design solution.

'Situated by the entrance, [it] reinterprets a vernacular typology as a gesture of protected openness, to express a culture of hospitality where what arrives from elsewhere is welcomed, adapted, and allowed to belong,' the architects explain.

To perfect their vision, the architects worked with local Cycladic craftspeople and their time-honed skills, putting together a material palette of stone, lime, and timber in a composition that feels appropriate and elevated.

Traditional techniques have been reinterpreted and enhanced through modern technology, while bespoke furniture, lighting and curated spatial sequences make this Mykonos house a truly one-of-a-kind, tailored experience.

k-studio.gr

A modern passive house has replaced a tired, existing bungalow in this idyllic spot in a Hertfordshire valley suburb. Welcome to Three Rivers Passive House, the newest residential offering by London-based Gbolade Design Studio.

Explore Three Rivers Passive House by Gbolade Design Studio

The project, a generously sized two-storey, 5005 sq ft home, is entirely newly built. It spans five bedrooms and a lush surrounding garden, which helps negotiate the site's slope - the entry is approached via a steep incline, which helps create an impressive moment as the residence reveals itself from the street.

A simple material palette of Belgian long-format bricks, glazing and smoke grey charred larch cladding makes for an elegant, geometric composition that cuts a contemporary figure among the greenery and surrounding, more conventional homes.

It is a special moment when the American Oak pivot front door, flanked by slender 4.5 m-tall glazing, opens to a striking double-height interior entry hall. This space anchors the home, flooded with light via a large circular rooflight above and leading to a central courtyard.

This is 'inspired by the practice’s West African heritage and the client’s desired way of living, which prioritises communal, interdependent and a fluidity of indoor-outdoor connection around multiple habitable spaces,' the architects at the dynamic studio, founded by Tara Gbolade and Lanre Gbolade, explain.

The ground floor has a flowing plan that contains the entrance hall, a gently sunken living space, dining and kitchen space, as well as a gym, a home office, a swimming pool, gym and sauna facilities. Bedrooms and further private areas are located upstairs. Meanwhile, conceived for multi-generational living, the property also includes a ground-floor private senior-living guest suite that can act as a fully independent living unit.

'The project really allowed us to bring a striking and bold vision to life, whilst achieving a home for our client with exceptional sustainable performance levels and regenerative credentials,' says Lanre Gbolade. 'The client’s understanding of the value of architecture, sustainable design and collaborative teamwork made this a genuinely pleasurable project to work on. As a practice, we prioritise a contextually responsive approach to all projects and ensure they give back more than they extract.'

And it is true. Gbolade Design Studio is a deft hand at incorporating environmentally friendly approaches in their designs - delicately and almost imperceptibly. Here, too, they crafted a home that meets RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge embodied carbon and operational energy targets, but is also Net-Zero.

Construction was carried out with off-site manufactured, low-carbon Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glulam superstructure and complementary renewable technologies. The result is a high-performance yet low operational energy home through gestures such as the inclusion of Air Source Heat Pumps, PV panels and biodiversity enrichment through sedum roofs.

gboladedesignstudio.com

Revealed to the public for the very first time since it was completed in 1952, this is the Mahogany House, a richly detailed piece of mid-century residential design by the architect Fred Thornton Hollingsworth. The British-Canadian designer (1917-2015) moved to Canada as a child, only qualifying as an architect in 1959 after an early career as an ad-hoc architectural designer in and around Vancouver.

The Mahogany House shows some of Hollingsworth’s early fascination with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright (he met the legendary architect at his Taliesin West studio). The house is located in Sunset Gardens, a neighbourhood of nearly 50 houses in North Vancouver’s Canyon Heights district.

Sunset Gardens was planned by Hollingsworth, who brought a wealth of influences from West Coast modernism and European residential to bear on his ‘Neoteric’ style, which was better suited to the Vancouver climate and warmer in material palette. This four-bedroom house is almost entirely original, having been in the same family since 1970.

The house was originally commissioned by the owner of nearby millwork business, Frank Paxton. Paxton specified external cladding in mahogany boat plywood, with a similar plywood veneer throughout the interior spaces. The result is a warm jewel of a structure, with precise cabinetry and carpentry paired with solid painted concrete blocks, large panes of glass and high-level windows.

Arranged over one level, the house is a modest 1,990 square feet and contains four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two separate living rooms. The private garden originally included a mature cedar tree that the dining room was built around, while even the front door is discretely positioned out of sight of the street.

These are the first images of the house taken since it was finished and will surely entice a new owner to take on this impressive structure. The current owner recalls their first visit in 1986. ‘I was eight years old the first time I entered [what was then] my uncle's home, she says, ‘I remember thinking the house was huge. I was impressed by the wall of windows at the back, the two living rooms, and all the trees — a very different kind of home for an eight-year-old who grew up in the city.’

Mahogany House, 4065 Sunset Blvd, Canyon Heights, North Vancouver (Fred Hollingsworth, 1952), CA $2,599,000. WestCoastModern.ca, @WestCoastModernHomes

This new residential project from Dallas-based Smitharc architecture + interiors continues the studio’s run of elegant contemporary houses in the area – see this house in Greenway Parks, the St Andrews Residence and Griggs Residence for earlier examples.

The Northaven Residence follows an established template of a flexible pavilion that combines a strong sense of transparency with careful planning to ensure privacy for the occupants – from outside and from each other – as well as a baked-in longevity that’ll allow for evolution and growth over the years.

The client is a professional mother with three young sons, and the tailored brief not only gives the family space to grow over the decades to come but also provides the children with their own ‘zone’. This takes the form of a dedicated upper-floor wing containing three identical en-suite bedrooms and a separate sitting area, raised up and away from the living room (and the mother’s room).

These rooms are reached by a striking sculptural oak and steel staircase, with a satin brass railing. At the top of the stairs, a circular rooflight, or oculi, illuminates the curved and polished plaster walls. From the outside, a corner window reveals the form of the stair, treating like a vignette in a case.

Everything else takes place on the L-shaped ground floor, with architectural elements that spread into the generous one-acre lot. A large, covered terrace adjoins the outdoor pool, which overlooks the sloping, wooded garden. There’s plenty of space for everything from cookouts to soccer parties, with lawns scattered with mature oak trees.

Directly beneath the boys’ rooms you’ll find the triple garage, utility area, gymnasium and a second snug, while the entrance foyer with the grand stair serves as the dividing space between utility, sleeping and the living spaces.

These are collected together in one long linear double-height space, a Great Room with banks of windows to the north – the public-facing façade - and south across over the pool. A separate formal dining room adjoins the kitchen and pantry, with a kitchen table and island unit adjoining the main living space.

Tall custom-built metal screens provide separation in the space. The covered terrace is set beneath a spectacular raised roof which oversails the living room and creating views through the entire structure.

The principal bedroom suite is housed in another wing, accessed through a discrete opening in the monumental limestone clad walls. This is treated like private sanctuary, with a generous walk-in closet and a large private bathroom with a view into its own walled-off area of the garden.

In total, the living spaces run to a generous 4,500 square feet. In addition to the extensive use of Texas limestone, the materials palette includes plaster, white oak and cypress. Despite the open expanses of space and the large windows, the house still offers plenty of places to retreat into.

Although there is a clear mid-century modern influence running throughout, the Northaven Residence is no retro throwback. Instead, it offers a luxurious expression of a well-defined brief with a consistent aesthetic approach.

Smitharc.com, @Smitharcarchitects

This Toronto home has two personalities. From its street-facing exterior, HCD House presents itself as a cosy neighbourhood home with red slate roof tiling and large window frames – a reasonably low-key period design, friendly and inviting. Its rear end, however, is more raw and modern, comprising cubic volumes and a stripped-back brick façade. What unites both façades is the interior they enclose, which is an ode to local heritage and craftsmanship.

Tour HCD House, a new Toronto home

COMN Architects, an architecture and interior design firm based in the city, was asked by the clients to preserve the home, which is designed in the Craftsman style (similar to the Arts and Crafts movement) and its original 1921 façade. ‘The main inspiration was finding a way to allow the original 1920s Craftsman house and the new contemporary addition to coexist naturally,’ Clarissa Nam, founding partner of COMN, tells Wallpaper*.

Nam continues, ‘Rather than treating the heritage portion as something separate or simply preserving it as a façade, we wanted the original character, proportions, and craftsmanship to influence the design of the entire home. The clients’ love of books, music, and entertaining also became a major part of the design. This led to the idea of the two-storey library and intimate music space as the heart of the house, creating a central space that connects the old and new portions of the home.’

As a result, the project naturally slots into its Toronto neighbourhood, nodding to its architectural history while also supporting contemporary functionality. Inside the two-storey home, the heritage section features the living room and dining area, with large original windows.

At the rear of the residence, the clients had an unexpected request. They desired a solarium with buckets of natural light. To accommodate this, the architects installed large windows and skylights, while a newly landscaped courtyard acts as a divider between the kitchen and solarium and the remaining living spaces.

Throughout the home, the joinery is something to be marvelled at. ‘We sought to honour the authentic spirit of craftsman design in this portion of the interior, which inspired our choice of custom wall panelling,’ notes Nam. ‘An existing wood-burning fireplace was also preserved, offering a subtle modern interpretation of historical elements.’

Peter McNeil, also founding partner of the firm, adds that their favourite part of the residence is the library and music space: ‘It became the heart of the project and is where many of the ideas behind the house come together. The library brings natural light into the centre of the home, while the plaster stair and walnut shelving create a layered backdrop for the grand piano and intimate concert space. We also like that it was carved out of the existing structure. It feels simultaneously connected to the history of the house and completely new.’

The Toronto home now sparks warmth and curiosity, and is designed as a slow reveal. Despite the openness of the spaces, the firm describes the sense of intimacy as you move through each room, and the relationship between the original house and the new addition gradually becomes apparent.

The architects conclude, ‘Natural materials, custom millwork, books, music, and carefully framed views give the house a lived-in quality. We wanted it to feel like a home first and a piece of architecture second.’

comnarchitects.com

Set within a wooded plot beside Wimbledon Common stands 22 Parkside, a landmark of British modernism, recognisable for its glass-and-steel exterior. The home, also known as the Rogers House or Wimbledon House, is a pioneering home designed by Richard Rogers. Built between 1968 and 1970 for his parents, Nino and Dada Rogers, and inspired in part by his upbringing in Italy, the house is considered one of his most personal and influential works.

Enter 22 Parkside, aka the Rogers House, in Wimbledon Common

An example of Hi-Tech architecture and functionalist design, 22 Parkside was built using a prefabricated construction system, reflecting Rogers’ interest in flexible living. Arranged around a central courtyard, two separate single-storey pavilions are flooded with natural light. The house became a testing ground for ideas that would later find expression in some of Rogers’ most celebrated international projects, including the Lloyd’s Building in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Renzo Piano, who designed the latter with Rogers, said: 'There is no doubt that 22 Parkside was one of the most important buildings that Richard created. It worked as a miniature prototype for the sort of approach we took in the Centre Pompidou.'

With the aim of protecting one of the UK’s most important examples of modern architecture for future generations, the house has been donated to the National Trust by the Rogers family through the Richard Rogers Charitable Settlement. Ben Rogers, the son of Richard and Su Rogers, said, 'As a family, we wanted to ensure that this remarkable house would be protected, cared for and shared with future generations, rather than remaining a private asset.'

This acquisition joins the National Trust’s growing collection of 20th-century heritage, which includes 2 Willow Road in Hampstead and The Homewood in Surrey. The charity will curate a programme of guided visits, partnerships and digital content, opening the house to students, researchers and visitors.

The house’s new role as an educational resource reflects a belief that was close to Rogers’ heart, as his wife, Ruthie, explains: 'Richard regarded public access to culture – whether architecture, art, theatre, music, or design – as one of the great aspirations in life. It filled him with such joy that the public would have access to this house that was once private, a house that was a prototype for what he thought houses could be for all.'

22 Parkside will open to the public on Saturday 12 September as part of Open House London. A week later, visitors will also have the chance to step inside Rogers’ Lloyd’s Building, which this year marks its 40th anniversary.

The National Trust notes that public access to 22 Parkside will be introduced in stages while it cares for the building and develops its future programme. nationaltrust.org.uk

Gazing across the rolling hills of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, the keen-eyed traveller might spot a flash of terracotta in the distance. It wouldn't be entirely out of place to presume it might belong to one of the agricultural region's traditional farmhouses, defined by their clay roof tiles. Approaching the site, however, it soon becomes clear that an altogether different architectural proposition is at play here. All blocky, geometric shapes and a brutalist spirit, House on the Hills cuts a confident, albeit remarkably stealthy, figure among the area's wheat fields, vineyards and woodlands.

The project is the holiday home of architects Fabio Calvi and Paolo Brambilla, who co-founded their namesake Milan-based studio in 2006. The creative duo were after a countryside retreat, and they found what they were looking for near Piacenza, an hour and a half south of Milan, just beyond the industrial plain of the Po Valley.

Step inside this Italian retreat on a hill

‘From the very beginning, we wanted the house to be a strong, contemporary architectural gesture that clearly stands apart from the natural landscape,' the duo say. ‘At the same time, we wanted its colour palette to feel deeply connected to the place, echoing both the surrounding countryside and the traditional colours of the local architecture. This balance between contrast in form and harmony in colour was one of the project's guiding ideas.'

As a result, the house is a bold blend of regional references and 20th-century modern architecture, sprinkled with its creators' sharp sense of style and conceptual clarity. A pleasingly weighty concrete roof in an earthy colour becomes a key exterior feature that appears to float above the leafy surrounding, thanks to the subtle, organic mineral hue (somewhere between warm grey and taupe) of its similarly sturdy walls. It also translates into a powerful coffered ceiling internally, offering a 90 x 90cm grid that helps shape the layout's arrangement.

‘Beyond the colour palette rooted in the local landscape, our references included the coffered ceilings of the region's historic noble residences and the terracotta friezes of the medieval castles around Piacenza,' the architects add. ‘We are passionate students of architecture and design history. Rather than repeating the same formal language or design attitude from project to project, we try to find references that are specific and appropriate to each context. We often reinterpret elements from the past through a contemporary lens, allowing every project to develop its own identity.'

Stepping inside, a compressed entrance area opens up into a generous living space with a slightly sunken seating and entertaining area that makes you feel like you are nestled within the surrounding garden – the property's thick walls not only acting as structural load-bearers, but also accentuating the framing of verdant vistas in all directions. Spreading out beyond to the outdoors, the interior's coffered ceiling becomes a deep lattice outside, shading the terrace and swimming pool.

The sense of security provided by the house design's honest solidity is matched by its material selection. Gridded artificial stone paving flows inside and outside, connecting all spaces. Its finer, 5cm square grid ‘evokes the visionary landscapes imagined by Superstudio during the Radical Architecture movement of the late 1960s', the architects explain, referencing the era's Italian movement that challenged modern architecture and consumer capitalism through bold and imaginative photocollages and design visuals often featuring grids.

Furnishings are a balanced mix of 20th-century vintage finds and pieces designed by the architects for companies such as Zanotta, Frigerio and Pianca. And bespoke elements abound too, defined by oversized solid wooden knobs, which can be found on the kitchen cupboards and other storage elements. As the pair put it: ‘These tactile details introduce an almost archetypal domestic quality, recalling traditional farm furniture and affirming the building's primary vocation: a country house intended to be shared around long meals, seasonal gatherings and everyday family life.'

As to whether it was challenging to design a home for themselves, Calvi and Brambilla's 20 years' experience makes them feel confident in their choices: ‘We approached the project in exactly the same way, treating ourselves as the clients. The design evolved through a very careful and continuous dialogue between us, and looking back, we would make almost exactly the same decisions again. Apart from a few minor details, we wouldn't change anything.'

calvibrambilla.it

Canadian studio Superkül has often graced these pages. Now there’s a chance to own a recent project by the practice, Valley House in Hogg’s Hollow, a verdant residential enclave about 10km due north of downtown Toronto.

Step inside Valley House

The house makes the most of its location. Ostensibly set on a gentle suburban crescent, the generous lot backs onto a forested ravine. The car port and drive give little clue as to what is within, with only the crowns of the neighbourhood’s mature trees at the rear indicating the combination of verdant views and privacy that the site allows.

Superkül have combined the calm, four-square minimalism of the exterior, with its timber and brick screens, clean lines and set back entrance, with an richly designed interior that opens up onto the rear view thanks to large sliding glass full height doors. Where privacy is more of a concern, light is brought into the spaces through clerestory windows and rooflights.

The interior palette is warm and natural, using cherry wood, walnut and teak for cabinetry and floors, with details in porcelain, glass and stone. Grasscloth (seagrass) wallpaper is used extensively to add another layer of natural texture and warmth. The primary living spaces flow between one another, with a sunken family room, study and snug alongside a kitchen, dining and living space.

Specification is high throughout, including bespoke Bulthaup cabinetry and Gaggenau appliances in the kitchen, with Caesarstone work surfaces and a substantial central island. A dining area is situated adjacent to the rear yard, as are the main living spaces. A large double-sided wood-burning fireplace provides a focal point for the room.

The primary suite is also sited on the ground floor, with panoramic views out into the courtyard, while three further bedrooms are located upstairs, along with a separate lounge and study. The latter contains a run of custom banquette seating, a place to sit and overlook the ravine. A basement level houses the guest suite along with a utility room, media room and a gym.

Naturalistic planting and the preservation of the forest floor allow the rear garden to blend with the natural landscape, suggesting a limitless space beyond the glass, while at night, the house glows like a lantern shining through the trees.

Valley House, Toronto, $7.298M CAD, for sale via Sotheby’s International Canada, SothebysRealty.com, Superkül.ca

The Curious House is a new-built private residence in Zagreb, completed by Dinko Uglesic, Ina Vlahovic and Marijana Rancic of the Croatian architecture studio FORVM. Arranged across two storeys on a sloping site, the new house is set amongst a carefully planted landscape on a plot that’s set back from the main road. The architects have divided the accommodation up into three distinct components, a mirrored box, a metal-clad self-contained studio, and a bedroom wing that is cantilevered above the ground floor.

The mirrored box contains a glazed ground floor, with one façade opening up onto the sloping garden and the other onto a terrace with steps down to a lap pool, which runs beneath the seating area above. The floor plan incorporates the garage, above which is the studio, and the primary entrance, which opens up into a linear kitchen, dining and seating area adjacent to the terrace.

The other end of the box houses the primary bedroom suite, complete with bath with a view across the slope to distant trees. The angled studio box, with its all-over metal cladding and mono-pitched roof houses a kitchen and bathroom alongside a raised bed and sitting area, both of which have views across the distant city rooftops. As well as the internal staircase, there’s also an external pathway leading down from the French doors and across the flat roof to the adjacent bedroom wing.

This component incorporates two en-suite bedrooms and a study, alongside a generous shelf-lined landing. Here you’ll find a straight staircase leading down to the living room below. The way the three elements are juxtaposed creates a series of pathways through the space, as well as unique views, and public and private areas. The programme and plan also conceal the house’s generous 400 square metre size.

As a result, the Curious House certainly earns its name, from the reflective ground floor that serves to amplify the plants and trees that surround it, to the elevated, discrete, upper storey components. Far-reaching views are combined with space, privacy, and an endless source of fascination.

@Forvm.Arhitektura

Perched on a sleepy residential road in the Vancouver neighbourhood of Kitsilano is a contemporary, cabin-like home. Designed by Canadian firm Scott and Scott Architects (past projects include a farmhouse on the country's West Coast), the house was crafted with longevity in mind, slotting neatly into its leafy plot, garnished with mature oak trees.

Step inside Kitsilano House

Much like its surrounding context – the neighbourhood is known for its outdoorsy aesthetic with streets selling activewear and outdoor gear – Kitsilano House feels suited to a grounded way of living. The design is put together with two distinct parts: the first is a more robust volume, while the other is a delicate ‘cabin’, which is under a canopy of flowering rhododendrons and magnolia trees. Much like a dainty bird's nest nestled within the branches of a sturdy tree.

The clients approached David Scott, founder of the firm, with a desire for a crafted home that would feel like a family heirloom. ‘The site of the home is a stretch of a corridor which is in transition from bungalows to taller, denser buildings,’ explains Scott. ‘Our objective was to design a home which has both a gentle strength and a form of privacy which would be generous to the neighbourhood.’

The result was a residence that offered a living and dining area within the solid-feeling concrete base. On the terrace, a series of flowering trees would create a natural screen to secure more private bedrooms on the two timber floors.

The lower floors have white walls and a western clerestory window to frame the evening sun and bring gentle light in. The living room is tucked into this north side of the house. In contrast to the walls of the street-level living spaces, the home's central core is clad in locally sourced Douglas fir boards extending upwards through the bedroom floors and down into the movie room below. A soothing atmosphere is underlined by the sounds of morning birdsong from the canopy's wild residents. Shelving is built into the walls to display the client’s ceramics, both made and collected.

Scott, who also designed Osler House, a midcentury gem in Vancouver, loves that Kitsilano House is always changing, saying, ‘On the exterior, the plants and split cedar siding and fencing are evolving each season. The joinery within the home is all solid wood, while the cabinetry tops and handrails are all finished in leather to be durable, all of which will show use and age.’

It is these small details that Scott wants to highlight, as they magnify the history of the house and the materials of the region. He notes, ‘The base of the house was formed with the boards from the small bungalow which preceded it, and the hand-split cedar boards, interior fir, and the oak tables which we made in our studio were all sourced from small mills on Vancouver Island.’

A distinct sense of calm permeates all areas at Kitsilano House. As the residence is designed to evolve with time, the shadows and light which disperse through the space add a cinematic quality. Scott concludes, ‘Vancouver has a long grey rainy season which leads to a month in the spring where the quiet streets come alive with magnolias, rhododendrons and wisteria. We wanted to make a home where the warmth of the wood is comforting during winter and which celebrates this colourful spring moment.’

scottandscott.ca

Solange Calio Arquitetos has completed a single-storey house in São Paulo’s Catanduva municipality for a doctor, a businessman and their family. Characterised by clean lines, expressive materials and a dynamic interior/exterior relationship, the new house takes up a generous 517 sq m on a 1,000 sq m plot.

Discover the new Solange Calio house design

The house’s low, linear appearance is complemented by the living spaces’ proximity to the courtyard garden, a landscape designed by LF Paisagismo. Outdoor spaces include covered dining terrace, pool, as well as a pond surrounded by mature trees and shrubs with seating areas scattered around the garden. ‘We designed large openings with fully retractable doors, allowing, for example, the dining room, TV room, and [outdoor] gourmet area to be completely integrated depending on the occasion,’ says Solange.

Inside, warmth is created thanks to the reclaimed wood cladding across many of the vertical and horizontal surfaces. Sanded and treated, the timber is taken back to a light tone that matches the chromium-grey cement floor coatings and Itaúnas granite countertops.

The interior programme includes a large kitchen and dining room, alongside a TV room, a playroom and a powder room, with a children’s suite, primary suite and utility spaces. The playroom is designed so that it can eventually become a second child’s bedroom.

Fixtures, furniture and fittings were acquired specially for the project, including reclaimed timber table, armchairs, and sofa by Carlos Motta and bar stools by Guilherme Wentz. The dining chairs are ‘Senior’ by Jorge Zalszupin, while the bedroom includes ‘Platô’ armchairs by Lucas Neves. Other bespoke elements are designed by the studio.

‘Developing this project was extremely rewarding because the site was excellent and, from the beginning, the clients were very confident in what they wanted,‘ the architects says. ‘Our greatest challenge was meeting both our own expectations and theirs, creating a home that is modern, minimalist, and at the same time full of personality.‘

The overall feel – that of living on a permanent vacation – is carried throughout the indoor and outdoor space, making this a house to enjoy as well as occupy.

SolangeCalio.com.br

Another Fire Island architectural wonder is up for sale, this time in the distinctive form of Julio Kaufman’s Pyramid House at 443 Sail Walk. Just a few streets away from the recently marketed Horace Gifford-designed beach house on Ocean Drive, the Pyramid House is one of the more distinctive homes in a neighbourhood renowned for its architectural self-expression.

Explore Fire Island's Pyramid House, now for sale

The house was designed at the start of the 1960s by Kaufman, an architect who was born in Buenos Aires but came to the US to study architecture at Columbia in 1952. After building his own home on Fire Island in 1957, Kaufman was commissioned by one John Goodwin (a grandson of JP Morgan, no less) to design a private retreat. The pyramid shape came from Kaufman’s idiosyncratic approach – he wanted the living room at the centre of the house to have views of the whole island.

The original structure was raised up above the dunes on a rickety deck on a generous plot going down to the beach. In the decades that followed Sail Walk became more and more developed and the house required sturdier foundations. The original two-bedroom configuration was expanded and altered, whilst still retaining the dramatic silhouette – by then a familiar local landmark. The original Asian-inspired décor has been switched out for a more beach house friendly aesthetic.

In addition, the restored property now has an entire wall plane of steel and glass, dramatically improving on Kaufman’s original vision. The impressive views range across what are now the protected Fire Island National Seashore. Another bedroom was added, with the primary suite located on the lower level, which opens directly onto the pool with the dunes beyond.

There are also three small pyramid-shaped structures that add another two guest bedrooms and bathroom. In total, the Pyramid House offers 2,100 square feet of accommodation, arranged as private, self-contained complex. The agents note there is scope to update and expand still further, although it is being sold with central air conditioning and a refurbished pool.

It wasn’t Kaufman’s only major project in the area – he was also responsible for the new Pines Yacht Club and Botel, following a 1959 fire that destroyed the original, owned by former Ziegfeld girl, actress and producer Peggy Fears. Kaufman designed the replacement – a place for boat owners to moor up and stay for the night that became one of the island’s popular nightspots – despite losing an arm in a seaplane accident during the construction phase of both projects.

‘More than six decades after its creation, the Pyramid House remains remarkably private and unmistakably iconic - a landmark of Fire Island modernism ready for its next chapter,’ says agent Esteban Gomez.

The Pyramid House, Fire Island, NY, is for sale for $3,300,000, through Compass.com, listed by Esteban Gomez at @TheCreativesAgent

Sea Cove Drive seems like an appropriate address for a Pacific Ocean-facing home that gazes over Abalone Cove and Catalina Island in California. It is also the address for The Judge & Jeannie Anderson Residence, designed by architect Aaron G Green, which has just hit the market.

The Judge & Jeannie Anderson Residence by Aaron G Green for sale

The Anderson Residence was built by Green in 1959 and stands as one of the most notable works in his portfolio. Green worked closely with architect Frank Lloyd Wright and ran his own practice while serving as Wright's West Coast representative from 1951 until the great master died in 1959.

Although inspired by Wright’s teachings, Green’s Anderson Residence echoes his distinct, personal flair and is an intact example of his own brand of ‘organic modernism’. The property, which sits across 3.5 acres, was conceived to invite the outside in through a single, open and continuous space.

Stepping inside the newly listed $7,800,000 residence, the entryway is recessed, which highlights the home's V-shaped plan. Gabled rooflines jut outward in two directions, which draw the eye towards the surrounding vistas and contrast nicely against the peculiar geometric water pool.

A private bedroom is located to the left of the house with a wall of windows that frames the ocean, while more social spaces, including the living room, dining room, and kitchen, lie straight ahead. The architecture plays with openness and more intimate spaces. Unexpected additions include a private Japanese garden, which is overlooked by two guest bedrooms and baths.

In the living area, steps trace the contours of the land down to a sunken living room with built-in seating and architect-designed furniture. At the heart of the space is a stone fireplace, with adjacent corner glass walls.

In 2003, the property was expanded by architect Eric Lloyd Wright (grandson of the esteemed architect), who focused on the bath, a swimming pool update and a spa tub addition. Green also revisited the home with a plan to create two additional bedrooms and bathrooms with their own entryway. Even though this idea was never realised, its potential remains.

This is a Californian modernist gem that seamlessly tightropes between light, openness, and serene intimacy.

The Judge & Jeannie Anderson Residence by Aaron G Green is listed at $7,800,000. For more information, visit: moderncaliforniahouse.com

Wild Comfort is a new book that sets out to show that the age-old dream of a home in the wilderness needn’t mean compromising on creature comforts. With an introduction by Jim Olson of Olson Kundig (the book includes the practice’s Camp House project), the publication is presented as a compilation of remote but refined architectural design.

Browse the finest remote dwellings in ‘Wild Comfort’

In total, the book includes 30 projects from around the world, all of which are designed to induce some level of envy in the reader. Whether you’re after an island idyll (Peter Braithwaite Studio’s Armstrong Cottage in Ontario), a dwelling in the desert (The Periphery in Boulder, Colorado, by Locus Studio) or a house embedded in the woods (Gonzalo Bardach Arquitectura’s Forest House in Brazil), Wild Comfort has got you covered.

Projects come primarily from the USA, although there’s also a healthy spread from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Latvia and Mexico. Those itching to know more about the process of securing permission to build amidst such stunning surroundings could do with a little more detail – the projects mostly appear as if they have materialised fully formed on their site with little sense of how they got there. A floorplan or site plan or two wouldn’t go amiss, showing how some of these structures literally seem to be threaded through the trees or across rocky shores.

Featured studios include Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, Dekleva Gregorič Architects, Allied8 and Strang, along with excellent photography from the likes of Joe Fletcher and Fernando Guerra. Whether you have a secret valley, private pine forest or your own archipelago in need of a residence or two, Wild Comfort is a mighty fine place to start.

'Wild Comfort: Contemporary Homes in the Wilderness', Images Publishing, £40, ImagesPublishing.com, @Images_Publishing

The topic of the Black home has been largely underexplored in existing history books. House Proud, a new book by writer, curator, and thinker Kemi Lawson and published by RIBA, steps in to correct that, offering a feast of words and images that chart Black domestic interiors and architecture across continents and eras.

The book, divided into four main sections – 'Ancestral Intelligence', 'Afro-aristo', 'Radical Shelters' and 'Future Ancestors' – was designed to pose questions as well as celebrate Black residential architecture and the creativity of Africa and its diasporic cultures.

We discuss 'House Proud' with Kemi Lawson

Wallpaper*: What inspired this book and its theme?

Kemi Lawson: House Proud began with my own home, a Grade II listed cottage in North London which I moved into in 2020. My aim was to decorate it in a way that would centre and celebrate my family’s dual Nigerian and Jamaican heritage while staying firmly rooted in modern London life.

When I went looking for inspiration, I searched interiors magazines and books for homes where Black identity and design were explored intentionally, but there was not much there. So I began with the Black-designed homes I already knew and loved: my two grandmothers’ houses in Bristol and Lagos; Devon House in Jamaica, the 1881 mansion built by George Stiebel, Jamaica’s first Black millionaire; the earthen architecture of Morocco. Then I began looking deeper into Black homes and architecture from across history.

The deeper I went, the more extraordinary the stories became. A Haitian palace at Sans-Souci, built on the scale of Versailles by a King who was once enslaved. The extraordinary technical intelligence behind Africa’s much-maligned 'mud huts.' Homes built with resilience, beauty and joy despite almost unimaginable odds. Contemporary Black homes reinterpreting traditional African design in completely new ways.

What struck me was not simply that these homes were magnificent, although they are. It was that they seemed to be speaking to each other across centuries and oceans. The same cultural pride. The same connection to ancestry. I realised these stories needed to be compiled and shared, not just for their brilliance but for the lessons they contain, which could inspire us all. The lesson that a home can carry meaning far beyond its walls. Hence, House Proud was born.

W*: I loved the sense of discovery this book gave me, as there were lots of projects I hadn’t come across before. Which of its projects made you do a double-take? Which was the most surprising?

KL: Researching House Proud took me down so many wonderful and unexpected rabbit holes. I certainly never imagined a book about Black architecture and interiors would have me quoting 19^th century Russian poetry, learning about the building qualities of cow dung, or decoding the religious symbolism of a West Indian carpet.

However, not much can match the thrill of first walking into 575 Wandsworth Road. From the outside it is an unassuming terraced house on a busy South London road. Then you step inside, and it is simply breathtaking. Almost every surface is inlaid and hand-carved in fretwork by its owner, the British-Kenyan polymath and aesthete Khadambi Asalache.

I love the story of how it began. Damp was coming through from the commercial laundry next door, so in 1986 he covered one wall with a piece of carved wood. Then he simply did not stop and was still going twenty years later, when he died. Each surface is a miniature masterpiece, drawing on the Swahili architecture of the East African coast, the Moorish architecture of Andalusia, Dogon traditions from Mali and Ottoman interiors. The skill of the carving is remarkable, and the breadth of global cultural knowledge contained within it... It is an intellectual and travel biography written in wood.

Asalache left it to the nation. It is now in the care of the National Trust and open for guided tours, six visitors at a time, shoes off at the door. A must-visit and a unique piece of British heritage.

W*: I understand the book investigates the Black home in all its shapes, forms and territories. How do you define this home, and what are the common threads that unite Black homes?

KL: A Black home is not defined by a particular colour palette, collection of objects or an architectural style. It is defined by intention: an intention to live in a way that reflects heritage and timeless ancestral values.

Looking across the homes in the book, from the Caribbean Georgian mansion to a Lagos merchant house to a Windrush front room in Bristol, I found the same threads resurfacing. I came to call these threads A.I., but a rather different kind of AI: Ancestral Intelligence.

It is a way of living directly connected to a way of life that long predates our modern nuclear family and our heavily consumerist idea of the home, and which I suspect may outlive them too. I identify four recurring themes: living in harmony with nature, an architecture of joy and rhythm, communal living, and the incorporation of sacred space.

They appear in different forms throughout the book. Together they suggest a radically different way of thinking about what a home can be, not simply somewhere to decorate and inhabit but somewhere that can connect us to family, community, nature, spirit and history.

W*: On the other hand, give me some examples of the variety hidden in these homes?

KL: Few spaces contain more layers than the British-Caribbean homes of the Windrush era, exemplified by the design language of the West Indian front room, so beautifully documented by Michael McMillan at London’s Museum of the Home.

The front room is an extraordinary combination of objects, aesthetics and a way of life. Victorian propriety sits alongside tropical aesthetics, religious iconography, tiny treasured ornaments and family remembrance, all within one relatively small space.

Anyone who grew up around those interiors will recognise the details immediately and smile. The Last Supper on the wall. Hand-crafted crochet work on the sofa. An archive of graduation and wedding photographs taking pride of place on a wall. A framed map of one’s own island. I would say a West Indian grandmother’s front room was the first museum her grandchildren ever visited, if they were allowed in!

Another extraordinary example is the Afro-Brazilian architecture of West Africa. These are homes that crossed the Atlantic twice. Portuguese-Brazilian architecture was brought to West Africa by formerly enslaved Brazilians returning to their African motherland, who then built versions of houses they had once constructed in Brazil. Except this time they were building for themselves.

The result is a wonderful architectural hybrid: classical European columns and pilasters meeting Yoruba sculptural traditions and motifs. They tell, in architectural form, the under-recognised story of an Afro-Brazilian community that profoundly influenced West African religion, food, music and culture.

Sadly, many have disappeared or stand in poor repair. Ilojo Bar in Lagos, built in the nineteenth century and a listed national monument, was demolished overnight in 2016. That loss is part of the reason why this book exists.

W*: Do you have a favourite? If you built your house tomorrow, what would it look like? (Of course, we ignore for a moment the fact that your own home is in the book too)

KL: My favourite is probably Villa Lewaro in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. The home of Madam C.J. Walker, the haircare entrepreneur usually described as America’s first self-made female millionaire.

She has one of the most remarkable life trajectories in history, and her home holds all of it. Her own company later described the journey as 'cabin to castle.' Walker herself called the house her 'dream of dreams,' and the New York Times called it a place fit for a fairy princess. She commissioned Vertner Tandy, the first Black architect registered in New York State, and she built on Millionaires’ Row, close to the Gilded Age millionaires such as the Goulds and the Rockefellers. Then, while every white neighbour on that stretch had angled their house to catch the River Hudson views, she turned hers to face Broadway. She wanted to be seen from the road.

That is what I love about Villa Lewaro. It was never only a place to show off her wealth. It was built as evidence to show the Black community that if she could achieve this, so could they. At her opening gathering in August 1918, she convened a weekend of debate on lynching, civil rights and the status of Black soldiers then serving in France. The house went on to host the Liberian president, the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance and four hundred of the company’s own sales agents at the annual convention.

And it is that element, that aspect of ancestral intelligence of community, that I would lean into if I built my house tomorrow. I increasingly think the traditional nuclear-family home feels like an outdated concept that is not working for us. I would design instead for a more expansive idea of family and community. Location, room flows, shared spaces where extended family, friends and the people you wish to form community with can all feel at home. A house with the door open.

W*: What do you hope readers will take away from reading the book?

KL: House Proud is definitely not a rule book. It will not tell you which paint colour to choose or how to lay out a room. I hope it makes you feel differently about what home actually is and about how limitless its potential can be. A home can nurture radical ideas. Tell your family’s stories. Help build a supportive community. Somewhere to experience with higher forces. To manifest joy, whatever the circumstances. To me, this is ancestral intelligence.

I hope people finish the book inspired to think about how some of those principles might shape their own homes and lives. Because I sincerely believe they offer a blueprint for a richer, more connected and more fulfilling way of living. One which is, in many ways, an antidote to some of the more disconnected ways we are living now.

'House Proud: Black Interiors and Architecture Across Continents and Centuries' by Kemide Lawson is published by RIBA on 1st September, £50 hardback

Stepping inside this north London apartment, you would be forgiven for thinking it is the very chic home of a gallerist or design enthusiast – and in a sense, it is. Yet Apartment 21 is much more than that, explains its author, London architecture practice Piercy&Co. The space, a residential unit in Kentish Town, is used as a private gallery, a guest residence, as well as a three-dimensional, full-sized showcase of the studio's approach to interiors and how they affect our everyday lives.

Step inside Piercy&Co’s London Apartment 21

The space, a one-bedroom interior in a 1930s former technical college building, belonged to a gallerist and was used as their residence when the practice's founder, architect Stuart Piercy, first spotted it. When it came on the market, he snapped it up, aiming to transform it into a craft-rich, spatial experiment and a domestic extension to the main studio's space for the business's guests and activities.

Piercy&Co is no stranger to creating finely tuned interiors – as shown by projects such as its One Triton Square. At Apartment 21, Piercy and Fiona Neil, the firm's director and head of interiors, developed the interior as more than a functional living space, they explain. It was conceived to be an opportunity for in-person 'hosting, gathering and collaboration'.

It was all about calibrating the interiors for an experience that feels organic but also subtly dramatic. A dark-painted corridor, a curved wall, a circular cutout on a wooden partition (created by Piercy&Co's long-term collaborator and timber specialist, Benchmark, no less) are all gestures that elevate the compact space to a truly refined moment.

Piercy says: 'I’ve never believed scale changes the intensity of the question. A tower has to meet the ground the way a handle has to meet a hand – with the same sense of connection, the same care for how a hand rests, a body turns, a pause. Apartment 21 is really about sharing food and conversation, but also experiments in furniture, mood and comfort.'

Custom-designed pieces by the studio in collaboration with Benchmark are made of British ash and elm and are scattered throughout. They are complemented by wool rugs, natural fibre upholstery and linen curtains. Architectural lighting by P&S Labs illuminates the interior.

'Apartment 21 is not a traditional project with a linear timeline of concept, build, photograph and leave,' Neil says. 'Here, the concept phase never really ended; it's a space in continual evolution. In a way, the whole point of Apartment 21 is that it's forever in the concept phase – we test, we trial objects and experiment with finishes. This is where the hosting component of the space is very important to us.'

‘Neuroaesthetics and the psychological and physiological effects spaces have on us lie at the core of our interiors studio – so having the opportunity to witness the effects of experimenting with the compression and expansion of volumes, or the response to natural materials and/or playing with spatial perception, all feeds back into the studio’s work.

‘It took a while to reflect on what Apartment 21 is really about – a lot was instinctive and conversational. But I think it is essentially about creating space to hold the ephemeral: whether that is changing patterns of light, a breeze that billows curtains or the hum of conversations, shared meals and the exchange of ideas.’

piercyandco.com

It’s rare that a designer gets to revisit their first major commission. For the influential Texan architect Ted Flato, the design of La Barroneña ranch house in 1985 was a first opportunity to materialise his site-specific, regionalist and sustainable approach to modern design, a working philosophy that would come to define Lake Flato, the prolific San Antonio-based firm he would go on to co-found.

When La Barroneña’s second-generation owners set out to make necessary improvements to the retreat in 2024, it was an obvious choice to rehire the architect that built it. For Flato and his team, the renovation wasn’t just a walk down memory lane but a chance to reaffirm the practice’s original guiding principles.

‘Returning to the very first project that established the values of our firm was also an opportunity to add a level of refinement that brings new depth, richness and renewal to the experience of living in the house,’ says Flato.

La Barroneña sits on 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares) of semi-arid brushland due east of Laredo, Texas, a property that’s been in Ed Lasater’s family for 120 years. As a child, he recalls his parents landing their small airplane on the ranch’s dirt runway and setting up camp during winter breaks. They were often joined by their extended family. ‘After years of “roughing it”, my mom decided she wanted to be able to sleep in a bed and take showers,’ Lasater recalls.

To design a new – and at least semi-enclosed – dwelling, Lasater’s father reached out to O’Neil Ford, a forefather of Texas modernism, for advice. Proponents of the movement set out to interpret the 20th-century style through a vernacular lens. Texas modernism prioritises durable, locally sourced materials and introduces layouts accommodating an indoor-outdoor lifestyle. Ford suggested a then-fledgling Flato.

Flato’s initial concept hewed closely to Texas modernist values, but overlaid with environmentally sensitive principles. Flato called his design a ‘big tent’ structure, one that was imagined to stand tall but blend in with a gnarled mesquite tree and the thorny undergrowth.

‘The house is more porch than house, with the majority of the space under a big shady roof,' Flato explains. ‘Screens keep bugs out, breezeways foster cross-ventilation, and the house is oriented to face the cool prevailing breezes coming off the nearby Gulf of Mexico.’

Inside, Flato kept the plan simple. Guests move around a semi-indoor, semi-outdoor entertaining space, enclosed by large glass doors that seamlessly fold into thick stucco walls, and two perpendicular bedroom wings. Each houses two en suite bedrooms protected from milder winter weather by sliding barn doors. Though 5,036 sq ft in size, the house requires very little air conditioning. Today we know those strategies as ‘passive design’, an approach Flato was seminal in deploying.

Lasater and his wife Ellie took over ownership of the property in 2012. Over the past 14 years, they’ve added a pool, pickleball court and the Lake Flato-designed Porch House. The last brought La Barroneña’s sleeping capacity up from 8 to 14; almost enough room for all those cousins still flying in for short breaks. ‘The house was still working as designed, as evidenced by regular use over 40 years [by] groups ranging in number from two to over 70,’ Lasater says.

When the Lasaters started having such a full house, the kitchen became overwhelmed. There wasn’t a clear distinction between the prep and clean-up area. This centralised space needed to be rearranged but still tied in with everything around it.

‘The house has been a focal point for me and my extended family’, Lasater adds. ‘We felt strongly that any changes could not alter the original feel and function. We needed very thoughtful adjustments in a space where adding square footage was not an option and knew that Lake Flato would have the restraint to adjust and tweak without changing what we love about the house.’

Lake Flato associate partner Vicki Yuan and senior interiors associate Pamela Dailey were tasked with the sensitive, mostly cosmetic revamp, opting for a light, integrative approach. ‘The renovation was about enhancing the interiors, offering a more comfortable environment during inclement weather, and creating a modern, multi-use kitchen for both daily meals and large gatherings,’ says Yuan.

New finishes such as engineered stone countertops and textural zellige tile backsplashes were introduced to accentuate the tone and texture of the existing brick-on-sand floors, timber cabinetry and shiplapped accent walls.

In addition to the subtle architectural interventions, the architects selected new furnishings to add another layer of softness and comfort. Staying true to the original look and feel of the space, these pieces were sourced for their formal simplicity, textural quality and earth-tone colour palette. It seems as if they’ve always been here, but don’t appear dated. A storage closet was converted into an additional dining nook, adding more seating. This cosy corner works well when it's just Ed and Ellie but also when their grown-up children and other family members are here for a stay.

‘The result was a much-needed update to the core and other spaces while keeping the spirit and feel of the house intact,’ says Lasater.

Of course, ‘Ted blessed all of the changes’, he adds.

Completed ten years ago by Kengo Kuma & Associates, the Wild Bird Forest Lodge is now for sale through Sotheby’s International Realty Japan. Minimalist in detail but rich in scale and materiality, the 240 sq m villa is arranged as a series of structures on a 0.6-acre site in Nagakura, close to Karuizawa Town in Nagano Prefecture in Honshu.

Explore Kengo Kuma's Wild Bird Forest Lodge

Set in a managed resort close to a nature preserve, the design of the vacation home was designed by Kuma with inspiration taken from the flight paths of wild birds. Dramatic oversailing galvanised steel roofs extend outwards above the living spaces, with exposed timber joists blended with the steel frame.

The enclosed spaces are made from reinforced concrete and steel, with timber clad walls and flooring paired with traditional tatami mats. The accommodation consists of four pavilions, with a two-storey main building housing the main, living and kitchen on the upper level, surrounded by covered terraces.

Below this is a sauna and traditional Japanese bath, the latter with large windows overlooking the surrounding vegetation. The primary bedroom is located in a pavilion adjoining the main building but sharing the same roof structure. From an entrance hall, steps lead down to an expansive bedroom area with its own secluded private terrace.

Two other pavilions are arranged as Japanese style rooms with tatami mat floors, adjoining bathrooms and terraces covered by a substantial mono-pitch roof. The original brief called for a house that was part gallery, part residence and throughout the various spaces, furnishings and artworks were chosen especially for the house – all are included in the sale.

The property is located around 6.5 km from Karuizawa Station on JR’s Hokuriku Shinkansen, around an hour’s journey from Tokyo.

Wild Bird Forest Lodge, Karuizawa Town, Nagano Prefecture, designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, $10,033,046, SothebysRealty.com

kkaa.co.jp

730 Stanyan Street in San Francisco is OMA’s New York’s first foray into affordable housing, but there’s nothing remotely cut-rate about its appearance.

This clever and deftly articulated building opened in late July, fronting the eastern end of Golden Gate Park in Haight-Ashbury. Glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC), a light-weight precast cement composite, makes for an elegant and thrifty envelope for a sinuous building that provides 160 vitally-needed affordable housing units for San Francisco, the most expensive urban rental market in the United States.

Other firms have amply demonstrated that affordable housing needn’t forsake design distinction in recent years: Lorcan O’Herlihy, Brooks Scarpa Huber Architects and Michael Maltzan in California; and Grimshaw, David Adjaye and, soon, even Herzog and de Meuron in New York. With 730 Stanyan, OMA has joined their ranks with style.

The city purchased a grimy McDonald's on the site in 2017, intending to use the lot for affordable housing. Two nonprofits, the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Center (TNDC), applied to develop the site. Each has developed numerous projects in the city; the former houses over 5,000 tenants in their buildings, the latter more than 6,800. The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development suggested that the two organisations join forces for the project.

Bo Han, associate director of housing development for the Chinatown CDC had been greatly impressed by OMA and San Francisco firm YA Studio’s 2019 collaboration on the Avery Tower at the city’s Transbay development. She encouraged the two practices to collaborate in a submission, which beat out 16 competitors. Most firms selected are local; this was a rare win for a team located largely outside the Bay area.

‘We wanted somebody who really understands urban context and could make the needed gesture to make this building fit well into the site, but also something that didn't look like typical affordable housing,’ she says.

The financing for affordable housing projects in San Francisco is complex. The city provides predevelopment funding, with contributions from city, state, federal and other sources making up the rest of the project. 730 Stanyan failed to win state support but former mayor London Breed, who was previously district supervisor for the site, assisted in obtaining additional city funding. The city owns the site; the project has been granted a 75 year lease with a 24 year option to extend.

Paul Wang, associate principal at YA Studio, explains their role as ‘local community outreach, obtaining entitlements and navigating the City’s complicated permitting process, solving code related issues, documenting and overseeing the construction of the building.’

YA had worked on a number of affordable housing projects previously, but OMA was new to the game. Han, of the Chinatown CDC, explains, ‘when OMA and YA Studio put their fee proposal together, Jason Long cut his hourly fee by one-third, yet the design team gave it all throughout the entire design process.’

One of OMA’s struggles was simply to fit in as many units as possible, yet avoiding a domineering form in the process. ‘We could have done an eight-storey wraparound building, but you would end up with a cold, big, unprogrammed outdoor space, and a lot of mass at the perimeter that would have felt very out of keeping with the neighbourhood,’ OMA principal Jason Long explains.

There were risks in other directions. The Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, among others, objected to its height. ‘There was a lot of push from some people in the community to break this down into a more forced set of fake townhouses, or to bring colour into the project in a very dramatic way. We resisted both of those efforts and tried to use instead this idea of the facade articulation through the GFRC panels,’ Long adds.

The envelope is complex, roughly resembling an abstract W in plan, with additional portions carved out at various levels: there are four-story corner volumes in a display of deference to the neighborhood’s scale. Otherwise, most of the building’s height is concentrated at the site’s centre.

The facade is serrated and swoops with cantilevers providing repeat visual interest. ‘The GFRC panels are shaped as a kind of wave, which is a nod to bay windows, but also just gives us a tool to modulate the facade. It reflects the scale of the townhouses in the neighbourhood,’ Long explains. ‘Additionally we curved it to reflect the organic quality of the park’.

One neighbourly gesture is a scoop on the building’s north side to recess the facade to meet the street frontage of a Victorian neighbor.

The GFRC panels are mounted onto a steel frame, with windows and mechanical louvers integrated before placement. ‘As long as the modules are standardized it's actually very economical as a building skin system,’ Long says.

The designers did not have an opulent budget. ‘One of our concerns with the building was that it might end up feeling a little bit institutional,’ Long says.

One of their nimble methods of combatting this risk was simply making sharp use of space. The residential units are not especially large but living rooms were located to maximise corner windows and provide a sense of spaciousness. The lobby is airy and amply lit, located between the building’s front and internal courtyard (there’s another courtyard for a daycare on the ground floor). The lobby features characteristic OMA touches: rounded columns; a perforated metal ceiling; and a diagonal mailbox volume that becomes a bench facing parkwards.

Elevators open onto views of Golden Gate Park. Long says, ‘Every time you step out of the elevator you’re reoriented to the park. Everyone gets the park view every day.’ The fifth floor terraces offer additional green space. The laundry room is not located in a grim basement, but next to one of these terraces. Economical supergraphics nodding to late San Francisco design doyenne Barbara Stauffacher Solomon inject additional fun for the mere cost of paint.

The building’s outdoor spaces are also artful. There’s a merry-go-round and a climbing wall that might be mistaken for an art installation in the main courtyard. Landscaping by GLS Landscape Architecture is set low for stormwater management needs but the effect is adventurous. There are two murals on the building by local artists, a floral nod to the area’s hippie heyday facing the inside of the block by Sorell Raino-Tsui and a more abstracted composition by Jenifer Wofford along one facade.

In addition to the daycare centre, the building also includes retail space, which is rare for such projects but was intentional to continue Haight street’s retail corridor; the city’s legendary Amoeba Music is right next door.

The project is also achieving a great deal of good. Every unit was leased before it even opened. Thirty-two units were set aside for formerly-homeless residents and 32 units for Section 8 tenants. It contains a comparatively large number of three bedroom units for families. Eligibility for the remaining apartments was set at 60 percent of the area’s median income.

730 Stanyan marks the first entirely-affordable housing on San Francisco’s west side. The building might prove a model in other regards, ‘This project was the first 100 percent affordable development [in the city] to use precast-concrete as the primary façade system to reduce the overall construction schedule,’ Wang says.

Affordable housing is so necessary it almost doesn’t matter what it looks like; everyone wins when the result is this attractive.

As the daughter and granddaughter of two former US presidents, Barbara Bush grew up around some of America’s most treasured landscapes, from the manicured lawns of the White House to the blooming grasslands of her native Texas.

That changed when, after college, Bush moved to New York, a city where green space can be as hard to come by as a dollar slice of pizza these days. ‘I lived in New York for 15-plus years, never with a yard,’ she tells Wallpaper*.

During the pandemic, though, Bush – then pregnant with her first child – and her husband, the actor Craig Coyn, bought their dream family home in Brooklyn. In addition to classic brownstone character, the property had a coveted fenced-in backyard.

It was clear, though, that the space was going to require some work; The previous occupants had used the space as an en plein air artist’s studio, so, save for a few scraggly plantings and a smattering of ‘found objects’, it was bare – ‘in a cool way,’ Bush says, ‘but not safe for children.’

Bush envisioned transforming the plot into an urban pollinator garden, a wild oasis of native plants and flowers where visiting birds and insects could stop for a sip of nectar. She was inspired, in part, by her mom, First Lady Laura Bush, who has long advocated for rewilding landscapes, and is the founder of the conservation nonprofit Texan by Nature.

‘My mom is a naturalist,’ Bush explains. ‘She has a sign in her yard that says “Monarch Wrangler,” since Texas is in the pathway of the monarch butterfly migration. There was so much intentionality around what was in our yard.’

‘My sister [Jenna Bush Hager] and I thought it was hilarious and made fun of her for that when we were younger,’ Bush adds.

Still, Bush was ready to evolve into her own, urban version of a monarch wrangler. For help, she turned to landscape designer Nathalie Danilovich, founder of the New York firm Nathalie Pierrepont Design, who happened to be married to a college acquaintance. ‘She heard through the grapevine that I could help her with her new house in Brooklyn,’ Danilovich says. ‘She wanted a wild, naturalistic garden – one that’s established, layered, romantic – we referenced, partly in jest, the beautiful overgrowth in Grey Gardens.’

The yard also needed to be easy to maintain. In addition to being the mother of two busy children, ages 4 and 2, Bush is the vice president of social impact for the NBA. ‘I love having a backyard and I love having a garden, and also I'm not a gardener,’ Bush confessed.

Danilovich worked with Bush to devise a low-maintenance design that would prioritise kid-friendly gathering spaces, privacy and a naturalist’s ethos. ‘I wanted it to be full and overgrown and wild and beautiful. I didn’t want manicured, and luckily, because I don't have that much time, I wasn't going to be able to manicure it that much myself anyway,’ Bush says.

Danilovich created a broad, winding patio through the center of the backyard from woodland granite pavers, a stone that features tones of cool gray and warm buff. She then lined the perimeter of the space with lush beds of perennials, layering hardier species like fluffy Gold Dew Tufted Hair Grass and lacy Slender Mountain Mint, with more colourful varieties like Purple Meadow Rue, Eastern Bee Balm and the thistle-like Rattlesnake Master.

‘While we talked a lot about plant diversity and pollinators, it was important to keep the plant palette relatively tight for this size space,’ Danilovich explains.

The patio’s most whimsical feature is a woven willow sun canopy at the yard’s far end. Danilovich partnered with farmer and multidisciplinary artist Howard Peller (who popped by the Bush-Coyne residence while working on an installation in the Hamptons) to weave together the structure using live boughs. ‘It’s a living sculpture,’ Bush says. An outdoor sofa sits beneath, which Bush spray-painted grey to match the paving stones.

Two summers since it was first planted, the garden is reaching full maturity – both the plantings themselves and the experience of living alongside it. The children enjoy playing games of soccer on the terrace and plucking mini purple-and-white bouquets from the beds, and name each squirrel that passes through. As soon as the weather warms, the family will have al fresco meals together. ‘Every night after dinner we eat an ice pop in the backyard,’ Bush says. ‘It really does feel like another room of our house.’

As expected, the garden has attracted local bees, fireflies and, yes, monarch butterflies. While her mother hasn’t paid a visit just yet, Bush sends her photos. ‘She really loves the “before” and “after” because it's very satisfying – It's very dramatic,’ Bush says.

‘It's just a fun, special place to hang,’ she adds.

Located in the small community of Upper Kingsburg, Nova Scotia, this modest house by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects epitomises the firm’s sensitive approach to residential design. With two bedrooms and measuring 1,050 square feet, Skybox is no sprawling modernist McMansion, nor is it an ersatz pastiche of the local vernacular.

Discover the joys of this modest house in Nova Scotia

Instead, Brian MacKay-Lyons, Talbot Sweetapple and their team have chosen to go back to basics, looking at the qualities and characteristics of local fishing shacks and translating these into a residential archetype that is attuned to the local environment. The house sits on a slender steel structure that elevates it above the sloping site, with an entrance deck set back from the road.

On the entrance level there are two bedrooms and a bathroom, with a straight stair that leads up to the kitchen, dining and living space on the upper floor. Here the volume has been expanded up into the wooden eaves, creating a typical ‘great room’ with an uninterrupted run of windows looking north. Another strip of fenestration serves as a backdrop to the linear kitchen island, with south-easterly views across nearby Romkey Pond with Hartling Bay beyond.

Roof joists are exposed, as are the steel ties, and the warmth of the timber is paired with two hefty granite slabs, one on the west façade serving as the surround to the hearth and wood-burner, the other the backdrop to the dining banquette. The unexpected warmth and patina of these slabs add another layer of natural texture to the interior.

Outside, Skybox is clad in functional corrugated metal, a practical, low-cost response to the region’s climate. On the bedroom level, the only windows look west across the valley, with the elevated structure creating privacy as well as views. Above these windows, the flue from the wood-burner adds a striking piece of functional high-tech detailing that enhances the verticality of this façade.

The architects describe the project as part of their ‘ongoing research on 'village-making', exploring all facets of residential design as it relates to existing landscape and surrounding communities. ‘As part of the village road, this house aspires to be a good neighbour through siting, scale, and shape,’ they write, adding that ‘sometimes the most modest dwelling, through its distillation and clarity, can become a prototype for elaboration, variation, and aggregation.’

MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects are a well-established and highly acclaimed Nova Scotian firm with a global reputation. Based in Halifax and Lunenburg, with fields offices in Colorado and Massachusetts, the firm has received over 170 awards since its inception in 1985. MacKay-Lyons and Sweetapple work alongside two other Principals, Melanie Hayne and Shane Andrews. The project lead on Skybox was Isaac Fresia.

The house epitomises the studio’s breadth of skills and constant search for innovation. As well as grand private residences, apartment buildings, educational and corporate work, Skybox offers an affordable path to striking rural design. As the architects note, ‘what begins as a straightforward, unembellished form may evolve as an adaptable framework for architectural language.’

MLSarchitects.ca

Berkeley’s reputation as a hotbed of technological innovation is also mirrored by its architectural legacy. This house by Donald Olsen at 775 San Diego Road is looking for only its third custodian since it was completed in 1954, built for pioneering Silicon Valley engineer and physicist Arthur Frederic Kip.

The Kip House was commissioned in 1952. Kip (1910 – 1995) spent a quarter of a century at the UC Berkeley physics department working in experimental physics, helping lay the foundations for the semiconductor industry that would eventually transform the fortune, demographic and global importance of this part of Northern California.

Kip was also an admirer of European modernism and the ethos and approach of the Bauhaus. Following World War II (in which he served in Anti-Submarine Warfare Research), he was in a position to commission a bright young local architect, Donald Olsen, to design a house that reflected his aesthetic preferences and professional ethos. The house was to exemplify ‘precision, clarity, logic, and innovation.’

Olsen (1919-2015) was a disciple of Walter Gropius, one of many pioneering German architects and designers who had arrived in America via the UK following their escape from pre-war Germany. Olsen studied under Gropius at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, eventually going on to work for Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Californian firm Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons, responsible for Case Study House #3.

On his own, Donald Olsen never lost sight of European Modernism, even as many of his contemporaries went on to evolve the style to create the timeless form of Mid-Century Modernism that has become so closely associated with the West Coast. The Kip House serves as a transitionary work. The rigour and simplicity of the front façade is clearly Bauhaus-inspired, but as the house steps up the hillside it opens up into the wooded landscape, becoming more intimate and low-key.

Kip’s house sits alongside Olsen’s own house, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a City of Berkeley Landmark, and was published in the influential Arts & Architecture magazine in 1954. The house’s position on the slope is fully exploited by Olsen’s split-level plan, which incorporates a living space across the upper floor, set beneath the shallow pitched roof.

The main living space at the front of the house has a proto-high tech balcony cantilevered out from the façade, alongside a living area and study. Steps in the centre of the plan lead down to a kitchen and dining room with direct access on to the deck and rear yard. In total, there’s 5,706 SF of outdoor space, and 1,904 SF of indoor space, as well as a car port.

The architectural arrangement allows the occupants to live in the treetops, along with the primary bedroom suite at the rear of the property. Two additional bedrooms are located on the lower level.

Following the death of Kip’s wife Joan, the house went on to be owned by a prominent local lawyer who proved to be a sympathetic custodian of this unique house. She engaged architectural historian Pierluigi Serraino to document the house’s history and consult on subtle but necessary updates to preserve its unique qualities. Now a new owner is required to continue the legacy.

Kip House, Berkeley, is for sale at $1,425,000 through Anna Bellemo of District Homes, 775SanDiego.com, Anna.District-Homes.com

Set on steep terrain and lifted high above the ground, a treetop home is a sensitive response to its client’s connection to the area. Located in Guarujá, São Paulo, a coastal city and island on the Atlantic coast, the residence, titled ES House, feels like a contemporary interpretation of a treehouse - and it is a project designed by Brazilian studio Jacobsen Studio.

Discover a treetop home in Upstate São Paulo

‘We wanted the house to emerge from the landscape, following the natural slope and preserving as much of the existing forest as possible,’ explains the studio's partner Paulo Jacobsen. ‘Every design decision, from the split-level organisation to the suspended structural system, was guided by the ambition to create a home that feels inseparable from its surroundings and frames the sea and the horizon as constant companions.’

The design aimed to make the resident feel immersed in the landscape. To begin, the architects created a layout which unfolded as visitors entered. This was achieved by somewhat camouflaging the residence by preserving the surrounding vegetation, while also planting new trees – which also reinforces the connection between architecture and landscape.

Visitors can access the building via street level. However, it is the roof that welcomes people, who will see a garden with a fire pit and wooden deck on it as they arrive. Down the first flight of stairs and past the reflecting pool and another garden, it opens up to a double-height mezzanine that houses the living space.

For Jacobsen, this is the most remarkable moment: ‘When you stand on the mezzanine of the main social level, where the checkered Glulam roof and double-height glass panels open completely toward the horizon and the sea, it is such an interesting spatial experience. It feels as if the ocean is a continuation of the house.’

The bedrooms are found on the lower floor, which is the same level as the treetops, while further down is a deck area for contemplation and meditation. Merging the house with the sloped terrain wasn’t an easy task, and developing a structural solution that would respond to the site's steep terrain while minimising its environmental impact was at the forefront of the architects’ plan. The studio settled on a dendriform structure.

‘This allows the main volume to be supported at only two points, reducing contact with the ground, preserving existing vegetation, and maintaining uninterrupted views of the sea,’ explains Jacobsen. ‘Achieving this balance between complex engineering, environmental sensitivity, and spatial quality required close collaboration throughout the design process.’

ES House is a treetop home designed to be discovered, where elements unfold as you journey through it. Says the architect: ‘The intention is to create a sense of calm and refuge, with the architecture revealing itself slowly and encouraging people to connect with the landscape. By the time they reach the main living spaces, the openness toward the sea, the warmth of the natural materials, and the surrounding forest should bring out both a feeling of serenity and a sense of belonging to the place.’

jacobsenstudio.com

Arizona, with its majestic landscapes, staggering biodiversity and arid climate, has long spurred the architectural imagination. Most famously, the Grand Canyon State was the longtime muse of Frank Lloyd Wright, who first travelled there in the 1920s before setting up Taliesin West, the desert outpost of his Wisconsin home and school, in 1937. ‘The saguaro is the greatest example of a skyscraper that was ever built,’ the architect insisted.

Nearly a century after Wright’s first visit, Arizona continues to inspire architects, eager to create light-on-the-land buildings that tame the region’s harsh conditions while framing the dramatic topography. It’s little wonder that the state became a proving ground for desert modernism. Residential architecture is where these principles especially shine – and luckily, we’ve been privileged to publish some of the most innovative Arizona homes. From a retreat made from humble concrete block to a stainless-steel-clad residence that reflects the cactus-studded terrain, these five innovative Arizona houses beat the heat and stir the soul.

An ‘elegantly austere’ oasis outside Phoenix

Architect Darren Petrucci, principal of the Scottsdale-based firm A-I-R likes to design residential projects around a single, big gesture. In the case of this Arizona house outside of Phoenix, that form was a ‘long, bent bar.’ That massing enables the home, constructed from concrete block and stucco, to perch on a ridge on the site to take advantage of dramatic views to Camelback Mountain in the distance. The exterior is pale, to allow the intense sun to reflect back. But Petrucci and his team kept the interiors dark, to minimise reflections and keep the rooms cool. 'The analogy I typically give a client is a football player putting black under his eyes to reduce glare,’ the architect said. A series of austere indoor/outdoor spaces – including a pristine swimming pool – further prove that life in this home is quite literally made in the shade.

A concrete-block build for a multi-generational family

To look at this sleek Phoenix, Arizona house, you’d never guess that it began its life as an ordinary 1970s suburban home. But local architect Benjamin Hall cleverly expanded and reconfigured the structure to house a multi-generational dwelling using a surprising material: concrete masonry units. What resulted was a minimalist 1,700 sq ft addition, that is as cost-effective as it is insulated from the harsh Arizona climate. 'We had been looking to downsize, but never found what we wanted,' the client told us. 'So we did it by building.'

A scene-stealing retreat overlooking Tucson

Scenic designer Scott Pask has designed sets for blockbuster plays like the Book of Mormon – so it’s no surprise that his Arizona desert home, located outside Tucson, brings the drama. He found the brick modernist residence, designed by architect Jerry Thayer in the 1960s, in 2013, and enlisted architect Graydon Yearick to modernise it. The improvements included lightening the interior, incorporating more windows and ripping up retro carpet. Pask also spent three years upgrading the landscape to be in keeping with the client and to be more resilient in the event of a wildfire. He planted cacti, prickly pear, yucca and agave – plants that perfectly melt into the views of the mountain foothills beyond.

A saguaro-studded escape in Cave Creek

Cave Creek, Arizona, located outside of Phoenix, is filled with Old West lore, including the discovery of gold there in the 1870s. The owners of this dramatic home also struck gold, thanks to Phoenix-based firm Wendell Burnette Architects. The house is all planes and plinths, moves that allowed the architects to conceal mechanicals and create ample indoor/outdoor space. The overhanging canopy is clad in stainless steel, a material that reflects the saguaro-dotted desert landscape and views of Continental Mountain.

An midcentury modern-inspired apartment complex in Phoenix

This residential complex in Phoenix, designed by US400 firm Johnston Marklee, isn't technically a house, but it still exemplifies design principals that are uniquely Arizonan. Developed by Ray, the residential real estate company founded by Dasha Zhukova Niarchos, the building has more than 400 apartments. The modernist-inspired tower exterior is made of eye-catching green glass and metal, a move that at once evokes cacti and makes the building a banner in the cityscape. New York-based firm Parts and Labor Design took care of the interiors, which maintain the same mid-century vibes with a decidedly desert-y palette of terra-cotta hues, timber furnishings and plaster finishes. 'There’s a unique energy here shaped by the desert,’ Zhukova Niarchos told us.

Sidell Pakravan have completed a family house refurbishment in a Berkeley Hills neighbourhood, taking an existing mid-century house and sympathetically upgrading it without compromising its essential qualities. House Vert arose out of a desire for more space, more than the traditionally low-slung largely single-storey mid-century archetype could provide. Originally built in 1963, the house was subject to strict site conditions that precluded any extensions due to the area’s zoning and waterway restrictions.

Sidell Pakravan, a firm founded by Sidell Pakravan and Kristen Sidell in 2014, were up to the challenge. The house is located in a creek, with a site that slopes steeply away from the road and provides verdant views out of every window, preserving all the existing trees.

By adding two new vertical elements to the floorplan, including the expansion and revision of the single upstairs room, the architects have brought light into the heart of the plan as well as expanded the available floorspace to a total of 2,000 square feet.

The existing structure was substantially altered and upgraded, with a new kitchen from Henrybuilt, as well a bespoke drainage, erosion and stormwater plan developed to ensure the newly updated house had no additional effects on the creek below the site.

The dark new exterior cladding uses traditional Sho Sugi ban treated timber, far more attuned to the deep greens and browns on the landscape, in place of the more generic varnished timber cladding of the original. Sharp edges and neat junctions emphasise the geometric structure and give the house a bolder presence.

In addition to the Henrybuilt kitchen, the interior has been lightened throughout, with a combination of white walls, timber floors and bespoke elements like the new walnut panelling in the entrance vestibule, above which the original lean-to porch has been replaced with a fourteen-foot volume equipped with high level roof lights.

The new principal suite is located in the second vertical volume, reached by a slender but sculptural staircase that leads into a bedroom, large walk-in closet and a bath set amongst the tree canopies. Located at the rear of the property, the main bed overlooks the creek in the backyard.

Two more bedrooms are located directly beneath it, along with a family bathroom. Henrybuilt was also responsible for the floating bench and console unit in the living room, while the custom mantel was supplied by Montana Timber Products.

‘The neighborhood in Berkeley where House Vert is located has a wide range of untouched and eclectic mid-century homes, many of which have not been touched since they were built,’ says Sidell Pakravan, ‘Our vision revolved around keeping the elements of the spirit of the original house while creating a better sense of cohesion. The refined interior contrasts with the wild landscape, which we kept intentionally untouched to integrate the updated home into its original context.’

SidellPakravan.com, @SidellPakravan

Set to be built just outside of Lawrence, Kansas, this new tornado- and fire-resistant project is more than a typical private ‘home’; it is an Earthship residence. ‘Earthships’ were conceived from one man’s vision for the future of housing. Michael E Reynolds founded the unorthodox utopian Earthship community, first in Taos, New Mexico, in the early 1970s, 'intending to create homes that don’t use fossil fuels or generate waste,' Beatrice Galilee reported for Wallpaper* in 2024. Now the community has expanded to more than 60 off-grid, fully independent, self-sustaining homes in Taos and up to 3,000 across the world.

‘I call it soft development,’ Reynolds previously told Wallpaper*. ‘They have a soft look because they’re also logically encountering the phenomena of the Earth. At the same time, you’ve got your own power, your own water, and your own sewage. You’re secure in the future.'

Explore the new Earthship residence design

The new proposal is conceived as a 'tornado- and fire-resistant Refuge Earthship'. It will include two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Embedded in its design are four ferro-cement vaults, which are thin-shell structural roofing elements made from cement mortar applied over layers of fine steel wire mesh and rods. These have been engineered to withstand fire and extreme winds.

The new residence, designed by Reynolds, will be constructed using ‘garbage’, including up to 1,000 tyres to form the structural columns, 16,000 used aluminum cans, and 1,000 old cardboard boxes. These materials are being collected locally, and donations are gladly accepted.

Earthship Biotecture – the name of Reynolds’ organisation as well as this approach to off-grid architecture – follows six principles covering basic human needs: building with natural and repurposed materials; heating and cooling through thermal mass; using wind and solar energy to create electricity; harvesting and filtering rainwater to provide drinking and wash water; containing and treating its own wastewater without external contamination; and producing its own food in an integrated greenhouse.

Construction will begin on the new building in September, with a dedicated Earthship crew including 25 students from across the world.

Says Reynolds: ‘We are very excited for the construction of this fire- and tornado-resistant Earthship in Kansas. The current state of the world makes this type of building not only necessary but essential to an incredible amount of people in and outside the US. I probably should not say this, but I cannot wait for the building to go through an actual tornado.’

earthship.com

Hot on the heels of recent residential projects in the UAE and Brazil, Pininfarina has announced its first foray into single-family houses with a new US project launched at Monterey Car Week 2026. The multi-faceted design agency, now led by CEO Paolo Dellachà, covers a huge spread of industrial and architectural design, so the new American venture is a natural next step.

Explore Pininfarina's first US foray

Dubbed the Collection Sei Design by Pininfarina and overseen by the company’s chief architectural officer Samuele Sordi, each of the six fully furnished estate designs is intended as a complete package, shaped, built, furnished and decorated by the Italian studio. All you have to do is bring the site – a plot of 20,000 sq ft minimum is required.

The project has come about via a partnership with luxury homebuilder Manny Angelo Varas and MV Group USA. Although each villa is unique, they each measure around 8,000 sq ft and have a shared aesthetic, particularly in the use of curved balconies, covered terraces, and sliding screens. The intention is clearly to ensnare the attention of those who obsess over the bespoke process, whether in a house, a car or a yacht.

The studio hopes that the famed Pininfarina script logo will be enough to carry interested buyers through to completion, with each property offered at a turnkey cost of $16,950,000 (excluding the price of the land, of course). The initial renders show the houses in a variety of locations, but it’s the Miami-adjacent plots that look the most convincing, with the curved balconies acting as a suitable foil for superyachts, not just supercars.

Dellachà tied the launch into the 60th anniversary of favourite Pininfarina design, the Alfa Romeo Duetto – also hugely popular in the USA. ‘We are proud to unveil this remarkable project as we celebrate the anniversary of the Duetto, one of Alfa Romeo's most iconic cars, a timeless symbol that has inspired generations of Americans,’ the CEO said. ‘Created with Manny Angelo Varas, Collection Sei Design by Pininfarina is driven by the same vision. Set in extraordinary locations, the six villas will embody the highest expression of elegance, combining timeless design with exceptional craftsmanship. Just as the Duetto became an icon of Italian style, this collection aspires to set a new benchmark for luxury living in the United States.’

Pininfarina’s Sordi describes the project as ‘not simply a luxury home, but a collectable residence – one that elevates the rituals of everyday life.’ As well as deploying familiar architectural tropes such as ‘dissolving the boundaries between architecture and landscape’, the six houses are sleek and modern without being especially avant-garde or progressive. For the right buyer, they’ll be just the ticket.

Pininfarina.it

A collision of midcentury and 1990s references is an unexpected pairing, but it’s at the very heart of a new home in Australia, LDS II Residence. Located in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield North, and built on the lands of the Boon Wurrung/Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, the residence is the result of two adjacent, existing residential structures being blended into a single, cohesive home for a family of six.

Tour this Australian house, born of two styles

Davidov Architects worked with its long-term clients on the commission's key parameters: ‘The brief was shaped by the rhythms of a large, active household, with a strong emphasis on creating spaces to support informal living and the demands of hosting significant social events,’ says founder and director Robert Davidov.

The project started with two buildings – a midcentury house and a boutique 1990s development comprising two interlocked, single-level apartments. ‘The buildings themselves became our primary source of inspiration,’ says Davidov. ‘We set out to retain as much as possible while bringing cohesion and continuity to the whole. We strengthened the underlying qualities of the midcentury house and carefully reworked the smaller building so that the two could operate as one seamless family home.’

The project became an example of utilising restraint, connection and continuity. Says Davidov, ‘It required a robust conversation with the existing buildings, understanding what should remain, what needed to be removed and where a small number of strategic interventions could have the greatest effect.’

According to Davidov, the greatest challenge was making two buildings from different periods, and their distinct floorplans, feel like a single house. ‘Two new links and a central courtyard became the key interventions. While relatively modest in scale, they reorganise the entire house, allowing the connection between the buildings to feel natural and intentional,’ he tells Wallpaper*.

This central courtyard is a defining element of the new building – creating space for connection. It used to feature a fence that separated two properties. Now it draws in light which filters throughout the home. Says the architect, ‘It expresses the central idea of the project: that a restrained intervention, carefully placed, can redefine the experience of a home.’

Inside, details nod to the home's midcentury heritage. There is an oak portcullis screen, blended pink marble Palladiana floors, and repaired original oak parquetry floors.

The architects designed the space to enhance a sense of arrival and then unfold gradually. ‘The house does not reveal itself immediately; arrival unfolds through a sequence of compressed thresholds, filtered views and moments of release. The experience is calm, grounded and slightly unexpected.’

Adds Davidov, 'Although the house has a generous floor plan and contains many individual spaces, it was important that each room retain an intimate scale and proportion. We wanted the house to feel generous without feeling vast, and composed without becoming formal.’

davidov.com.au

The newest residential project by Stylus Architects offers another take on the classic Victorian terraced house extension. The London-based architects, recently featured for their Green Lodge project in Roehampton, turned their hand to another south London site, this time in an awkwardly shaped back garden plot.

Discover this ingenious London house extension

The clients called for a larger, more inclusive kitchen space, one that integrated better with the rear garden and brought light deeper into the traditional long floorplan. As the architects note, the existing house posed a challenge, for ‘no wall meets another at 90 degrees’. Rather than straighten up the lines, Stylus delved deeper into the angles, using the tapering form of the floor plan to maximise the sense of space. A new faceted brick garden façade amplifies the irregularities.

‘Etta House isn't a project about unusual geometry,’ explains architect Matthew Withers. ‘Geometry was simply the tool. By listening carefully to the site, every design decision, from the overall plan to the smallest brick detail, became part of one coherent architectural idea. The design is sophisticated. But the experience is simple.’

In many respects, the project is a straightforward one, especially in London where the Victorian terrace has proved an adept and flexible staging ground on which to expand, extend and alter. What sets Etta House apart is the way the new addition feels like a cohesive whole, a natural extension of the original structure that also has the character of a standalone pavilion.

The wedge-shaped floor plan flares out towards the modest London garden and the architects have ensured that the alignments of walls, windows and rooflights follows the established lines. One of the stand-out features is the ribbon of rooflight above the kitchen counters, running the full length of the extension and terminating above the opening into the front reception rooms.

Brick is also used on the interior, with chalk grey bricks and lime pointing creating a softer light. They’re paired with off-white plaster walls, timber floors and ribbed wood joinery on the kitchen. Deep green cupboards provide a splash of natural colour.

At the rear, the garden façade is formed by two angled brick blades, one housing an inset bifold door that opens onto the decking and the other framing a tall glass window that aligns with the rooflight. The walls are set slightly apart by a brick or two, creating depth, shadow and a bold sense of form.

To ensure this geometric precision is maintained down to the millimetre, Stylus set out drawings for the rear brickwork, as well as commissioned bespoke bricks, so that the edges were crisp and not interrupted by joints. The absence of any 90-degree angles is keenly felt but used to the project’s advantage.

StylusArchitects.co.uk

On the Kona Coast of Hawaii Island, Seattle-based architecture firm Olson Kundig and San Francisco-based interior studio Leverone Design have completed a house set directly into a lava field, its hard volcanic ground softened at every turn by what's been built on top of it.

The clients are a pair of California-based professionals, parents to two college-age daughters, who conceived the property as a vacation home destined to become their primary retreat once the girls have left for good. Family was central to the brief from the outset: a house sized for a full table, and built to expand and contract with the household's rhythms, whether that means a quiet week for two or a home full of friends.

Tour a dreamy Hawaii house made for downtime

The couple came to Olson Kundig having admired the firm's Hale Lana residence, also on the ‘Big Island’, drawn to its restraint and approach to volume. Principal/Owner & Founder Tom Kundig recalls that the clients 'were interested in a residence composed of a series of high-design pavilions rather than a single volume', an ambition that shaped the project's orientation and circulation from the first sketches.

'Ultimately,' he says, 'the goal was not to impose on the landscape, but to create a framework through which it could be experienced.'

That framework depends on a roof whose horizontal line appears to hover on slender columns across long spans, its structural complexity hidden entirely from view. Achieving that reduction, Kundig admits, made the roof 'one of the project's most technically demanding elements', requiring close work with engineers to erase every trace of effort from the finished form.

Beneath that roof, board-formed concrete, larch and basalt stone extend the lava field's palette into the house itself, while slate-clad cedar volumes hold the more private, utilitarian rooms. It fell to Matthew Leverone, founder of Leverone Design, to decide how a family might actually live inside those rooms.

The clients already knew his work: a previous project of his on Maui had shown them Leverone could soften bold architecture without diminishing it, and here that meant furniture with 'sensuous shapes and soft textures' set against the house's clean lines – a wood-framed sling chair with a leather back and wool bouclé cushions, raw teak coffee tables shaped like seed pods, woven raffia left with its structure exposed.

In the primary bedroom, concrete walls and a larch ceiling create, in Leverone's words, 'a sheltering environment – like a natural cave open to ocean views'. His one spatial addition was an upholstered wall opposite the glass façade, which he calls 'a gentle gesture that doesn't shy away from the monolithic presence but instead stands with the same dignified character as the architecture itself'.

Elsewhere, Leverone traded wall-to-wall closets in the guest rooms for freestanding wardrobes in bleached larch, steel and leather – a calculated move that opens up the rooms while keeping every inch of storage the brief required. The same instinct guided the art collection throughout the house: a Paul Kremer painting in tropical blues and oranges greets visitors from the media room, and a Pedro Reyes sculpture, commissioned directly from the artist and set on the entrance axis, anchors the whole sequence with what Leverone calls its 'modernised Easter Island' stillness.

In the end, the house works because two creative sensibilities dovetailed here. Kundig set the terms with the roof, and Leverone filled in the rooms below, both working with élan and from the same instinct – reduce whatever isn't essential, then make sure what's left is warm enough to live with.

olsonkundig.com

leveronedesign.com

Majestic places can easily become etched in our memory. Some spots are so beautiful that they may even inspire a Grammy-winning song, as is the case with Mendocino, California – the inspiration behind Willie Nelson and Lee Ann Womack 2002 rendition of 'Mendocino County Line.'

The lyrics speak to fading love. But they also evoke the idyllic coastal region’s lasting beauty. And that’s the reason why entrepreneurs Nadia Oka and Michael Topolovac selected a 53-acre plot of land there on which to build a retreat for their young family.

For the job, the couple tapped architect Mark Jensen. 'They have reverence for the land and wanted to do something really special up there, so I was immediately compelled,' Jensen, principal of the San Francisco-based firm Jensen Architects, says.

That 'really special' something is a linear glass, steel and cast concrete-structure that is as intentional in its modesty as it is balanced amongst the old-growth oaks in the surrounding woodland ecosystem. Set on a rolling hilltop at the northwest edge of the Russian River watershed, the 2,025 sq ft two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home – with its clean, geometric modernist lines – feels more like an extension of the land than a juxtaposition to it.

'One of the unique things that really informed a lot about this home is the fact that they ended up building it mostly themselves,' explains Jensen. 'Michael's an engineer [and] built himself a welding shop up there and actually made all the custom storefront windows and pivot doors and cut all the metal cladding panels – it’s really insane how much work they did.'

That significant amount of work, as it turns out, wasn’t initially part of the plan, Michael, who was trained as a product designer and engineer, says. But as they spent more time at the site as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the family fostered 'a very deep engagement with the process and build' alongside the architects. He even modeled the entire house in OnShape (a 3D cloud-native CAD program) to help work through the various design elements he would undertake.

The overall design – one of three or four that Jensen presented to his clients – is rooted in the late British geographer Jay Appleton’s half-century-old 'prospect-refuge' notion of aesthetics that satisfy the innate desires for opportunity (prospect) and safety (refuge).

'I read Appleton’s [1975 book] The Experience of Landscape many years ago, and that theory has always resonated with me,' Jensen shares. He offers a cinematic metaphor for the approach: 'In all the classic Western movies, when you go into the saloon you sit with your back to the wall looking toward the door, otherwise the gunslinger’s going to come in and surprise you.' He continues, 'I think we’re just hardwired to want that kind of protection around us – and then to look out at that panorama!'

Composed of a board-formed concrete expanse, a steel skeleton and massive sheets of shaded glass, the home has 'some definite heroic structural moves,' per Jensen – including the dramatic, cantilevered roof. 'The entire roof is detached from the concrete wall, so you get a continuous skylight,' he explains. 'I have to say, you don’t often get balanced light in that way – and in the middle of the day when the light grazes the concrete, the texture of the board form really shows up.'

Aside from the thoughtful aesthetics of the project, sustainability and fire safety – given the area’s history of wildfires – were paramount from the start, so no combustible materials were used on the roof or exterior walls, including for the soffit underneath the roof that is composed of a Wildland-Urban Interface certified wood. The house also relies on solar power for electricity, and passive design techniques to minimise energy demands.

The most important resiliency measure is on the property itself: 'The brush has been cleared a fair distance around the house, and there are sprinkler systems and a second water tank so there’s capacity for firefighting,' the architect says.

No surprise, the architect's favourite spot in the house comes down to the prospect-refuge concept. He points to an open breezeway that divides the home's public and private wings: It’s an exterior space that allows you to look across from the pool all the way through the house and out to the western view framed by the walls which, arguably, makes it even more special – it’s a space they use a lot that blurs the boundaries between inside and out.'

As for the homeowners, it’s the future of the house that has made the whole project worthwhile. 'At almost every juncture, I would look at the material choices and the design approach, through the prism of "this is a life-of-the-house solution" for generations [of our family] to come,' explains Michael. 'It is the spirit of that – bringing this project to life with such permanence for those closest to us – which has been so deeply rewarding.'

The perennial problem of the urban space premium is given another solution via this new house from OGA. The Cottage Annexe is an infill project that makes canny use of a tough site in North London's Stroud Green Conservation Area. Bracketed by grand Victorian terraced houses, the site was previously occupied by a modest two-storey cottage and a scattering of one-storey outbuildings, considered all but undevelopable due to its location and scale.

Enter OGA, an architecture and interior design firm founded by Oliver Grimshaw. Based in Berlin, the studio works in the UK and on the continent, combining new build with renovations that span all periods of architectural history.

In Finsbury Park, the challenges were obvious. ‘The site had defeated previous attempts at development - a land-locked urban fragment with a contentious planning history and little obvious potential,’ the architects say, ‘The plot sat squeezed between established residential terraces, its awkward geometry and sensitive heritage context making it one of the more challenging infill sites in the area.’

OGA’s solution was to incorporate the bulk of the site into the built envelope, so the refurbished two-storey structure sits alongside a flowing, single storey living space interspersed with two new courtyards. In this way, the Victorian streetscape is barely impacted, whilst carefully interweaving the new structure along the boundary of existing back gardens.

From the street, the existing cottage now appears to be flanked by a robustly rebuilt garden wall; this is the new annexe, a single storey structure with a generous vestibule linked the old and the new alongside an open plan kitchen, dining and sitting area – here you’ll find the signature circular window looking back to the main courtyard. The new living space is flanked by courtyards north and south, with a guest bedroom/study tucked away behind the new boundary wall.

Privacy and space are the key objectives, with materials mirroring existing structures and helping conceal the mass and scope of the building within. The courtyards bring light into the south-facing site without encroaching or overlooking the surrounding houses. The refurbished cottage now contains a bedroom, bathroom and snug area on the ground floor and the primary suite upstairs.

As well as zinc clad walls, OGA have used London stock brick for its warmth, variety and harmony with its surroundings. The courtyards are minimal, with traditional cobblestones, moss and Japanese Acer to create a minimalist outdoor sanctuary. Inside, bespoke cabinetry, subtly changing levels and exposed ceiling beams create a mid-century feel in line with the client’s tastes.

‘For all its privacy, the house never feels closed off - light moves through it freely, and the gardens feel ever-present, a quality made all the more remarkable given the constraints of the site,’ say the architects. The new structure only serves to enhance the neighbourhood but also create a true private sanctuary that doesn’t impose on its surroundings.

OGArch.co.uk,

A dreamy Paros house sits nestled in the picturesque fisherman’s village of Naousa, the Greek island settlement equipped with small boutiques and quaint cobbled paths. Welcome to Villa Sol Mare, a restored Cycladic house that preserves its original architectural language while welcoming comforting contemporary touches.

Inside Paros house Villa Sol Mare, a Greek island dream

The project was spearheaded by Isola Studio. Founded in 2021 by Chaido Kaproulia and Eva Lavranou, the Athens- and Corfu-based architecture and design studio restructured the original 90 square metre space to fit three bedrooms and bathrooms.

Cycladic architecture dates back to the early Bronze age, and was crafted by islanders to withstand harsh coastal weather, with white surfaces reflecting the beaming sun to keep the interiors cool. Although practical in nature, its distinct minimalistic style is now iconic, complimenting Aegean waters.

The Paros house's exterior looks like a postcard from busier sister islands like Mykonos and Santorini, with its hand-applied textured plaster, timber windows and Aegean blue shutters. Inside, local craftsmanship prevails. Terracotta flooring and timber joinery complement the white-washed plaster. The house feels fluid, almost ocean-like, each room rhythmically cascading into the next as harsh angles are softened by the use of smooth plastering.

The kitchen is set beneath a barrel-vaulted arch, where custom walnut cabinetry is integrated within plaster-sculpted surfaces. The bathroom offers a different material palette. Vanities are made from red travertine, and marble from the nearby islands of Tinos and Naxos.

The roof of the home is a tranquil oasis. The architects reinforced its structure to support a pool, which can be accessed via an unfolding sequence of terraces, garnished with native planting. Built-in seating and dining areas act like a series of courtyards. Here, visitors can enjoy the house’s connection to the island’s landscape.

The bespoke furniture and joinery spotlight the local craftsmanship (the island is known for its stonemasonry, marble and ceramics), while the house as a whole showcases Paros’ calming architectural nature. Ultimately, Villa Sol Mare is a place to gaze across the horizon and drift away to the chirping sounds of crickets, basking in the summertime heat.

isola-studio.com

Heinrich Simon’s famous 1874 saying, 'There is no such thing as bad weather, there are only good clothes,' rings true for those living in or visiting Scotland. It also resonates with the aptly named architecture studio Dress for the Weather, which has recently transformed a stone-built Victorian schoolhouse into Island Cottage, a contemporary family home.

Inside Island Cottage, a redesigned Victorian schoolhouse

Nestled on an island on Scotland’s west coast, the old former schoolhouse building contained the teacher’s quarters downstairs and a classroom upstairs. Now, the new layout features three bedrooms and an extension, with views over the sea to the Kintyre Peninsula and Arran.

‘The client had originally conceived the project as a rear extension to the cottage; but seeing the rear (and I’d say main) facade of the cottage for the first time, it was clear to me that we needed to work with it,’ explains project architect Matt McKenna. ‘The views out to the west from the site then determined the orientation for the extension. So, the existing site had already sort of determined the main moves. This then gave us the courtyard space that we have now, formed by both the historic and new facades.’

The home has an L-shaped plan. The existing stone facade has been restored with a new slate roof installed. The extension comprises a timber frame with large, glazed openings framing the expansive vista.

Inside, the bedrooms and bathrooms can be found in the original cottage, while communal living spaces are located in the extension. A new entrance area has been integrated, highlighting the exposed stone of the cottage and acting as a bridge between the old and the new.

‘The weathered timber cladding and stonework have helped give a neutral tone to the building, which sits well within the colourful landscape,’ notes the architect.

The residence is an example of how a design can champion both what was there before and what is on site now. Says McKenna, ‘ Whether you're in the hall where the gable of the cottage is exposed internally, or in the courtyard where we’ve tried to keep the composition equal, the overall experience is enhanced by bringing the old and new together. This gives the project a balance.‘

dressfortheweather.co.uk

Located in a spectacular spot on Spain’s Costa Brava, the Staempfli House is new to the market via Sotheby’s International Realty in Spain. Built on the seafront in the town of Cadaqués in the heart of the Cap de Creus Natural Park, the terraced house has balconies that overlook the town’s main beach.

The Staempfli House was built in 1958 for the Swiss-born art dealer George William Staempfli (1910-1999). Staempfli moved to the US in 1935, took up a role at the venerable New York dealership of M. Knoedler & Company and served as curator of paintings at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts from 1954 to 1956. In 1959, he set up his own dealership, the Staempfli Gallery on 77th St, with his second wife, Emily McFadden Staempfli.

This Catalonian house served both as a bolthole and a place to entertain the European artists he represented. The town itself was a favourite spot of Salvador Dalí (the Casa-Museu Salvador Dalí is a short walk away on the adjoining bay) and other key artists including Picasso, Miró, Duchamp and Richard Hamilton were also visitors.

The house was extensively rebuilt in the late 50s by the British architect Peter Harnden and Italian architect Lanfranco Bombelli, partners in the exhibition design specialists PGHA Peter Graham Harnden Associates. Harnden and Bombelli were also regular visitors to Cadaqués and built extensively for themselves and other artists in the region.

The Staempfli House fulfilled a dual role as residence and museum, with house guests including Dalí and Duchamp, along with Isamu Noguchi, Harry Bertoia, and Xavier Corberó, renowned for his impressive house in Barcelona. The house retains these qualities in the present day, blending traditional tiles and timber with (then) state-of-the art kitchen and bathroom fittings, giving off an eclectic mid-century vibe.

Elements like the floating fireplace with integrated seating, the tiled ‘water mirror’ sculpture terrace, timber-clad ceilings, niches, arches and integrated furniture all come together to create a house that demands to be a backdrop for art and design.

Staempfli retained his New York gallery until 1988, representing Dalí alongside the Belgian realist Paul Delvaux and the neo-figurative artist Elmer Bischoff, amongst others. In retirement, Staempfli moved to Maryland, where he died in 1999.

The house in Cadaqués passed into similarly enlightened ownership, retaining its strong creative vibe. The town itself continues to be an artistic haunt into the present day, with museums and galleries adjoining the more traditional beachside restaurants and bars of the region.

Staempfli House, Cadaqués, Spain, €9,500,000, Spain-SothebysRealty.com, @Spain.SothebysRealty

Darren Petrucci considers each commission within the specifics of its place and within the context of his architecture practice. A recently completed Arizona home outside Phoenix is another entry in his ever-evolving approach to desert-based design.

In addition to considering responsive materiality set within arid conditions, 'recurring sensibilities happen in my work,' Petrucci explains. 'One of them is that the house is iconic in some form - something memorable or totalising.' In this particular case, 'the iconic form is a long, bent bar. We maximised the horizontal distance the lot could accommodate to capture that view and become a ridge line across the hill. Then the walls shift and move to adjust to the context.’

Tour this powerfully minimalist Arizona home

The strikingly contemporary home, dubbed the Shifted Horizon House and built for a family of four, faces landmark Camelback Mountain. Previous projects Petrucci completed with his firm, A-I-R (Architecture-Infrastructure-Research), also sit within view. 'We were hiking and realised we could perfectly frame Camelback Mountain,' recalls Petrucci, who is also a professor in the Design School at Arizona State University, of the site.

What developed was a split-level home with a plan in the aforementioned shape. The brief called for a home that would be ‘elegantly austere and really clean' in every respect - from the angular massing to the light switches, which eschew any digital functionality in favour of analogue tactility. Volumes constructed of concrete masonry unit (CMU) 'emerging out of the desert' interlock with a mass of stucco built without control joints, Petrucci says about the challenge.

The effort became an opportunity to explore the interplay of darker surfaces awash in the Arizona sun. 'The light is so intense that when you make a darker interior, it emphasises the interior and the light,' Petrucci says. 'The analogy I typically give a client is a football player putting black under his eyes to reduce glare.'

Dynamic indoor-outdoor spaces were achieved using materials including dark polished concrete flooring, grey-hued CMU block, and stucco — the latter of which A-I-R typically keeps to a minimum. The block itself is a conventional, standardised material, but its double-score profile, applied with careful customisation, 'creates this textured, fabric-like pattern on the wall,' Petrucci adds. 'It's all about the detail,' so he collaborated with builder Jason Smith of Identity Construction to additionally score certain blocks at the corners to repeat the pattern, making the material 'feel more monolithic.’

The stucco is a key element in absorbing and transforming natural light. 'It can look blue-purple, or warmer,' Petrucci says, referencing the Japanese neutral chromatic concept of rikyu, which here serves as a bridge to shift with the changing sky and a link to the ground. In the primary spaces, many of the materials and finishes are one and the same.

A devotee of John Lautner, Petrucci has long been fascinated with the organic modernism pioneer’s theorising about the foundational spatial concepts of the 'canopy' and the 'cave.' The Shifted Horizon House integrates a third element. 'With every project there's a piece that's carved, and something that becomes the heat shield—and in between is "the court." It's like a courtyard inside the building.'

The residence's 15-foot-high central space, illuminated by clerestory windows, feels like a pavilion, with floor-to-ceiling glass panels that fully pocket to connect to the outdoors. 'You can think of the whole thing as a cave, a solid that's been carved out, but there are moments when you feel like the roof is a canopy,' he observes.

Other details and gestures establish scale and considerate touch points. A handrail transitions into the powder-room door handle, for instance, and nine-foot-tall, wood-lined walls add warmth to the multifunctional great room. 'It has a brutalist feel to it in many ways, but the curves and the wood ribbon that runs through the house are intended to bring a softer, more supple feeling,' Petrucci notes.

The 'wet edge' pool appears like a reflecting pool, with a hot tub border that disappears beneath the waterline, and the property features desert-appropriate landscape design by Phoenix-based Kris Floor of Floor Associates. The dramatic, double-sized, carved-out fireplace, built of CMU, continues a datum line in concert with the kitchen island and television. These decisions operate holistically on multiple levels, creating a testbed for ideas about desert living. 'It organises everything. Because of that alignment, I believe you relax. It keeps you grounded,' Petrucci says.

theairsite.com

There is one name almost inextricably bound to Palm Springs’ mid-century architecture: the American architectural firm Palmer & Krisel. The partnership between architect William Krisel and developer George Alexander produced thousands of homes that came to define the clean lines, indoor-outdoor living and innate optimism of the region’s famous desert modernism. Yet what many people don't realise is that the architectural language that transformed Palm Springs was first explored not in the desert, but in California's San Fernando Valley – more commonly known as, simply, ‘the Valley’.

Now on the market is one of the earliest examples of Palmer & Krisel's collaboration there. Completed in 1954, this home in Corbin Palms, Woodland Hills, belongs to a neighbourhood that served as an important testing ground for the design principles that would become synonymous with California modernism. Today, Corbin Palms remains one of Southern California's most significant – yet often overlooked – mid-century modern enclaves.

This renovated post-and-beam residence expresses many of the architectural ideas that would soon define Palmer & Krisel's celebrated communities. An exposed timber structure, soaring vaulted ceilings, clerestory glazing and an open-plan layout fill the interiors with natural light, while expansive walls of glass beckon the outdoors in. The emphasis on openness, climate-responsive design and economy of means – achieving the greatest architectural impact with the fewest necessary elements – would become hallmarks of the firm's later work in the desert.

The home’s recent renovation honours that legacy. Contemporary materials and modern systems have been integrated without compromising the original architecture: a kitchen with custom white oak cabinetry, quartz countertops and polished concrete floors sits easily within the home's framework, while a restrained material palette keeps the focus on the expressive post-and-beam structure at the heart of the design.

Outside, the integration of architecture and landscape – central to Palmer & Krisel's vision of California living – is evident. A swimming pool, outdoor kitchen, dining terrace, mature citrus trees and landscaped gardens extend the home's living spaces into the open air.

While Palm Springs will always be most closely associated with Palmer & Krisel, Corbin Palms deserves recognition as the place where many of the ideas that would define California modernism first took shape. For the home’s next custodian, this is not just any mid-century residence – it is an opportunity to own a chapter in one of the most influential stories in American residential architecture.

The Palmer & Krisel home is listed with The Value of Architecture for $995,000.

Casa da rua Escócia is located in a verdant part of São Paulo. Designed by local studio FGMF Arquitetos, the new house doesn’t cover the largest floor area. Instead, clever design plays spatial tricks with the site to maximise the sensation of being immersed in nature. As the architects note, the house was ‘conceived as an exercise in restraint, the project prioritizes the outdoors, turning the garden into its true protagonist.’

From above, the house wraps around its site, presenting a boundary wall to its neighbours whilst breaking up into a series of angular, fractured spaces overlooking the slim garden plot. This façade is clad in wood and punctured by flush-fitting shutters that can be opened up to reveal sliding glazing within.

The ground floor can be entirely opened up to the garden, with the cantilevered forms on the levels above providing varying levels of shade throughout the day. There is a certain poetic intent here,’ the architects write, ‘these volumes evoke tree canopies, gently shading and protecting the path below, where slender pillars — like trunks — define a small, constructed grove.’

It is certainly a verdant space. Densely layered sub-tropical planting terminates every vista, adding to the feeling of a house immersed in nature. Clever planning creates a multiplicity of angles out, across and through between interior and exterior space, an effect heightened still further by the sliding glass doors opening off the ground floor reception spaces and animated by the play of light from the pool.

The main reception space is reached directly off the main entrance. This is a double-height area that forms the core of the house, bisected by a first-floor level bridge that unites the bedroom areas. There’s also a sunken media room on this level; here, the light is modulated with just a slit of glass revealing the garden.

Outside, a generous terrace includes covered areas as well as space for a barbeque and dining area and a patio adjoining the pool. The house splits the site to allow for a smaller, more private terrace at the rear.

The main staircase leads up to what the architects call the ‘tree canopy’, a level with family bedrooms and a guest suite above the media room. The structure uses a combination of poured concrete and steel frame. The concrete is exposed at the rear and side boundaries to serve as an enclosure that disguises what is within, while a more lightweight timber-clad steel structure is used for the first floor level. In this respect, the house’s construction mirrors the sense of a visceral, earthy ground level beneath a canopy of timber and vegetation.

‘This is a house of modest footprint but remarkable spatial richness,’ say FGMF, a firm founded by Lourenço Gimenes, Rodrigo Marcondes Ferraz and Fernando Forte. ‘It is a place where architecture dissolves into landscape, and where every gesture seems to invite the eye outward, as if the house itself were almost not there.’