Architecture studio BIG has released images of Not A Hotel Setouchi, a trio of holiday villas it has designed for Sagishima island in Japan.

Organised around courtyards and marked by sweeping tiled roofs, the three rounded structures are being created in collaboration with hospitality brand Not A Hotel.

BIG has visualised each structure nestled into the surrounding woodland, connected to a network of roads that weave through the landscape.

According to BIG's founder Bjarke Ingels, Not A Hotel Setouchi will draw on both Danish and Japanese architecture.

"Traditional Danish modern architecture is, in fact, very informed by traditional Japanese architecture," said Ingels.

"There's been a very fruitful conversation going between Danish and Japanese culture and, of course, with Not a Hotel on Sagishima island, we are very excited to continue this conversation and into the future."

Details about the project are set to be revealed later this year, but the visuals suggest each villa will feature large roof overhangs that shade the interior spaces.

The interiors will be fronted by expansive glass facades and patios that look out towards Seto Inland and the surrounding greenery on Sagishima, which is otherwise known as Sagi Island.

"It almost looks like a traditional Japanese landscape painting in a fully realised form," said Ingels.

Inside, the Not A Hotel Setouchi rooms are shown with textured, monolithic walls, teamed with wooden ceilings and paved flooring.

Among the rooms revealed in the images are a kitchen and dining area, alongside sunken seating areas from which infinity pools will extend.

The images also reveal scenic bedrooms, which look out to the ocean and nearby mountains.

The villas will be complete with a cosy sauna and cobbled courtyards that offer shared seating space organised around a fire pit.

Not A Hotel has also recently collaborated with Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto to design a disc-shaped villa with a swooping green roof on Ishigaki island.

The project is among those to have featured on Dezeen's list of 12 interesting projects to complete in 2024.

Founded by Ingels in 2005, BIG is an international architecture studio that has offices in Copenhagen, New York, London and Barcelona, as well as Shenzhen, Zurich, Los Angeles and Oslo.

Other recent projects by BIG include a pair of spiky high-rise buildings nearing completion in Copenhagen and a proposal for stepped housing overlooking Aegean Sea.

The visuals is courtesy of BIG and Not A Hotel.

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Indonesian practice Stilt Studios has completed a series of "nature-centric" villas for the Grün Uluwatu resort in Bali, which are elevated on steel columns to sit among the tree canopy.

Called Treehouse Villas, the project comprises seven separate guesthouses arranged side-by-side in a sloping, forested landscape, with large terraces providing expansive views out towards the Indian Ocean.

"While most share a common design, each villa boasts its unique charm, accentuated by its distinct view – be it the serene ocean, lush forestry, or picturesque hills," Stilt Studios lead architect Prayoga Arya Wirasana told Dezeen.

“[It is] a testament to the resort's commitment to immersive nature-centric experiences, deftly treading the delicate line between luxury and ecological responsibility,” he added.

Each villa is organised across two storeys with a living area and two bedrooms, save for one where the upper storey has been swapped for a panoramic roof terrace.

Concrete feet and steel stilts support each of the villas, intended to lighten their impact on the site while also enhancing the "immersive" feeling of the interiors by raising them to the level of the treetops.

"The main goal of raising the villas on steel stilts was to minimize the ecological footprint and preserve a strong connection with the surrounding natural landscape, particularly the garden beneath," Wirasana said.

"This approach allows for a more sustainable and harmonious coexistence between the built environment and nature,” he added.

A wood and steel staircase leads up into the first floor spaces, where a living, kitchen and dining area alongside a bedroom opens onto an external terrace with full-height glazing and doors.

Inside the villas, a wooden staircase leads to the upper level, where a second bedroom and bathroom open onto an additional terrace.

Full-height, wood-framed glazing wraps each level of the villas, providing 360-degree views, while white curtains and wooden panelling provide additional privacy and sun shading where necessary.

The steel structure of the villas has been left exposed and painted in a pale shade of green, complemented by fittings in teak, woven rattan and banana paper.

In the bathrooms, the walls have been finished using marbled panels of recycled plastic, which were developed in collaboration with Ecollabo.

"We aimed to craft a space that not only harmonises with the environment but also highlights the richness of local materials and craftsmanship," lead interior designer Frans Sihombing told Dezeen.

"[It] celebrates the local artistry while creating a warm, inviting, and harmonious environment that immediately feels like home," he added.

Treehouses also served as a reference point for another resort in Bali, the Lost Lindenberg by local architects Alexis Dornier and Studio Jencquel, which also featured raised living spaces to elevate guests into the surrounding tree canopy.

The photography is by Indra Wiras.

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Dark-coloured concrete characterises Jae Haala, an angular holiday home that Java studio Wiyoga Nurdiansyah Architects has created in a forested valley in Indonesia.

The villa is designed by Wiyoga Nurdiansyah Architects as a retreat for couples visiting the Lembang area of West Bandung, which is popular with tourists.

Positioned to one side of a similarly angular building, the one-bedroom home features corrugated black-concrete walls and is topped with a pitched roof punctuated with a circular skylight.

A stepped landscape and a series of concrete walls are built into the site to help the holiday home sit comfortably in its surroundings, while the boxy form provides privacy to guests.

"The main aim of the design was to build an intimate atmosphere and a respite from the surroundings inside an enclosed, monolithic box-like design," studio founder Wiyoga Nurdiansyah told Dezeen.

"We used corrugated concrete with a dark finish for the outer walls to create that boxy and mysterious look from the outside while being light and warm on the inside."

Jae Haala's main entrance connects a front courtyard to the upper level of the home with a walkway, which is bordered on either side by tall black walls with timber accents.

Located on one side of the home, the walkway extends along the length of the building and is gently sloped to connect its two levels.

On Jae Haala's upper level, the studio has created an open arrangement of living and dining spaces, which are linked to a covered terrace and a balcony on either end.

Glass walls set in timber frames offer views of the surrounding valley from both ends, while a mirror on the ceiling gives the illusion of a larger space.

"We used a stainless steel mirror for the ceiling in the dining room to broaden the narrow interior," said Nurdiansyah.

Overlooked by a seating area at one end of the living space is a covered garden, filled with plants and topped with a circular void that lets in natural light.

The lower level of the holiday home is designed to feel more private. It features a bedroom and bathroom that open onto outdoor spaces including a swimming pool and terrace.

The bedroom features sliding doors that open directly onto a rectangular infinity pool and is lined with dark walls and a timber ceiling.

Across both levels of Jae Haala, Wiyoga Nurdiansyah Architects used timber surfaces and furnishings to create a sense of warmth and offer a contrast to the dark concrete walls.

"We want to create an intimate and warm ambience on the inside, which is why we chose birch plywood as the main material for the interior," said Nurdiansyah.

Elsewhere in Indonesia, a facade made from recycled plastic bottles has been added to an existing building in Bali while RAW Architecture has completed a home and community space made almost entirely from bamboo.

The photography is by Asita Yulia.

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Perforated screens of gold-toned metal filter light and air into Lantern House, a villa on Banana Island in Lagos designed by Tosin Oshinowo-led studio CmDesign Atelier.

CmDesign Atelier was commissioned to design a five-bedroom home with ample room for entertaining guests on the private island, which is known for its luxury residential developments.

Overlooking a garden, pool and terrace wrapping the northeastern edge of the site, Lantern House has a mixture of openings and steel screens that ensure privacy and light throughout the building.

"The exterior of the building includes solid structural walls and glass, with patterned steel screening to create the impression of a solid and porous structure all at once," said the studio.

"During the day, the interiors are filled with natural light, while the sun reflects and highlights the patterned screen. At night, the interior glows outwards through the patterned screens, creating a lantern effect," CmDesign Atelier continued.

On the ground floor, a living, dining and kitchen area opens onto the outdoor gathering spaces through sliding glass doors, with a terrace sheltered by the overhang of the first and second floors.

In the more private western half of Lantern House, a separate staff entrance and study space sit alongside a parking area and services block.

A helical staircase in steel, glass and marble leads to a secondary living room on the first floor, which is wrapped by three guest bedrooms and two staff bedrooms.

On the second floor is the main bedroom and a large walk-in wardrobe, connecting to a private, decked rooftop patio sheltered between high walls and one of the home's perforated metal screens.

"The house has layers of increased privacy as you move vertically upwards through the property, similar to the cultural requirements of a traditional Yoruba household setting and essential to multigenerational living," said the studio.

"In keeping with this need for privacy and separate living spaces in some regions of the house, the master bedroom suite also incorporates a 58-square-metre walk-in wardrobe with two skylights that throw natural light into the space," it continued.

The interiors of Lantern House were completed by the client, who has a local interior design studio in Lagos.

Contrasting the pale exterior and internal walls of the building, dark wood fittings and bold furniture and artwork define the living spaces.

Other projects recently completed by Tosin Oshinowo's studio include a minimal beach house on Lagos peninsula.

Oshinowo was also recently appointed to curate the second edition of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, which will take place later this year.

The photography is by Tolu Sanusi.

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Mexican practice Espacio 18 Arquitectura has designed a concrete holiday home in Tulum with a circular window in one of the ceilings that reveals a swimming pool.

Villa Cava is a fortress-like house that takes cues from brutalism and is surrounded by lush vegetation in Tulum's Aldea Zamá neighbourhood.

Clad in board-formed concrete, the home is split between two levels and also features a rooftop garden.

Espacio 18 was informed by cenotes when designing the house – ancient sunken water-filled limestone pits and caves found in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

"The concrete was the result of a search to maintain a timeless architecture without maintenance that would adapt to the humid environment of Tulum, as well as hurricanes," explained architects Carla Osorio and Mario Ávila.

Described as a "habitable sculpture", visitors enter Villa Cava through a geometric double-height entrance that was constructed around two existing trees and leads to a staircase.

This hallway is illuminated by a striking circular window in the ceiling that reveals a rooftop swimming pool from below. Blue-hued light filters through the opening and reinforces the cavernous atmosphere.

"It represents a cenote, and there is something amazing about the reflections on the walls that the water creates," Osorio and Ávila told Dezeen.

An open-plan kitchen, a study and an airy living space feature on the first floor, which also includes another swim-up pool.

Private bedrooms and bathrooms are contained on the second level where nine-metre-tall ceilings and a selection of skylights cast an abundance of natural light on the interiors.

Throughout these spaces, interior designer Kayla Pongrac opted for light timber accents and neutrally toned furniture while smooth concrete floors and walls echo the home's facade.

The rooftop provides additional outdoor seating and presents views of the surrounding trees.

Chunky, zigzagged concrete shapes that contain internal staircases protrude from various areas of the facade, enhancing its striking outward appearance.

Espacio 18 designed the villa in collaboration with a young couple from Canada who were drawn to Mexico.

"The inspiration came from the magical Cenote Suytun in Yucatán, which captured [the couple's] hearts, and they decided to create a home that embodied the natural beauty and spatial quality of the region," said Osorio and Ávila.

Based in Oaxaca, Espacio 18 previously designed a townhouse with an internal courtyard in Puebla and a seafront Oaxacan home with two wings oriented to follow the rising and setting of the sun.

The photography is by César Béjar. 

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Norwegian studio Saunders Architecture has created an island villa in an archipelago in Norway that is cross-shaped in plan and acts as an observatory for viewing its surroundings.

Named Villa Austevoll, the project is located on the island of Selbjørn, which forms part of an archipelago just south of Bergen. The home contains three bedrooms and open-plan living areas, each with its own terrace that offers different views of land and sea.

It was commissioned by a couple who wanted a home that would provide a cabin-like quality with simplistic interiors that respected its coastal and hillside location.

To ensure the building did not heavily impact the natural setting, Saunders Architecture raised most of the home above ground to protect the terrain.

The 285-square-metre cabin is formed from two volumes, the first a triangular concrete volume that recesses into the hillside and forms a plinth for the main body of the home.

A linear staircase runs along the hillside and directs people to the lower concrete volume of the home, which contains an entrance hall, utility areas and a spiral staircase that leads to the adjoining, upper volume.

An oak spiral staircase funnels light into the dark entrance hall, which was clad in stained wood, through a circular skylight that was placed directly above the staircase and punctuates the roof of the upper floor of the home.

The entirety of the spiral staircase and its surrounding walls were constructed from light oak and leads residents and visitors directly from the lower concrete volume to the home's upper volume.

The second volume, and main body of the home, was placed on top of the lower concrete volume and protrudes from the terrain on thin steel pillars that provide the structure with a floating quality.

In plan, the upper level of the home is shaped like a cross and has floor-to-ceiling windows at each end of its four points, providing Villa Austevoll with different vantage points across the surrounding landscape.

Unlike the entrance hall, the upper level has a bright and airy look that is achieved through light wood flooring and expanses of white panelling that cover the walls and ceiling.

Shared living spaces occupy the north and south-facing axis of the home, and have an open-plan design that is separated by the spiral staircase at the centre of the space.

The living area is located in the north wing of the home and leads out to a terrace that is sheltered by an overhanging roof.

As a result of Villa Austevoll's coastal location, wind and weather patterns informed the design and form of the home. This led the studio to incorporate angular walls as well as extended walls that shelter terraces.

The kitchen and dining area is set within the southern wing. It includes a one-wall kitchen along the entire wall of the space that is accompanied by an eight-seat dining table at the centre of the wing.

Bedrooms, including a primary suite and two additional bedrooms, occupy the eastern and western wings and also lead out to covered terraces.

Saunders Architecture was founded by Canadian architect Todd Saunders in 1998 and is based out of Bergen, Norway.

The studio has completed a number of projects in Canada and Norway including a "ribbon-like" house in Ontario and a wood-clad villa near Bergen that overlooks Lake Nordås.

The photography is by Ivar Kvaal.

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The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a mirror-clad woodland villa in Antwerp. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

Studio Okami Architecten has designed a villa in Antwerp, Belgium, featuring a mirrored facade that it says "disappears due to the reflection of the forest".

Named Beli House, the home replaces a 1960s villa and draws on the style of the original structure.

The mirrored exteriors are made from reflective aluminium which, according to the studio, is covered in condensation for most of the day to help birds avoid the panels.

Commenters weren't sold on the home. One described it as "a magnet for birdstrikes" and another as "irresponsible".

Other stories in this week's newsletter that fired up the comments section include Saudi Arabia's proposal to build a cube-shaped skyscraper in Riyadh, Elon Musk's Boring Company unveiling plans to build housing for its employees and a virtual apartment by Christoffer Jansson.

Dezeen Debate

Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

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Formafatal has constructed twin villas out of rammed earth on a jungled hillside in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica, which open to the Pacific Ocean with expansive frameless glass.

Named Achioté, two 95-square metre villas are embedded in a steep 11,000-square metre plot of jungle, 300 metres above the sea and are, according to the studio, the "very first rammed earth implementation" in Costa Rica.

Dagmar Štěpánová, founder of the Czech Republic- and Costa Rica-based studio Formafatal, completed the villas last year and served as the architect, project manager and construction manager, as well as a co-investor of the project.

"My intention was to design sustainable houses with biophilic interiors," said Štěpánová. "The architecture of villas is deliberate with its thin and sharp lines in contrast to lush tropical vegetation, but the chosen materials and colors coincide perfectly with the surroundings."

The identical rectangular plans have only three solid exterior walls, constructed of rammed clay that was excavated from the site.

Brazilian expert Terra Compacta was brought in due to Costa Rica's "lack of experience" with the construction method.

The rammed earth perimeter bearing walls – in tandem with structural H-columns – rise up from the concrete foundation and support the monolithic concrete ceiling slab, which is ringed by a pair of raw steel channels visible along the exterior roofline.

The rest of the enclosure is floor-to-ceiling, frameless glass that recesses into grooves in the ceiling and extends the interiors out to the Pacific Ocean.

The simple floor plan contains a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, which are surrounded by an open-air terrace that serves as the primary living space and opens to an infinity pool.

Form, construction and orientation are where the twin villas' similarities end; the interior colour concepts reflect the site's energies as perceived by the architect prior to construction.

"Jaspis, the bright villa, a reflection of yin energy, connects to the ocean and the sky," the studio said. "While Nefrit, the dark villa, a reflection of yang energy, connects to the ground and the jungle."

The Jaspis villa utilizes warm sand shades, while 12 metres away, the Nefrit villa references the colour of local soil through terracotta and charcoal shades. The concrete floors have distinct non-slip cement screed patterns.

The interior fixtures are also a juxtaposition of light and weight.

A thin sliding fibre-cement panel in the bathroom is the only interior door, and delicate mosquito nets and linen curtains drape around the bed from a track hidden in the ceiling.

Meanwhile, the bathroom and kitchen counters become part of the concrete monolith, and heavy concrete solitaires like bedside tables and benches are inspired by Belgian design.

"Other furniture, luminaires, accessories and art were carefully selected with regard to originality, often directly from designers across all continents,"  the studio said.

In 2020, Formafatal teamed up with Refuel Works to create the nearby Art Villa concrete rental home – the project that led to Dagmar Štěpánová's relocation from the Czech Republic and the studio's corresponding expansion to Costa Rica.

The photography is by BoysPlayNice.

Project credits:

Architecture and Interiors: Formafatal, Dagmar Štěpánová
Rammed earth walls: Terra Compacta, Daniel Mantovani
Statics: Ch. Vargas
Garden: Dagmar Štěpánová
Construction: Willy Jeferson Céspedes Vargas + local workers
Concrete screeding: Different Design, Pavel Trousil
Graphic design: Zuzana Vemeová

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Italian architecture practice Studio Andrew Trotter has completed an earth-toned villa named Casa Maiora that is made from sandstone sourced locally in Puglia, Italy.

Located on an elevated site in Carovigno with views of the nearby sea, the house was influenced by the forms and colours of villas along the coast of Puglia.

It is also designed by Studio Andrew Trotter to mimic the surrounding landscape, with walls made with a local sandstone called Tufo and coated in a pink lime wash.

"We looked to the villas of the coast, with their grand colonnades, and the walls that were painted with an earthy tone using lime wash made by a local artisan," studio founder Andrew Trotter told Dezeen.

The house, which was designed as a home for the clients as well as a rental property, features outdoor spaces arranged across various levels due to the clients' wish to be connected to the surrounding nature.

"As the house was on the highest part of the land, we built retaining walls, to create a courtyard for the entry, parking hidden behind the wall, and a terraced garden around a pool," said Trotter.

Covered outdoor spaces include a veranda made from thick cane, which draws on the open-air markets, or souks, of Marrakesh. A set of stairs is located in front of the veranda, offering space for dining or relaxation with a view of the sea.

An additional covered area features a bench that runs along an exterior wall and a long table for outdoor dining.

Inside Casa Maiora, each room has large windows that frame views of the surrounding area while allowing the sun to heat the home. Locally sourced antiques also feature in all the spaces, along with built-in furniture.

The earthy tone of the home's exterior continues on the interior walls, which are made from green and yellow limestone with a pink lime wash.

"As we went for a darker colour for this house, rather than the usual white walls in our previous houses in Puglia, we felt like we couldn't go with the typical stone floors either," said Trotter.

Entering the house from under the veranda, guests are first met with a spacious kitchen that features built-in shelves and niches for storage.

A large island sits at the centre of the room with a bespoke terrazzo countertop made by a local designer.

Casa Maiora has four bedrooms, two of which have ensuite bathrooms. Inside the bathrooms are sinks designed by Studio Andrew Trotter.

"We wanted to make the bedrooms an escape from the heat, and a place of calm," said Trotter. "They are as simple as we could make them."

Other spaces in the house include an outdoor kitchen, two additional bathrooms and a living room that features recesses for storage and a long sofa around two of its edges.

Studio Andrew Trotter is a multidisciplinary studio based in Barcelona, Spain.

It has completed a number of projects in Puglia, including another villa with white-painted walls made from Tufo. Elsewhere, it recently created a moody event space in a former Athens warehouse.

The photography is by Salva López.

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Studio Symbiosis has completed a villa in Delhi, India, that rises up from its landscaped grounds, forming a terraced roof that is covered with plants to maximise the site's green area.

The clients for Villa KD45 asked Studio Symbiosis to design a house on an angular plot surrounded on three sides by other villas, with the shortest fourth side facing the adjacent neighbourhood park.

The house is occupied by an extended family group of eight, with the client and his family living on the first floor, and his brother's family and parents on the ground floor.

The brief called for the creation of a generous garden and the preservation of three large trees, which contributes to the overall green space.

"In urban settings, there is disconnect between the user and nature," Studio Symbiosis pointed out. "With this project we are looking at creating green urban living, to rekindle the relationship of the residents with nature in their immediate surroundings."

The location of the trees around the edges of the plot informed the house's positioning at the northeast corner. This also allowed a generous garden to be created on the remaining ground.

The building's form opens up from the entrance at the southern edge, widening as it extends towards the north and incorporating west-facing windows that look onto the garden.

A stepped walkway built into the ramp-like roof form leads up from the entrance to a shaded outdoor living space. Concrete planters line the steps that connect with the turfed roof terrace.

"This outdoor terrace space created on the first floor acts as a balcony and at the same time as a direct entrance to the first floor apartment," the architects pointed out.

"A landscaped garden on the terrace enjoys views of the neighbourhood park with a feeling of being nested with nature."

Villa KD45's west-facing elevation is exposed to direct sunlight, so the ground floor was partially lowered and the upper storey cantilevered outwards to shade to the glazed facade.

Windows on the concrete-clad first floor are set back in angular recesses to reduce heat gain. The openings are oriented towards the views of the park.

The double-height kitchen, dining and living area provides the main place where the families can gather. Sliding doors connect this space with the garden, which is reached using stepping stones that cross a water feature.

The water produces an evaporative cooling effect that helps maintain a pleasant temperature inside the building. The rooftop planting also reduces solar gain, while the existing trees provide shade.

A dramatic floating staircase ascends from the living space to the first floor, where a mezzanine with a glass balustrade maintains a visual connection between the two levels.

Small terraces tucked away on both floors provide private outdoor seating areas that are protected from the harsh sun. A swing seat in a corner of one of the first-floor bedrooms is surrounded by windows that look onto the nearby tree canopy.

Studio Symbiosis has offices in Stuttgart, Germany, and in Delhi. It works on project across various scales and sectors, providing integrated design solutions that are inspired by nature and driven by performance.

The studio's previous projects include a proposal for an air-purifying tower with a tapered, twisting form that would use a filtration system to tackle Delhi's air pollution problem.

Another recent Delhi project is House of Voids, a house designed by Malik Architecture with a series of openings to let in light.

Photography is by Niveditaa Gupta.

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Czech studio No Architects has renovated and extended a 1920s villa in a Prague suburb, adding bespoke joinery and modern details that complement the original architecture.

The studio headed by artist Daniela Baráčková and architect Jakub Filip Novák oversaw the modernisation of the property in the Smíchov district on the left bank of the Vltava river.

The extensive remodelling and extension aimed to retain the character of the house, which was built in the 1920s in a romantic style that references the steep-pitched roofs and brick cladding of arts and crafts-style English villas.

No Architects removed all of the existing floors, ceilings and non-load-bearing walls of the semi-detached property and added a side extension to accommodate containing a ground-floor guest suite and a bedroom on the first floor.

The extension utilises the same palette of clay roof tiles, painted brick and a pumice stone plinth in order to produce a timeless aesthetic that is in keeping with the original architecture.

"Other contemporary extensions in this neighbourhood got very old very quickly and don't fit in well anymore," Jakub Filip Novák told Dezeen.

"Our addition refers to the original facade details and is hardly recognisable as separate to the original house. The connection between the new and old parts is not just via design, but it seems seamless even by structure and same ageing of material."

The revamped interior has a contemporary layout, with an open living and dining area linked to the adjacent kitchen. A new doorway in the rear elevation provides direct access from the kitchen to the garden.

A custom-built unit next to the back door discreetly conceals a pantry and toilet, along with plenty of storage and space for the refrigerator.

No Architects designed bespoke joinery added throughout the house to make optimal use of the available space and to create a sense of aesthetic consistency between the various rooms.

"The living space consists of many details and we like to frame them because it helps connect plenty of technology and infrastructure which surround us in any house," said Novák.

"It's also an economic decision," he added, "because every square metre of living space in Prague is expensive so it is rational to use it sensibly. We see joinery as part of such thinking, uniting architecture, construction and technology."

Some of the interventions were painted in pastel shades that add a distinctive character to the spaces. The upper floor and staircase feature green woodwork, while the ground-floor joinery is painted a shade of duck-egg blue.

The clients spent part of their lives working in Japan and the United Kingdom, so some of the colours and details reference these experiences.

The decorative panelling and exposed radiators on the first floor recall traditional British houses, while the minimal bench seating in the living room and the tiled porch evoke Japanese living.

A small door on the first-floor landing provides access to a previously unused space above the entrance that now contains a private play area accessible only by the children.

Throughout the project, No Architects adapted existing features to give them a new purpose or to enhance the character of the building while ensuring it meets the client's requirements.

"We work with intuitive 'memory of architecture' and aesthetics which belongs to the original era but we don't follow it directly," Novák added, "we just use it to make a nice place that makes the most of the potential which is in the atmosphere of the house."

No Architects' founders met while studying at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. The studio combines the disciplines of art and architecture to produce detailed-oriented solutions that reflect their clients' requirements and personalities.

The photography is by Studio Flusser.

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Dutch practices Space Encounters and Studio Vincent Architecture have completed BD House, an extension of a 1950s villa with a brick garden pavilion intended to create the feeling of "living in the forest".

When the new owners of the existing rural villa found it to be structurally unsound, they tasked the two Amsterdam-based practices with maintaining its character while updating its interiors for modern living.

Looking to better address the woodland that wraps the home's rear garden, the architects opened up the interiors and added a gently curving brick pavilion at its rear that contrasts the vernacular architecture of the original home.

"The design of BD House became a layered transformation in which cultural heritage, sustainable transformation, and the rich natural qualities of the area confluence," said the architects.

"[The home] has not only been enlarged but has also been made future-proof, contributing to the larger transformation of the countryside in which the existing housing stock is becoming more sustainable and adapted to demands for contemporary living," they continued.

On the ground floor, the kitchen, bathrooms and a secondary living area occupy the existing structure, with the interior updated using a contemporary palette of wood fittings, terrazzo floors and tiled counters.

At the rear of the building, the main bedroom and living area extend outwards into the brick extension, their floor levels made slightly lower in order to create a closer relationship to the landscape with window seating areas.

Overlooking the garden with fully glazed walls fitted sliding doors, the bedroom and living room are sandwiched between a paved brick terrace and a thick, brick-clad roof, punctured by a hole that allows a tree to grow through.

Dark brown recycled bricks and thick white mortar joints sit in stark contrast to the white-painted exterior of the existing home, with the extension intended to gradually blend in with the garden over time.

"The transparent facade and its generous sliding roots and oblique windows continue the spatial enfilade of the interior into the design of the garden, anchoring the bright building in the undulating landscape of maritime pines," said the practice.

"Both the existing villa and the extension are materialised in brick, yet they contrast in size, colour and treatment, revealing the layers of time in the project."

The first floor has been entirely dedicated to spaces for the family's children, with two bathrooms, a playroom, bedroom and guest room contained within the home's original footprint overlooking the green roof of the extension.

Recent projects by Space Encounters include a colourful series of townhouse blocks for a residential development in Utrecht, and an office building in Amersfoort raised on stilts above an existing brick warehouse.

Photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

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Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has revealed the design for a disc-shaped villa with a swooping green roof on Japan's Ishigaki Island for hotelier Not A Hotel.

Located on Ishigaki Island, an idyllic island in Japan's southwestern region of Okinawa, Not A Hotel Ishigaki was designed to host up to 10 people while being "connected to the earth".

The rentable hotel villa will take shape as a disc-shaped structure will be topped with a swooping green roof.

Not A Hotel Ishigaki forms part of the Japanese hospitality brand Not A Hotel, which has multiple rentable hotel villas in locations across Japan.

Visualisations of the hotel-cum-villa show large circular openings punctuating the building's walkable meadow-lined roof that will surround a tree and pond at the roof's lowest point.

The home was designed without a front or back and will be organised to provide views across its surroundings.

"The architecture, which has a vague boundary between the inside and outside and is connected to the earth," said the studio.

"The house is open indoors and outdoors facing the sea, and you can spend a relaxing time while feeling the comfort of nature all day long."

Its interior will be set beneath its sloping meadow roof and will take shape as a curving space that follows the circular footprint of the structure.

A living and dining area will provide views across the nearby sea while four bedrooms will serve as accommodation for up to 10 guests.

The home's communal areas will feature open plan arrangements as well as glazed walls that connect the interior with its surroundings.

A 12-metre infinity pool and firepit will be accessed from the living area on an adjacent terrace, which will also connect to a sauna and open-air bath.

The circular openings across the roof will provide the interior with framed views of the tropical surroundings while strategically obscuring views of nearby buildings.

Earlier in 2022, Sou Fujimoto revealed a design for a community centre in a Japanese town that would be topped with a bowl-like roof. The studio also designed a building with an accessible, walkable roof for the Hida Takayama University.

The renders are courtesy of Sou Fujimoto.

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British designer John Pawson has revealed designs for two luxury limestone villas, which will be built on the residential Sabina estate on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza.

The two Pawson-designed villas are set to be built in Ibiza's western village of Sant Agusti des Vedrà within a private luxury residential estate.

Named Can Almendro and Can Adelfa, both villas will contain seven bedrooms, 25-metre swimming pools and additional guest houses.

Can Adelfa will be set on a 3,775-square-metre hilly landscape alongside two guest houses and a pool house, the villa will contain a cinema room, wine cellar and a barbeque-cum-grilling area.

Can Almendro will have a slightly larger footprint – totalling 1,788 square metres on a 4,000 square-metre site – and will similarly include a guest house and luxury facilities such as a cinema room and wine cellar.

"Both villas are intentionally very generous so that each can accommodate the owners and their children comfortably, as well as two or three guests and their children," said Pawson.

"The point was to make places where everyone staying – guests and owners – has plenty of space inside and outside, to gather or withdraw, with shaded areas for eating and relaxing."

Each villa will have a rectilinear structure designed to look as though built into the landscape as opposed to emerging from it.

Locally sourced limestone will clad the exterior of the villas to create a typical Spanish look without imposing or distracting from its surroundings.

"We wanted to make the villas look intimate – to avoid the scale feeling too monumental," said Pawson.

"Using the local limestone and whitewash helps the architecture to become part of the landscape, giving the impression of volumes that are bedded into the hill rather than rising from it. This was never about making a Parthenon or a Getty."

Pockets dedicated to al-fresco dining and lounging will surround the walls of the homes between swimming pools and landscaped gardens.

Ocean and hilltop views of the western coast will frame every area of the villa as a result of full-height windows and sliding doors that will make use of indoor-outdoor living.

"Sustainability is really important to the client and they wanted the architecture to be as green as possible, so the use of glass is restricted and the walls are extra thick, to insulate against the heat or the cold, ensuring the temperature inside stays pretty stable," said Pawson.

Construction is set to begin on the pair of villas in the winter of 2022. Can Adelfa and Can Almendro are part of a development led by Sabina where acclaimed architects and architectural designers are creating approximately 50 luxury villas.

In 2020, Pawson created himself a minimalist rural retreat in the Costwolds within a converted 17th-century farming complex.

The renders are by John Pawson.

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French architect and designer Philippe Starck used warm tones and mid-century references in his renovation of Villa W, a boutique wellness hotel on the coast of Saint-Tropez.

Created as a little sister to the existing Starck-designed Lily of the Valley hotel which is located nearby, Villa W is a fitness and wellness lodging located in an existing villa that was renovated by Starck.

The 1,559-square-metre villa, which is situated on the southwestern corner of the peninsula in the French Riviera town, was designed as "a romantic hideaway" where guests can relax as well as work on their fitness and health.

"We've all dreamed of a little cabin, chalet or fisherman's hut by the sea," Philippe Starck said. "We don't have to dream anymore, because we've made that dream a reality – a romantic hideaway nestled in a pine forest that looks down onto the Mediterranean at La Croix-Valmer."

Set over two floors, the boutique hotel has three double rooms and can cater to up to six guests at a time. Each bedroom has its own private terrace with views of the surrounding lush landscape and the Mediterranean sea.

During the renovation process, Starck decided to emphasise the original architectural features of the villa. It was built in the 1960s by a local architect called Jean Nielly.

Made from vast sheets of glass, concrete and steel, the villa already had unparalleled views onto its surroundings. In a bid to celebrate this, Starck focused on drawing attention to the length of the villa, adding arbours made from chestnut wood along its long, south-facing glass facade.

Large French doors set in aluminium frames allow plenty of natural light to brighten up the interiors and merge them with the exterior, while a decked terrace that wraps around the edges of the building has a private 17-metre-long pool.

"Villa W boasts views that have remained unchanged for hundreds of years," said owner of Lily of the Valley Lucie Weill. "So, when we were designing it, we felt it was essential to keep this unique, panoramic view of the Mediterranean."

"That's why we placed so much importance on the length of the villa so that guests would be able to see the sea from every room," Weill told Dezeen.

"The effect is quite something: instead of feeling like a building nestled against the hillside, Villa W feels more like a boat moored on the coast."

Inside, Starck Starck drew on the mid-century modern style found in Charles and Ray Eames' home in Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighbourhood for Villa W.

Guests enter through a main lobby and reception area where tan leather sofas, wooden ornaments and rust-coloured rugs can be found.

Off to one side of the lobby is the terrace area with rattan seating, while a bar at the back of the space serves what Lily of the Valley calls "a healthy Mediterranean gastronomy."

Extra touches of warmth are provided by the wooden flooring and soft furnishings.

The warm colour palette is continued upstairs in the bedrooms where vintage items sourced by Starck, such as a brown Egg Chair by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen and wooden Walnut Stools designed by Charles and Ray Eames, can be found.

The three bathrooms have a cleaner, lighter aesthetic with marble floors and floor-to-ceiling mirrors, which the designer incorporated to emphasise the omnipresence of the Mediterranean.

Starck is one of the most prolific designers in the world. Although is best known for his product designs such as the Icon Chair and Juicy Salif citrus squeezer, he has also produced a number of notable interior projects.

These include renovating the interior of the Quadri restaurant in Venice. Earlier this year, he led the art direction for Villa M, a hotel in Paris covered in plants.

Photography is by Novembre Studio.

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Milan-based Reveria Studio has renovated the interiors of an elegant villa at a Lake Como hotel to echo the cinematic but welcoming nature of traditional Italian houses.

The studio updated the interiors of Villa della Quercia, which is a standalone villa within the Mandarin Oriental Lake Como resort hotel in Italy.

Reveria Studio completely revamped Villa della Quercia, which contains a living area, kitchen and dining space, one bedroom and a bathroom.

Each room was renovated to reflect the colours and atmosphere of Lake Como as well as the traditional principles of Italian design.

"The project is led by elegance, clean shapes, material consistency and handcrafted design objects," explained Reveria Studio.

"Italian design is, above all, the foresight to make rooms welcoming and comfortable – making you feel like the protagonist of a scene from a [Federico] Fellini film, and at the same time, a guest in a friend's house."

A palette of both deep greens and warmer, more neutral tones defines the villa, while local Cipollino and Emperador Light marble, dark wood and burnished brass feature in the design.

Reveria Studio replaced the living room's existing gold floor with Italian herringbone parquet flooring, which the firm described as typical of classic Italian villas.

Light-coloured walls have been adorned with a geometric metal structure from which various artwork, mirrors and other decorative elements can be flexibly hung, while wallpaper created with traditional Como silk also features in the interior spaces.

Every work of art that features in Villa della Quercia is the result of a collaboration with Milan contemporary art gallery The Pool NYC. Artists whose pieces are included at the hotel were also invited to experience the resort before creating their work.

"Each area of the villa has its own identity, feeling and texture," continued Reveria Studio.

Other renovations in the living area include elegant sconce lights and rustic-looking green chaise longues, as well as a retro alcove featuring a petite but decadent drinks cabinet.

The headboard of the villa's only bed was also upholstered with decorative fabric that contributes to the eclectic atmosphere of the rooms.

Reveria Studio also renovated the outdoor terrace of hotel's Italian-Japanese L˜ARIA restaurant as part of the project, which involved changes such as dining tables clad in the same local marbles that were used in the villa, and large sun umbrellas that shade guests from the harsh sun.

"The redesign is a balance between intimacy and sociability, Italian and oriental culture, tradition and marine style," said the studio.

Led by Laura Delfina Sari and Diego Paccagnella, Reveria Studio is an architecture, interior design and styling studio based in Milan.

Other projects at Lake Como include Villa Molli by architect Lorenzo Guzzini – a moraine stone house with an infinity pool that overlooks the water.

The photography is courtesy of Reveria Studio.

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A simple palette of white and grey brings an "atmosphere of calm" to this villa in the outskirts of Valladolid, Spain, designed by architecture studio Sara Acebes Anta.

Called Casa Banlusa, the single-storey dwelling is divided into separate wings for day and night, arranged in a U-shape around a central courtyard.

It is designed by Madrid studio Sara Acebes Anta to frame views of the nearby Esgueva Valley and the Duero Canal and allow its occupants to follow the sun throughout the day.

"The project embraces the scenery around it," the studio said. "Large windows open up directly to its surroundings and frame the local pine trees."

In the daytime block, a single open-plan space contains the living, dining and kitchen spaces. A boundary to the kitchen is created by an island unit.

The night wing opposite contains a small office and guest bedrooms, alongside the main bedroom that opens onto a small south-facing terrace.

"The rooms are distributed in two main zones: night-time and day-time," explained the studio. "The sunrise fills the kitchen, which faces east, and the living room is oriented west to enjoy the sunset," it continued.

"On the other side of the U-shape, there are four bedrooms and two bathrooms facing west absorbing the sun rays of the last hours of the day, warming these rooms for during the night."

The north side of the pared-back home features a garage and plant room containing the aerothermal heat pumps that warm the house through underfloor heating.

On Casa Banlusa's exterior, a finish of white fluted mortar creates a subtle play of light and shadow and contrasts with the greenery and planters that surround the building.

"There is a subtle textural verticality counterbalancing the horizontal nature of the single-storey house which is in harmony with the landscape and the environment," said the studio.

The white exterior is broken up by windows placed rhythmically around the home, which extend to almost full height in the living room and reduce in size in the bedrooms for greater privacy.

Casa Banlusa's central courtyard is finished with concrete and connects to a series of thin paved paths that wrap around the edges of the home.

These paths also link up to the terrace alongside the main bedroom and another outside the kitchen.

Inside, the muted white and grey tones of Casa Banlusa's exterior are continued, warmed by the addition of wooden furniture and fittings.

Its fluted facades have also been referenced in certain areas, such as on the kitchen counters and portions of the walls.

Studio Seilern Architects also recently designed a minimal white villa and orientated it to follow the sun. Set on the Greek island of Paros, it comprises a cluster of white cube-shaped forms and is intended as a "simple luxury living environment".

Other projects near Valladolid include a white-painted villa by Escribano Rosique Arquitectos, with living spaces that extend onto a series of external patios.

The photography is by Víctor de la Fuente.

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Danish studio CF Møller Architects has nestled a concrete villa into a shallow hill on a Norwegian farm, creating a pair of stepped terraces with views of the nearby Oslofjord.

Called Villa Aa, the building was designed for the family that owns the farm, who wanted a modern home and office while still respecting the nature and protected status of the site.

CF Møller Architects responded by sinking the 375-square-metre villa into a gentle slope on the site, hiding it from view on approach under a green roof and creating a pair of stepped terraces on the opposite side.

"The villa's layout creates a flow and connection between formal and informal functions, and combines practicality and wellbeing," explained CF Møller Architects.

"A green roof on top of the villa acts itself as an upper terrace, [and] a lower terrace and garden include two water features," the studio continued.

"The result is, from the outside, an almost invisible villa snuggly fitted into the landscape with beautiful views towards the Oslo Fjord and defined areas for business and family life."

Two sweeping concrete ramps at either side of the home cut beneath its grass-topped roof, which is dotted with skylights and punctured by a courtyard with an additional access stair.

Internally, the layout and material treatments of Villa Aa are divided into a darker and intimate subterranean section on the north side, and a brighter and more exposed area to the south.

The ramp to the northwest leads into a corridor that is lined with smoked wood and runs along the north side of the home, where the office, bathroom and guest bedroom spaces are located.

In the brighter southern half of the plan are the three main bedrooms and a living, dining and kitchen area, which are enclosed by glass sliding doors that open onto the terraces.

In the brighter spaces, pale wood panelling and furniture contrast with the exposed concrete and steel columns supporting the home's roof.

Polished concrete floors extend out onto the terrace in an effort to "blur the boundaries between inside and outside".

With almost double the footprint of Villa Aa's interior, the terrace comprises an upper section with planted beds and seating areas, and a lower section where a rainwater pool and swimming pool evoke the water of the nearby fjord.

"The water in the pools reflects the sky and light in the same was as the fjord does, and appears as a visual connection to the open water," explained the studio.

The dramatic landscape surrounding the Oslofjord is a popular location for villas and holiday homes. Recent projects in the area include a spruce-clad home set on the water's edge by Jon Danielsen Aarhus and a walker's cabin by Snøhetta.

Elsewhere, other recently completed houses that are buried into the surrounding landscape include Casa Aguacates in Mexico by Francisco Pardo and the NCaved home in Serifos by Mold Architects.

The photography is by Ivar Kaal.

Project credits:

Architect: CF Møller Architects
Landscape: Dronninga Landskap
Lighting design: Zenisk AS

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London-based Studio Seilern Architects has completed a villa on the Greek island of Paros, designed as a cluster of white cube-shaped forms that are oriented to follow the setting sun over the Aegean Sea.

Located next to an olive grove in Makra Myti on the island's southwest coast, Paros House was designed to be a "beautiful and simple luxury living environment", finished in traditional white stucco and Greek marble.

The spaces of the villa are organised around an east-west axis designed to follow the path of the sun throughout the day in summer.

Cutting through the centre of the site, this axis begins with an entrance ramp to the east and ends with a long, thin infinity pool that extends westwards towards views of the Aegean Sea.

A bamboo pergola is punctured by a single oculus that brings sunlight into the otherwise shaded poolside lounge, finished in hand-chiseled marble.

Around this central axis, the spaces of the villa are designed as stand-alone rooms with their own entrances, set on stepped platforms of terrazzo that lead down to the pool terrace.

"The surrounding built volumes that comprise the villa are placed on overlapping terrazzo slabs, which give the appearance of floating above the soil," explained Studio Seilern.

A living and dining space with a bedroom above sits in the largest central volume, which opens onto the poolside terrace via a set of sliding glass corner doors.

This block is flanked on either side by smaller en-suite bedroom blocks, each of which has its own more private terrace area sheltered by high white walls at the north and south of the site.

Inside, the palette of "minimal material richness" is continued, with apertures framed by angled sections of hammered Alive marble and countertops and benches finished in sandblasted and chiseled stone.

"The scale of the aggregate displays calculated variation between different terrazzo surfaces, creating a subtle but vital gradation; a simple arrangement of raw materials that offers layers of intricacy," described the studio.

"These careful adjustments provide complexity without overloading the project, allowing the landscape to imbue the house with a unique formal energy appropriate for its coastal position."

The white, vernacular buildings of the Aegean islands have inspired many contemporary reinterpretations for holiday villas and hotels.

Greek Practice K-Studio also made use of whitewashed walls for a holiday villa on Mykonos, and Kapsimalis Architects drew on Santorini's traditional buildings for a cubic villa overlooking the sea.

The photography is by Louisa Nikolaidou.

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Catalonian studio RCR Arquitectes has completed the first of eight luxury red concrete villas it has designed for the Palmares Ocean Living & Golf resort in the Algarve.

The Pritzer Prize-winning studio has designed all of the buildings for the seaside resort, including villas, hotels and a clubhouse building that opened in late 2020.

Although there will be more than 100 villas in total, only eight will come under the title Signature Villas. This one, called Villa 19, is the first of those eight to complete.

What sets the Signature Villas apart is their size. Each one boasts four bedrooms and bathrooms, sea views, a large private swimming pool and a sizeable garden.

As with the other buildings at the Palmares resort, these villas are primarily formed of overlapping planes of red pigmented concrete.

Wall surfaces are angular rather than curvy, yet they still have an organic feel. Rooms are designed to fan out from one other, so there is no clear front or back to the building.

"We have created the homes at Palmares not as objects implanted into the environment, but as spaces embedded into the topography, framing the landscape," explained Rafael Aranda, one of the three co-founders of RCR Arquitectes.

"The Signature Villas were developed with a unique relationship with the external natural environment, creating a feeling of privilege in this exceptional setting," he continued.

"It's a feeling that flows throughout each home, connecting people to the place in a very special way."

The first of the homes, the two-storey Villa 19, is organised around nine terraces so that indoor activities can spill outdoors.

On the ground floor, the kitchen, dining room and living room are arranged in sequence along the first three of these terraces.

The swimming pool creates a nature divide between these more social spaces and a ground-floor bedroom, which opens out onto three further stepped terraces.

Upstairs, the remaining three bedrooms each have a terrace of their own.

The villa's other features include minimal floor-to-ceiling glazing, contemporary kitchens and overhanging roofs that offer natural sun shading.

Palmares Ocean Living & Golf is backed by developer Kronos Homes. The resort centres around a 27-hole course designed by golf architect Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Each of the resort's Signature Villas will boast a slightly different design, developed in response to the unique conditions of each site.

RCR has also developed a standard design for Signature Apartments, which will be delivered in a later phase of the project.

Founded in 1988, RCR Arquitectes is led by Aranda alongside Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta, and is based in their home town of Olot, Catalonia.

Key projects from the studio include a "serene and restrained" Dubai apartment building and a steel-clad museum in France.

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The folded form of this villa, designed by Peter Pichler Architecture for the owners of a vineyard in South Tyrol, is intended to merge with the existing landscape and form a shield around its central courtyard.

The Milan-based studio won an invited competition in 2018 to design the property, which replaced an existing structure within the Kastelaz vineyard in the Termeno district in Italy.

The estate's owners wanted to build a contemporary home on the elevated site, which enjoys spectacular views of the surrounding Alpine landscape.

The design of the house responds to its setting, nestled among trees and vines and looking along the valley towards Lake Caldaro.

"The geometry of the villa evolves from local site conditions," the studio said. "It creates a flowing and harmonious transition with the landscape and is barely noticeable from the nearby village."

The angular structure appears to emerge from the earth of the hilltop, with its sloping walls connecting seamlessly with the roof.

The horseshoe-shaped plan wraps around an internal courtyard that is protected from the winds funneling up the valley from Lake Garda to the south.

The building's external surfaces evoke the tone and texture of the chalk-stone retaining walls found throughout the surrounding vineyards.

A large driveway connects with a cave-like garage embedded in the sloping terrain, while a set of stairs leads up the hill to the house's main entrance.

Inside, the house is arranged as three connected wings. One wing contains the main living space with the kitchen and dining area alongside, while the other two wings accommodate bedrooms, including the large main suite.

Full-height glazing along with carefully positioned windows and skylights ensure the spaces feel bright and connected with the views.

"The wide glass facades are designed to frame and highlight the surroundings and to let the landscape enter the indoor spaces while maintaining internal privacy," the studio added.

The architects chose materials that create a warm, yet simple and minimal atmosphere. A palette featuring concrete, terrazzo and wood ensures there is consistency between indoor and outdoor spaces.

In addition to the central courtyard, a large terrace on the upper floor provides an alternative space for outdoor relaxation and is connected to a mezzanine lounge.

Architect Peter Pichler and his wife Silvana Ordinas established Peter Pichler Architecture in Milan in 2015.

The studio's previous projects include a hotel in a forest featuring pointed cabins set among the trees, and a mountainside restaurant with three cantilevered gables that project out towards the views.

Photography is by Gustav Willeit unless stated otherwise.

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Architecture studio Neiheiser Argyros has overhauled a vacant 1970s villa on the Greek coast, which features a concrete roof with a pair of arches that frame views towards the sea.

The dwelling, named St Minas House, is located north of Athens near the village of St Minas, where it sits on a tree-lined site that overlooks the Euboic Sea.

Neiheiser Argyros was tasked with upgrading the existing structure on the site, which was designed by Greek architect Nikos Hadjimichalis in the 1970s and had been left uninhabited for the past 10 years.

The studio chose to retain parts of the original building, including many of its modernist features. Interventions such as new openings and extensions reorientate the spaces and help to optimise views.

"Whereas the original house was singularly focused towards the sea, by cutting large openings into the original structure and extending space outdoors in all directions, the diversity of the site – forest, grove, lawn, meadow and sea – is celebrated," Neiheiser Argyros explained.

St Minas House is hidden from the approach road by olive groves and a pine forest.

The site's sloping terrain partially conceals a row of bedrooms that are tucked into the existing landscape.

Perpendicular to the line of bedrooms is the home's main two-storey volume, which projects out towards the sea and opens up on all sides to connect with terraces that form outdoor living spaces.

The underside of the building's flat roof incorporates two shallow concrete arches that frame views of the sea from within the first-floor lounge and dining area.

These arches extend from the living spaces to shelter a large balcony spanning the upper storey. This shaded outdoor space is connected to the gardens below by an external spiral staircase.

On the ground floor, another lounge area is lined with sliding doors that can be retracted to open the space up to the adjoining terrace.

Throughout St Minas House, the studio has introduced playful elements and materials that complement the existing modernist details, while choosing not to slavishly retain every aspect of the building's original character.

"The house is deliberately ambiguous in its treatment of old and new, and unprecious in its deference to the original house," said Neiheiser Argyros," at times revealing the traces of the manipulations and incisions to the original, at other times blending new with old, conflating past and present."

A limited material palette of exposed concrete and brick combined with wooden window frames and steel balustrades is used both inside and outside the house.

Internally, this selection of robust and honest materials is complemented by custom terrazzo floors, perforated aluminium cabinets and upholstered fitted furniture.

Neiheiser Argyros was founded in 2015 by Ryan Neiheiser and Xristina Argyros. Its previous projects include a sculptural pavilion designed to conceal the exhaust vents of a London Underground station, and a cafe with trellis-like walls that support a variety of pot plants.

The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

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Curved walls and arching ceilings enclose indoor and outdoor living spaces arranged over several stepped levels at this villa in Menorca by architects Nomo Studio.

Curved House's elevated setting in the high-end residential area of Coves Noves provides it with views towards the sea and the nearby town of Port d'Addaia.

The client bought an undeveloped lot and asked Nomo Studio to design a summer villa containing four bedrooms, with a covered outdoor area linked to a small pool.

The 600-square-metre site presented several challenges, including a steep gradient. It also contains an area of archaeological importance that needed to be conserved.

Nomo Studio responded to the sloping plot and small building area by creating a house with a compact footprint that is carefully shaped to avoid the restricted area.

"The curved shape of the house started as an answer to try to avoid the protected area on the site," architect Karl Johan Nyqvist told Dezeen.

"By curving the house on the ground floor we could avoid the archaeological site but still maximise the footprint. We then continued with the same language in three dimensions."

The property resembles a cube with sections removed, as if by intersecting with giant spheres. The resulting curved and double-curved geometries lend the external and internal spaces a distinctive character.

In order to achieve the internal programme requested by the clients within the building's small footprint, the living areas are arranged over six stepped levels that incorporate several patios and terraces.

"Light slits between the slabs enlarge our vision of space and create one single continuous open area," the architects explained.

"The same technique is used in order to bring natural light into the basement, completely transforming its perception."

The house can be entered from the streets on either side at different levels. From the upper street, a bridge with curved stairs and a rope handrail traverses the steep slope, while from below a set of steps winds around the circular pool.

The main entrance leads into the bedroom level, which is connected to the main living spaces below by a wide metal staircase with a wooden balustrade.

To one side of the entrance hall, a large patio with glazed walls on two sides provides a protected semi-outdoor space suspended above the concrete floor.

The patio allows bright sunlight to flood into the interior and incorporates openings that frame views of the sea. The versatile space can be used for stargazing or open-air film screenings.

The main living areas on the lower level are spanned by 12-metre concrete beams. Sliding glass doors allow this space to be opened up to the adjacent porch and pool area.

"The day area is conceived as one large unfolding space, framed by the bold gesture of an upper and lower arch," added Nomo Studio.

"Under its double-curved, four-metre clear height ceiling porch one feels protected from neighbouring views, focusing on the garden and sea views."

The interiors feature a palette of concrete, terracotta and wood, along with white walls and turquoise curtains. The natural hues, textures and use of indoor plants enhance the connection with the garden and surrounding landscape.

Nomo Studio was founded by Alicia Casals and Karl Johan Nyqvist. It has offices in Barcelona and Stockholm delivering projects across various fields including architecture, urbanism, graphic design, product design and social research.

The studio has worked on several properties in Menorca, including a house comprising a series of stacked, angular boxes and another home featuring facades that combine local stone with smooth plaster.

Photography is by Adriâ Goulá.

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The walls of this Italian villa, designed by Giordano Hadamik Architects, are formed of natural stone excavated from the home's site.

Villa Nemes is partially embedded into the Ligurian landscape. To help it merge with its setting, its architects chose to clad the exterior walls with a material that was readily available to them.

With stone forming much of the groundscape in this region, this approach follows a tradition dating back through generations.

"This natural stone, present just below the first few metres of earth, has been used for centuries to build the renowned Ligurian terraced hills," explained architect and studio co-founder, Daniele Giordano.

Villa Nemes functions as a holiday home for a family who live in Germany. It is designed to have a simple layout with plenty of room for hosting guests.

The architects planned the building as two blocks, both set into the hillside. One block contains five bedrooms and three bathrooms, while the other is an open-plan space for dining, relaxing or entertaining. There's also a separate garage block.

Sustainability was one of the primary considerations in the design of the building's form. As well as the natural stone walls, the building features a planted roof and a heavily insulated structure, designed to eliminate heat loss.

Large windows front the building, allowing plenty of natural light to filter into the living spaces. In the summer these can slide open to allow living spaces to extend outside, where there's a large deck and swimming pool.

"This place is an escape from day-to-day life, a place to slow down and connect with nature," Giordano told Dezeen.

"The big openings bring in the light and open the view to the valley and the sea."

Villa Nemes was completed in 2015, but was recently used by Italian furniture brand Flexform as a shoot location for its collection. These photos show the house temporarily furnished with Flexform products.

In the living room, pieces were selected to match the various finishes, which include a rough concrete wall, oak fittings and a polished concrete floor. They include the Asolo sofa, a pair of Tessa armchairs, and the Pico and Fly coffee and side tables.

The kitchen comprises a wall of oak cabinets, matching the shelving and fireplace fittings in the living space. An island counter creates an L-shape in the space, around which Flexform placed its First Steps bar stools

On the deck, a timber canopy frames a space that has been furnished as an outdoor living room. The 14-metre-long pool is located in front, allowing occupants to enjoy the view as they swim.

The bedrooms have their own furniture – futon-style beds are positioned alongside oak backboards with integrated shelving and lighting. Each room can function as a double, a twin or a study, and they each have their own access to the terrace.

Underfloor heating features throughout the house, fuelled by solar energy provided from photovoltaic panels.

"The house feels like it has always been there," added Giordano. "There is a sense of harmony and tranquillity; the spaces are cosy and comfortable, and there is a continuity and fluidity between inside and outside."

Photography is courtesy of Flexform, unless otherwise stated.

Project credits:

Architect: Giordano Hadamik Architects
Planning, and health and safety: Roberto Ferraro
Structure: Daniele D'Ignoti
Mechanical electrical engineer: Moroni Penna Ingegneri
Geologist: Giorgio Ligorini
Survey: Pastorelli Antonio

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Casa Palerm is a standalone villa built for a hotel in Mallorca by architecture office OHLAB with a window designed to replicate the dimensions of a retro cinema screen.

OHLAB carved out a section through the middle of the villa in the countryside of Lloret de Vistalegre in the centre of the Balearic island.

Concrete terraces extend either side of a central living and dining area, which is sheltered by a woven cane pergola.

If the occupants sit on the low bench at the end of the terrace and look through the house, the view is cropped to the aspect ratio of 2.66:1. Called CinemaScope, it's a widescreen format developed in the 1950s by Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox.

"This ratio of the old CinemaScope evokes the personal imagery that brings us back to old movie theatres," said OHLAB.

"From the south terrace, we can watch the living room as the stage of everyday life – with both the fields and the Tramontana mountains panoramically cropped as a backdrop."

Casa Palerm is a single storey building plastered in rustic lime mortar with a pitched roof made from reclaimed old ceramic tiles.

The wattle-style pergola, also called a cañizo, shades the semi-outdoor centre of the house. There is a kitchen to one side, with a master bedroom and bathroom behind it. On the other side of the open space are two more bedrooms and bathrooms.

Bright turquoise shutters in the traditional Mallorcan style frame the windows and can be closed to shade the interiors from the heat of the day without preventing a breeze from circulating.

OHLAB selected simple materials for the interiors, such as local marés stone, wood and bespoke cement floors and sinks.

The architecture office chose to make Casa Perlem only six metres wide so there was no need for columns to obstruct the interior space.

Deciduous trees around the house provide shade in the summer, and a rainwater tank collects water for the pool, the garden and the house's toilets. A terrace to the north of the house has unobstructed views of the landscape and access to the swimming pool that sits below it.

Founded by Paloma Hernaiz and Jaime Oliver and based in Mallorca, OHLAB previously designed a holiday house on the island made of white volumes all facing different directions to make the most of the views.

The studio was shortlisted for emerging interior design studio of the year by Dezeen Awards 2018.

Photography is by José Hevia.

Project credits:

Architecture and interior design: OHLAB / Paloma Hernaiz and Jaime Oliver
OHLAB team: Paloma Hernaiz and Jaime Oliver with Rebecca Lavín, Silvia Morais José Allona, Amalia Stavropoulou
Quantity surveyor: Jorge Ramón
Contractor: Joaquín García Rubio
Structure: Lorenzo Croce
Landscape: Salva Cañís
Kitchen and cañizo: OHLAB design, Creacucina
Furniture: La Pecera

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A rippling timber roof cantilevers from the Dolunay Villa in Muğla, Turkey, designed by Foster + Partners to complement its rugged coastal setting.

Positioned on the coast of the Aegean Sea, it is the first private family house designed by Foster + Partners since completing Leedon Park House in Singapore in 2006.

Dolunay Villa's giant undulating timber roof is designed to appear like an extension of its rocky, beachside setting.

Its terraces are sheltered by the home's overhanging roof, which has a 7.5-metre-wide cantilever. It relies on solid structural oak beams that rest on steel columns and was designed in collaboration with Blumer Lehmann.

"We were fascinated by the local landscape and wanted it to flow through the interior spaces and effectively disguise the building," said Foster + Partners' head of studio David Summerfield.

"Even though it gets incredibly hot in the summer, we wanted the building to be able to breathe naturally," he added.

"The landscaped open courtyards within the house allow the prevailing sea breeze to gently move through the villa. These are simple ideas that have come together in an elegant way."

Huge areas of glazing on the south side of the home  open out to the sea and invite in the coastal breeze.

Dolunay Villa comprises two storeys divided into private and shared spaces, surrounded by landscaped gardens. These gardens feature fragrant plants such as thyme and lavender, chosen to create a "multi-sensory experience".

The home is accessed from a meandering approach on its north side, where it is disguised as a closed-off, low-rise dwelling.

Its full scale is revealed by following the gradient of the sloped site to the south side, where it switches into a two-storey structure, partially embedded it into the landscape.

The unexpected transition between the one and two-storey sides to the villa is reflected externally in the buildings material finishes.

Its windowless north side is lined with stone and timber slats, while the south sea-facing side is enveloped by large areas of glazing.

"There's a real split between the public forum and private," explained the architecture firm's partner Niall Dempsey.

"A sense of discovery and a richness of experience comes through in the way the spaces change as you walk through the site."

Inside, the main entrance guides visitors directly to the centre of the villa, which is flanked by the private quarters on its east side, and the public areas to the west.

Here there is a feature spiral staircase that is made from solid Portuguese limestone, and provides access to the lower ground floor.

Along Dolunay Villa's south-facing facade, the glazing slides open to provides access onto shaded terraces.

These terraces offer an connect the interior and exterior, and also help naturally ventilate the home.

This main outdoor terrace links to the shared living areas, and is connected to a linear swimming pool.

Throughout the home, the interiors are complete with a natural material palette dominated by stone, wood, leather and bronze.

Many of its finishing touches are bespoke, including hand-carved solid timber doors and ceramic tiles and basins in the bathrooms.

The home is complete with a "sunset pavilion" positioned closer to the coast.

This pavilion also features an earthy material palette of stone walls, wooden tables and a bamboo soffit.

Foster and Partners is an architecture studio with offices worldwide and headquarters in London. It was founded in 1967 by Norman Foster.

Other recent projects by the studio include a luxury residential tower in London, Philadelphia's tallest building and an Apple store in Miami with an undulating white concrete roof.

Photography is by Nigel Young/Foster + Partners.

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The white, blocky form of this holiday villa by Kapsimalis Architects is intended to be a "contemporary translation" of the chalky houses seen around Santorini, Greece.

Summer Villa – which forms part of Santorini's existing Andronis Arcadia hotel – has been designed by Kapsimalis Architects to appear as a "synthesis of cubist white volumes".

The 600-square-metre building is situated on the northwestern tip of the island in the small town of Oia, looking out over the Aegean sea.

"The main objective of the project was to design the villa as a continuity of the rest of the hotel," explained the practice.

"It's a contemporary translation of the traditional architecture found in the villages of Santorini."

The villa has therefore been constructed as a cluster of pale, rectilinear volumes. Some of its external structural walls are punctuated with rectangular openings or intersect to form open-air walkways around the villa.

Varieties of wild grass and spindly olive trees have been planted along the building's roof, helping it blend into the surrounding hillside.

Internally, the building has been simply divided into three levels. The top floor accommodates a single guest suite, from which a narrow channel of water runs out towards a private sunbathing area.

A stairwell illuminated by an overhead skylight leads to the ground floor.

It plays host to an open-plan communal area, decked out in natural tones and materials to evoke a "summery, comfortable sense that conforms to island life".

The dining room is centred by a long, timber table, while an oval, rattan pendant-lamp dangles directly above. A sand-coloured sectional sofa appears in the adjacent living room along with a wicker armchair and a couple of potted plants.

Large panels of glazing front the entire space. These can be slid back to grant access to the villa's main pool, which is surrounded by a number of cushioned daybeds and sun loungers.

Close by lies an outdoor eating area that's shaded by a wooden pergola.

Three bedrooms are also located at this level, each featuring headboards crafted from white ceramic blocks printed with geometric shapes.

Bathrooms have been completed with natural stone basins and woven baskets that store extra linens.

A plant-lined slope then runs down to an L-shaped basement level that contains a gym, spa-style room for massages and another two bedrooms.

Summer Villa is one of several projects that Kapsimalis Architects has completed in Santorini, a destination which continues to attract millions of tourists year-round.

Last year the practice refurbished a holiday home in the village of Imerovigli, which boasts a series of cave-like living spaces, while in 2015 it erected a small block of apartments on the side of the island's Profitis Ilias mountain.

Photography is by Yiorgos Kordakis.

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 plays on traditional Greek whitewashed houses appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch studio FillieVerhoeven Architects has completed a house near Rotterdam featuring an asymmetric gabled form clad entirely in blackened timber and incorporating large glazed openings on all sides.

FillieVerhoeven Architects designed Villa SG21 for a plot situated next to a historic road that passes through an area of typical Dutch countryside between the cities of Rotterdam and Gouda.

The flat landscape close to the Hollandse IJssel river is divided into lots separated by shallow ditches, with the property positioned close to the road and looking back towards lush grasslands dotted with trees and bushes.

Strict local planning regulations dictated that the building must not exceed a volume of 1,000 cubic metres and should include a sloping roof to fit in with the local vernacular.

To achieve the bold, minimalist aesthetic desired by the owners while appeasing the planners, the architects combined references to the area's agricultural heritage with contemporary details.

"Minimalistic and elaborate details combined with the sturdy shape of a barn gives the design its chic and modesty that seemed to work best in lazy, easy but mysterious black," said the studio.

Instead of a typical gabled profile, the building features an offset roofline that accommodates two levels on one side of the house and slopes down gradually to the height of a single storey on the other.

An intelligent approach to the planning also allowed the external structure to maximise the available space on the plot, while the internal volume remains within the designated limits.

"To keep the house's volume within the local building code, the windows and doors at ground level are set back to a distance that matches the volume to exactly the allowed 1,000 cubic meters," said the architects.

The interior's spacious and minimal appearance is enhanced by a lack of structural columns, which is the result of load-bearing walls being used to support the thick cross-laminated timber roof.

Each of the timber facades incorporates large windows, including the entrance where a glazed door can be concealed behind a sliding wooden panel.

The main living area is lined with what the studio claimed is "probably the largest sliding door ever made in a residential house in Holland".

This full-height sliding surface spans approximately ten metres and comprises just two glass panels that each weigh over 500 kilograms, despite being only 20 millimetres thick.

All of the glazing set into the elevations except for the front and back doors can slide open to enhance the connection between the interior and the surrounding landscaping.

The narrow profiles of the glazing helps to achieve the overall minimalist aesthetic, which is also reinforced by details including concealed recessed door handles and a virtually invisible ventilation system.

The house's verdant setting is a result of its location in one of the lowest and wettest parts of the Netherlands. The architects chose to complement the surrounding greenery by adding a turf roof that makes it seem as if the garden is extending onto and over the building.

Photography is by François Verhoeven.

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Australian architect Matt Gibson and his studio have renovated and extended a traditional villa in Melbourne, adding deep verandahs that can be protected from harsh sunlight using woven steel-mesh curtains.

Matt Gibson Architecture + Design was tasked with upgrading the property in the Australian city's Barrington heritage area, in order to create more liveable spaces with a better connection to the large garden for a family of five.

An earlier extension was removed to enable the alterations to the building, which did not seek to increase the overall floor area but rather focused on reorganising the existing rooms to generate an optimised, flexible layout.

"The contemporary addition challenges the concept of building low quality, replica additions that attach themselves to the heritage fabric and in effect compromise, confuse and diminish the integrity of the original," the studio claimed.

"The intervention here is instead contemporary and interactive," they added, "activating and opening up the compartmentalised interior to previously under-utilised green space, and at the same time preserving and augmenting the cultural significance of the original building."

The need to create a new sheltered outdoor space for year-round dining prompted the project team, led by Japanese architect Erica Tsuda, to seek out a solution that would limit glare resulting from the west-facing orientation.

The architects chose to adapt a traditional Japanese concept known as "Hiro-En", where deep verandahs are added to rooms to create a usable threshold between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Computer modelling of sunlight and shadow helped to establish how a similar process, involving the accurate placement of canopies at different heights, could shelter the living spaces from summer sun while admitting it during winter.

The extensions project from the building's western elevation towards the garden, and incorporate sliding walls that can be opened up to create a seamless connection with the garden.

These canopies are also fitted with curtains made from a woven stainless-steel mesh that functions as a rain screen or, on warmer days, as a protective layer to limit unwanted heat and glare.

"The sculptural nature of the curtain provides a free flowing and kinetic foil to the permanence and solidity of the heritage structure," the studio suggested.

The curtain's translucency, which alters depending on the viewing angle, enhances the sense of spatial ambiguity between building's indoor and outdoor spaces.

A new bedroom added to the upper floor on the northwest corner of the building is also sheltered by the projecting canopy and the double-height section of the curtain.

Interventions to the existing building involved opening up the ground floor to create interconnected living spaces. A dining area and kitchen in the old part of the house flows into a lounge in the extension, and straight out onto the external deck.

Original materials and features are retained wherever possible throughout the interior, with external brick walls now forming internal partitions that are pierced by metal-framed openings linking the rooms.

Gaps between the old building and the extension are infilled with glazing to accentuate the transition and allow daylight to filter down into the space. The white ceilings of the extension appear to float unsupported above the new rooms.

"Spaces and eras are distinguishable, yet able to bleed into each other, allowing subtle connectivity," the architects concluded. "Each space, whilst unique, continues a dialogue that is integral to the story of the whole."

Matt Gibson founded his studio in 2003. His previous residential projects in Melbourne include a zinc-clad, faceted extension to an Edwardian property, and a concrete and stone house influenced by mid-century Brazilian architecture.

Photography is by Shannon McGrath.

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Fingers of earth branch over this mound-shaped holiday home by architecture studio LASSA, allowing its owners to climb up onto the roof to admire Greece's Peloponnese peninsula.

The 150-square-metre Villa Ypsilon was designed by London- and Brussels-based firm LASSA, which is headed up by architects Theo Sarantoglou Lalis and Dora Sweijd.

The domed form of the summer house responds to the client's desires for a vantage point from which to survey the agricultural land, as well as the nearby mountains and coastline.

"The axis of the vaulting roofs are specifically aligned with the island of Schitza towards the south and a bucolic village on the mountain towards the east," Lalis told Dezeen.

"Another requirement was to design a layout that activated all the periphery of the building, instead of only favouring panoramic sea views."

The three-pronged concrete shell that forms the roof also frames three courtyards at ground level, which all catch the sun at different times of day.

The facades scoop inwards to give these terraces the benefit of the shade provided by a concrete lip that defines the grassy roof. One hosts an eye-shaped swimming pool and sun deck, while another forms a gravelled patio. The final segment hosts a sunken seating area.

"The design of the concrete shell and the courtyards' orientation is such that it produces shadows at specific times of the day," said the architects.

They explained that that the western courtyard is designed for between breakfast and noon, the east is best to sit in at lunchtime, and the south is for use from late afternoon onwards.

"We are interested in the idea of form integration," they continued. "That is, that form can be the result of overlapping and precise design decisions, in this case the vaulting concrete shell is structural, it's bisecting axes frames specific views, its sloping [form] makes it walkable and its extent is a result of environmental optimisation."

Inside, three bedrooms and a pair of bathrooms are set towards the east, while the open-planning living space occupies the south and has access to all three courtyards.

Due to the site's remote location, the architects needed to prefabricate much of the structure offsite. This helped to keep both assembly costs down and the construction time to seven months.

The architects bought a CNC machine to allow them to test out the non-standard forms found in the project. They prototyped the production of the concrete shell, the acoustic ceiling of the living room, custom window frames and furniture, and the pool lining using this technique.

"This 'hands-on' approach allowed for a minimal use of commercial 'off-the-shelf' products while instead favouring locally sourced materials such as concrete, terrazzo and marble," they explained.

Photography is by NAARO unless otherwise stated.

Project credits:

Design team: Theo Sarantoglou Lalis, Dora Sweijd, Kasper Ax
Yousef Al Mehdari, Theo Grousopoulos, Thomas Jensen, Valeria Garcia, Nikolaos Klimentidis, Greg Spaw, Luke Tan,Yu Zheng
Local architect: IV Kosmopoulos
Structural engineer: Metep, L Babilis
Formwork engineer: Nous, Manja van De Worp
General contractor: Triedkat, V Leriou

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Atelier XÜK has added a corrugated-metal attic room to this Spanish colonial-style house, which was designed in the 1920s by a Hungarian architect for a plot in Shanghai's French quarter.

The villa that local studio Atelier XÜK renovated and extended was originally designed by architect Ladislav Hudec. It is located in a part of the city known as the Columbia Circle, which was formerly part of a French concession from 1849 until 1943.

The city block takes its name from the Columbia Country Club, which was designed by American architect Elliott Hazzard and is located close to the house. The area was developed in phases since then 1920s but is still known for its generously sized streets and prestigious properties.

Hudec designed several houses in Shanghai in various architectural styles, including the Spanish-colonial villa, which is now surrounded by residential developments of different scales.

Atelier XÜK's renovation is informed by the building's current state and context rather than attempting to return it to its original condition. This approach enabled the interior to be restructured to suit modern living.

The expansion of the attic provides the most visible intervention, with the materiality of the new addition juxtaposing strongly with the original gabled structure.

"In terms of the programme allocation, in order to relate to the diverse urban environment, we tried to stimulate the potential publicity of the attic space by opening-up the roof," said the architects.

The new corrugated metal volume accommodates a studio and bedroom that open onto a terrace. The main living areas are located on the ground level, with other bedrooms and a sun room on the first floor.

Internally, the reconfigured upper storey features contrasting material treatments that accentuate the differences in character between the old and new parts of the building.

"Only half the attic is opened, which creates a juxtaposition of two very different spaces: one warm, low, worldly space wrapped with wood contrasts with the other cold, high, abstract white spiritual space," said the architects.

In the bright new studio, a timber framework incorporating an angled beam evokes the former roofline and connects the main floor with a stepped structure leading out onto the adjacent balcony.

A wooden staircase described by the architects as a "spatial installation" links the house's three levels, beginning on the ground floor where the lowest treads extend into the living space.

The staircase's materiality and structure alters as it ascends in relation to the spaces around it. On the first floor, a narrow horizontal window at floor level provides a glimpse into a dressing room adjoining one of the bedrooms.

A wooden screen at the centre of the stairwell features a perforated pattern with holes that increase in size once past the level of a toilet that overlooks the circulation area through a full-height window.

The property's architectural legacy is most evident in the open living space on the ground floor, where Hudec's Spanish colonial design is expressed in the arched openings and decorative ironwork gates.

Photography is by ShengLiang Su.

Project credits:

Architect: Atelier XÜK
Design consultancy: Yichun Liu

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A+Awards: a swimming pool that starts inside this Architizer A+Award-winning house in central Germany continues out perpendicular to the low-slung volume and projects from the sloped site.

Named Villa K, the home in the forested hills of Thüringen is Dutch studio Paul de Ruiter Architects' first project in Germany.

"The realisation of a sustainable villa, discrete and integrated in the natural environment, was the wish of the client," said the firm, which has also completed a similarly horizontal energy-efficient house in its home country.

"The result is a straightforward, but innovative residence built from only glass, steel and concrete."

The long, low building is oriented south, so it receives the maximum amount of daylight and reduces the need for artificial lighting. Its overhanging concrete roof prevents glare from the high midday sun.

"The glass facade, without disruptions such as windows or outdoor sun blinds, reflects nothing but the air and offers amazing views over the valley," said Paul de Ruiter Architects.

A concrete terrace also run along the full length of the front of the property. Just off from the middle of the building, a break in the facade and the roof forms a niche for a swimming pool.

The water continues under the terrace, allowing users to swim underneath and out to a section that extends from the hillside.

Living spaces and bedrooms all look out from the front of the house, while storage and service areas are kept at the back. These include a pantry, a hunting room and a garage with room for six cars.

The building is topped with a green roof, designed to help cool the structure and blend it into the landscape when seen from up the hill. Solar cells are located above the garage and entrance.

A computerised system controls the heating and cooling, which is managed via a heat pump that collects and stores both warm and cold air, then distributes whichever is required when necessary.

"This system is connected to a cooling ceiling and underfloor heating, which guarantees a comfortable living climate every day of the year," the architects said.

Villa K was completed in 2014, and won in the Medium-Sized Private House category at the 2016 A+Awards.

Organised by Architizer, the awards promote and celebrate the year's best projects and products.

Their stated mission is to nurture the appreciation of meaningful architecture in the world and champion its potential for a positive impact on everyday life. Find out more about the A+Awards ›

Photography is by Pieters Kers & Patrick Voigt.

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Architect José Almeida has partially demolished a late 19th-century property in northern Portugal, and used the rubble to create holiday accommodation where guests can bathe in a former wine press.

The two-storey property dating back to 1870 is set on a hill in the small rural village of Contenças de Baixo on the Mondego river. It comprises a group of stone buildings that surround a central courtyard offering views of the mountainous landscape.

Parts of the original property, including the caretakers house and stable, have been demolished to make way for a new accommodation block that now lines one side of the courtyard.

Masonry salvaged from the demolition of the caretakers house has been used to build the outer walls of the this additional accommodation. The narrow two-storey dwelling hosts five double bedrooms, three of which are duplexes.

"The stone-masonry resulting from the demolished buildings, which over time were obstructing the courtyard, was enough to build the surrounding walls of the new building," explained Almeida.

"The new building, with the width of the former caretaker's house, is located in the southern edge of the forecourt in an explicit commitment to the landscape."

The bedrooms feature wide windows offering views of the lush green mountain range of Serra de Estrela, while the ground floor steps out onto the grassy courtyard with access to the main house.

The grey stone masonry is left exposed across parts of the interior, contrasting the white walls and smooth pine floorboards that are used throughout both the old and new parts of the property.

Across the courtyard in the main house, a communal living space, kitchen and reception area are spread across the ground floor, replacing its former use as a wine cellar and pigsty.

A sweeping spiral staircase with treads made from the same pine as the floorboards, ties together the two floors of the main house.

A fireplace cut into the wall of the main common room forms a focal point of the ground floor. It divides the seating area from the minimally designed kitchen, which features floor-to-ceiling storage.

The attic space has also been removed to create three double-height bedrooms and an additional living space. Each of these rooms has access to a south-facing balcony overlooking the courtyard and the new accommodation block.

Minimal furnishings by Danish designers including grey arm chairs by Grete Jalk and Wishbone Chairs by Hans J Wegner are used throughout the bedrooms and common areas.

A lawn covers the courtyard, which is enclosed by the original gates of the property. Here, guests can take a dip in a pool that formerly served as a wine press.

Elsewhere in Portugal architects Sofia Parente and André Delgado converted a barn into a compact two-storey residence, while FCC Arquitectura inserted a family home behind the deteriorated stone facade of a former farmhouse.

Photography is by José Campos.

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One of the most famous houses by Italian architect Gio Ponti is set to be demolished, as the owner plans to replace it with a 20-storey hotel.

Built in the north of Iranian capital Tehran in the 1960s, Villa Namazee forms part of an influential trio of properties by Ponti, along with Villa Planchart and Villa Arreaza, both in Caracas, Venezuela.

The villa was previously protected by a heritage listing.

But a court has now granted the owner permission to delist the mid-century property, paving for the way for it to be demolished and replaced with the high-rise five-star hotel.

"The building has been legally taken off the list," said Mohammad-Hassan Talebian, deputy head of Iran's cultural heritage, handcrafts and tourism organisation, according to the Guardian.

"So the only way to save it is for the municipality to bring it under public ownership or exchange it for other properties."

The country's architects have launched a campaign to try and save the house.

But many see it as evidence of Iran's disregard for its modern heritage – even through the country is currently experiencing a boom in the demand for contemporary architecture.

"This is a building designed by such an important architect," said Leila Araghian, the architect of Tehran's new Tabiat Bridge – a project that has won critical acclaim around the world.

"If it was anywhere else, it would have been protected," she told the Guardian.

Gio Ponti died in 1979. His other famous architecture projects include the Pirelli Tower in Milan and the Denver Art Museum in Colorado. He also founded Domus magazine, and produced several iconic furniture and lighting designs.

All images courtesy of Hamed Khosravi/Tehran Project.

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The blackened-timber facades of this house set in a coastal nature reserve near The Hague are interrupted by carefully positioned openings that frame views of the surrounding forest.

Villa Meijendel takes its name from the nature reserve in which it is located, where a forest meets a valley of dunes. The house, designed by local studio VVKH Architecten, is constructed from concrete and set into the side of a sandy slope.

The building's design aims to create a dialogue with its surroundings, both through the way the form and materials engage with the landscape, and through the use of glass to provide views out from and into the house.

"Villa Meijendel is a fascinating artefact, a sort of wooden forest hut fully integrated in the landscape, and with a strong connection between the interior spaces and immediate surroundings," said the architects.

The boxy geometric structure is entirely clad in charred timber, creating a textured black surface that appears different depending on how sunlight falls on it. The exterior finish, inspired by the ancient Japanese shou sugi ban technique, also helps to preserve the wood.

"Sometimes the house is almost invisible against the dark edge of the forest, sometimes it sparkles in the sunlight because of the glittering charred wood," said the architects, "as such forming a background for the play of shadows of tree trunks and branches. The villa hides and reveals itself in the landscape."

The property has its entrance on a middle level accommodating an office and two bedrooms. Stairs ascend to an open-plan kitchen and living space, and drop down to a master bedroom and gym room.

In order to satisfy regulations stipulating the maximum dimensions that a property on this sensitive site could occupy, a garage and technical room are situated in a basement level integrated into the dune.

The dune's irregular shape is echoed by the varying height of the building's roofline, which responds to the requirements of the internal programme and the arrangement of the various split levels.

The outcome of the stepped configuration is a range of spaces with different relationships to the surroundings. Windows and openings are sized and positioned to ensure optimal views and natural light, whilt providing privacy where it is needed.

The living room features a full-height corner window that looks out through the trees towards the dune valley.

A lower window facing to the rear and a large glazed surface lining the adjacent double-height circulation area face out onto the forest. At the far end of the first floor, sliding glass doors lead out from the kitchen onto a terrace.

The master suite and gym room are flanked by a glazed wall that looks onto the garden and swimming pool. A folding screen featuring vertical timber slats can be used to conceal these spaces, while still allowing a partial view out through the gaps between the wooden trunks.

The material palette – concrete, steel and anodised aluminium – was chosen to complement the tones and textures of the surrounding environment. Each material is applied in a raw, untreated form.

Internally, the walls are finished with smooth concrete, while the rough-sawn Douglas fir beams supporting the ceilings feature a distinctive grain.

Photography is by Christian van der Kooy.

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Dutch firm MVRDV has unveiled plans to build a Y-shaped house with a swimming pool cradled into its angular roof.

Called Y House, the unusual villa will form part of a new residential community on the outskirts of Taiwanese city Tainan. It will be used as a holiday home – one of the reasons why the swimming pool was given so much importance.

"Y House looks set to become the focal point," said MVRDV, which is led by architects Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries.

"The proposal gives an identity to an otherwise nondescript site, standing out amongst the rest, and marking the development from a distance."

The 330-square-metre house will be constructed from concrete. Large circular holes will form windows in the exterior walls, but will also puncture some internal partitions and floors.

The living room will be located on the uppermost floor, where the building is at its widest. Here, circular openings in the ceiling will offers views up into the swimming pool overhead, and allow dappled light to filter in.

Changing rooms and a solarium will be located on opposite sides of the dining space, one level below. Staircases will span this room at both ends to follow the angle of the Y, but will be divided up by curving pathways leading to the roof.

Furniture will be integrated into the concrete form, for instance, a dining table will extend out from one of the staircases.

"A landmark in and of itself, Y House's distinct concrete facade with circular window openings creates a light-filled experience, with its furniture integrated fully into interior spaces," said MVRDV.

Bedrooms will be located on the lower levels, including a master suite, two children's rooms and a guest bedroom.

A landscaped garden will be created around the building's perimeter, designed according to the principles of Feng Shui – a system that aims to create harmony among objects.

This garden will include a small pool, lawn and planting areas, all dotted with circular stepping stones.

MVRDV's office is located in Rotterdam – a city that is fast becoming a hub for architectural innovation.

But the firm doesn't often work on commissions for private houses. The few it has designed include the staggered Haus am Hang in Stuttgart and the cantilevered Balancing Barn in eastern England.

Project credits:

Architects: MVRDV
Design team: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, Wenchian Shi, Hui-Hsin Liao, Ángel Sánchez Navarro, Diana Bibisheva, Antonio Luca Coco, Costanza Cuccato, Jaime Domínguez Bálgom, Matteo Artico
Client: Wonders Information
Co-architects: KAI Architects
Structural engineers: Envision Engineering Consultants

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Nordic Office of Architecture has completed a concrete and glass house on the outskirts of Trondheim, Norway, that offers its occupants impressive views.

Villa Vatnan was developed by Oslo-based Nordic Office of Architecture for a steeply sloping site on the edge of a residential area.

With a concrete base and a glazed upper storey, the property was designed to make the best of the site's awkward topography, offering expansive views over Trondheim while also protecting itself from harsh winds.

The main living spaces and bedrooms are accommodated in the elongated glass box that forms the upper level. This cantilevers above a solid base, to ensure that rooms are positioned in a good spot to face down over the top of the hill.

"The family desired a home for both everyday life and entertaining, where the primary rooms are all collated on one floor with generous sizes and well-resolved spatial relationships," said the architects.

"By lifting this main floor up to one floor above the natural entrance level, we captured the best of the views and the sun."

The floor-to-ceiling glass contains sliding doors, which connect the internal spaces with a covered terrace that stretches the full width of the house.

A private decked area beyond the terrace contains outdoor lounge seating and a dining space that extends towards the garden. Steps on either side of the building lead down to the street level.

From the street, the house's gable end is predominantly clad in cedar wood, forming a solid surface that enhances the building's sense of privacy.

The concrete basement level accommodates the garage, along with a laundry, storage space and a bedsit for guests. A wooden entrance door set into the concrete connects with a stairwell illuminated by a window on the first floor.

At the top of the stairs, a short hall leads towards two bedrooms and a bathroom above the garage. On the other side is the main living space, with a sliding door at the far end opening onto the master bedroom suite.

A simple material palette applied throughout the house lends the interior a distinctly Scandinavian character.

Exposed concrete walls contrast with natural pine boards that cover the entire floor, with veneered oak used for joinery in the kitchen, living room and terrace.

High ceilings and the expansive glazed surfaces emphasise the spacious feel of the interior, and the sense of it extending towards the garden and the view beyond.

Photography is by M Herzog unless otherwise stated.

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Colombian-Ecuadorian filmmaker Alejandro Landes has completed his first built project: a tropical-modernist mansion in Miami that is currently among the city's most expensive residential properties.

The 20,000-square-foot (1,858-square-metre) Casa Bahia estate on the shore of Miami's Biscayne Bay includes seven bedrooms distributed across three storeys.

Completed in late 2015, the luxury property is currently on the market valued at $50 million (£40.1 million).

Landes, who briefly swapped movies for architecture last year, envisioned the house as a "framework for living". He originally built it for himself and his family, but put it up for sale six months later.

Its minimalist concrete structure allows the interior spaces to be completely open to the outdoors.

"In Casa Bahia, I tried to do what I do as a filmmaker: frame life and time in a way that connects the outside with what's inside," the artist explained.

The ground floor of the residence sits beneath an expansive concrete plinth that wraps around the house. This elevated plane serves as a deck for the floors above.

According to Miami's strict construction code, properties by the water must be raised to avoid flooding.

Landes took this as an opportunity to create a vast shaded lounging area on the ground floor.

It features reflective pools and carefully chosen finishes that complement the landscape.

From this area, a dramatic white staircase slopes gently up to the house's main living area, where a double-height living space serves as a gathering point for residents and their guests.

This expansive room enjoys direct access to a deck that extends the home outside.

The top storey contains more intimate spaces, including a standalone suite that contains its own kitchen and amenities.

The house was designed with bespoke, minimal furnishings and finishes.

"There is a narrative woven through Casa Bahia in the way each stone has been laid, each artisanal fabric has been sewn, each piece of reclaimed wood has been carved," said Landes.

"Only things made well can be laid bare to reveal their essence."

Landes completed the project in collaboration with local architect Jerry Gavcovich.

The interiors are by Landes' mother, Catalina Echavarría, whose practice as a designer influenced the filmmaker from a young age.

"Having been raised by a prolific, inspiring designer like my mother, I spent a lot of after-school hours on construction sites," he explained.

"I'm drawn to noble materials that reveal their inner characteristics — there is emotion there."

Tropical modernism is a popular aesthetic in hot and humid climates such as Miami's. Other examples of projects that have embraced the style include a low-slung residence that is sheltered by a facade of wooden shutters and a rainforest retreat by São Paulo-based studio MK27.

Project credits:

Interior and furniture design: Catalina Echavarría
Schematic design: Zyscovich Architects
Architect of record: Jerry Gavcovich
Landscape design: Raymond Jungles
Lighting design: Claudia Paz

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A grand window offers views of the woodland and sea in this house in Hanko, Finland, designed by Mer Architects as a contemporary update of the town's historic villas.

Helsinki-based Mer Architects was asked by the client to create a modern house that references the style of the surrounding villas, while also making the most of views of the nearby woodland and sea.

The house, named Gamla Villan, is located in Hanko, a seaside town in the south of Finland with a district of villas built between 1879 and 1939. During this time, the town was also a spa resort with a famous bathhouse visited by celebrities.

To reference the history of the site, the team clad the house in wood. Instead of leaving the facades to silver over time, Mer Architects treated the timber so that it greys faster and more evenly to catch up with its neighbours.

The pitched roof, which is covered in aluminium panels, is angled at the back of the house to orientate the space towards the meadow and the sea.

This area is occupied by the open-plan living, kitchen and dining area, and features a facade that is entirely glazed.

"As the aim was to create a modern house with a touch of historic Hanko, wood was an obvious choice," said Mer partner Paula Leiwo. "It is the material also used in the old villas that create the unique atmosphere of the old spa city."

"The roof is pitched, but over the main living space it is turned – origami-like – to face the garden and the sea," continued the architect. "The high landscape window creates an illusion of a space bigger than its area."

From the living room, a set of doors open to an outdoor patio that is partially covered by the roof – a modern take on the existing residences' verandas and balconies.

Inside, finishes are kept simple and light. The double-height spaces are completely covered with panels of spruce wood that are painted white, while the floor is covered in pale wood boards. Delicate curtains feature instead of doors.

There are also two sets of staircases, which are secretly embedded in the walls. They lead up to a pair of loft spaces above the living room and the guest room.

Gamla Villan is one of a series of new Finnish houses that follow the tradition of using wood as the main material. Other examples include a lake house that features seven types of timber and a small cabin with slatted wooden walls.

Photography is by Marc Goodwin.

Project credits:

Architects: Mer Architects
Architect in charge: Paula Leiwo
The carpenter: Ossi Eronen

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Swiss architect Philippe Meyer has converted a former office building on the shore of Lake Geneva into a house with glass walls to provide expansive views of the surrounding scenery (+ slideshow).

Villa Le Lac was designed by Meyer's studio as the main residence for a young couple and their three children.

Located around ten minutes from the Swiss city of Geneva, the former office building was originally constructed for the owner's family company in the 1960s.

New sections were added as the business grew, resulting in a basic form and structure that remained in good shape and was suited to a residential conversion.

"Our clients were very attached to the construction as it was used for many years for the family business," Meyer told Dezeen.

"For that reason they wanted to create their new home in that specific place."

The first stage in the transformation was to strip away most of the building's walls to leave only the structural shell, within which large glass panels were inserted to maximise views of the lake.

"The extension and conversion consisted of keeping the actual structure and opening up all of the facades," Meyer added. "The main goal was to capture the landscape by extending the villa and by facing the lake as two parallels."

The view across the lake informed the linear, horizontal arrangement of the building's facades, which feature bands of glazing and anodised aluminium panels.

A blackened aluminium framework contains the glazing, which includes sliding sections that can be opened to let fresh air into the interior.

Each of the building's glass surfaces incorporates protective blinds that can be lowered to filter the light reflecting off the surface of the lake, while internal curtains can be drawn around spaces that require privacy.

An entrance on the ground floor leads to a staircase that ascends to the main living areas on the upper storey. Full-height glazing on this level provides views over the perimeter wall to the lake beyond.

The first floor is divided into two parts, with services including the staircase, bathrooms and fitted cabinetry accommodated towards the rear.

The internal arrangement frees up the front portion of the plan for use as an open space containing the kitchen, dining area, lounge and master bedroom.

The only interruption to the floor plan is a row of columns extending along the length of the building in front of the windows.

Open shelves and a chimney suspended above the fireplace break up the space and delineate different functional areas.

Terraces at either end of the first floor are laid with slabs of travertine stone that matches the flooring used internally, helping to create a sense of continuity between the interior and exterior.

Positioned on the border between France and Switzerland, Lake Geneva is home to a number of contemporary buildings. Others include an austere concrete creche and SOM's new headquarters for Japan Tobacco International.

Photography is by Joël Tettamanti.

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World Heritage Corb: the lakeside home Le Corbusier designed for his parents is next up in our series in which we take a closer look at the 17 projects recently added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Designed between 1923 and 1924, Villa Le Lac was one of Le Corbusier's first built projects – and the earliest of the batch of 17 of the architect's projects recently listed by heritage body UNESCO.

The modest single-storey block has a reinforced concrete structure and measures just 60 square metres.

It was designed by Le Corbusier with his long-time collaborator, his cousin Pierre Jeanneret.

The pair drew up plans for the house before hunting for the ideal site, eventually settling on a secluded spot on the eastern shoreline of Lake Geneva in the Swiss municipality of Corseaux.

"I boarded the Paris-Milan express several times, or the Orient Express. In my pocket was the plan of a house. A plan without a site? The plan of a house in search of a plot of ground? Yes!" Le Corbusier wrote in a 1954 book about the project called Une Petit Maison 1923.

The small white property includes a number of early explorations of design features that Le Corbusier felt were necessary in Modern architecture, including usable flat roofs and adaptable interiors. This was crystallised in the five points of architecture – a set of principles he developed during the 1920s and went on to inform his greatest buildings, like the Villa Savoye.

The house is surrounded by a walled garden and has a sun deck on its flat roof. The interior is fitted with movable partitions and fold-out furniture, and sections of the walls are coated with bright paintwork.

A panoramic window, which runs the length of the main living space, frames views of the lake and Alps.

Le Corbusier's parents Georges Edouard Jeanneret and Marie Charlotte Amélie Jeanneret-Perret moved into the house after its completion in 1924.

His father lived in the house for just over a year until his death in 1926, but the architect's mother made Villa Le Lac her home until she died as a centenarian in 1960. Le Corbusier's brother Albert Jeanneret then lived in the property until 1973.

In 1971 the Fondation Le Corbusier acquired the villa, and opened it to the public in 1984. The foundation began restoring the property in 2012.

The house has been modified several times over its lifespan, with an upper annex added to the northwest of the property in 1931. In the same year, the northern facades were covered in sheets of galvanised steel and a new wall was added to separate the north of the property from a new road.

The house is used from time to time as a gallery. In 2012, industrial design students from the Swiss school ECAL were invited to create one-off objects in response to the house.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Le Corbusier's death in 2015 the Spanish designer Jaime Hayón turned a paulownia tree planted by the architect at the villa into a collection of wooden products for Cassina.

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Architect Mohamed Amine Siana has completed a house in Casablanca, featuring a sculptural exterior intended as a contemporary update of the Modernist architecture found across the Moroccan city (+ slideshow).

Locally based Siana designed Villa Z for a tight urban plot measuring just 15 square metres.

The building faces west to optimise its exposure to the evening sun, but this orientation also means it looks directly onto a large avenue.

"The client wanted to have an open feeling in a house that is protected from the sights of neighbourhood," Siana told Dezeen. "So it was a challenge between the client's need for privacy and my belief in an open and light architecture."

To achieve the desired level of privacy, the elevations that are visible from the street are formed almost entirely of opaque surfaces. These curve inwards to form a series of openings containing concealed doors and windows.

The house's general volume was actually derived from a cube, but dissolves into planar surfaces around the edges.

"My principal intention was to go out from the cube perception to answer the client's programme and routine, and to find the best way to preserve privacy and protect the project from the noise of the prominent front avenue," Siana said.

The simple white-rendered surfaces reference the Modernist architecture that is a defining feature of Casablanca's urban fabric.

The intention was to draw on traditional Moroccan culture but bring these references up-to-date to create a design more suited to contemporary living.

"The project is an experience which tries to develop practical spaces for the new way of Moroccan life," explained Siana, "a cultural dilemma between privacy and the contemporary opened way of life."

From the street, a gate opens onto a pathway leading to an entrance incorporated in a recessed gap between the curving walls.

The entrance leads to an open-plan living space that culminates in glazed sliding doors. These connect this room with a decked area surrounding an outdoor pool.

The rear of the property contains large windows on both levels.

It is cranked so these glazed surfaces face inwards towards the pool and garden, and away from the surrounding streets.

Passive solutions are used to provide natural lighting and ventilation throughout the building.

These include the integration of a large circular skylight that helps to bring daylight into the centre of the house.

The form of the roof light echoes the rounded shapes used across the external surfaces. It is complemented by other circular openings in the ceilings that contain concealed light sources.

Photography is by Doublespace Photography.

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World Heritage Corb: one of the most important buildings by architect Le Corbusier from the 17 that have been to UNESCO's World Heritage List is Villa Savoye, the top-heavy weekend retreat created as a Modernist version of the French country house (+ slideshow).

Completed in 1931, Villa Savoye is one of the most important houses of the 20th century. A key building in the development of the International Style of Modernism, it is one of the only houses in France to have been declared a national monument during the architect's lifetime.

Designed as a weekend holiday home for the Savoye family, it was the last building in Le Corbusier's "white villas" series of private homes and was created in collaboration with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, who worked with Le Corbusier on a number of his most famous projects.

The house occupies a site in Poissy, a small commune outside of Paris, in a field that was originally surrounded by woodland.

The client's brief included few restrictions, giving Le Corbusier the freedom to realise a house that expressed his Five Points of architecture – the key features he felt necessary for Modern architecture.

These include pilotis that lift the building up above the ground, a flat roof that could serve as a garden and terrace, open-plan interiors, ribbon windows for light and ventilation, and a free facade independent of the load-bearing structure.

Villa Savoye is also a demonstration of Le Corbusier's belief in the home as a "machine for living in" – a concept based on the architect's admiration for well-built automobiles and trans-Atlantic steamships.

This is expressed through spatial planning – with spaces arranged to maximise efficiency – and a minimalistic aesthetic.

A row of slender reinforced concrete columns supports the upper level, which is painted white. The lower level is set back and painted green like the surrounding forest to create the perception of a floating volume above.

The curved, sliding glazing at ground level matches the turning radius of automobiles of 1929. This enabled the owner to drive underneath the larger volume and easily pull into the integrated garage. It is also a nod to Le Corbusier's interest in car design.

The lower level is dedicated to the maintenance and service programmes of the house, while the living spaces are located on the upper level.

Strips of windows – a common feature in Le Corbusier's work – are designed to open by sliding over each other and are placed in the middle of the facade on the upper level to bring in as much light as possible.

A series of ramps, as well as a sculptural spiral staircase, connect the two floors, and are intended to provide a gradual movement between levels.

On the first floor, a large sliding glass wall opens the living spaces to an outdoor terrace. From here, a ramp leads to rooftop garden, which is encased by curved walls. A large triangle of windows offers views from the ramp to the spaces inside.

The interiors feature block planes of colour and fitted furniture that was also designed by the architect.

The house was included in the seminal 1932 book The International Style: Architecture Since 1922 by American historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson, coinciding with their Modern Architecture: International Exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

The duo were the first to define the particular type of Modernism encapsulated in Villa Savoye, characterised by deceptively simple rectilinear forms, cantilevers, open-plan living spaces, and the lack of ornamentation and decoration.

Villa Savoye fell into disrepair after the second world war and was restored by the French state from 1963 to 1997. In 1964, while Le Corbusier was still alive, it was listed as a historic monument.

The residence is one of the 17 projects by Le Corbusier that have been added to UNESCO's World Heritage List of internationally significant architecture sites this month.

Others added to the list include the colourful Cité Frugès workers' housing and the architect's tiny holiday cabin on the Côte d'Azur.

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Wooden barn-like blocks splay out in various directions to form this Swedish villa by Stockholm studio Murman Arkitekter, framing views of a lake and surrounding woodland (+ slideshow).

Named Villa Sunnanö, the residence is located around three hours northwest of Stockholm, on a headland overgrown with pine trees and blueberry bushes, and surrounded by huge, partially submerged boulders.

Studio founder Hans Murman wanted to maximise views of the picturesque waterside setting.

To achieve this, he devised every room as an individual volume, each with its own glazed gable and patio, that branches out from the centre of the plot towards the lake and trees.

The building's timber cladding and roof are treated with iron sulphate, designed to help the wood grey as it ages, to blend in with its setting.

"We wanted to take advantage of the site's unique conditions and make a dwelling with maximum contact with the surrounding nature and water but with respect to privacy," Murman told Dezeen.

"To reduce the scale and to allow clear definition of the functions of the building, the wings end with patio spaces that allow you to take advantage of the light and views in different directions," he added.

"Wherever you are in the house, you have access to framed views."

The house-shaped wings are arranged around a gabled "spine" containing bedrooms on its upper floors and acting as a circulation space at ground level.

This central block is bracketed by a pair of patios – one at the southern end that forms the entrance, and another to the north aligning with a footbridge to the lake.

Each of the spaces has been carefully oriented to take advantage of the rising and setting sun.

The kitchen, dining room, gym and guest bedroom are housed in the four wings nearest the entrance, while the two closest to the water's edge contain living space.

An existing log cabin in the house's grounds has been repurposed as a garage and storage space.

Murman founded his studio in 1985. It now employs a team of 30. Past projects include a pine-clad sauna on the Stockholm archipelago and a small island cabin disguised behind a vinyl facade printed with evergreen foliage.

Photography is by Åke E:som Lindman.

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Architects Paul de Ruiter and Chris Collaris have transformed a former private museum in Rotterdam into an energy-neutral townhouse, featuring outdoor spaces on each level of its remodelled rear facade ( + slideshow).

The building is located on one of the oldest streets in the Dutch city's Kralingen neighbourhood, which was previously a separate village where Rotterdam's high society built grand villas. It was constructed in 1905 and later used to exhibit its owner's private art collection.

The collection was presented in 20 rooms of the building, which was known as the Kralings Museum. After the owner died, the villa was left empty until its current occupants purchased it with the aim of turning it back into a house.

De Ruiter, whose previous projects include a futuristic eco-house featuring a glass box raised above the landscape, collaborated with Collaris to repurpose the building.

Their aim was to create a sustainable home suited to 21st-century living, while retaining the historic facade and overall character of the structure.

From the street, the building appears much as it would have when first erected. However, at the rear, large glazed surfaces and Minimalist details contribute to a more contemporary aesthetic.

"We tried to make it a very pleasant liveable house using the quality of the existing spaces but we also wanted the spaces to be very light, which wasn't the case in the existing situation," Collaris told Dezeen. "That is why we made a completely new garden facade with big window frames."

The new rear facade was developed in response to the client's request for increased space. A large volume added to the ground floor enabled the construction of a stepped composition, incorporating balconies on the first and second floors.

Full-height windows on each storey overlook the garden and a large patio on the ground floor. The size of the windows contributes to the bright interior and reduces energy consumption from artificial lighting, which was a key aspect of the brief.

Despite the extensive work required to modernise the building's interior, the architects sought to retain the feeling of the original spaces, with their high ceilings and generous proportions.

"We tried to keep as much as possible the spatial quality from the existing parts, and the new additions were made to improve that quality," Collaris added. "But the new additions also set a new quality standard in finishings and the overall feeling of the house."

The ground floor contains a kitchen flanked by living areas on either side, including a window seat and breakfast table set up in the bay window looking onto the street.

A largely open space to the rear of this floor contains a dining table and lounge, separated by a wall incorporating a built-in fireplace. Both of these areas look onto the garden through tall windows and glass doors.

In a light-filled atrium at the centre of the house, a staircase designed as a freestanding sculptural element ascends from the basement to the upper floors. Bedrooms and bathrooms are situated on the first floor, with a guest room, office, lounge and wellness area on the second floor.

The staircase's bamboo treads match the flooring used throughout the rest of the house, while rough-sawn oak adds a natural tactility to the stringer surfaces.

Several sustainable technologies are implemented throughout the house, including photovoltaic panels on the roof to gather solar energy. A heat pump and two fireplaces contribute to the heating requirements, which are regulated to ensure energy is only used when needed.

Photography is by Tim van de Velde.

Project Credits:

Design: Paul de Ruiter Architects and Chris Collaris Design
Project architects: Paul de Ruiter and Chris Collaris
Project team: Marieke Sijm and Wouter Oostendorp
Interior design: 13 Speciaal
Contractor: Aannemingsbedrijf Kokshoorn BV
Water, heating and cooling installation: Diderot Development
E-installer: Diderot Development
Management and control system installations: Diderot Development
Landscape architect: Loek Hoek Tuinontwerpen

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This board-marked concrete residence by architect Agustín Lozada features a series of terraces and pools, offering views over a valley in Argentina's Sierras Chicas hills (+ slideshow).

Named La Cuesta House, the 380-square-metre residence is formed of a series of cast-concrete blocks, set into the steep terrain of the landscape near Córdoba.

The entrance is set on the building's uppermost floor, which sits level with the hilltop, while subsequent rooms are concealed within the hillside.

"Lying above tough slopes, this is a house that makes the architecture and the land meet through open spaces," said the Argentinian architect.

"Due to the mountainous topography, terraces, balconies and patios were developed in order to get a close look of the outside land, but direct contact with the soil is not common because everything happens above the ground."

A pedestrian bridge links the slope at the rear of the house and a gravelled terrace on the flat rooftop. Here, a semi-circular pool of water and a bright red bench are intended to provide a peaceful spot from which to observe the landscape.

The terrace sits directly above the primary living and dining area, which links with a second terrace and swimming pool where the residents can take in panoramic views of the verdant hills and urban valley. Below, there are four bedrooms and bathrooms.

Accents of brightly coloured paintwork accentuate details including the open staircases, but the majority of the concrete interior is left unfinished.

"The inside recalls a cavern," said Lozada. "The main idea was to hide from the outside world while circulating, and open up to the views in those areas in which people remain."

"The sense was to adjust to the nature of the place," he added. "Some of the chosen materials were reinforced concrete and local rocks, in order to cause the lowest possible natural impact."

Lozada previously designed a bright white house with a slatted roof and pool in the foothills of the same mountain range.

Photography is by Gonzalo Viramonte.

Project credits:

Architect: Agustín Lozada
Executed by: Orange ObrasCiviles

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A panoramic window surrounded by a faceted wood and corrugated copper frame dominates the facade of this Alpine residence by Camillo Botticini Architetto (+ slideshow).

Set in a clearing near the Passo del Cavallo, a high Alpine pass in Italy's Brescia province, Alps Villa is framed by a open valley to the south and the peaks of the Alps to the north.

The broad window faces out onto the valley, while a courtyard sunken into the slope to the rear of the house gives views of the mountains that rise 1,200 metres above sea level.

Botticini wanted to strike a balance of "harmony and tension" between the building and the site, and this semi-submerged design helps to creates the illusion that the structure is rooted to the hillside.

"We are still in a place close to the urban noise but at the same time far away, where the aroma of mountain herbs and grazing sheep seem to have stopped time," said the Italian architect, whose studio is based locally.

"The house looks like in his primary relationship with the landscape without other artificial elements other than the suspended staircase that cuts the grass slope."

The sheets of pre-rusted corrugated copper and treated Accoya wood that cover the walls help to further integrate the building with the site.

"The ventilated wall copper is modulated with a slight pleating to vibrate the light on the non-reflecting surface," explained Botticini. "The wood of the great splay reflects light that is refracted from the south."

A flight of textured metal steps runs up the hillside from a steep hairpin road that bypasses the front of the house. The foot of the stairs is enclosed by a gatehouse-like structure made from same oxidised copper and wood as the house.

The house's glazed entrance is sheltered by the broad window and a terrace set on its overhanging sill.

Inside, an irregular C-shaped plan curves around to protect the iroko wood patio. The plan is split into three sections, the first hosting three bedrooms and their corresponding bathrooms, the second a living and dining space, and the third a kitchen and circulation area.

The height of the building varies due to the sloping site. A mezzanine within its highest part hosts a study above the living area, while a kitchen slotted beneath opens onto the patio.

"It creates an integrated fluid area and open to the outside, simultaneously protected, almost closed on the east and west sides," said the architect.

A staircase and elevator connect the basement garage with the living spaces above, which are lit by the window and a long skylight. Artificial lighting it set into recessed grooves around the perimeter of each room.

The interior floors are made from sand-coloured resin throughout and the walls are covered in white-painted plasterboard.

Geothermal power, natural ventilation and well-insulated walls help to keep energy consumption and pollution levels to a minimum.

"We wanted an environmentally friendly home in the building materials and insulation, equipped with ventilated walls, a sustainable home in the settlement balance with the landscape," said the architect.

Photography is by Eugeni Pons and Niccolò Galeazzi.

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A sculptural white staircase lit by a skylight connects an open-plan living space to a mezzanine floor inside this house in Finland by Avanto Architects (+ slideshow).

Avanto designed the villa in the town of Nummela for a family who wanted "a modern house with high class detailing" on a site near a busy road.

Named Lumi – Finnish for snow – the house is sheltered from the noise of the road by a poolhouse and a courtyard with a wooden terrace.

"The courtyard opens to the evening sun and is closed to the south where the big road with noise is," said Ville Hara and Anu Puustinen, co-founders of the Helsinki studio. "There are some small trees planted to block the view to that direction a bit as well."

The fully glazed pool house sits between the road and the courtyard, while the main house is set further back with windows looking onto the terrace.

The terrace is used for a variety of activities, including barbecuing, sunbathing and playing ping-pong. Seats sunken into the floor surround an outdoor fireplace.

"The deck temperature is two degrees higher than in surrounding open spaces which is a big plus in our cold climate," the designers said.

The main house, which is two storeys high, is L-shaped with an angled roof that connects to the smaller pool house.

On the ground floor, an open-plan space has a single-storey kitchen, and a double-height dining room and lounge. A fireplace acts as a partition between the eating area and the lounge.

"Inside the surfaces are rough, the client has even been skateboarding inside," said Hara and Puustinen. "The idea is that the colours come from living: furniture and people instead of wallpapers and paint."

A curving staircase made from cast in-situ white concrete is lit by a protruding roof window and acts as the centrepiece.

"It was really challenging to cast from concrete but we found a student builder who did it as his diploma project for his school," said Avanto. "This is how we got the nice smooth forms that are almost impossible otherwise in Finland."

White concrete is chosen by architects as a less brutal alternative to board-marked and raw concrete. Berger and Berger used the same material to create muted interiors for Collection Lambert, a gallery inside two 18th century French mansions.

Villa Lumi's staircase leads to a mezzanine floor, which has a glass balustrade and overlooks the living area. On the second floor there is a master bedroom and a guest room. There is also a study on the ground floor, located behind the staircase.

New York firm Space4Architecture added a curving white staircase to a historic townhouse in Manhattan while Arch Studio used a sculptural staircase in a house in Beijing to make climbing to the top feel like "walking into the sky".

Photography is by Anders Portman and Martin Sommerschield.

Project credits:

Project team: Ville Hara,  Anu Puustinen and Felix Laitinen
Structural design: Marko Kujala, RI
HVAC design: Ekotek LVI-suunnittelu Oy/ Juhani Huttunen
Electrical design: InsinööritoimistoTechniplan Oy / Heikki Grundström

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This wood-panelled extension by a pair of Swedish architecture studios echoes the design of the 19th-century villa that it adjoins (+ slideshow).

The extension by Kod Arkitekter and General Architecture
 doubles the floor space of Villa Eder-Hederus, a timber cabin in Kummelnäs, near Stockholm, that has been used as a summer retreat since the 1960s.

Dating back to 1850, the original pale grey wooden structure has undergone several adaptions over its lifetime.

Originally a single-storey structure with a 60-square-metre floor plan, a "hasty" renovation in 2006 raised the pitched roof to create an extra storey and expanded the floor plan to 90 square metres.

"The building has experienced many changes over the years and the recent renovation and refurbishment are not an act of restoration," said the architects.

"The details, technology and design have been adapted to economy, will and needs.
"

The new timber-framed extension, which provides a new lounge and master bedroom suite, is clad in sheets of plywood that echo the detailing of the original building.

The whole structure is painted with grey linseed oil to create continuity between the two parts of the building, while larger panels of wood and a flat roof were used to give the addition a "rhythm of its own".

"The new building is adapted to the original house, with a simple shape that accentuates the existing volume and its precise position on the site," explained the team.

"Together, the old and new buildings form a coherent series of related volumes and external spaces."

The extension extends along the rear of the existing property to create a new entrance hall that links the old and new parts of the building.

A kitchen and two children's rooms occupy the original cottage, while a a double-height living room with a tall bookcase and a wide garden-facing window and a single-height office are placed in the extension.

A flight of steps leads behind the living room bookcase to a master suite above the office.

Like on the ground floor, a large window brings in plenty of daylight. There is also a deep-set skylight overhead.

The plywood panelling is left untreated throughout the interior to match the pine doors and window frames. Grey ceilings, dark woollen carpet and pale marble window sills tie the colour theme with the exterior cladding.

Photography is by Åke E:son Lindman unless stated otherwise.

Project credits:

Architects: Kod Arkitekter and General Architecture
Self-builder: Sanna Hederus and Josef Eder
Builder: Residenshus
Constructor: Limträteknik

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 add wood-panelled extension to Swedish villa appeared first on Dezeen.

Gently undulating walls and a wavy roof enclose this family home in northern Belgium by Office O Architects, which projects two broad windows over a secluded garden to the rear (+ slideshow).

The Ghent practice designed Villa MQ for a couple with two children on a plot surrounded by pine trees in Tremelo, a municipality in Belgium's Flanders region.

A snaking grey wall with just one low-level window bolsters the property from the street, while two large bays pitch out towards the back garden.

Behind the "flowing lines" of the outer walls, the house a split-level plan.

Rooms across its five levels are linked by a staircase with woven cable balustrades.

"We started sculpting the house around the desired programs, playing with the fundamental architectural elements and principles," explained the architects, "taking away the usual references by using curved walls, different ceiling heights and light."

"Life unfolds, turned away from the street and oriented towards the gardens," they added. "The artificial landscape that is created inside is well defined and flows back to the surrounding lawn."

The entrance to the house is set half a storey lower than street level and accessed by a slope between two concrete walls.

Each of the staggered levels, which provide separate yet connected spaces for the kitchen, lounge and three bedrooms, has raw concrete floors and white curving walls.

This type of "broken-plan" or flexible layout is gaining popularity for it according to Mary Duggan of London-based Duggan Morris Architects, who said families are increasingly seeking housing that offers a degree of seclusion.

Narrow skylights in the sloping ceiling illuminate the staircase, which has white metal treads and is enclosed with tensioned cables that accentuate the curving walls.

"Although the programs blend into each other, natural light provides a unique atmosphere at every level: the continuous dispersion of light on the curved walls emphasises the impalpable framework," said the architects.

"The sloping balustrade that consists of parabolic cables intensifies the interweaving of the different spaces."

The lounge and bedrooms are set in the two bays that splay in opposing directions from the uppermost floors, while the kitchen connects with the garden at ground level through sliding glass doors.

Here, a swimming pool and outdoor shower on a pale grey patio surrounded by beds of planting.

Photography is by Tim Van de Velde.

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