Guadalajara-based architect Moises Sánchez has created a stucco-clad, cube-shaped holiday home shaded by a large tree in western Mexico.

The simple, 450-square foot (42-square metre) structure, known as Tonalli House, was completed in 2023 in Jocotepec, Jalisco, minutes from Lake Chapala, the country's largest lake.

"The project arises from the pursuit of a peaceful experience, drawing inspiration from the rhythms and atmospheres of the popular architecture in Mexican villages," Sánchez told Dezeen.

From the outside, the house is a solid white cube, punctuated with strategic openings.

Using local construction systems, materials and labor, the cube is formed with brick walls plastered with a mix of sand and mortar to create two textures — a rough, stone-like base and a smooth monolithic form above.

However, Sánchez prioritised the existing landscape in his description of the project.

"The true protagonist of the project is a large tree and its relationship with the built environment," Sánchez said.

"Its roots create a natural vestibule, serving as the entrance to the volume, the trunk and leaves act as a crowning feature in the views from the interior, while its form and shade simultaneously regulate the microclimate of the surroundings."

Occupants step from the tree-formed vestibule into a double-height foyer and lounge space.

Turning to the right is a kitchen with multi-colored ceramic tiles crafted by artisans from Guadalajara "reminiscent of traditional Mexican kitchens".

Three small lights hang above the peninsula creating an offset spotlight effect in the space, which features unadorned, smooth plaster walls and grey-stone tile flooring.

The bathroom is tucked into a corner off the kitchen.

Across from the entry, lit by a square window, is a staircase that leads up to the sleeping loft, which is open to the lounge below.

"Upon reaching the upper floor, you are greeted by a beam of light penetrating the ceiling, creating a dimly lit atmosphere, at the other end of the loft, a window opens to offer a direct view of the vegetation and the large garden surrounding the villa," Sánchez said.

The limited, neutral material palette – characteristic of the nearby architecture surrounding Lake Chapa – uses light washing along the surfaces and views of the tree outside as the ornamentation.

"Perhaps the most symbolic is the relationship established by the openings in the volume," he said.

"These windows create a link between the interior and exterior, possessing a tactile quality that makes it seem as if both are touching."

In the temperate climate, the villa relies on passive systems for heating and cooling like cross-ventilation through the windows and the skylight that acts as a chimney to expel hot air.

A solar heater provides hot water for the house.

"The success lies in its simplicity; the richness of the project is not the sum of its parts but an exponential multiplication of its virtues," Sánchez said.

"From it, we learned that achieving excellence doesn't necessarily require a tremendous effort but rather finding the right solutions in the right place."

Also in Jalisco, COA Arquitectura constructed an "earth-toned" monolithic house punctuated by blocky forms and triangular cutouts and Tatiana Bilbao built a rammed earth weekend house on the shores of Lake Chapala.

The photography is by Ansatz / Fernando Sanchez.

Project credits:

Architecture: Moisés Sanchez
Ceramics: Lofa Ceramics

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Ecuadorian architect Juan Alberto Andrade has completed an extension to a multifamily housing complex with rammed earth walls in Guayaquil.

Known as El Retiro, the nine-square metre (97-square foot) addition doubles the common space of a 305-square metre (3,282-square foot) residential complex, protruding into the front setback along the street and blurring the line between the private housing and urban realm.

Following Mexica architect Lucía Martín López's idea of "the growing house," Juan Alberto Andrade utilised a strategy for adapting housing López calls "crystallographic growth": intervening within the limits of the property and following the area and height limits of the neighbourhood.

"Architecture is a response to the continuous need for the reinvention of a habitat," the team told Dezeen. "Housing is an activity, a built process."

Completed in 2022, the simple square addition is composed of a load-bearing, 30-centimetre-thick rammed earth wall – set on top of a limestone rock base – and bahareque masonry, which is a combination of a bamboo frame and clay plaster.

Despite being a different colour than the existing structure, the shape and materiality of the addition works to blend it with the house and the neighbourhood, as does the leafy landscaping along the street.

A lightweight pine roof structure slopes from the existing exterior wall to the edge of the addition and is topped by a green metal roof.

Inside, the resin floor serves as a smooth contrast to the raw wooden ceiling and built-in millwork.

A sliding iron door opens to the compact interior, which houses a social space, library, and storage along the street and steps up to a common workspace within the existing floor plan.

A freestanding metal core was inserted into the centre of the plan, joining the addition to the existing room with a kitchenette and bathroom.

A small planted atrium allows a 25-year-old tree to rise in the centre of the plan and light to filter into the building.

A square wooden window – protected by sliding metal shutters – looks across the street to a community park. The pivoting window frame can be opened and the deep structural wall becomes a secondary desk space.

"El Retiro is a project of extension and attachment from an independent body to a multifamily housing, that serves and transforms preexistence into a productive habitat," the team said.

It was an opportunity to "build specific, viable and productive solutions that attend the progressive growth of housing, and to take advantage of the residual spaces generated by Ecuador's policies".

Maximizing small spaces is a pillar of Andrade's practice. He previously designed a flexible installation for a micro apartment in Quito and converted a 1993 Chevy van into a plywood "house-on-wheels" with María José Váscones.

The photography is by JAG Studio.

Project credits:

Architect: Juan Alberto Andrade
Team: Cuqui Rodríguez, María José Váscones, Melissa Toasa, Victoria Peralta, Duda Rodriguez
Suppliers: Baldosas del Ecuador, Acesco, Megakywi

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Texas architecture studio Side Angle Side has adapted a 1960s post office into a food market and restaurant in Austin.

Opened in October 2023 in the Hyde Park area, Tiny Grocer serves as a speciality market, bar and cafe while Bureau de Poste is a modern French bistro led by celebrity chef Jo Chan.

Austin-based commercial and residential architecture firm Side Angle Side renovated the 3,500-square foot (325-square metre) 1967 US Post Office building and added a 1,500-square foot (140-square metre) outdoor dining patio.

"The Hyde Park U.S. Post Office was an important neighborhood hub in the 1960s – so we were especially careful to keep the integrity and spirit of the mid-century-utilitarian design," Arthur Furman, founding partner of Side Angle Side, told Dezeen.

"As the anchor tenant in the space, Tiny Grocer continues to be the centre of the community, a place to gather, shop, eat and drink."

The shell of the white brick building was left intact, but the street-facing facade was previously used as a loading dock so the team transformed the back-of-house edge into a welcoming patio for the neighbourhood by removing the asphalt and adding two large live oak trees and a steel trellis and planters.

A cast-in-place concrete banquette holds the edge of the patio that is paved with antique red brick.

The steel planter forms a boundary between the parking area and the dining space, while the other edge is held by a light grey-coloured stucco restroom building. White metal furniture from Isimar and Portofino was used to furnish the patio.

"The patio and wine garden is the real heart of the project," the team said, mentioning that it wasn't within the original scope of the project but added later when its larger value was realized. "This is where all the care and thought of the interior spills to the outside, creating a lively environment."

On the interior, Side Angle Side complemented the original ceiling and open web joists with metal decking and industrial warehouse pendants by AQ Lighting. The polished concrete floors expose the weathered imperfections and show the history of the building.

Upon entering, shoppers take in the colourful selection of curated products displayed on white oak mercantile shelving. Green millwork hugs one wall and the space widens to an open interior plan.

A central deli and coffee bar floats in the middle of the room and creates a transition from the market to the bistro. The bar is wrapped in Seneca terracotta tile and topped with grey and white quartz countertops. Wooden Soule barstools are tucked under the waterfall counter.

The back-of-house spaces hold a kitchen office, storage, and bar equipment.

"Working closely with the owner, design finishes hint at the building's midcentury past," the team said, referencing the custom, built-in leather banquette by Undercover Austin Upholstery that lines the bistro's back wall.

Above the banquette and Second Chance Custom wooden dining tables hang black cone light pendants by All Modern.

"The single biggest sustainable feature of this project is one that is often overlooked," the team said, noting the adaptation of the structure. "The 'loose fit, long life' style of these old buildings leads to more reuse and far less waste."

Recent adaptive reuse projects in Austin include a 1900s house converted to a luxury office by Michael Hsu and commercial units converted to an architecture studio by Baldridge Architects.

The photography is by Likeness Studio and Mackenzie Smith Kelly.

Project credits:

Structural engineer: Creative Engineering
MEP engineer: ATS Engineers
Builder: Archive Properties
Commercial interior design: Side Angle Side
Architects: Side Angle Side
Building shell: Thought Barn Studio
Landscape design: Side Angle Side & Wild Heart Dirt
Owner: Steph Steele

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Brazilian architect Marcelo Couto and landscape designer Rodrigo Oliveira have created a cantilevering house with multiple courtyards and an interior staircase with a slide attached in Fazenda da Grama, São Paulo.

The concrete house with delicate wooden screens and heavy weathering steel elements is known as the Serra Residence. Located in Fazenda da Grama, São Paulo, the 12,809-square foot (1,190-square metre) house was completed in 2022.

The house is composed of three linear sections: two running parallel north to south on the ground floor and the third stacked on top crossing the lower floors, creating a U-shaped plan.

"The project was built upon the challenge presented by the clients' program: two twin brothers and their families with children of different ages, all desiring to share and enjoy the house simultaneously while preserving private areas," Marcelo Couto Architecture told Dezeen.

"Independent, parallel, and overlapping blocks with defined uses create built, semi-covered, and open spaces, integrating with lush gardens, water mirrors, decks, pools, all in complete harmony."

The plan is organized into three levels. The lowest level is semi-buried in the site's slope and contains a garage, flexible space and service areas.

The main level is divided into two halves.

The larger bar on the north section features two structural end walls and four large columns.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing runs along both sides creating a breezy, light-filled space for living, dining, and sitting by the large fireplace.

Two staircases float within the space and feature slides that playfully drop down into the underground level.

The smaller bar on the southern side of the plan stacks three-bedroom suites along a long corridor, followed by a sauna with a private garden, and ends in a kitchen.

These lower sections are connected by an expansive covered outdoor kitchen and dining area.

Above, the crossbar contains another four-bedroom suites with either end cantilevering over the main level with portal-like balconies.

"The idea was to create a solution that harmonized with the terrain using transparencies, a fluid relationship between interior and exterior, addressing natural ventilation, sunlight, and controlling high temperatures in the region through the use of louvers, dense landscaping, generous eaves and water mirrors," the team said.

Predominantly finished in exposed concrete and glass, the home also features untreated wood cladding and shading screens.

The retaining and closing walls are made of multi-coloured basalt and white cement to give texture and tonal variety.

Rodrigo Oliveira Paisagismo designed the landscaped areas as "a lush tropical garden that deconstructed the straight lines of the architecture and embraced the house, bringing visual and thermal comfort," the landscape studio told Dezeen.

Within the sloping, tree-lined property are five distinct gardens and five individual water features.

On the northwestern side of the living room section, a lawn leads to a rectangular lap pool and a hot tub.

The central courtyard features lush plantings that transition to a tranquil reflecting pool, spanned by a boardwalk on the northeastern side of the plan.

A private linear garden runs along the southeastern perimeter of the house, accessed through the bedrooms.

On the upper level, two shallow troughs – or "water mirrors" – run along the roof of the living room bar, creating a water-framed terrace with a planted roof and a fire pit. The roof of the bedroom bar is also planted.

"The success of this project undoubtedly lay in the perfect harmony among the architectural, structural, and landscaping professionals and projects," the team said.

Also recently completed in São Paulo is a renovated brick house with a pub in the basement by Goiva.

The photography is by Maíra Acayaba.

Project credits:

Architectural Design: Marcelo Couto Architecture
Structural Design: Modus Engineering
Installations Design: Etip
Landscaping Design: Rodrigo Oliveira Landscaping

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Peruvian architects Roman Bauer Arquitectos and ESArquitectura teamed up to design a cultural institution in Lima that includes a renovation and a new building with vernacular methods and pink accents.

The 640-square metre (6,900 square-foot) Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos (IFEA) was completed in 2022 in the historic Barranco district of Lima for the French government.

"The project establishes formal relationships with the built heritage while emphasizing the intangible heritage – the knowledge and construction techniques perfected since pre-Hispanic times, disrupted by modernity to the point of near-extinction," Roman Bauer Arquitectos and ESArquitectura told Dezeen.

The IFEA headquarters comprises two structures in a narrow, rectangular infill property.

Along the street edge – set off from the sidewalk by a small entry courtyard – the administrative office building is in a preserved monumental house characterised by pink stonework.

The interior has been remodelled to hold four workspaces, a bookstore, a kitchenette and a cafeteria.

The existing open-air courtyard garden – accessed by a long corridor along the southwestern party wall – occupies the centre of the plan and serves as "a communal space for interaction and activities".

It is shaded by a large palm tree and features a long wooden bench and pebbled floor.

The second structure is new, tucked into the interior of the urban block.

The concrete base – formed with wooden boards salvaged from the site – serves as a protective box for over 80,000 volumes stored in the ground-floor library.

The double-height reading room is lit from above with a clerestory feature light and perforated wooden panels create a subtle pattern along the walls while concealing private multimedia rooms.

The flexible sliding panels can open the conference space into the courtyard for larger lectures.

A staircase from the courtyard leads up to a small patio and the upper-level research offices housing in rectangular volume.

The laminated wooden frame is filled in with prefabricated quincha panels – a type of wattle and daub that is traditionally composed of cane and mud. The quincha walls reuse soil and adobe from the site and use more straw to lighten and insulate the material.

In addition to the reuse of local materials with a low environmental impact, the traditional construction technique recognises the area's heritage and responds to the climate and seismic activity of the Peruvian coast.

The research offices are illuminated and naturally ventilated through slanted pyramidal roof forms called teatinas – wind and light catchers – that capitalise on the site's solar orientation and winds for a passive bioclimatic response.

"These devices, characteristic of traditional buildings in Lima, are adapted here to increase the perceived height of rooms without elevating the overall building height, in order to hide its presence from the street and not disrupt the presence of the heritage house," the team said.

In 2022, the design received the National Hexagon Steel Prize at the XIX Biennial of Peruvian Architecture and has been recognized as a finalist for the Oscar Niemeyer Panamerican Prize and the Quito Panamerican Biennial.

Other recent projects in Lima include a "pandemic-proof" school prototype with indoor and outdoor classes by Rosan Bosch Studio and IDOM and a monumental community library with concrete columns designed to look like stacked books by Gonzalez Moix.

The photography is by JAG Studio.

Project credits:

Lead architects: José Bauer, Augusto Román, Enrique Santillana
Design team: Ailed Tejada, Jimena de la Jara, Karen Canaza, Marcos Rafael
Clients: IFEA, French government
Structural engineering: Jorge Avendaño
Wood consultant: Luis Takahashi
Adobe and quincha consultant: Urbano Tejada
Acoustic consultant: Carlos Jiménez
Quincha consultants: Centro Tierra, Silvia Onnis, Gabriel Gómez
Constructor: Chávez Constructores
Site supervisor: Juan Carlos Balbuena

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Texas studio Method Architecture has completed an office for itself in Houston with maximalist design, vibrant colours and a mural at its centre.

The 8,612-square foot (800-square metre) studio was completed in 2023 with a reception area, open office plan, private and collaborative meeting spaces and staff lounges.

Located in the mixed-use East River development, designed by architecture studio Page, the office was designed to serve as an inspiration source for the studio's clients.

"Our approach was to pursue maximalism with the goal of creating an environment where our clients would feel safe expressing their bold and innovative ideas with us," Ashley Bettcher, Research and Design Specialist with Method Architecture told Dezeen.

"Creativity has no limits and great design doesn't necessarily need to cost more. Method's new Houston office perfectly encapsulates that mantra."

The "ego-free" focus of the design is a nearly 50-foot multi-wall mural by local artist David Maldonado, known for creating nearly 20 pieces of public artwork throughout Houston.

With pops of magenta, cobalt, and yellow, the mural features icons from the city and state like the skyline, a rocket for Johnson Space Center, a bluebonnet as the Texas state flower, and the neighbouring Buffalo Bayou.

The artwork also slips in custom motifs representing the studio, such as Method's rubber duck mascot.

"This feature piece of artwork helps set the tone for the remainder of the office including bold colors, geometric patterns and shapes and a secondary mural designed and installed by Maldanado featuring drip paint in mirroring colorways located at the back of the office," the team said.

The mural is complemented by a 3D-printed wall installation behind the reception desk composed of the studio's signature "M" logo and the raw ceiling with exposed mechanical lines all painted a vibrant shade of fuchsia.

Light grey flower-like acoustic baffles hang from the ceiling adding to the maximalist design. Light blue bicycles are mounted on one wall as another unique installation.

From the reception area lounge, clients pass through a half-arched portal – created with custom millwork and embedded lights – into the main office space which includes rows of desks over custom greyscale carpet.

Hotel desk stations accommodate hybrid work styles for both in-office and at-home work.

"Cozy architectural work booths are nestled amid the bustling breakroom and office areas, offering a quiet refuge for more private work, private conversations or meals with coworkers," the team said.

The workspace is flanked by six meeting rooms: a large creative conference space, three medium-sized conference rooms and two smaller huddle spaces.

The all-white conference room was left intentionally blank to showcase the client's material selections with tunable white lights to adjust the light temperature for each project.

An M-shaped window cutout opens the conference room to the rest of the office.

In the break room, bright blue suede fabric adorns the walls to provide an unexpected texture and pale blue lamp shades – reminiscent of the shape of inverted cupcake liners – serve as a geometric juxtaposition to the rounded banquette boxes.

"Plush, psychedelic-inspired fabrics in meeting booths and distinctive light fixtures keep the space feeling light and fun to inspire creative design," the studio said.

In addition to being designed for flexible workflows and teams, the space features multiple sustainable and WELL features like ample daylighting, repurposed materials and ergonomic furniture.

Other recently completed projects in Houston include Nelson Byrd Woltz's grassed park that bridges a six-lane highway and Modu's design for a wellness building with a self-cooling exterior.

The photography is by Ana Larranaga, Method Architecture.

Project credits:

Architecture: Method Architecture
MEP: Telios Engineering
General contractor: Burton Construction
Furniture: AGILE Interiors, MDI, OP,
Flooring: Interface, Shaw Contract
Tile: Trinity Surfaces, La Nova
Textiles: Knoll Textiles
Masonry: Upchurch Kimbrough
Demountable partitions: DIRTT
Countertops: CAMBRIA
Mural: David Maldonado
Lighting: Lighting Associates Inc.
Signage: ARIA Signs

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Texas studio Michael Hsu Office of Architecture adapted a 110-year-old bungalow into an office for technology and bio-science investment firm 8VC in Austin.

Completed in 2023, 8VC's new Austin headquarters are located on a half-acre lot along South Congress Avenue, a busy entertainment district of the Texas capital.

Originally constructed in 1912, the home was once a brothel and had many renovations, becoming the first building south of the city's Colorado River to have power.

"This project preserves one of the few remaining stately houses on South Congress," Michael Hsu, founder of his eponymous studio, told Dezeen. "The design takes cues from its past by providing a fresh take on vintage inspirations and opens up the space to accommodate modern uses."

Using the client's desire for "an office that felt like a home," the team revamped the two-storey house into a 4,845-square foot (450-square metre) workspace with multiple production, meeting, and gathering spaces — including a 557-square feet (52-square metre) clubhouse tucked at the back of the property.

The preserved exterior of the building draws on the home's original stately design but was updated and sealed in a dark matte finished stucco with low-profile dark window frames.

Relocating the entry around the side of the property with a grand wrap-around plaza, the home's original screened porch was traded for a glazed exterior corner that connects the exterior and interior spaces.

The ground floor consists of multiple indoor and outdoor gathering spaces. The interior is organized around a central enfilade and two hearth spaces inspired by the original brick chimneys.

The rich, warm-toned interior has a "sophisticated study-like atmosphere is achieved through the careful selection of materials and color-mapped palettes, including walnut wood floors, lime wash paint, striking wall coverings, plaster arches and marble finishes," the team said.

Plaster arched openings pass from the white central lounge to jewel-toned gathering spaces – one of which features a ribbed black fireplace that appears to melt into the floor in front of a marble coffee table.

"The furnishings, a mix of vintage and modern pieces with luxe fabrics and textures, create a sense of intimacy."

Designed to be "luxurious but not ostentatious", the office features textured and sculptural accents like a leather-wrapped reception desk by David Ambrose and a grand chandelier by Karen Hawkins that hangs in the centre of the staircase.

Above, the plan was reorganised with a large open desk layout in the southern corner along the glazed wall and private offices lining the northwestern and northeastern walls.

"The interior was inspired to feel fresh but like it was original to the house," the team said with "multiple moments of surprise and intrigue depending on where you are in the space".

Between the main office and the separated clubhouse is a large outdoor gathering area shaded by the heritage tree canopy that the team preserved during construction.

"It was important to us that the building and its design reflect the values of our company and our mission," 8VC founder Jake Medwell told Dezeen. "It took years to find and build out the right place and we are very happy with the outcome."

Recently, Michael Hsu Office of Architecture adapted a 1930s church in Austin into a studio for argodesign.

The photography is by Chase Daniel.

Project credits:

Landscape: MHOA
General contractor: The Burt Group
MEP: AYS
Structural: Structures
Owner's rep: Darrell Arevalo, Urban Terra
Waterproofing: Acton
Civil: WGI
Signage: BIG

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Canadian studio Ménard Dworkind has created an intimate French restaurant in the Villeray neighborhood of Montreal complete with warm interiors and a custom white oak wine cellar.

Known as Casavant, the 850-square foot (80-square metre) brasserie-style restaurant was completed in September 2023 on the ground floor of a 1920's residential building, replacing a sandwich shop.

Ménard Dworkind (MRDK) designed the small restaurant – which seats 45 patrons – to bring diners together in a space that combines art deco influences with Montreal's vibrant culinary scene. It was designed to "blend timeless elegance with a contemporary twist".

Located on the corner of the block, the guests enter the rectangular interior through a white brick facade. Natural light comes in from multiple directions through large, black-framed storefront windows.

The floor is speckled with 3D-patterned matte tiles by Daltile arranged in a custom mosaic, while beige tile climbs up the walls.

Burnt orange corduroy banquette seating wraps around the two outside walls with two linear high-top tables floating freely in the space. The vintage French bistro chairs were acquired from another restaurateur.

The party wall serves as the focal point with the bar and custom white oak wine cellar and displays a selection of natural wines in raw wood cabinetry with rounded corner glass-front doors.

"The wine cellar has been the focal point as soon as we started discussions with the clients," said partner Guillaume Ménard. "It was important to be able to see it from everywhere you sit or stand.

"Since it's wall mounted, it attracts the eye pretty quickly with action going on behind the bar as well as the light coming out of it," he said.

The compact kitchen – with an open pass-through window into the dining space that shows off the lively action of cooking – and the dark blue restroom corridor are tucked at the back of the restaurant.

"The ceiling boasts a unique, funky patterned alcove made from colorful acoustic panels, contributing to the restaurant's eclectic and inviting character while helping with the acoustical comfort," the team told Dezeen, referencing the tray-like inset with a blush, maroon and peach abstract graphic.

"We really like the addition of the patterned acoustical panels on the ceiling," Ménard noted.

"It adds depth, comfort and colors to the space. It also acts as a lantern since it is lightened up by a dissimulated LED strip."

In addition to the locally crafted and sourced materials, artistic details occur throughout the space like a painting from local artist Nicolas Grenier and a vintage Medusa pendant light by Carlo Nason, which displays the restaurant's charm through the glazing to passers-by.

Two of Ménard Dworkind's previous restaurant interiors in Montreal include the Italian 1960's-inspired design for Tiramisu with a chrome service counter and large leafy plants and the retro-themed design for Caffettiera Caffé Bar with a checkerboard floor and teal accents.

The photography is by David Dworkind.

Project credits:

Team: Guillaume Menard, Fabrice Doutriaux
Contractor: Avodah Construction
Ceramic floor and wall tile: Daltile
Lighting: humanhome
Stools: Uline
Upholstery: Bisson Bruneel
Acoustic panels: Akustus

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Canadian studio 25:8 Architecture + Urban Design has added a cedar-clad extension with a shape informed by birds in flight to a house in Ottawa.

Named Ferndale Flightdeck, the 400-square foot (37-square metre) extension holds a recreation room, yoga studio, home office and a rooftop observation deck that allows the owners to watch birds in the surrounding diverse and ecologically rich landscape.

"The project was inspired by a bird in flight. The architecture aspires to challenge the traditional conventions of 'firmness' by creating a dynamic structure that makes the building appear to soar," the 25:8 Architecture + Urban Design team told Dezeen.

The Ottawa-based studio completed the renovation in 2023, maximising the home's footprint by building on top of an existing carport.

"Architecturally, the most distinctive element of the Ferndale Flighdeck is the 'wing' that supports the new addition," the team said.

The addition is a linear box with a wrapping screened porch – in cedar to reference the surrounding trees and serve as a carbon-sequestering material – its profile slants toward the rear of the house and dips down to touch the ground plane.

The underside of the wing is used as discrete storage for the homeowner's paddle boards and disguises the new V-shaped column that supports the upper storey.

The box – clad in white cement board like an eggshell protecting the inhabitants inside – has windows that frame views toward nature, easily seen to the east where the screen cuts lower into a railing.

The white-walled interior spaces are organised according to three different functions – play, physical and professional space.

The southern edge of the box holds the recreational area for the family, while the northern side contains the light-filled home office.

The centre of the plan holds the physical area with a driveway basketball area on the ground level and a yoga studio above.

When practicing yoga upstairs, the residents can look through a floor-level window down to the basketball game, and a sliding battened screen protects the glazing from damage.

On the west side of the house, "a narrow horizontal slot was cut into the wood facade to provide a hidden place to look onto the adjacent field. Great effort was taken to translate that as a window to frame views," the team said.

The roof collects rainwater and redirects it to a pollinator garden along the side of the property that blurs the line between built and natural landscape with native plants that attract hummingbirds, chickadees and other species.

Breaking the vernacular of the neighbourhood, it now serves as a neighbourhood meeting place for people heading to the trailhead for a hike in the forest.

Another project in the works nearby is the Canadian Parliament's new office complex. David Chipperfield and Zeidler won a design competition in 2022 and are working on 11 buildings in downtown Ottawa.

The photography is by Brendan Burden.

Project credits:

Architecture: 25:8 Architecture + Urban Design
Project team: Jay S. Lim (Principal), Matthew Beerman (Designer)
Structural Engineering: Capacity Engineering
Contractor: Treestone Design

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US company Artistree Home designed a treehouse with vaulted form, raised off the ground in Sonoma County, California.

Completed in 2023, the latest design — known as Spyglass at Hometree — is a 300-square foot (28-square-metre) residence in an 11-acre (5-hectare) forested lot in Occidental, California.

"The design for Spyglass came from that whimsical childhood moment of turning a fallen leaf into a little tube to peer through," Will Beilharz, project designer from Artistree Home, told Dezeen. "With a dynamic cut on either end, the cylindrical shape takes on the dynamic movement of the folded leaf."

The design is centred on a large redwood tree that holds the deck structure. The black metal deck cantilevers out from a hillside with a single-step entry bridge. Hovering 25 feet (8 metres) above the ground, the house is raised on thin steel posts that minimize the disturbance to the environment.

The exterior of the tube is composed of rust-textured metal diamond shingles that are designed to mimic the colour and texture of redwood bark.

The linear house is compact with an entry walkway, pass-through kitchenette, and bathroom with penny round tile that follows the curve of the space. The centre of the plan holds the bedroom leading to the back terrace with a cedar hot tub.

On the interior profile of the tube, tongue-and-groove panelling – reminiscent of walking through a hollowed-out log – continues from the soffit through the living space and back out to the terrace, reinforcing the perspective to the forest.

The back wall is fully glazed, creating an aperture that frames nature and looks out onto the tree that rises up through the centre of the terrace.

“Never underestimate the impact of whimsy in design. Time and time again, our structures have proven that inspiring, nature-focused experiences are timeless and speak to everyone on a deep level.” Beilharz mentioned.

“Even having designed the structure, I am still struck at how the space can be both calming and exciting at the same time – like the combination of a spa and a playground,” he continued.

The exterior wood cladding in PEFC-certified and thermally modified Thermory Scots Pine, meanwhile a heat pump water heater reduces the required energy.

The sustainable residence has three layers of insulation with Hempwool batts, a layer of closed-cell spray foam, and a radiant barrier. The materials reduce the overall carbon footprint and a small mini-split manages the heating and cooling load for the treehouse.

"We designed our Spyglass unit to be both luxurious and replicable so that we are offering it as a pre-fab unit with the ability to modify the foundation based on the terrain of the property and the trees in the landscape," Beilharz said.

"If we did our job right, guests stepping into the space for the first time should get that same youthful rush of discovery found amongst the trees."

Using a similar bridge access, BIG lofted a treehouse hotel in Swedish Lapland and covered it in birdhouses.

The photography is by Jayson Carpenter.

Project credits:

Interior Designer: Artistree Home
General Contractor: Artistree Home

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Local design studio McLeod Bovell has completed a seaside home with a dramatic cantilever and multiple lightwells in West Vancouver, British Columbia.

Vancouver-based McLeod Bovell Modern Houses designed the 10,940-square foot (1,016-square metre) Liminal House in 2022.

"The 'liminal' is a transformational state between where one thing begins and another ends; the position where something meets, mixes, and merges," the team told Dezeen.

"Liminal House straddles a similar threshold between West Vancouver's natural stony seashore and its suburban residential neighbourhood."

The steep site overlooks the Pacific Ocean, so the team used the house's organisation to choreograph movement toward the shoreline.

Organised as a journey rather than around a singular focal point, the spaces pass between interior courtyards.

Entered from an autocourt on the hillside, the main level features a kitchen, dining and living space with a floating fireplace.

A central architectural stair and planted courtyard garden separate the public spaces from the garage.

Meanwhile, a wall of floor-to-ceiling glazing opens the family areas to a covered terrace and pool with a waterfall edge that disappears into the ocean.

The basement level holds service and recreational spaces with more car storage, an office, lounge space, utility room and a guest suite.

A lightwell brings sunlight deep into the partially underground level. On the south side of the plan, a covered terrace walks out to a spa and lower garden below the pool.

The top floor cantilevers over the main level with an exterior terraced garden that wraps around the plan.

The glazed primary suite looks out to the ocean with a "false beachfront" balcony, while three guest suites are lined along the interior of the plan and open to the terrace. A large opening in the terrace forms another lightwell to the autocourt below.

"Courtyards, cantilevered volumes, and the extension of floor area over exterior space dismantles boundaries between the house and the natural environment," the team said.

"This strategy of mixing and merging, where light is reflected and landscapes are invited towards the interior of the home, collapses normal readings of interior space."

Chosen for their durability in harsh climates, board-formed concrete, black-stained Accoya wood and coated aluminium plate make up the exterior.

The one-inch-thick Accoya boards are biodegradable, recyclable and carbon-neutral over their lifecycle.

"Conceptually, the house is fortress-like in form and function – a hard shell that opens strategically to its surroundings," the team said.

The glazed surfaces – with high-quality, thermally insulated glass and a Low-E coating to reduce heat loss – serve as the "soft counterpart to the exoskeleton," set into concealed frames.

On the interior, large format slabs of non-VOC Lapitec sintered stone cover the floors while European oak millwork, panelling and stair treads warm the space.

"We found that the reflective 'reverberation' created by the deep glazed courtyards animate all the spaces in the house in surprising ways," the team said.

"Unexpected partial fragments of water-view or internal planted landscapes coexist in the interior and exterior spaces alongside furniture, and interior finishes in active ways that change continuously during the day with fluctuating lighting and sky conditions."

Featuring a similar cantilevered response to a sloped site, McLeod Bovell completed the Container House in West Vancouver in 2018 and clad it in custom grey cement-composite panels.

The photography is by Hufton + Crow Photography.

Project credits:

Lead designers: Lisa Bovell, Matt McLeod

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An architecture team of Nicolás Norero, Leonardo Quinteros and Tomás Villalón has created a community theatre out of glued laminated timber along a lake's shoreline in Panguipulli, Chile.

The Theater of the Arts of Panguipulli (Teatro Educativo de las Artes) was completed in November 2022 on the banks of Panguipulli Lake.

The compact theatre serves as an arts education centre for children, schools and local community members to engage in music, theatre, painting, dance, and literature.

The Corporation of the Arts of Panguipulli was originally formed in 2007 and functioned out of a former Catholic mission house.

When the program exceeded its capacity, the Asociación de Oficinas de Arquitectos and the Corporación de Adelanto de Panguipulli launched a design competition and Nicolás Norero, Tomás Villalón, and Leonardo Quinteros were selected to create a new space – a grand room with the character of an open school – that could hold 250 people.

The 15,070-square foot (1400-square metre) structure aims "to touch the ground as little as possible".

Positioned within a small grove of trees at the water's edge, the building establishes a waterfront promenade and serves as a connection between the city and the lake.

Facing the city, an exterior plaza connects the theatre to a coastal walk among the trees.

"Towards the lake, a second square with floors, rocks, and water is proposed, welcoming the opening of the stage in the summer and connecting the theater with the outdoors," the team told Dezeen.

The building functions as a box within a box.

The exterior box is composed of a mass timber structure wrapped in wood. The uninterrupted exterior ring is double-height and contains the foyer, cafeteria and exhibition hall.

Glazing allows views out to the lake, and small louvred shades control thermal gain on the interior while providing texture and rhythm to the space.

The interior box holds the 250-seat theatre – which also functions as a flexible space for teaching and performance – wrapped in warm plywood with raked, black seating.

"[It is] an opaque volume, acoustically and thermally insulated, conceived as an integrated space that eliminates the proscenium, creating a continuous interior that opens up to the lake through a single window spanning its entire width," the team said.

The long, walkthrough window connects the performance space to the secondary public square on the lakeside, and a band of diagonal trusses serves as an accent for the orthogonal structural elements.

The base of the building is defined by a reinforced concrete plinth that holds dressing rooms and services – while mitigating the topography and guarding against changing water levels from the lake.

The glulam construction system minimised construction time, utilised local materials and reduced emissions, as well as simplifying details with modularisation and using the materials as the outward expression.

"Similarly, the strategy of a box within a box allows for the control of sustainable aspects of a cold region of southern Chile," the team said.

The new theatre serves over 2,500 children from 25 regional schools.

Recently, glulam was used in another Chilean project: an underground sports centre in the Atacama desert designed by Benjamín Murúa Arquitectos.

The photography is by Cristóbal Palma.

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Chilean studio WMR Arquitectos has balanced a slanted wooden house with open interiors on a hillside overlooking the sea in Matanzas, Chile.

Known as Casa Ladera, the 2,130-square foot (198-square metre) residence was completed in 2022 in La Vega de Pupuya along Chile's central coast, which is known for its high cliffs and windy climate.

Rather than sitting atop the cliffs like most neighbouring houses, Casa Ladera hangs onto a 45-degree slope on the south-facing site to achieve an unobstructed view of the ocean and valley, while protecting the home from wind.

WMR Arquitectos, which is based in Santiago, positioned the home to adapt itself to the natural terrain rather than changing the earth to fit the design.

"The four levels of the house are built through a system of pillars and wooden beams, creating a structural fabric that expands from the topographic line," the team told Dezeen.

"The skeleton of the house functions as a reticulated beam that rests on the most critical part of the terrain."

The dark-coloured, locally grown pine exoskeleton serves as a frame for the glass walls that run in vertical bands along the house.

Smaller natural pine members form the mullions and add repetition to the facade, while creating a warm interior.

The home functions as a large staircase, cascading down the site, separated into steps and risers along the east quarter of the rectangular house.

Walking down from parking at the top of the cliff, primary access is located on the uphill side of the third storey, which contains a secondary bedroom and bathroom.

A small central staircase leads up to the angular fourth storey with a bedroom, bathroom, and TV room.

Stepping down from the entry, the family level contains the kitchen, dining and living rooms. A terrace wraps around the southwestern side, consuming over one-third of the floor plate.

Outside the house's enclosure, a split-level deck holds an outdoor seating area, fireplace, hot tub and garden.

The lowest storey contains the primary suite with a private terrace and service spaces.

Because of the extreme angle, many of the interior spaces are double-height on one side of the room and single-height on the other side.

The materials absorb heat and the building maximises the climate for thermal controls. The house "does not need to be heated, since its transparency allows it to receive sun throughout the day and generate spaces protected from the cold," the team said.

Meanwhile, "opening the window generates natural air conditioning, because the wind in the area is quite cold."

WMR Arquitectos notes the location of the house as both the biggest challenge and biggest success of the project. Pouring the foundation and getting the materials to the site provided difficulty and the team used a winch to hoist the structure into place, but the "radical location decision results in an architectural design inspired and adapted to its context."

Nearby in Matanzas, Raimundo Gutiérrez of ERRE Arquitectos also created a pine and glass truss house, but the single-storey residence bends horizontally around vegetation rather than conforming to the slope of a site.

The photography is by Cristóbal Palma.

Project credits:

Architects: WMR Arquitectos
Collaborators: Matteo Gargallo - Emilia Lavanchy
Engineer: Alberto Ramirez
Contractor: Florent Dromard

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Canadian architecture studio Partisans has completed a house with an undulating yellow brick facade designed to look pixelated in Toronto, Ontario.

Named Canvas House after the homeowner's art collection, the 5,220-square foot (485-square metre) residence is "reminiscent of a painting, using brick as a medium," said Partisans co-founder Alex Josephson.

The 2022 design is a contemporary alternative to the yellow brick Georgian homes of the neighbourhood – which were popularised in Toronto from the 1920s to 1940s by Canadian architect John MacIntosh Lyle.

The box-shaped homes are in a Tudor revival style and feature a centre hallway plan.

Partisans designed this facade to be "formally performative" in its context. Inspired by the client's Larry Poons paintings, the bricks are choreographed to convey movement.

"One of the inspirations behind our modular approach started with voxels and pixels that not only can move in three dimensions but, by dint of their shadows," Josephson told Dezeen.

"That's why it isn't just the overall wave but rather a flickering of light through the shadows of the pixel bond pattern, which we can call voxel-bond, a new type of brick bond informed by the technology of our era."

The sculpted facade features three apertures: a square glazed opening along the parapet, a garage door, and the front door.

The undulations don't stop at the facade, but reappear in the wavy wooden door.

Inside, the home was laid out for a fluid interior experience, entering a main corridor with a rounded wedge-shaped core that divides the hallway from the staircase.

Curved details appear throughout with the staircase's sculpted handrail and the rounded fireplace.

The rear half of the ground floor contains an open-plan living, dining, and kitchen space that passes to the backyard.

Below, the basement level includes recreational areas like a cinema room and gym, as well as a private apartment.

The top level aligns three bedrooms and a shared bath in the front of the house, while the primary suite holds the back third of the plan.

"The layout leverages wall space and strategic lighting to display the art collection," Josephson said, noting the stark white walls and integrated lighting along the edge of the spaces.

The rectangular home is well-insulated with triple-glazed windows for efficiency and incorporates hydronic heating and cooling to protect the art. The roof design accommodates a future green roof.

Despite initial hesitancy from neighbours about the facade, Partisans championed the design to elevate culture to the public. Josephson maintained that "custom homes need to be open to the unique lifestyles of the owners and not necessarily organized the way the market desires."

"Custom architecture offers the client a total experience of their own behavior – manifested in architectural solutions."

Previously, Partisans designed a bubbled residential tower in Toronto that was an interpretation of natural clouds and revision clouds in architectural drawings.

The photography is by DoubleSpace Photography, UNO, Younes Bounhar, and Teddy Shropshire.

Project credits:

Design team: Alex Josephson, Partner In Charge, Suzan Ibrahim, Project Manager Tim Melnichuck, Designer Nathan Bishop, Designer
Contractor: Duffy and Associates
Landscape: PARTISANS
Structural: Moses Structural Engineering
Masonry Engineer: Picco Engineering
Masonry: Finbarr Sheehan
Interiors: Patti Rosati

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Local architecture firm La Base Studio has renovated a glass and concrete home, wrapping it in a delicate privacy and shading screen on a lush site in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Known as Casa Mendoza, the 2,150-square foot (200-square metre) residence was completed in 2022 on a 3,350-square foot (330-square metre) lot at the connection of an urban grid and private neighbourhood.

The site falls at an intersection of a busy cosmopolitan street and an elevated railway infrastructure where the roads dead end into green slopes. The location exposes the home to onlookers, so the design responds to views differently between the levels.

The home was first constructed in the mid-1970s by a civil engineer, and La Base Studio demolished part of it for its current iteration.

Originally enclosed in traditional masonry walls, the team stripped the house back to its structure and preserved only the reinforced concrete slabs, columns, and beams.

The existing service space was also demolished and rebuilt underground – within a 430-square-foot (40-square metre) subterranean library and study.

The underground storey also features a half-level patio with mirror-coated walls that reflect the Japanese cherry tree and ferns above.

The ground floor – open to the garden with 360-degrees of floor-to-ceiling glazing – contains the entry, kitchen, dining space, and living room in different quadrants.

The sliding glass doors open to the garden and pool deck, blurring the interior and exterior relationship.

"These decisions reinforce the desire to convert this space into a large semi-covered space, almost as a gallery, where the true visual and physical limits are the wooden planks of the fence or the walls vegetated by native species," the studio told Dezeen.

The kitchen walls float like wooden objects in the space, holding up marble counters and sink. Speckled granite floors are juxtaposed by white ceilings.

"All materials are shown in raw finish, without coatings or paints."

A delicate, suspended staircase with open wooden treads rises to the upper level, which prioritizes privacy and seclusion in an environment that protects from sight and sound.

A lounge space comprises half of the floor plate, while three bedrooms and a bathroom are stacked on the other side.

Set in from the perimeter of the house, the upper story has a wraparound patio that serves as a transitional space with a light wood, lattice-like screen.

"It is an abstraction of the context, an idealisation of nature, a contained universe," the team said. "Almost like a nest or a basket, which allows sunlight and wind to pass through, but also protects from direct contact with the surroundings."

The bedrooms are housed in a mid-toned wooden box.

They pass from the lounge space to the patio that ends in a white tiled wall that bounces light back into the space.

Residents can see out of the upper level, but no one can see in, and vegetation planted between the glazed enclosure and the screen helps isolate the house at night.

"The opposition of exposure and protection is the common thread of the entire project."

Other recent renovations in Buenos Aires include a modernist white house by Adamo Faiden and a 1930s brick home by Torrado Arquitectos.

The photography is by Cristóbal Palma.

Project credits:

Architecture: La Base Studio
Collaborators: Ceclia huberman, Sol Barcan, Lilian Kartashian, Camila Moncarz
Furniture: La Base Studio
Landscape: Per Estudio
Equipment: Helmut Muebles, Huup Iluminación, Awanay Rugs
Art: Luna Paiva, Amour Leopard, Michelle Dabul, Nahuel Vacino

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Mexican architecture studio Lucio Muniain has created Casa HMZ, a brutalist house with raw board-formed concrete walls in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

Completed in January 2023, the 8,600-square foot (800-square metre) house – known as Casa HMZ – was designed as a sculpture that you can live in, and follows Mexican architect Luis Barragán's approach of creating moments of mystery and discovery in addition to the traditional living spaces.

"The house is based on that unique theme: creating spaces that dramatize the path in-between typical domestic spaces," architect Lucio Muniain told Dezeen.

"Mass, volume, textures and light are key elements that define it."

The heavy rectangular house sits on a golf course, where its solid appearance contrasts with its surroundings.

However, its recessed windows – tucked into niches of varying depth – offer the interior spaces wide views of the surrounding landscape.

Entirely constructed in raw gray concrete poured into handmade wooden formwork, both the interior and exterior rely on light, shadow, height and compression.

On the interior, the floors are covered in tropical Tzalam hardwood and travertine stone.

White plaster ceilings lighten the spaces, while steel and glass serve as accents to the heavy concrete.

The ground floor contains the public spaces: a living and dining room, a kitchen and a library that open up like terraces and allow wind to blow through the interior spaces.

The northwestern edge of Casa HMZ holds the primary suite. A three-car garage is located on the eastern corner of the house, while a double-height exterior patio space sits in the southern corner, where it is shaded by deep concrete beams.

"The use of the house maintains an informal and comfortable concept that brings an aspect of comfortable dwelling being a dramatic sculpturesque architectural piece," the studio said.

Two spiral staircases rise up to the second storey, which contains three large suites, two small suites, a central lounge and a walkway that overlooks the patio through a glass wall.

In the future, the two upstairs bedrooms, which are currently used as children's bedrooms, could be used as guest rooms or studios.

"Corridors, patios, double heights, paths, dramatic changes of scale, and other rhythms define this habitable sculpture," Muniain said. "These 'new' proposed spaces are the ones that create the magic of routes and paths towards basic needs."

Muniain noted that the biggest challenge of the project was constructing an all-concrete form — but believes that the material's imperfection adds to the design's beauty.

Other recent brutalist projects constructed in Mexico include a breezy hotel designed by Seattle-based Hybrid and Mexico City-based Palma and a cube-shaped vacation home designed by Mexico City-based Ludwig Godefroy.

The photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Project credits:

Architect: Lucio Muniain
Project development: Juan Carlos García, Michel Hernández, Gustavo Morales, Jose Luis Arroyo

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Chilean architecture studio Stanaćev Granados has created a seaside house with a concrete and wood-clad exterior and a cargo net in the floor in Chorrillos, Chile.

Known as the Primeriza House, the 2,750-square foot (256-square metre) residence was completed in 2020 in a small clearing in a cypress-filled hill that slopes steeply down to the Pacific Ocean.

Stanaćev Granados, a Santiago-based studio run by Nataša Stanaćev and Manu Granados, designed the home to make the most of outdoor living while creating multiple interior environments and nooks within the home.

According to the studio, these dual considerations created "many transitional spaces" within the house.

Two storeys constitute the main body of the home, with the top volume cantilevering over the bottom one at points, all clad in darkly stained wood. The concrete base is set firmly into the slope with a semi-buried garage and storage area.

As the slope drops away, the foundations become retaining walls at the far ends of the plan. A sunken landscape terrace covers the garage as it approaches the main house.

"Thanks to the orientation of the entire volume, the house itself acts as a shield for the southern winds whipping its posterior facade, while the
entire front of the house remains unaffected by them," said the studio.

A pedestrian entrance was "nested" between the exposed concrete wall and the landscaped hill. It was meant to be "camouflaged in the vegetation".

The entry staircase leads to a southside terrace and mudroom that are protected from the wind by an earthen wall embedded into the space.

This entry terrace is clad in glass that allows views through the entirety of the ground floor, out to the sea. The studio described this layout and the use of glass as "kaleidoscopic".

The primary floor – an open plan room with living, dining, and kitchen areas – is wrapped in wood and has floor-to-ceiling windows that open the space to a seaside north terrace.

The main floor transitions to the upper level through a double-height space.

Open weave cargo netting divides the volume and serves as an overhead play space.

The safety netting appears again as the railing of the staircase.

The ground floor has a similar wood cladding to the exterior, while the upper floor features wood that has been painted white.

"While the first floor absorbs the light that washes its surfaces from all orientations, the second floor reflects the exterior colours – it turns absolute white on misty days, and when the weather is clear, it takes on the bluish tones of the sky and the horizon in the morning hours, and stains orange at sunset," the studio said.

Upstairs, the primary ensuite is located on the eastern end of the rectangular plan and the children's rooms and playroom hold the other edge.

Each room opens through sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors to a linear balcony along the house.

A skylight runs down the length of the house bringing light into the white-washed interior.

About 800 kilometres north of the Primeriza House sits another recent Stanaćev Granados design, a cube-shaped holiday house known as Casa Kuvo.

The photography is by Marcos Zegers.

Project credits:

Architecture: Stanaćev Granados (Nataša Stanaćev & Manu Granados)
Interior and furniture design: Stanaćev Granados
Lighting design: Stanaćev Granados
Landscaping: Vanessa Barrois (Landscaperschile) and Joaquín Lobato
Structural design: Alberto Ramírez
Construction: Claudio Lagos, Florent Dromard

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Local studio Michael Hsu Office of Architecture has completed a house clad in limestone bricks and hemlock siding overlooking a nature preserve in Austin.

The 3,447-square foot (320-square metre) house – known as the Greenbelt Residence – is located in the Bouldin Creek neighbourhood, set on a cliff that overlooks a protected greenbelt. The cantilevered house looks out on a 20-acre sanctuary with spring-fed swimming holes, limestone rock climbing, hiking paths and biking trails.

"The Greenbelt Residence is perched on a cliff above the treeline and seamlessly marries nature and architecture," said Michael Hsu, principal of his eponymous studio.

"Its cantilevered design, local limestone, and abundant windows create a calming environment that balances privacy with a strong connection to the breathtaking surroundings."

The 10,212-square foot (950-square metre) site has naturally occurring privacy with the preserved tree canopy, and the home's layout "celebrates the serene surroundings with a strong indoor and outdoor relationship," the team told Dezeen.

The ground floor is wrapped in smooth hemlock vertical boards, while the top level is clad in locally sourced, custom Leuders limestone brick.

The bricks were fabricated specifically for this home and curve gently on the corners of the upper storey. Along the front of the house, the limestone bricks separate to create a screen that brings light to the top level.

A faceted soffit forms a walkway to the entry of the linear home. A garage and ensuite bedroom hold one end of the house, while an open-plan kitchen and family room hold the other.

White cabinets, marble counters and backsplash compliment the grey and white terrazzo floors.

Streamlined, black metal hardware and thin wooden window frames juxtapose the stonework.

A hemlock-covered stairway leads up to the second level, which is rotated 90 degrees.

The landing turns leads a lounge space that divides the primary suite from a secondary bedroom. Large windows open the interiors to the outdoors in every room.

"The light quality of the interior space was carefully considered to be balanced, no matter the time of day," the studio said.

"Multiple points of natural light enter through different directions in every room to reduce harsh contrasts of light and shadow, the effects creating a sense of calm."

A sliding glass door in the centre of the plan opens to a 700-square foot (65-square metre) covered patio held up by thin columns. A large side yard serves as an outdoor living room, and the pool’s infinity edge drops off with the site's elevation change.

"This residence is simple and restrained and allows the natural landscape to connect with the building while offering unexpected details and experiences."

Recently, Michael Hsu Office of Architecture completed the design for its own studio and the interiors of a residential skyscraper with a circular swimming pool, both in Austin.

The photography is by Chase Daniel.

Project credits:

Architecture: Michael Hsu Office of Architecture
Landscape: Colab
Contractor: Risinger Construction
Structural: Backbeat
Limestone facade: Materials Marketing

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Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica has created a concrete community centre defined by a series of arches in Jálpa de Mendez, Mexico.

The 13,350-square foot (1,240-square metre) Community Development Center (CDC) was completed in 2022 near the southern edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica (CCA), which was founded in Mexico City by Bernardo Quinzaños, organised the orange concrete building around a linear, planted courtyard garden over which eight semi-circular arches form a monumental colonnade.

The CDC is part of a larger urban master plan for Mexico's Ministry of Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development SEDATU and works to "revitalize the city's public life by creating a space that offered inclusive opportunities for cultural and educational development within the local community," CCA told Dezeen.

The concrete arches create a sculptural sequence, through which the rest of the program can weave, while the central garden provides an oasis-like area for occupants.

The educational spaces – including classrooms and a library – face inward to the open-air courtyard, with inset floor-to-ceiling glazing in dark red metal frames.

A floating walkway was cut into the arches with a smaller rounded portal forming an elevated colonnade along the upper storey.

A secondary arched cutout runs transversely across the centre of the plan, creating a portal on either side of the center and connecting it to the surrounding landscape.

A double-height auditorium holds the southwest corner of the building.

The trapezoidal space has rounded corners created with vertical ribbed concrete.

The rest of the building's exposed concrete was poured using horizontal formwork with phenolic plywood.

"This collaborative approach with the local builders incorporated traditional woodworking techniques, minimizing formwork waste and optimizing material costs," said the studio.

In addition to training the local workforce in traditional crafts and innovative building systems, the technique maintained control of the concrete's quality and ensured its strength.

The orange-coloured material draws its tone from the region's architectural identidy and serves multiple purposes: reflecting heat, preventing moisture build-up and contributing to the project's sustainability.

"Regarding environmental considerations, the CDC project incorporates strategies to maximize re-use, minimize waste, and reduce the building's embodied carbon," the team said.

Using local materials and efficient construction practices, the project minimizes waste generation, reduces environmental impact and carbon footprint and contributes to a sustainable future for the community and the planet.

"The Community Development Center brings numerous benefits to the community, enhancing the quality of life for its users by providing services and activities that promote personal and collective development." the team said.

"It also contributes to reducing social inequalities by offering equitable access to community spaces and resources for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and provides the community with a dignified, aesthetically pleasing, and functional space to accommodate the cultural activities they need."

The CDC in Jálpa de Mendez has been shortlisted in the civic project section of the 2023 Dezeen Awards alongside projects by Studio Weave and James Gorst Architects.

In 2020, CCA completed a Boys and Girls Club with monumental concrete steps that lead up to an arched colonnade in Mexico. Other structures in Mexico that reflect local building and material practices include a museum in Progreso by Estudio MMX.

The photography is by Jaime Navarro.

Project credits:

Architect: CCA | Centro de Colaboración Arquitectónica / Bernardo Quinzaños
Design team: Bernardo Quinzaños, Andrés Suárez, André Torres, Miguel Izaguirre, Javier Castillo, Carlos Cruz, Gabriela Horta, Florencio de Diego, Lorenza Hernández, Mara Calderón de la Barca, Norma Mendoza, Jair Rodríguez, Santiago Vélez, Begoña Manzano, Fernanda Ventura, Victor Zúñiga.
Construction: TRASGO. José Fernando Orozco González, Gerardo González Gutiérrez, Eber Castellanos Ramos
Client: SEDATU, Municipio de Jalpa de Méndez

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Canadian architecture studio Dialog has renovated and expanded a gymnasium with an indoor park in Calgary, Alberta.

Completed in 2023, the Vivo for Healthier Generations measures 269,000 square feet (25,000 square metres), nearly doubling the 143,000-square foot (13,285-square metre) facility that was completed in 2004 by JSA Sport Architecture, Inc. on a 23.5-acre lot in the Country Hills community.

Dialog, which started in Canada before expanding to California, overhauled the campus, adding a 19,500-square foot (1,800-square metre) indoor park, market plaza, community garden, hub, youth areas, preschool and courtyard.

"Defined by a uniquely designed indoor park and event space – organized around a central main street – Vivo's new expanded home builds on the centre's rich history of commitment to the community by promoting a greater understanding of our potential for wellbeing," lead designer at Dialog Robert Claiborne told Dezeen.

"By creating a gradient of architectural intensity – from the new entry canopy and double height lobby to curvilinear and flexible forms within the park – the building presents a rich and diverse visitor experience."

The primary addition is a double-height rectangular building with two egg-shaped entry cutouts, which are composed of curved wood and glass curtain walls that allow transparent connections between the community and the facility.

A newly added entry plaza on the east side of the building forms a direct path into a linear interior courtyard that serves as a programmatic spine.

Inside, the open space allows connections between multiple programmatic elements and brings outdoor activities inside during the winter months.

"We took great care to execute the mission set forth by Vivo — to set new standards for openness, creativity, cross-pollination of programming and possibilities for engagement — and to ensure the overall design reflects a recreational community space that is both flexible and functional as well as inviting and appealing," Claiborne said.

The indoor park is the focal point of the addition and its social program drove the design.

The park features exposed concrete floors with a wooden walk and jogging path. Green sports surfacing rises into sloping mounds for an artificial play terrain that fosters more social connections and serves as a gathering space for community events.

The roof of the open volume is exposed with undulating ribs forming waves across the ceiling and round skylights bring sunlight into the space. A large, rounded vestibule clad in birch plywood transitions from the park to the rest of the building.

The team created spaces for gathering and for quiet meditation – such as a large cloud-like space clad in metal tiles within the multi-building structure.

Meanwhile, a soft drop ceiling hovers above a new six-lane lap pool – designed by Carscadden Stokes McDonald Architects – with a ceramic tile deck and a seamless edge.

Other new additions include a fitness centre with dedicated studios, research lab, yoga studios, tinkering lab, classroom, spa with European steam and sauna rooms, outdoor activity space and community rooms.

The project is targeted to achieve a LEED Gold certification with on-site solar generation, and biophilia metrics. The air circulation systems can also be compartmentalized, with the spaces offering flexibility and convertibility.

Previously, Dialog released designs for the "first of its kind" cross-laminated timber higher education building in Canada.

The photography is by Tom Arban.

Project Credits:

DIALOG Design team: Marion LaRue, (partner in charge) Robert Claiborne (design architect), John Souleles (project architect) Ralph Hildenbrandt (structural engineering lead), Mark Wallace (mechanical engineering lead), Charles Marshall (sustainable design lead) Jill Robertson (landscape architecture lead)
Pool design: Carscadden Stokes McDonald
Interior design lead: Chen Cohen
Lighting designer: Shea Gonzalez
Electrical engineering lead: Aaron Suppin

The post Dialog uses "gradient of architectural intensity" for Calgary recreation centre expansion appeared first on Dezeen.

US architecture studio Dash Marshall has completed an adaptive reuse project, transforming a historic garage into a performing arts theatre in Detroit, Michigan.

The 7,000-square foot (650-square metre) brick building is the new home of the Detroit Public Theatre, expanding the performing arts organization's operations in the city's Midtown neighbourhood.

Dash Marshall, a studio based in Brooklyn, NY and Detroit, completed the renovation at the end of 2022.

The team overhauled the structure of a 1919 automotive repair facility from front to back, transforming it into a flexible black box theatre that seats 200 people.

"Though it's built within an old structure, a night out at the theatre should not feel like watching a play inside of a relic," the studio said. "Our goal was to design a space that is true to Detroit without being stale or trapped by its own history."

The facade of the rectangular brick building was painted a dusty black colour with large metal-framed windows along the street side. The corner exposes the raw brick along the sides of the building.

Minimal black lamps and a small protruding sign adorn the facade, and a painted graphic sign serves as the focal point of the entry.

On the interior, the building was stripped back, exposing its original sand-coloured and red brick walls, wooden roof and iron trusses that became the focal point of the space.

New light-coloured walls were added. The team took a reductive approach – minimizing building systems, pulling back lighting, and creating monolithic walls.

The plan is divided into three zones. The front of house area holds a new brick bar with light wood countertops, a white ticket office, and seating space with light velvet furniture. The open lobby is flexible and able to host smaller shows for theatre incubator programs.

"By being reductive with the space of the lobby in particular, the architecture puts the history of the building, the excitement of the performance, and the diversity of the audience on display."

Custom white oak doors open to the black box space that occupies the center of the plan.

"We retained an original clerestory light well and unpainted brick walls so that the theatre can be rented out for events and other uses that do not require a fully blacked-out space," the studio said.

The back-of-house area includes a green room, dressing rooms, mezzanine and micro shop space in bright tones.

"Though the space does not appear traditional, we took a clue from the symmetrical facade and organized the interior in a symmetrical fashion to create a sense of steady progression from front door to the theatre," the studio said.

In 2014, Dash Marshall converted a former pencil factory into a workspace for creative entrepreneurs in Brooklyn.

Elsewhere in Detroit, OMA is currently working on converting a commercial bakery into a mixed-use art facility.

The photography is by Michael Vahrenwald.

Project credits:

Designed by: Dash Marshall and Architect of Record, Amy Baker
General contractor: G Fisher Constructions Co
Structural engineer: Resurget Engineering
MEP engineer: Strategic Energy Solutions
Acoustics and AV consultant: LSTN Consultants
Preservation consultant: Kidorf Preservation Consulting
Graphic design: Doner

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US architecture practice StudioSC teamed up with Colombian studio Base Taller to design a triangular concrete commercial office building in Medellín, Colombia.

Known as Indie Lab, the 69,632-square foot (6,469-square metre) complex is situated on a steeply sloped site next to a nature preserve outside the city of Medellín.

The overall design drew inspiration from both busy streetscapes and the view out toward the preserve. The designed it "to connect to both in a meaningful way but still anchoring a new structure in hopes of tying them together," StudioSC principal Stephen Conte told Dezeen.

Working with local Base Taller, StudioSC balanced the site's "split dichotomy" by anchoring the plan around a main circulation core and making subtle changes as the building wrapped about the corner with a rounded transition.

In order to make the most of the site's triangular shape, the team placed the building envelope along the perimeter of the property – allowing the necessary setbacks – but curved all three corners to soften the shape's sharpness.

The curve became a way for the nine-story building to tie into the surrounding landscape.

The primary circulation core is an exposed concrete stair and elevator shaft that draws attention to the northwest corner of the building. The curved concrete volumes are set off from the mass of the building – which is clad in light rust-coloured brick – with a narrow vertical relief between them.

Four upper floors are accentuated along the street façade with a brick frame and dark metal-faced floor plates. Floor-to-ceiling glazing wraps around the levels and brings light into the main office spaces. Native plants were integrated through the facade, adding bands of green.

Atop four subterranean levels, the ground level is split in half with entry spaces holding the street edge and vertical parking stackers oriented along the hillside. The ground level also serves as a horizontal break in the project, acting as a band around the rear of the project.

As the site slopes away, "the building seems to emerge from the forest, connecting back to the concrete core," Conte said.

With one facade exposed to the dense forest, the team saw an opportunity to create intimate spaces that connect with nature, orienting the occupants to the preserve through vaulted brick arches on the northwest and southwest sides.

The interiors were left intentionally blank with exposed waffle slab concrete ceilings and concrete floors to allow future tenants or owners to purchase levels individually and redesign the spaces to fit the ethos of their businesses.

The site's location negated the need for any mechanical heating system and the building's arrangement acts as a passive heating strategy.

"We positioned the main concrete circulation core at the north end of the site, allowing the full path of the sun during the day to follow the open floor plates, warming the glass portions of the facade from morning until sunset," the team said.

"The concrete and brick also act as a thermal mass, trapping warmth from the sun and releasing it at night."

Other recent projects completed in Colombia include a brick-lined restaurant conversion by Lorenzo Botero and Martín Mendoza and a fabric fog catcher structure by Alsar Atelier and Oscar Zamora – both located in Bogotá.

The photography is by Matteo Soto and Rodrigo Rios.

Project credits:

Lead Architects: StudioSC, Base Taller
Landscape: Greenfield Design Studio

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Canadian studio Omar Gandhi Architects has wrapped an elevated cabin in Corten steel on a forested hillside in Nova Scotia.

The 1,500-square foot (140-square metre) White Rock Cottage is nestled in a sloping five-acre site in the Gaspereau River Valley, which serves as a popular four-season retreat for skiing, hiking, cycling, and wine tourism.

"Our project was born from the aspiration to create a serene woodland retreat, a meditative escape," said Omar Gandhi, principal of his eponymous studio, which has offices in Halifax and Toronto.

"Diverging from neighbouring properties, we embraced a unique approach, blending craft, design, texture, and light variation to evoke an aura of mystery and darkness complemented by delightful surprises and breathtaking views of the forest and valley beyond."

The cottage overlooks the valley from its perch on a steep rocking incline, accessible by a tight driveway and a gravel footpath. Accessed through a slow, immersive climb, the cabin was designed as a solitary retreat.

"The purpose of this unique escape is to disconnect, unwind, and rejuvenate, providing friends, colleagues, and families with an environment that fosters improved mental well-being," the studio said.

The cabin's form – a large corrugated Corten steel box atop slender columns – is reminiscent of a duck blind. The smooth weathering steel entry is recessed underneath the volume next to a covered gravel patio.

Large steel canopies cantilever off the south facade shading the expansive glazing.

The entry stair leads up to the private sleeping level with two bedrooms and a bathroom. The bedrooms – outfitted with antique linens and hand dyed fabrics – feature large picture windows that look out to the east and west.

"Smoked oak interiors, complemented by raw steel shelving and wall-mounted industrial light fixtures, create a soothing atmosphere," the studio said.

Grey speckled floor tile wraps up the walls and across the ceiling of the bathroom where light filters through a floor-to-ceiling window.

A dimly lit stairwell rises to the public level. Mirroring the Corten steel hoop that encases the corner window from the outside, the interior features a raw steel bench that wraps along the south and east walls and ends in a wood-burning fireplace.

The interiors are complemented by a sleek kitchen with stainless steel cabinetry, shelves, and appliances.

The space is outfitted with an antique Arne Norell lounge chair, furniture by Luca Nichetto and Montauk Sofa, a white oak dining table by Mjolk and dining seating by Nick Mazerolle and Hannah Newton.

"An eye-catching chandelier, created in collaboration with Concord Lighting, adds a focal point, while the juxtaposition of contemporary and antique furniture alongside clean stainless and raw steel accents adds an element of intrigue and joy," said the studio.

A Corten steel roof hatch leads up to a 600-square foot (56-square metre) roof patio with dining and lounge space surrounded by Japanese maples and panoramic views of the tree canopy.

"The landscape design harmoniously blends with the woodland environment, leaving a light footprint," the studio said. "Rainwater is thoughtfully captured and stored for irrigation while existing trees offer shelter from the summer sun."

The Gaspereau River Valley is the unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq indigenous community and holds historical and cultural significance for the Acadian community, who named it after the gaspereau fish.

Located near the town of Wolfville, the valley is home to a thriving agricultural industry, producing dairy, apples, and wine.

Recently, Omar Gandhi Architects completed another Corten steel-wrapped residence in British Columbia modelled after a mountain beetle to protect from wildfires.

The architect was also part of the jury for the 2023 Dezeen Awards.

The photography is by Ema Peter.

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Mexican architect Frida Escobedo has completed a seaside resort in the Yucatán Peninsula with wooden guest quarters suspended on stilts.

Known as Boca de Agua, the complex includes 26 vacation rentals along the Laguna de los Siete Colores (Lagoon of the Seven Colors) in Bacalar, Quintana Roo.

"Built at the intersection of ecosystem preservation and well-being" the project resulted from a "desire to create a place that contributes to environmental, social, and cultural regeneration while offering its guests an equally regenerative, unique and relaxing experience," the team said.

The 26 freestanding villas – including 22 suites – function as treehouses, lifted on pillars to reduce the environmental impact of the ground plane and to raise guests into the leafy jungle landscape.

The raised units left 90 per cent of the land intact and are designed to age naturally over time with a breezy wooden pavilion structure.

Sand-coloured concrete staircases with thin metal railings rise to the raised units, which have shed roofs.

Sourced from a FSC-certified forest logging program, the dark-coloured local Chicozapote wood creates a rhythm across the facades, which is punctuated by vertical window mullions and slatted railings.

Boca de Agua's in-house team and local artisans used recycled wood from a nearby plywood processor to design the furniture within each unit – as well as selecting exclusive pieces from Mexican and local brands including Bandido Studio, Cacao Design, Nossara Towel and Hacha Ceramics.

The most notable rental is the Masterpool Jungle Treehouse with a private pool and terrace. The light-filled villas offer views out in every direction with double-height windows.

Frida Escobedo also designed the complex's amenity spaces including a reception area and offices, as well as a restaurant, bar and kitchen. Those are complemented by public exterior spaces including a rooftop with a lagoon view, terraces and a pier, which all connect back to the villas by curated pathways.

"With references to local culture, the common areas serve as visual anchors in the landscape," the team said. "The experience's design functions as a modern reflection of the traditional social centres with stone temples and wooden houses of the Yucatán region."

The pool is surrounded by emerald green subway tile and features hammocks strung across the water. The pier has a simple wooden structure that could be hung with fabric for shading. The common areas feature plush, off-white loungers that contrast the natural tones.

Following a framework of regenerative tourism, the project works to contribute to the local economic development as well as conserve the landscape in which it sits.

An on-site wastewater treatment plant ensures that no waste ends up in the lagoon, and the facility teamed up with local community, nonprofit, and academic organizations to rehabilitate the area's mangrove ecosystem.

Additionally, Boca de Agua worked with the nonprofit organization Mono Araña to protect and expand the natural habitat of the endemic spider monkeys, who roam the property.

The studio is led by Frida Escobedo, who was recently awarded the Le Prix Charlotte Perriand for 2024. She is currently working on a design for an addition to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The photography is by César Béjar.

Project credits:

Architecture: Frida Escobedo
Design team: Héctor Arce, Rogelio Morales, José María Gómez de León, Matthew Kennedy

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California studio Field Architecture designed this Sonoma Valley house out of a trio of fanning copper-clad pavilions with butterfly roofs.

Named Madrone Ridge, the 4,920 square-foot (460 square-metre) house sits within the watershed of northern California's Russian River.

Dry in the summers with heavy rainfall in the winter, the area's geography informed the design, as did the client's desire to co-inhabit the land with the region's plants and animals.

"We looked to the bush – those forested, undeveloped areas of nature that surround the house – while allowing the built structures to adapt to the natural terrain," the studio said.

"By simultaneously folding the house inward on itself and reaching outward to the land, we established a homestead in a transitional space that sustains human activity as well as wildlife."

Palo Alto-based Field Architecture designed the home around the presence and absence of water in the unique microclimate, with the project completed in 2021.

"The cyclical presence of water metaphorically carves a path through the house and captures the poetic experience of falling and flowing water, rejoicing in this precious resource." the studio said.

"By surrendering the manmade environment to the same natural forces that shape the land, the house collaborates with the natural hydrological systems that nurture the landscape."

Tucked among trees on a hill overlooking the valley's vineyards, the house welcomes residents and visitors along a gravel and stone pathway.

A 500-year-old cedar wedge provides a bench for reflection in the entry garden.

The home's circulation follows the metaphorical flow of water, with copper-clad pavilions connected by glazed corridors. Two stone bases serve as the foundation for the pavilions that house the living areas.

"As the walls mature, their patina records the natural effects of the climate while also resisting regional risks: rain, drought, fire, and sun," the studio said.

The roofs – composed of two triangular planes each that slope toward the centre – collect rainwater and redirect it to river-rock basins.

"As the water spirals down from the roofs in the interstitial spaces between the pavilions, the structures appear to catch rain from the clouds and pass it softly to the underground aquifer."

The roof planes fold down along the perimeter of each pavilion, turning to copper screens that create shadow patterns on the interior spaces.

The westernmost pavilion holds a library and living space, while the central pavilion houses the kitchen and dining areas. Utility and storage elements are integrated into the room's vertical surfaces.

The interior palette uses natural materials like stone and oak and madrone wood finishes.

The glazed walls disappear into concealed compartments to open the pavilions to the northside patio and pool area.

Through another transparent breezeway – whose floor is lined with river rocks, once again referencing the influence of water on the site – the home's private areas are located in the eastern two-storey volume, which holds four suites.

Upstairs, stone flooring transitions to wood and a windowed wall in the staircase looks out to the surrounding forest.

Field Architecture often uses local, reclaimed wood to outfit its designs like in a nearby synagogue and ranch house further south in Portola Valley.

The photography is by Joe Fletcher.

Project credits:

Lead Architects: Jess Field, AIA, LEED AP, Stan Field, RIBA, SAIA, Assoc. AIA
Design Team: Ann Lowengart Interiors
Project Team: Daniel Widlowski, AIA, Brian Washburn, AIA, Mark Jardine
MEP Engineering: Engineering 350
Civil Engineering: Munselle Civil Engineering
Structural Engineering: Strandberg Engineering
Landscape Architect: Lutsko Associates
General Contractor: Dowbuilt

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Mexican studio Colectivo C733 has created a square-shaped pedestrian pier that hovers over a coastal lake in Bacalar, Mexico to serve as an aquatic exhibit, protecting the site from urbanisation and human activity.

Ecoparque Bacalar, completed in January 2023, is a delicate boardwalk that stretches 20,451 square feet (1,900 square metres) over a 17-acre (70,000 -square metres).

The Bacalar Lagoon in Quintana Roo is home to the world's largest freshwater bacterial reef and living stromatolites, an invaluable evolutionary treasure that gives the water its vibrant teal shade.

The shore features one of the last remaining mangroves in Bacalar, as the coastline has been threatened by urban sprawl.

"The project's main strategy is to minimize the impact of human activity by reducing the program, acting with precision, and treading lightly on the rich flora and fauna," Colectivo C733, which is based in Mexico City, told Dezeen.

The 2,625-foot (800-meter) long open-air pier forms a square, looks out in every direction, and varies in height to avoid disturbing the mangroves while allowing visitors to glide out over the water.

The slope of the pier casts an elongated shadow across the water during the daytime.

The efficient structural system was constructed with local wood and functions as a column, beam and foundation all at the same time.

Trailing through meandering pathways from the street, visitors arrive in the centre of the western side, where service areas, restrooms, and a research laboratory are built into the pier's solid form. Four small pavilions serve as the only interior space.

The rest of the pier is flat and uncovered – with guardrails where needed but otherwise open to the landscape – using the treeline as shade where possible.

"The project reduces the amount of built space, reinforcing the strategy and the site's natural systems," the studio said.

Instead of inhibiting the view or threatening the ecosystem, the team opted to inscribe the museum exhibit on the pathway, carving a timeline of the area's biodiversity onto the wood and inviting visitors to engage with the environment.

"The landscape strategy mitigates water pollution through natural filters, depressions, rain gardens, and the rehabilitation of degraded mangroves, while a museum exhibit raises awareness of the area's unique biodiversity," the studio said.

Ecoparque Bacalar has been shortlisted in the infrastructure and transport architecture category of the 2023 Dezeen Awards.

Colectivo C733 – a collaboration between Carlos Facio, Eric Valdez, Israel Espín, Gabriela Carrillo and José Amozurrutia – recently completed a brick music school topped with a soaring timber roof in Nacajuca and a marketplace with an inverted trapezoidal roof structure in Matamoros, Mexico.

The photography is by Rafael Gamo.

Project credits:

Architecture: Colectivo C733: Carlos Facio, Eric Valdez, Israel Espín, Gabriela Carrillo and José Amozurrutia
Design Team: Fernando Rodríguez, Montserrat Loyola, Dino del Cueto, Santiago Blanco, Carolina Andrade, Karim Gómez
Structure: Óscar Trejo
Electrical and mechanical engineering: Spl, Riparia
Bioremediation Strategies: Taller Nuevos Territorios
Mangrove restoration strategies: Dra. Claudia Teutli and Dr. Jorge Herrera
Other consultants: Dra. Luisa Falcón, Ing. Juan Ansberto, Luz en arquitectura, Pedro Lechuga, TEMAS MX
Museography: Dra. Luisa Falcón, Laguna
Contractor: Zenith
Client: SEDATU, Municipio de Bacalar

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Mexican studio TO Arquitectura has worked with the local community to create a music school that features a vault made from recycled and donated masonry in Mexico City.

Known as the Kithara Music Kiosk, the 645-square foot (60-square metre) project sits on an 860-square foot (80-square metre) corner lot in the Yuguelito neighbourhood. TO Arquitectura completed the project in March of 2022.

Yuguelito is located in Iztapalapa, an area that experiences high levels of conflict due to violence, poor soil quality and water scarcity.

Set along the base of the Xaltocan Volcano, an earthquake in 1985 reduced Yuguelito to rubble, and the community has been working to improve the soil for construction and to re-establish the residential area for the last forty years.

In 2015, the Kithara Project – a classical guitar education program based in Boston, Massachusetts – arrived in the area to offer free music lessons to the community using one of the most popular instruments in the world.

To show their appreciation, the community members donated a small plot next to the local library for a guitar classroom, and TO Arquitectura held a workshop with the guitar students to develop the designs for a music school.

The resulting structure is a rectangular space that sits diagonally on its site, orienting toward the volcano and the intersection rather than the street grid. This allows the building to be opened up to the views when it serves as a stage for events in the neighbourhood.

The team employed recycled and donated materials and labour from three local builders.

The open-air, pavilion-like vault is composed of different types of donated masonry, including red brick, cement blocks, volcanic stone, and a red stone called tezontle.

The two-storey vault serves as a shelter for a wooden stand made of reclaimed lumber. A set of concrete stairs climbs up to a set of raked, wooden bleachers that form the classroom space.

A small restroom is tucked underneath the staircase and the landing is used as a teaching platform.

The underside of the bleachers functions as a bandstand with double-height wooden doors swinging open to the community. The reclaimed wood was cut into small sections and assembled like tiles over the doors to create a varied pattern.

Light and airflow through the ground-floor space from doors on each end, while mismatched ceramic pendant lights serve as a small suspended detail.

The combination of wood and masonry creates "an acoustic balance between sound absorption and reverberation," the studio said.

Integrated metal scuppers run along the intersection of the vault and the wall and capture rainwater that is piped into a collection chamber and a small garden.

"Nowadays Kithara Music Kiosk has surpassed its intended uses, and the community has used it for making different events like theatre arts presentations, choir concerts and different types of social gatherings," the studio said.

"It has a personal space scale but it definitely resonates as a collective space."

Kithara Music Kiosk has been shortlisted in the small architecture project category of the Dezeen Awards 2023.

TO leaders Carlos Facio and José Amozurruita are also members of Mexico City's Colectivo C733 with Gabriela Carrillo, Eric Valdez, and Israel Espín. Together they have created a brick music school with a coconut wood roof in Nacajuca and a market with an inverted trapezoid-shaped roof structure in Matamoros.

The photography is by Jaime Navarro and Santiago Arau.

Project credits:

Architecture: TO (Carlos Facio, José Amozurrutia)
Project team: Lizeth Ríos, Úrsula Rebollar, Lena Arsenijevic
Client: Matthew Rode, Kithara Foundation
Structural: Armando Pelcastre
Construction: TO, maestro Pablo Escobar
Landscape: Entorno, Tonatiuh Martínez

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Mexican studio S-AR has completed a complex spread over a series of buildings oriented around a central platform as a glamping retreat in Nuevo León, Mexico.

The studio – formerly known as Stacion ARquitectura – designed the forest destination for Glamping Concéntrico and The Outlands in 2022.

Collectively, the structures measure 2,270 square feet (210.75 square metres), spread throughout the wooded area on the outskirts of Monterrey in Sierra de Santiago.

The project works to create multiple levels of connections: between people and nature, among structures in a specific landscape, and between the buildings and the forest.

The buildings – composed in chromatic palettes of grey, black, white, yellow and red – are absorbed by the forest's browns, greens, and blacks, connecting to the landscape and each other through material and program.

The structures weave "the goodness of protection and security in architecture with the forest's force and apparent unchangingness," the studio said.

A central rectangular platform serves as the heart of the campsite with a sunken circular seating area around a campfire and an open-air dining area.

The gathering space has concrete and stone walls, as well as tree bark fillers. Raw wood tables and benches add warm accents.

Adjacent to the gathering space – and up a set of concrete steps – is a multi-use room built on a platform from a pre-existing terrace with an old chimney. Constructed with a combination of steel and wood, it runs the length of the central platform.

A thin corrugated metal roof wraps down and around three sides of the building with floor-to-ceiling glass walls that retract and open to the gathering space.

Inside, warm wood panelling juxtaposes the rough stone fireplace, while a circular central window contrasts the orthogonal lines.

Oriented along the width of the gathering space is a rectangular concrete box that holds the kitchen. Black steel doors roll to the sides to reveal a linear cooking space, which is backed by another steel gate, creating a breezing pavilion.

Separated throughout the sloped site are the sleeping cabins – distanced to ensure privacy for the guests. One cabin is a gabled form raised on a concrete platform with a semi-circular terrace.

The cabin is wrapped in silver corrugated metal with black accents and a wood floor. The interior receives light on the gabled ends through a small porthole window on the uphill side and a large sliding door on the downhill side.

The other cabin – a small concrete box clad in blackened wood – is just big enough for a bed, tucked under a large square window in a wood-wrapped room. Guests can climb up to a roof terrace, protected by a thin red railing, via a ladder on the side.

The final structure is an enigmatic concrete cube that holds the common bathrooms.

The poured-in-place structure is marked by a narrow arched doorway and plays with geometry inside with a rectangular stall, a circular mirror, and a triangular-capped stall. Light filters in through skylight slits along the walls and wood accents relieve the solid concrete.

S-AR's affinity for exaggerated geometry and combining wood and concrete is evident in its design of a small chapel in Monterrey. The one-room building has a steeply sloping roof with an arched wooden framework inside.

The photography is by The Raws.

Project credits:

Architects in charge: César Guerrero, Ana Cecilia Garza
Collaborators: Carlos Morales, María Sevilla, Kimberley Loya, Narda Rigal
Video: Hugo Tirso - Mavix
Builder / General contractor: Daniel Hernández
Interior design: S-AR, Juan Pablo Lojero
Landscape design: S-AR, Juan Pablo Lojero
Supervision: Daniel Hernández, Juan Pablo Lojero, S-AR

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Rapidly growing Austin is set to see its skyline transformed by the emergence of several supertall skyscrapers in the coming years, but is this a cause for celebration or concern?

As America's second-fastest growing economy, Austin's population is expected to reach 3.6 million people by 2040, and various city initiatives are addressing growth in the region.

The population growth has spurred an influx of global manufacturing industries and necessitated a rise in construction, according to Emily Risinger, the director of planning and urban design for the Downtown Austin Alliance, an NGO involved in advocacy.

"The construction of supertall towers very much fits within this larger context of growth and of downtown Austin being the biggest nexus of activities in our region," she told Dezeen.

Skyscrapers under construction in the city include Gensler's 875-foot-tall (268 metres) Sixth and Guadalupe mixed-use skyscraper and another by HKS called The Republic, a 710-foot-tall (216 metres) office tower, designed with North Carolina-based Duda Paine Architects that is estimated to open in 2025.

Rising above them all will be Kohn Pedersen Fox's (KPF) 1,022-foot-tall (311 metre) Waterline project, which will be the tallest building in Texas when it is completed.

Supertalls bringing liveliness

Predictably, their presence is controversial among the city's residents, although some see them as exciting symbols of Austin's rise.

"These supertalls are bringing this liveliness and neighborliness back to our downtown because they are really well designed and made for urban living," said Reisinger.

Others are less complimentary, with accusations of elitism levelled at the projects.

Dean Almy, the program director for urban design at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, said that as building heights continue to rise they form "sky cities" far above the public space.

Embedded parking levels on the lower storeys creates a class-dividing dead zone between those who live above the city and the ground-level tenants, he argued.

"They're not really dealing with the problems of Austin," said Almy, who previously served as the chair of the city's Design Commission and the founding chair of the Texas Society of Architects Urban Design Committee.

"You can go a quarter-mile high if you want to. What are the limitations?"

In 2012, the city's Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan pushed for additional housing that was dense in downtown but preserved the landscape as much as possible.

And since 2014, a variety of code changes have made it easier for developers to build skyscrapers in the city as long as they provide funding for the streestscape, utilise sustainable design and contribute to affordable housing.

At the same time, Austin has attempted to introduce guardrails to ensure that constructing large buildings doesn't sacrifice public accessibility, urban friendliness or market affordability in favour of breaking records.

For instance, the city's Great Streets program, an urban initiative to increase pedestrian friendliness and access to public transit infrastructure, has taken on the challenge of keeping up with the rapid development.

Sometimes, the city's embracing of supertalls comes into conflict with these priorities – as in the case of HKS's Wilson Tower.

Originally intended to be Texas's tallest building at 80 storeys when its design was unveiled in January, the tower's height was halved following an unsuccessful review with the City of Austin's Design Commission, though the commission was careful to note that it wasn't its decision that prompted the revision.

A non-binding report by the commission said the tower should make changes to comply with guidelines that benefit the general public.

"Downtown belongs to everyone"

The Design Commission pointed to the tower's failure to acknowledge the neighbouring Brushy Square and fully support pedestrian safety and Austin's public art culture.

"Downtown belongs to everyone, and should be accessible to the general public," Austin Design Commission chair Jen Weaver told Dezeen.

"The project sits on one of four open public squares downtown – and did not acknowledge the square," Weaver continued, noting that the architects and developers on the project were frustrated with the commission's motion.

"Large empty lobbies, monolithic walls, unsafe pedestrian zones, tall parking podiums, service spaces fronting public squares downtown – could not be more elitist."

While the original design of the tower did not exceed Austin's 25:1 floor area ratio density cap, it fell short in addressing the city's guidelines for public space and art, pedestrian safety, approachability and connection to the street, and creating a human scale on the ground floor.

As well as reducing its height, HKS Austin and developer Wilson Capital have since reimagined how the tower interacts with the ground floor and the site's public square in order to comply with guidelines and requirements. The company said that economic factors were the deciding factor in the revision.

Wilson Tower is scheduled to break ground this summer.

"We are making some changes to the ground floor in response to the Design Commission's feedback and changes to the vertical nature of the building in response to current market conditions," Wilson Capital president Taylor Wilson told Dezeen in July.

Looking ahead, economic factors are likely to continue playing a leading role in determining the future of Austin's skyline, says Almy.

"It's driven by the market, and as best that I can tell, it seems to have a kind of economic horizon," he said, explaining that developers are hedging their bets with mixed-use programming, rather than building the office towers of the 1980s.

While he doesn't expect Austin's market to drop, saying that a project in the sweet spot is a "relatively safe" endeavour, he is unconvinced about the viability of a tower measuring over a thousand feet (300 metres), when taking into account current interest rates.

"Six hundred feet tall (180 metres) seems to be the sweet spot right now," he said.

A variety of supertall skyscrapers have been built or proposed for the first time in many North American cities such as Brooklyn, Miami and Toronto. Last year, Dezeen rounded up six North American supertalls currently in the works.

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Local studio Heryco has completed a renovation of a pink apartment building with arches influenced by the form of aqueducts in the city of Querétaro, México.

The 5,920-square foot (550-square metre) building was completed in 1994 two blocks from the city's iconic Querétaro Aqueduct.

Heryco converted the previous building into a restored apartment block that holds four spacious, three-bedroom apartments and a ground-floor architecture office that serves as the street-level connection and anchor.

"Our inspiration blends history and modernity, taking the curves of the building as a starting point and using the warm colors of Querétaro's traditional local quarry to create a contemporary and youthful space," the studio told Dezeen.

In order to achieve a monotone pink, the studio clad the structure in Nanocal-pigmented lime stucco across the facade and courtyards.

The local material blends in with the surroundings, resonating with colonial architecture and reinforcing the studio's "commitment to the local identity and culture".

Previously square windows were capped by arched steel frames that were painted one shade darker than the walls to create contrast.

The arched motif continues to the interior courtyard with curved portals and exterior window frames.

Greenery climbs up the pink walls and spills over the terraces, while white globe sconces illuminate the passageways.

The renovation revealed an outdated construction system – based on steel beams and lightweight concrete slabs – that limited options and prevented the studio from demolishing partition walls.

This led the team to search for ways to reinforce the building's structure and repair the corroded roof without making too many interventions into the floorplan.

"We managed to find an aesthetic solution by leaving the exposed steel beams uncovered, enhancing the spaciousness and natural lighting in the spaces," the studio said, noting that it also added steel details like a gate.

On the interior, the studio configured three interlocking, two-story apartments around a central stair corridor. The fourth apartment stacks on top of the others and holds the north end of the building.

The apartments are set up to be used as Airbnb rentals, and each of the terraces open views out to the surrounding landscape.

As part of the renovation, the studio also installed an efficient heating system, ensured optimal water pressure at all times and selected high-quality furnishings.

"To complement the modern aesthetics of the building, we integrated artwork by various Mexican artists, creating a unique and sophisticated atmosphere," the studio said.

Contrasted to the pink exterior, the architecture office is finished in white with off-white steel details and open wooden shelving. Globe-shaped lighting is suspended in the office.

The renovation gave new life to an existing building while preserving its historical details while adding accomodations in a reclaimed space.

The renovation also "reduces pressure on land use and prevents uncontrolled urban expansion".

Also in Querétaro, Cuartopiso and Barragán Arquitectos recently completed an apartment building with planted balconies and Reims 502 topped a basalt-clad home with a pool.

The photography is by Ariadna Polo.

Project credits:

Architect: Heryco
Lead architect: Luis Carlos Aguilar González

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Local architecture office Superlimão Studio has created a lifted building with a tree-like structure constructed using mass timber for a McDonald's restaurant in São Paulo.

Located at one of the busiest intersections of São Paulo, the 2,150-square foot (220-square metre) building is part of the American fast food chain's "Recipe for the Future" initiative and was completed in 2023.

The design utilises a biomimetic approach, drawing inspiration from the trees located in the median of the adjacent Avenue Bernardino de Campos — which are the last remaining trees in the area, according to the studio.

Superlimão Studio employed cross-laminated timber (CLT) pillars with diagonal branching bracing to overcome the maximum spans of the materials to reinforce a  "connection with nature and the sustainability theme throughout the project," the team said.

The design and its prominent location were also intended to act as a showcase to pedestrians and drivers, modelling sustainable construction practices to the public.  he studio said the building is the "most sustainable McDonald's in Brazil".

"Since environmental awareness is just as important as actions, we decided to go beyond the project itself, turning it into a powerful tool for environmental education and awareness," Superlimão partner Lula Gouveia said.

"From the project's inception, we have been steadfast in promoting the sustainability narrative and the impact this theme would have when implemented in a democratic environment like McDonald's," added Superlimão associate Maria Fernanda Elaiuy.

The design uses engineered wood from floor to ceiling that can be seen from the street through glass curtain walls and exposed to occupants through an opening in the finish layers.

The off-site prefabrication of the CLT structure minimised material loss, reduced energy consumption, and diminished the impact of the construction on the site and the surrounding neighbourhood.

On the ground floor, a glass box and drive-thru line are tucked under a heavy wooden platform that holds the main dining area, which functions like a tree canopy. Horizontal sunshades band along the glazed façade to control sunlight and regulate internal temperature.

The building is topped with a green roof that also helps regulate internal temperature. Rainwater and air conditioner water output is collected for reuse.

Inside, conventional finish materials were exchanged for sustainable alternatives from local suppliers.

"For example, porcelain tiles were replaced by Concresteel and recycled PET laminate was used instead of traditional melamine," the team said.

The ground floor space contains four self-service kiosks, a checkout area, the McCafé and a dessert kiosk made from 100 per cent recycled propylene. A large staircase with a curving wooden railing wraps up to the upper level.

Inspired by the surrounding schools and colleges, the team installed a set of bleachers in one corner of the upper level to provide a relaxed environment for relaxing, socializing, and studying.

A yellow path on the floor guides customers through the design, and QR codes can be scanned to learn more about the sustainable features.

"This is an innovative step, marking the first time that McDonald's and Superlimão have created a self-explanatory project, allowing visitors to intuitively understand the principles behind this construction.," the team said.

Other noteworthy designs of McDonald's restaurants include AIA Gold Medal-winning architect Carol Ross Barney's design for the company's Chicago flagship restaurant.

Some of Superlimão's other hospitality and retail designs include a sunken tap room and beer garden encased in Gabion walls in Ribeirão Preto and a tea shop with a rope and mirror staircase in São Paulo.

The photography is by Maíra Acayaba.

Project credits:

Architecture: Superlimão
Architecture team: Lula Gouveia, Thiago Rodrigues, Antonio Carlos Figueira de Mello, Maria Fernanda Elaiuy, Ricardo Tortorello, Brunna Dourado, Heloisa Bataier, Liliana Esteves, Amanda Locatelli, Fernando Ferrari, Vitor Curti, Fernanda Martins Rodrigues, Ana Galante, Marilia Vicentini, Paula Melardi, Alexandre Ceravolo, Beatriz Zanella, Anna Julia Senno, Julyana Yamamoto
CLT Structure: Urbem
Incorporation: Noah Tech
CLT structure assembly: Cubicset
Floor and wall covering: Concresteel
Furniture covering in recycled PET sheet: Ibrap and Lamiecco
Lining: Heradesign – Knauf

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American firm Studio of Metropolitan Design Architects has renovated a stone Tudor Revival house and added a pavilion-like concrete extension in Wilmington, Delaware.

Led by Elie-Antoine Atallah, Philadelphia-based Studio of Metropolitan Design Architects (SoMD) completed the Katzin Residence in December 2022.

The 1,200-square foot (110-square metre) home was built in the 1920s by architect Walter Carlson for DuPont lawyer CR Mudge on six acres downriver from Philadelphia.

The scope of the project included a 1,800-square foot (170-square metre), double-height addition to increase daylight and add spacious modern living that contrasted the existing eclectic, "traditional" spaces.

The original house – a stacked stone composition with a steeply sloped roof dotted with intricate brick chimneys – underwent an interior renovation with an updated kitchen, dining room, bathroom, pantry and cloakroom.

Unobtrusive wooden doors – with integrated air shafts – open like a portal from the dining area into the new living room addition that was designed to be "a temple of light, sitting atop a hill".

A double-height glass pavilion brings light in from every direction through floor-to-ceiling windows framed in bold blue metal and reflects it from the glossy tile floor.

"The modern addition is an interpretation of the existing traditional elements of the house," the studio said.

The stone-coloured concrete walls were formed with sanded and brushed wood to create their texture, while the columns are polished and glossy to create contrast.

A reinterpretation of the walnut-stained panelling in the original house, sustainably sourced sycamore panelling with clear-cut lines was used for the cabinets along the west wall.

"The space changes character throughout the day, admitting abundant light in the morning, tapering at noon, and streaming from clearstory windows in the afternoon," the studio told Dezeen.

The large open space is flexible and can be used as a breakfast area, fireside seating or living room, with the entertainment centre concealed in the panelling.

The space integrates various systems with subtle details to achieve a simple, minimal space. Geothermal heating and cooling control the temperature, while smart shades drop from the ceiling to mitigate solar heat gain.

Radiant heating continues throughout the addition to the portico where an outdoor fireplace creates a covered seating space on the south end of the house.

"For me, architecture is a sequence of spaces carved by light and shadows," Atallah said. "Programmatically, the spaces need to exist with supporting light to fulfill the function, and the sun path is critical to this endeavor in as much as from an environmental perspective."

Nearby, hospitality firm Method Co recently renovated a Gilded Age-era bank into a boutique hotel that has Wilmington's first rooftop bar.

The photography is by Jeffrey Totaro.

Project credits:

Architects: Studio of Metropolitan Design Architects
Lighting: Studio of Metropolitan Design Architects
Interior design: Studio of Metropolitan Design Architects
Structural engineering: Harman Group
Millwork: London Grove
Concrete work: Tri-State Construction
Furniture: Heman Miller/Knoll

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Skylab Architecture has created a set of prefabricated A-frame cabins in Winter Park, Colorado that reinterpret traditional ski chalets with contemporary practices.

Portland-based studio Skylab completed the A-Frame Club in 2023 by placing 31 compact cabins in a hexagonal arrangement that when repeated creates a snowflake pattern across the sloped three-acre lot.

The 23,450-square foot (2,180-square metre) hospitality project "takes design cues from 1970s American ski culture and the iconic A-frame cabins of that era," the studio told Dezeen.

Immersing guests in the natural landscape of the wooded site along the Fraser River, the project touches lightly on the land with elevated cabins and a network of boardwalks that maximise interaction with the mountain site while preserving the trees and natural watershed.

The cabin arrangement, while close in proximity, affords each guest privacy and solitude.

The panelized structure of the 475-square foot (44-square metre) cabins was prefabricated by Plant Prefab in Los Angeles and then assembled on-site.

The steep black metal roofs give way to warm vertical cedar boards. Tall triangular windows under the eaves bring natural light into the interiors and direct views toward mountain vistas.

Each cabin includes a living room, kitchenette, and bathroom on the main floor and a lofted bedroom space.

"The cabins are designed for adaptability," the team said.

"The lofted bed is accessible by a ship's ladder, and the living room couches can be folded out. Guests are in control of their space, from individual keypads for self-check-in to simple, automated controls for heating, cooling, and lighting."

Lined with warm-toned cedar panels and custom millwork, the interiors include custom Malm fireplaces and vintage furnishings inspired by midcentury motifs and classic ski advertisements.

"Tactile custom finishes – including breeze blocks, bespoke woodwork, stained glass, leather upholstery, and even Noguchi-style lighting – emphasize craftsmanship while natural elements like cedar infuse a sense of warmth," said the studio.

Each unit also includes energy-efficient heating, lighting, and low-flow fixtures.

Prefabrication allowed the team to arrange the cabins around the mature evergreen trees, tie them into the urban fabric of the ski town, and limit material waste through efficient practices and systems.

A historic saloon building holds the corner of the site. It has been converted into a gathering venue for guests and locals with a restaurant, bar, and heated "apres" deck with a pergola and fire pits.

In order to foster a sense of community spirit, the team included "a variety of zones were created for a mix of drinking, eating, socializing, and working".

"Curated with tongue-in-cheek novelty and a mid-century vibe, the A-frame cabins and Saloon create a destination that is both classic and novel."

Among Skylab's other Colorado projects is Owl Creek Residence, a triangular house with an exposed, intricate steel structure in Snowmass. The studio has also created large-scale structures, such as the Serena Williams building at Nike's corporate campus in Oregon.

The photography is by Stephan Werk and Kylie Fitts.

Project credits:
Architecture: Skylab Architecture (Jeff Kovel, Brent Grubb, Robin Wilcox, Conor Wood, Jeni Nguyen, Amy DeVall, Nick Trapani, Eduardo Peraza Garzon)
Interior design: Skylab Architecture
Civil Engineer: Bowman
Structural, mechanical, electrical Engineer: Resource Engineering Group (REG)
Geotechnical engineer: KC Hamilton Engineering, Inc
Branding: Wunder Werkz
Client: Zeppelin Development

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Local architecture studio Taller David Dana has stacked a series of boxes to create a vertical terraced house on a hillside in Mexico City.

Mexico City-based studio Taller David Dana completed the expansive 1,817-square metre design for Casa Madre in 2023, balancing staggered concrete volumes over five storeys in a quiet but urban area in the city's western limits.

Tucked between a large concrete complex and a red tile-roof Spanish-style house, the light grey concrete house stands out in the greenery of the urban landscape, while disappearing from into the site's steep topography.

"From the higher street, the house registers as a single-floor residence where the rooftop appears to be merged with the landscape; but from the lower level, the whole five-level can be sighted by the guests," the studio told Dezeen.

With a "brutalist but refined character," exposed concrete serves as the finish material and versatile structure for the series of glass-railed terraces and solid box cantilevers that function top-down.

The entry is located on the top floor with public areas that serve as the heart of the home.

Inside, the kitchen features a solid, dark marble island and a glass display cabinet at its centre. A sliding glass wall leads into the open-plan dining and living room with double-height ceilings featuring heavy concrete-and-wood beams along the perimeter.

In addition to a glazed wall on the western side, the southern "front" side of the living room opens through large, rotating windows onto the upper terrace that frames views out toward the surrounding city and skyline.

"For the inner walls, a micro-cement render was used to soften the rough texture of the concrete, combined with wood elements and travertine floors that together configure a cozy and warm atmosphere to embrace the user," the studio said.

The studio lauded the furniture and art curatorship carried out by Ronit Stein of Asociación Arquitectura as one of the most striking features of the interior.

A central stair – with floating travertine treads and a thin metal railing – steps down to the private level with three en suites and a family room. The family room features soft wood floors, a dark floor-to-ceiling bookcase and access to an interior landscaped patio.

"This level is decorated with bespoke furniture, combined with art curatorship and decoration, standing out with a wooden desk and a dark-marble circle," the studio said, referencing the portal-like accent piece on the wall.

On the west facade, wooden slatted shutters shade the bathrooms.

Down another stairway, the home's amenity spaces are arranged underneath the primary suite's cantilevered form. An open-air bar and dining room pass onto a terrace with a rectangular swimming pool. This level serves as a shared space between the private areas of the home and the separate guest apartment.

Exterior pathways lead downward to lush vegetation in the small surrounding garden that is protected from the lower street by a privacy wall.

Atop the house is a planted roof and a solar array.

A few hours southeast in Oaxaca, Espacio 18 Arquitectura balanced a series of concrete boxes off a hillside. Elsewhere in Mexico City architecture studio Sordo Madaleno created a terracotta-clad apartment building with terraced levels.

The photography is by César Béjar and César Belio.

Project credits:

Office: Taller David Dana
Lead architect: David Dana Cohen
Curatorship: Ronit Stein, Asociación Arquitectura

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Local architecture studio Juan Campanini, Josefina Sposito has concealed an urban apartment building behind a simple aluminium facade in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The six-residence building, known as the Virrey Aviles Street housing, was completed in 2022 using a legal tool called "Fideicomiso," in which groups of middle-class residents can collectively invest in the development of small-scale buildings for homeownership in the often-unattainable housing market.

Juan Campanini, Josefina Sposito helped the residents purchase the typical 8.66-metre-wide parcel and then designed and constructed the 450- 450-square-metre building.

"In the context of Argentina's unstable financial system and the lack of long-term bank loans or large-scale public investments, this alternative system allowed us to face the owners' necessities while participating in every stage of the process," the studio said.

Located in the residential neighbourhood of Colegiales, the building features a two-metre-high wall along the street that folds up into a garage door for parking under the raised apartments.

Set 1.5 metres behind the property line, the building is raised on light-blue steel H-shaped columns. The facade is composed of corrugated aluminium with a silver anodized finish that is commonly used in roof cladding. The homogeneous surface is punctuated by 12 identical rectangular windows arranged in a grid.

"When seen from the site, its minimum thickness reveals its superficial behavior, performing as a falling veil that covers the building's front," the studio said. "In this way, the building creates a unified plain image towards the city, refusing to reveal any interior organization."

The open-plan ground floor contains a small concrete volume for the elevator, basement stairs and ductwork.

The rear edge of the property holds two small planted gardens divided by a concrete stair with a thin, white metal railing that rises the entire height of the building.

On each upper level, the stairs climb to an open-air landing in front of the mirrored elevator wall. The landing transitions through a blue metal gate to a small private terrace for each residence.

Each floor holds two studio apartments, which are balanced symmetrically across a central core space that is pulled three metres back from the building's edge.

"Hosting the unit's bathroom, kitchen and wardrobe, this condensed programmatic piece is detached from the building front, preventing it from being seen through the windows," the studio said.

The unit interiors are simple with polished concrete floors, rough concrete ceilings and flat white walls. Light filters into the units through two large windows that look out to the urban landscape beyond.

Atop the housing are two large roof terraces that are pulled back from the building's edge by a garden.

"From the height, the neighborhood's landscape emerges, and the project stands as a single part of the heterogeneous landscape of the city," the studio said.

Using a similar screening strategy, Adamo-Faiden employed garden balconies and mesh screens to provide privacy in the units of this apartment tower in Buenos Aires. Also, BHY Arquitectos created a similarly understated facade for an infill house in the city.

The photography is by Javier Agustín Rojas.

Project credits:

Architects: Juan Campanini Josefina Sposito
Project team: Julia Yabkowski, Valentina Lucardi
General contractor: Eminco Patagonia S.A.

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Local architecture studio Goiva has renovated a white brick house and added a pub-like social space to its basement in São Paulo, Brazil.

Located in the Pinheiros district on the west side of São Paulo, Casa Yuji is a 2,150-square-foot (200-square metre), two-bedroom house tucked into a 1,500-square foot (140-square metre) infill lot in the dense neighbourhood.

Architects Karen Evangelisti and Marcos Mendes from Goiva completed the renovation of the 40-year-old house in 2023.

In order to restructure an old house for a young person with a modern lifestyle, Goiva "opened up and integrated the spaces to create a contemporary architecture, but at the same time maintain the structure of a village house, typical of the neighbourhood where it is located".

A tall black privacy gate protects the street-side courtyard and opens to a three-storey white house with a flat roof that extends beyond the perimeter walls.

The team saved some of the original exterior walls and roof, reconfiguring an open interior and punching large cantilevered windows through the front facade, which form window-box benches on the interior.

"The concrete volumes of the windows stand out in the landscape, both for those who live in the house, bringing more light and space to the interior, and for those who walk around the neighborhood, and can see a little of the atmosphere of the residence," the team said.

The material palette is simple with white painted brick, smooth and board-formed concrete, and warm wood.

The home's solidity is set off by delicate metal details like stair-stepping black downspouts and thin white railings, as well as patterned surfaces like a Portuguese mosaic.

On the ground level, the rooms and corridors were opened up – adding a new supporting structure – to create one large social space that looks out onto the landscaped patio garden, which forms an insulated microclimate and adds privacy around the house.

"Changing the structure of the house, modernizing its daily life and use without interfering with the old language and history was by far our biggest challenge," Mendes said.

The team extended the kitchen and barbecue area with a new concrete block that connects to a rear deck and forms a terrace on the upper level.

The open plan is divided by a monolithic concrete stair that climbs up to the private areas of the house.

The top floor contains two bedrooms and a bathroom, which bring in light through circular, pivoting windows.

Simple furnishings adorn the interiors with furniture from national artists like Gustavo Bittencourt, Guilherme Wentz and Estúdio Bola.

From the back deck, a sculptural steel spiral staircase descends into an excavated basement that holds a small pub-like social space for entertaining.

Large leather and wood banquets hold one wall with small café tables and leather chairs sitting in the centre of the room.

A matte black band runs around the top of the wall and holds lighting that washes down the pale sage green walls and tile.

Floor-to-ceiling glass wall recedes completely opening the pub to an intimate subterranean garden.

The basement level also contains a parking area that ramps back up to the street level.

The team credited the biggest success of the project to its simplicity.

"From the outside, the atmosphere of simplicity, the cleanliness of the spaces, the unity and continuity of the rooms is what stands out," Goiva said.

Other recent renovations in São Paulo include an apartment with an exposed ceiling by Pascali Semerdijan Arquitectos and an overhauled apartment with green tiles by Casulo.

The photography is by Maira Acayaba.

Project credits:

Manufacturers: Boobam, Casulo Design, Deca, Guilherme Wentz, Gustavo Bittencourt, Jmar, Ladrilar, Lurca, Portobello, REKA, Wentz Design, estudiobola, kitchens
Project team: Karen Evangelisti, Marcos Mendes
Stairs: ICC Escadas
Landscape Design: Teco Paisagismo

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Brazilian practice Studio KUNZ has created a compact gabled house that cantilevers from a sloped site in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Completed in 2022 in the municipality of David Canabarro, Casa Trapézios – or the Trapezium House – is formed by two juxtaposed trapezoidal sections arranged back-to-back in a "reinterpretation of the gabled roof archetype".

Maurício Kunz, who leads Studio KUNZ, used the "oblique angles of trapezoidal forms [to] accentuate the perspective and provide visual dynamism to the facade".

The 1,830-square foot (170-square metre) house is divided down the centre ridge line, with the eastern half protruding over a retaining wall towards the street and the western half set back into the rising slope of the site.

The arrangement creates makes the structure appear balanced atop a slate staircase that provides a rustic base for the home's clean white lines.

Located on the urban edge of the town, the house caters to the client's love of the countryside with warm wood accents that reference the araucaria trees that frame the sloping site.

Vertical wood slats wrap the base and turn into a gate for the ramped driveway, while horizontal slats stack up marking the front door.

"This conjunction of materials and shapes gives to Trapezium House the feel of a country house," the studio said.

"Inclined slabs make up both the roof structure and the internal ceiling, maintaining the oblique lines of the facade in interior spaces," the studio explained.

"To keep the continuous ceiling surface, inverted beams were used throughout the building."

The split facade and doubled structure also mark the division between the private and public areas of the house.

The northern projecting volume includes the primary suite, two smaller bedrooms and a bathroom. The primary suite contains a balcony forming the cantilever and an extension to the east to give the suite more space.

Two steps down, the southern recessed volume includes an open-plan living, dining and kitchen area. A two-car garage is tucked at the rear of the house.

The living room has views in all four cardinal directions including east through a transverse corridor through the private half of the house.

Floor-to-ceiling windows and the continuation of the interior ceiling to the exterior soffit create a subtle transition to the outside, marked by a thin black, metallic frame.

In the dining area, a glass door opens to a wooden pergola that supports climbing plants.

"The palette of materials that unites wood, linen and burnt cement is enhanced by the white walls and ceiling, in a monolithic finish," the studio said.

"The fireplace and the wood stove complement the necessary coziness for the cold winter in this southern Brazilian region."

Other residential projects recently completed in Brazil include Denis Joelson's linear house with circular gardens and FGMF's airy home surrounded by a translucent shell.

The photography is by Ezequiele Panizzi.

Project credits:

Architect: Maurício Kunz
Structural engineer: Henrique Bertolini
Construction: OR Construções

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Local studio Práctica Arquitectura has elevated a concrete infill house with a red finish outside of Monterrey, Mexico.

Práctica Arquitectura completed the 1,615 square-foot (150-square metre) Casa Ederlezi on a small, rectangular lot measuring only five metres wide in the protected heritage neighborhood of San Pedro Garza.

"Combining classic elements of northwestern Mexican architecture with abstract contemporary features, Ederlezi's personality is deeply similar yet different from its context," the studio told Dezeen.

The plan locates circulation and service space along the site's edges and features a large courtyard in the center that divides the rest of the program into two volumes.

"The design embraces an open and ethereal space, while maintaining privacy through a boundary around the activities within," the studio said.

The street-facing facade has smooth red concrete in two tones – the darker lower level grounding the lighter upper levels – whose hues were inspired by the homeowner's travels through the Balkans.

A thin profile screen runs up the southern corner, providing both sunlight and privacy to the staircase within.

A covered entry opens to the central courtyard, which has a partly gravelled floor and houses green plants and a small tree.

Moving through the ground floor, a family living room steps up to a dining space and kitchen, while a smaller patio holds the back wall of the house.

A glazed walkway runs the length of the courtyard, connecting the two volumes with an interior space.

"The central concept behind the design of the house was to create a series of interconnecting gardens that would run the entire length of the property," the studio explained.

"By using these outdoor spaces to divide the house into different zones, it was possible to create an open and inviting atmosphere that would provide the clients with a sense of connectedness and harmony."

The second floor contains two bedroom suites.

An interior open-air terrace with a thin wood covering serves as the transition from the courtyard to the primary suite, which contains a private blue-toned patio at the back of the property.

The stairs continue to rise to a roof deck along the front edge of the house, whose serrated stair profile is visible from the street. The open-roof deck provides a 360-degree panoramic of the surrounding city and mountains.

To keep costs low, the team used traditional construction methods like concrete with lightened slabs.

The soft pink coating was applied throughout the interior. A stronger red colour was applied to metal beams, railings, and window mullions, making the details stand out in the otherwise simple and functional space.

Square saltillo tiles were used throughout the house, giving the floors and stair treads a warm feel.

"The project seeks [to] rethink the cadastral condition of the long and narrow plots in this area as a fertile typology to explore with volumes that are perforated, carved, and excavated in a dialogue between the personality of the user, the house, and its context," the studio said.

"The interior is distinct, with robust reddish atmospheres, patios, and landscaped spaces that invite a calmer, more intimate, and unplugged life."

Nearby in the village of El Barrial, Práctica Arquitectura designed a holiday home with a large pyramidal roof over the main living area. In Monterrey, Cadaval & Solà-Morales created an all-white cubic home.

The photography is by César Béjar unless otherwise stated.

Project credits:

Architect: Práctica Arquitectura, David Martínez Ramos
Design Team: Alejandro Gutiérrez
Construction: GC3
Landscape: Oswaldo Zurita

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Mexican architecture firm Estudio Atemporal has completed a gabled multi-building house that flows between indoor and outdoor living in Valle de Bravo.

Named Casa Mola, the 4,600-square-foot (430-square metre) house was completed in 2021 in a densely forested area.

Estudio Atemporal, which is based in Mexico City, arranged the spaces so the residents could live "more organically."

"Being inside protects from weather conditions and generates intimate moments, being outside extends the spatial appropriation to the entire forest, generating breaths from a more hectic life," the studio told Dezeen.

The project is composed of four structures: the main dogtrot-style house, a covered outdoor kitchen, a large sleeping cabin and a small sleeping cabin. The architecture studio aimed to blend the structures in with the context, allowing the site to be the design's key feature.

"The routes towards the different volumes allow direct contact with the environment," the studio explained. "The house, surrounded by the forest and away from close neighbors, is a place of silence and contemplation towards nature."

The volumes are constructed with light grey and sand-coloured smooth concrete and topped with timber gabled roofs with exposed rafters that cross the walls, extending from interior to exterior.

Wide slat shingles and brick walkways provide detail and texture, while black metal frames floor-to-ceiling glazing.

The arrangement of the volumes relates to the site's climate, topography, vegetation and sunlight. Rather than clearing trees to have enough space for the whole program, the team separated the rooms into small forest clearings and protected the existing trees.

"Their arrangement responds to a need to generate a series of experiences and routes between interiors and exteriors that are present at all times," the studio said. "In turn, this location avoids blocking the views between them and seeks to have optimal sunlight."

The main house uses a dogtrot passthrough to divide the public areas from the private zones. A bunk room holds one end of the rectangular plant, while an open living, dining and kitchen space comprises the other.

The interior is composed of natural colours and textures with smooth multi-toned concrete floors, wood and concrete built-in furniture, solid wooden doors and a waterfall kitchen island.

A black metal fireplace and chimney and dark kitchen cabinets accent the neutral tones with delicate pendant lights suspended under the exposed trusses. White straight-stacked backsplash tile has a similar shade to the white walls.

Adjacent to the main house is the pool deck with an outdoor kitchen. A black metal structure rises out of the brick deck and connects to a concrete wall, forming a breezy covered space with a white tiled counter and warm wood cabinet doors.

The main sleeping cabin is located downhill with two dark green bedrooms outfitted with neutral tones furnishings. The bathroom is finished with black walls and an oval stone sink. A floating wood counter and skylight above the tub lighten the space.

The smaller sleeping cabin is located uphill next to a parking area and contains a single suite.

In addition to preserving the existing landscape, the house aims to work in harmony with the land, utilizing local, low-maintenance materials and low-consumption lighting and equipment. The design also includes wastewater recovery and returns rainwater to the site.

Nearby in San Simón El Alto, Estudio Atemporal completed a holiday house with a metal oversized gabled roof. The studio also converted an industrial factory into a co-working space in Mexico City.

The photography is by LGM Studio.

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California's Tyreus Design Studio has completed a timber-clad house and entertainment barn renovation on a farm in Sonoma.

Architect Christie Tyreus of Sausalito-based Tyreus Design Studio designed the 2,400-square foot (220-square metre) farm house and 3,000-square foot (280-square metre) outdoor hospitality structure in 2021.

The 100-acre ranch features one of the largest organic food farms in the area and provides produce for notable Sonoma and Napa restaurants including Michelin star-rated Quince, Cotogna, and Chez Pannise.

The existing main house was constructed in the 1950s and the Tyreus team worked to combine traditional elements – like the original gabled roof form – with modern touches by opening up the house to expansive views and access through large openings.

Starting the material palette from scratch, the house integrates with the landscape rather than contrasting it. The light, warm shade of the Accoya wood siding and flooring aims to blend in with the summertime fields, which are reflected in broad expanses of glass.

"The client wanted a see-through house that would provide a feeling of deep connection to the farm throughout each space, no matter what season," the team told Dezeen, noting that the house "tries to get out of the way" allowing the focal point to be the landscape.

With the roof and modest footprint intact, the team recreated everything else, opening the exterior walls and small divided spaces into an open plan and removing dropped ceilings and attics in favor of vaulted ceilings.

"Different rooms in the house relate to different parts of the farm landscape," the team said. "Bedrooms overlook the pond, the kitchen is physically connected to the herb garden, and the family room leads to the entertaining patio with a view of the vineyard hillside."

The main gathering space looks out to the dramatic hillside and rows of plants.

The kitchen, which opens onto the large deck, serves as the heart of the house for entertaining and socializing. The space creates "the sense that the owner is cooking and entertaining in the fields and gardens instead of just viewing the surroundings", particularly with the island shaded by a nearby tree.

The white ceilings and walls conceal the structure, shades, wool insulation, and mechanical system for the motorized glazing, which allows the whole structure to open up.

The light-coloured standing seam metal roof reflects heat that helps cool the house, as does the whole-house fan and solar electricity.

Also overlooking the pond, sits the "star of the property" – the event barn.

"The space was transformed from a dilapidated barn into an incredible modern spectacle, which includes a badminton net and an entertainment area with a lounge, bar, and outdoor sleeping loft," the team said.

The black-painted interior of the space serves as a foil to the house with exposed systems and a pivoting garage door.

The custom floating bar can be arranged as one piece, disassembled into eight standing tables, reconfigured into four separate smaller bars or moved outside onto the deck.

The entertainment barn juxtaposes an old white farm barn that lies across a gravel drive.

Also in Sonoma County, Walker Warner Architects used a similar wood and black palette to transform a warehouse into a visitor center for a winery.

The photography is by Christopher Stark.

Project credits:
Architecture and interiors: Tyreus (Christie Tyreus, Bryn Namavari)
Contractor: Hanes Construction
Engineer: MKM Engineering
Geotechnical engineer: PJC & Associates
Electrical: CNC Electric

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New York-based studio O'Neill McVoy Architects has created a grey stucco house with a Z-shaped plan and an upward-pitched roof in Houston.

The 3,175-square-foot (300 square metres) home was completed in 2020 to replace a 1950s residence that was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, a Category 4 storm that caused extensive damage and loss of life in the region.

The Z-shaped footprint makes the most of the 8,000-square foot (740-square metre) trapezoidal lot, creating a "park-like front yard, and a private garden at the rear, maximizing daylight and natural ventilation to all spaces of the house," according to O'Neill McVoy.

Designed as a "mini-manifesto against McMansions," the house works to respect the scale and affordability of the original middle-class neighbourhood, while accommodating a non-traditional co-living arrangement.

The unadorned exterior is composed of three parts: a dove grey brick base – which wraps the structural piles and porous gravel that raise the house five feet above grade for flood resilience – smooth, light grey stucco and a charcoal standing-seam metal roof. Large windows with aluminium frames punctuate the facade.

"We saw the neighborhood's 6/12 roof pitch requirement not as a restriction, but as an opportunity to play with steep roofs in new ways to shape space and volume," the team said.

The primary roof slopes down toward the street, creating a single-storey profile. It was designed to guard against the strong southern and western sun; however the corner of the roof folds up at the entry to create a welcoming effect.

Meanwhile, the roof slopes up to the north, bringing light and views of the sky into the living room through clerestory windows.

"The intersection of these two roofs creates a curious profile on the north elevation which in hindsight has an echo of John Hejduk's animated forms," the studio explained.

A protected entry garden steps up to a foyer that provides views throughout the house and a living room that is lightened by a wall of glazing.

The north arm of the "Z" serves as the social space with a 1.5-storey open living, dining and kitchen area. A central stair separates the southern arm, which holds a private study, primary suite, and service areas.

Above, two family bedrooms flank the stair hall and another suite with windows on three sides holds the back corner of the house, allowing a friend to live privately within the home.

The interiors are light and spacious with white walls, white oak floors and thin steel railings. The lightness is juxtaposed with the detail and texture of warm mahogany cabinets and stone counters.

The client, David Mazella, praised the home's solidity and integrity, or "thisness."

"By 'thisness' I meant that the house had a wholeness and inevitability to its shape that felt fully finished and functional, like a spoon or a water tower," Mazella said. "Because what would you add to it?"

O'Neill McVoy's upturned roof strategy was also used in a Connecticut art studio However, the dark-stained cedar exterior gives way to an all-white interior that serves as a backdrop for the artist's work.

Other recent projects from the studio, which was founded in 2012, include a mass-timber children's museum placed within a 1920s powerhouse in the Bronx.

The photography is by Peter Molick, Grant Gay and O'Neill McVoy Architects.

Project credits:
Architect: O'Neill McVoy Architects (Beth O'Neill, Chris McVoy, Meghan O'Shea, Antoinette Nicholas, Irmak Ciftci)
Structural engineer: The Interfield Group
General contractor: Legion Custom Home Builders LLC

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Michael Hsu Office of Architecture has adorned its studio with wood-and-fabric lined walls and industrial details in Austin in order to create a material "representation" of its work.

Located in Austin's Rosedale neighbourhood, the 10,750-square-foot (1,000-square metre) studio combines elements of residential and warehouse architecture.

"The new studio provides us with the additional space we needed and is a physical representation of our process. The spaces are designed to facilitate how we work now – allowing for different modes, sizes, and shapes of collaboration." founder Michael Hsu said.

"We wanted to design a space for our team to develop curiosity and creativity while being surrounded by a community of talented people."

It was completed in July 2022 for its growing team. Michael Hsu Office of Architecture occupies the first and third floors of the three-storey building.

The exterior is wrapped in locally crafted terracotta block along the base and dark-coloured horizontal cladding around the top floors that is punctured by large windows.

The rectangular plan is bisected by a large pale green exterior staircase with a slatted roof to shade it from the Texas sun. Wooden soffits warm the exterior material with subtle blade signs directing circulation.

Inside, exposed steel trusses – painted white – add an atmosphere of industry to the space, while the thin black window frames and mullions provide delicate contrast.

"The spaces allow for different modes, sizes and shapes of collaboration across a larger footprint," the team said. "Humble materials were used in beautiful and unexpected ways."

"Bespoke furnishings and curated artwork throughout the space reflect a commitment to collaboration with MHOA's favorite fabricators and artists."

The ground floor – with conference rooms designated for entertaining clients scattered within the buzz of the office – prioritizes finish and formality with bold monochromatic colours.

The entry lounge is wrapped in light grey routed wooden wall panels and adorned with a vibrant painting by Patrick Puckett and a custom light fixture by Warbach Lighting in collaboration with artist Brandon Mike.

Grey drapes and scarlet-coloured velvet furniture serve as a plush alternative to the clean lines of the custom spalted maple and polished aluminium reception desk.

The open-plan workspace is full of light with Calacatta Gold Borghini marble and soft white details set off by raw white oak flooring and walnut desktops and millwork.

The casual workspace is juxtaposed with the "formal dining space" of the conference rooms. Draped in sapphire silk and mohair wall coverings, the conference rooms have custom tables by Michael Wilson and Drophouse, vintage chairs and suspended metallic light fixtures.

Upstairs, the light-filled elevator lobby has playful art inclusions like Shawn Smith's pixelated deer head sculpture and Hsu's vintage Ducati motorcycle.

The third floor serves as a collaborative space for the designers with "a hands-on material lab and a generous lounge and kitchen designed to support social connection".

A custom mint-green and chrome Litmus Industries cabinet divides the space and serves as an intimate moment within the open space full of combined white desks.

"It was important to the team to represent expertise and show exceptional hospitality to clients while being inclusive and accommodating to MHOA's designers," the studio said.

The office's affinity for soft jewel-toned furniture placed in large industrial spaces is evident in its 2019 design of Shake Shack's headquarters in New York and the recent conversion of a 1930s church for Argodesign's Austin office.

The photography is by Chase Daniel.

Project credits:

Architecture + interiors, FFE selection and procurement: Michael Hsu Office of Architecture
Custom light fixture: designed in collaboration with Warbach Lighting and artist Brandon Mike
Custom tables: Michael Wilson and Drophouse
Custom millwork and reception desk: Litmus Industries
Artists: Patrick Puckett, Denise Prince, Clare Grill, Seung Yul Oh, Dorota Jedrusik, Hugo Pernet and Paolo Arao

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Brazilian architect Denis Joelsons has completed a rectangular house in São Paulo, Brazil that is set into a slope composed of round garden terraces.

Aptly named Casa dos Terraços Circulares – or the House of Circular Terraces – the 2,725-square-foot (253 square metre) house is embedded within a forested lot outside of the city.

The house is oriented towards its garden, which features sinuous stone walls that loop and overlap, anchoring the house into the site, while narrow stone steps connect the flat grassed areas that mitigate the site's slope.

"The garden design takes inspiration from an ancient element found in different cultures, such as the agricultural terraces of the Incas, the elevated platforms of the Teotihuacans, or the Chinese terraces," Joelsons told Dezeen, referencing the six circular platforms of varying sizes that form the yard.

The terraces were constructed with the soil excavated for the foundation, reducing the need for concrete in the landscaping of the site.  They serve as retaining walls that help preserve the existing trees.

This heavy earthen curvature is juxtaposed with the linear house constructed with a prefabricated wooden structure.

Using square modules that reference traditional Japanese motifs and rhythms, the facade is a series of solid and glazed sections.

One side is more glazed than the other, and Joelsons oriented this side towards the south to create "beautiful light effects." Clerestory windows run along the north-facing side, at grade.

The home is organized around the garden plateaus with communal spaces opening to a small, tiled terrace that also connects to a stepped entrance adjacent to the driveway.

At one end of the house, a garage is embedded within the land and topped by a suspended balcony. The same retaining walls in the garden are integrated into the walls that support the covered garage.

At the other end are three private suites – each with two entrances for circulation and cross-ventilation. This creates a deep hollow in the centre of the plan – a living room that is stepped down from the balcony and suites that "echoes the geography of the valley" in section.

"While the roof is designed as a continual and levelled line in the horizon, the floor surfaces conform to different layers at the ground, which configure a series dynamic spaces with varied ceiling heights," Joelsons said.

The interior and exterior material palettes were selected for their natural properties and durability.

The materials' weight and colour are related to their position in space – for example, the black ceramic tile is used on the floor, while the ceiling is composed of lightly coloured exposed beams.

"The closer they are to the ground, the heavier and darker they are, and as we move away, the materials become lighter and brighter, just like the branching of a tree's trunk in nature," the team explained.

"Therefore, the wooden structure branches out, and the materials become more luminous as they approach the sky."

The structure features prefabricated wood frames and the window frames are composed of reclaimed peroba-rosa wood. The lightweight roof is constructed with OSB panels, a layer of thermal insulation and an EVA membrane for waterproofing.

Joelson and his team also installed a complex gutter system.

"Its impluvium system with gutters not only protects the terrain from erosion but also allows the creation of a rainwater cistern for garden irrigation and plumbing," Joelsons said.

The home's position and orientation negate the need for air conditioning, while a central fireplace warms the house in the colder months.

Recently, Joelsons renovated a brick estate outside of São Paulo with a focal brick block living room. Other residential architects practicing in the area include Studio Guilherme Torres, which constructed a home with rammed-earth walls in the city.

The photography is by Pedro Kok and Rodrigo Fonseca.

Project credits:

Architecture: Denis Joelsons, João Marujo, Gabriela da Silva Pinto
Builder (masonry, foundations and finishings): Caio Martinez
Plumbing and electrical supplies: Renan de Sousa
Doors and windows: Zé Madeiras
Timber structure: Ita Construtora

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Architects John Friedman and Alice Kimm have stacked a concrete mass with sinuous cutouts into a hillside as a home for their family in Los Angeles, complete with a crane in the kitchen and an accessory dwelling unit.

Named the JArzm house – using the first initial of each family member – the home is set into a 60-foot slope in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood.

The 3,725-square foot (346-square metre) residence is "intensely livable and playful, as well as architecturally inventive, open, and highly crafted" according to the architecture studio.

John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects (JFAK) completed the house – and 540-square foot (50-square metre) accessory dwelling unit (ADU) – in November 2021.

The white cement plaster envelope is "neither box nor blob" with curved cutouts and large expanses of glass removed from a flat cube combining the arched influences of Alvaro Siza (for whom Friedman worked in the late 1980s) and the crisp detailing of Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler and John Lautner (whose designs are scattered throughout the neighbourhood).

Accessed from the top of the slope, the house is inverted and sits below the street level preserving views out to the Silver Lake Reservoir and Dodger Stadium for the surrounding homes.

The entry's curving concrete steps transition to a stainless steel staircase that leads down into the open living, kitchen and dining area, as well as two children's bedrooms.

"Designing our own house was great because we didn’t have to ask permission," Friedman told Dezeen. "We could do whatever we want, and we did in fact integrate some ideas and elements that other clients turned down for their particular houses."

The studio included a yellow construction crane mounted into a linear skylight above the kitchen and dining room that lifts the mirrored aluminium dining table, extends it out over the balcony and lowers it to the pool deck two storeys below.

A large central staircase with open teak treads, a glass railing and a powder-coated aluminium bookcase wall connects all three levels.

The middle floor contains the primary suite, laundry room, two home offices, and the third child's bedroom, which is separated from the rest of the house by a small glass bridge that spans a triple-height light well adjacent to the staircase.

The ground floor includes a multipurpose family room that leads out to the pool deck, which is set at the same height as the roof of the pink accessory dwelling unit (ADU).

The ADU sits atop an embedded garage and is topped by an urban roof garden with a sinuous aluminium sunshade structure.

"The pool deck and roof garden together create a 'middle ground' suspended between the streets at the site’s top and bottom," the team explained.

Because the house is lowered in the steep terrain, it doesn't align with the neighbouring properties.

Large windows open the various rooms to the forest-like landscape on each side of the house, while skylights and interior glazing allow sunlight to reach deep into the plan.

Disappearing sliding glass walls dissolve the transition between interior and exterior.

The studio said that "functional domesticity" was a key requirement for the home.

"The functional and workaday are the foundation for achieving artfulness and architectural innovation," said the studio. "[These traits] are hallmarks of JArzm House that place it firmly within the rich lineage of experimental Southern California domestic architecture."

Established in 1996, JFAK Architects is the only studio to receive two Rudy Bruner Silver Medals for Urban Excellence and was longlisted for the website of the year in the 2021 Dezeen Awards.

Nearby in Los Angeles, Anonymous Architects recently embedded a concrete house into a hillside with a two-storey pool.

The photography is by Benny Chan.

Project team:

Architect: John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects, John Friedman FAIA (lead)
General contractor: Bonomo Development
Landscape contractor: Pablin Arevalo
Special fabrications: Chris Berkson, BerksonFab
Cabinetry: Evan Pohlmeier
Structural engineer: Parker Resnick
Landscape architecture: Kathleen Ferguson Landscapes, Matson Walter
Civil engineer: JMC-2

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Local studio HGR Arquitectos has completed a triangular concrete apartment block with a rounded corner meant to stand up against earthquakes in Mexico City.

Known as MO288 – an abbreviation of the building's address – the multifamily project includes 15 apartments and two commercial spaces across six stories. HGR Arquitectos finished the 15,047-square-foot (1,398 square metres) project in March of 2023 for developer Ciudad Vertical.

The urban site in the Cuauhtémoc district of the city previously held a building that was structurally compromised during the earthquake in September 2017 and subsequently demolished.

Located at a busy intersection, the wedge-shaped lot measures 3,143 square feet (292 square metres), so the team worked to turn the project inward towards a large courtyard that features a rounded edge, mirroring the rounded corner on the exterior.

Load-bearing walls eliminate the need for columns and allow rectangular rooms to fit into the triangular plan.

"In addition to being a challenge in terms of architectural design, the structural design of the projected building was a major challenge for structural calculation and seismic design," the team said.

A soil mechanics study found firm soil 30 metres below the ground level so the team drove 32-metre reinforced concrete piles under the building.

"Together with the foundation slab and the concrete load-bearing walls reinforced on the ground floor, they work synchronously with the brick and concrete load-bearing walls on the upper levels," the team explained.

On the facade, brown, board-formed concrete is banded with the solid lines of the floor plates. Vertical, black-framed windows run in columns, punctuated by alternating boxy balconies that jut out of the building's perimeter in the same dark, matte metal plating that wraps the ground floor.

The rounded corner has inset balconies that look out to the intersection.

Tenant commercial spaces hold two corners of the ground floor, while the third is occupied by a compact garage with tandem parking stackers. A central circulation core leads up to the apartments.

Each upper floor contains three one-bedroom units, fit together like a jigsaw puzzle into tight floor plans between 750 and 800 square feet (70-75 square metres).

"All the spaces were well ventilated and illuminated, but try not to have large openings due to the noise of the road that adjoins the building," the team told Dezeen.

The spaces along the courtyard have narrow translucent windows that bring light into the apartments without compromising privacy. The courtyard dead ends into a planted green wall along the adjacent building's property line.

Also located in Mexico City, HGR Arquitectos alternating banded design is also present in the studio's Emiliano Zapata 167 apartment block, only translated into orange brick, which was completed before the 2017 earthquake.

A number of other buildings were rebuilt after the 2017 earthquake, including a church with a vaulted ceiling in Jojutla.

The photography is by Diana Arnau.

Project credits:

Architect: Marcos Hagerman, HGR Arquitectos
Development: Cuidad Vertical
Executive drawing: Rodrigo Durán
Structural design: Mata y Triana Ingenieros Consultores
Installation: ZMP Instalaciones
Communications: Area Colectiva

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US architecture studio GBBN designed three brick buildings that allow social housing to both "fit in and stand out" in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Located in the Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood, Wilkommen includes three separate infill projects that GBBN, an international studio with an office in Cincinnati, designed with Cincinnati Center City Development (3CDC) and Model Group as part of a 12-building effort to increase mixed-use housing in the city's urban core – the largest addition of affordable housing in the area in decades.

Completed in 2022, the three buildings – on Vine, Republic, and Pleasant Streets – total 73,000 square feet (6,800 square metres) and include mixed-income residential housing and retail space.

Constructed on former surface lots, the buildings work to repair holes in the historic fabric that "were created by years of demolition, economic disinvestment, and subsequent gentrification and displacement".

"Delivering design equity to a lower- and middle-income population that is often excluded from the dignity, functionality, and delight of good design, Willkommen is committed to the principle that affordable housing can enhance the historic fabric of a city while affirming the value of its residents," the GBBN team told Dezeen.

The team selected red brick for all of the facades to draw on Cincinnati's masonry vernacular and to highlight both the commonalities and differences between the structures.

The team tried to maximize the allowable envelope for each building – working within the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) design guidelines that regulate square footage and unit requirements – and then folded the facade in or out in order to make its particular location feel safer, functional, and more connected to the urban environment.

The 5,770-square foot (535-square metre) building on Vine Street "features an undulating brick wall that floats above a glass storefront."

The ground-level approach magnifies and expands the street's commercial activity while the upper three bays ripple out of the facade providing privacy, light, and views to the residents.

Created with parametric design and augmented reality tools, the undulating facade is a modern take on the neighbourhood's historic oriels and combines technology with the region's historic reliance on masonry craftsmanship.

Located a block to the west and measuring 7,600 square feet (700 square metre), the building on Republic is nestled between smaller neighbours and has a flat facade with stepped-in windows and a recessed stairwell to create relief and detail.

It "seeks to bring 'eyes to the street,'" the team said. "The light from its lobby and stairs, and its stoops, encourage residents to connect with their neighbours while they keep watch over their community."

Located a few blocks away and across a significant arterial street is the 5,950-square foot (550-square metre) building on the corner of Pleasant Street. Its facades bend in the center pulling the corner away from the building's mass.

"Fronted with oversized sidewalks, its elegantly-creased brick bulk rises above glass storefronts, inviting commercial activity across Liberty Street," the studio said. "Depending on the unit, tenants enjoy views of the city skyline, civic events, the mural, or the rolling hills beyond the downtown basin."

The buildings' interior palettes are simple with light walls, warm wooden floors, cabinetry, soft details like wooden apartment numbers, and coloured entry doors for each unit.

"Within each site, [Wilkommen] develops a hyper-local approach and holistically advances healthy, equitable density," the team explained, noting the project's connections to services, multiple modes of public transit, and urban amenities like parks, swimming pools, food sources, and community organizations.

In working to close Cincinnati's affordable housing gap – roughly 20,000-30,000 more units – GBBN said it recognizes the need for cross-discipline advocacy, policy changes, and financing structure navigation.

"It means that, as architects, we have to do more to help our clients identify and take advantage of funding sources that they may not have known about – and that's something we've been doing more of since our work on Wilkommen."

The studio recently expanded a 19th century brick house in Pennsylvania into an education facility with a glass bridge connection and metal-clad, barn-like structure.

The photography is by Ryan Kurtz.

Project credits:

Civil engineer: Bayer Becker
Structural engineer: Schaefer
MEP engineer: Engineered Building Systems
LEED consultant: Sol Design + Consulting
Contractor: Model Construction
Client: Cincinnati Center City Development (3CDC) & Model Group

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Local studio Caples Jefferson Architects has created an extension for the Louis Armstrong House Museum complete with a curved facade and a green roof in Corona, Queens.

The 14,000-square foot (1,300-square metre) wing – known as the Louis Armstrong Center – is located across the street from the original house museum, which was once the American musician's home from 1943 until his death in 1971.

Caples Jefferson Architects was commissioned to create a space that could permanently house the 60,000-piece Louis Armstrong Archive – the world's largest for any jazz musician – as well as be a place for education, entertainment and research.

"In a neighbourhood comprised of modest two-story houses, we wanted to keep the building in the scale of its surroundings, while creating an urban precinct that notes the singular work of the man whose music underlies so much of what we listen to today," Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson told Dezeen.

"The center simultaneously fits in and stands out – a paradox that reflects Armstrong's life and work."

While the scale fits into the surrounding context, the facade does not. It has a black and brass-toned wave-like curtain wall and a swooping canopy that create a forecourt along the street and mitigate the building's connection to the neighbourhood fabric.

Despite its appearance, the curve of the facade is actually just an optical illusion, created through the use of faceted flat glass punctuated by vertical metal fins.

"This perceived curvature recalls both the rough jazz and love of lyricism that were Armstrong's leading achievements," the studio said.

In order to achieve the colour on the facade, a layer of woven brass mesh was placed within the double-glazed panels to create a metallic reflection of the city during the day and act as a beacon at night.

Caples Jefferson said that the loud brass colouring that occurs on the facade and throughout he interiors is a reference to Armstrong's primary instrument, the trumpet.

Brass continues on the underside of the undulating canopy that shelters a street-facing terrace and on the interior columns.

The angular, sepia-toned lobby features marbled blue accents and opens to an exhibition entitled Here to Stay, curated by multimedia artist Jason Moran, which explores Armstrong's five-decade career. The exhibition space is characterised by black walls and circular displays.

A 75-seat venue – named The Jazz Room – was installed for performances, lectures, films, community events and educational experiences. It features a deep red wall that bends to become the ceiling that meets another set of layered, faceted mahogany walls.

A slanted skylight marks the staircase up to the second floor that houses the archival collection of recordings, manuscripts and personal artefacts, as well as a reading room for visiting researchers and staff offices.

The upper floor is laid out in a square and is stepped back from the street ot make room for the terrace. On the side is a conservator's workroom that looks out onto a sloped planted roof adjacent to the main structure, which contributes to the building's intended LEED-Silver rating.

"The underlying ambition of the brief was to create a building that channels the energy and the joy of Louis' music," the team said. "We responded by anchoring the design in movement, light, and colour, and by providing multiple ways to engage with music, the living legacy of Louis."

Another cultural project coming soon to Queens is a 44-metre-high film studio clad in precast concrete panels by BIG that is set to be the "first vertical film studio in the world," when it opens this year.

The photography is by Nic Lehoux and Albert Vecerka.

Project credits:

Architecture: Caples Jefferson Architects PC
Structural engineering: Severud Associates
MEP/FA engineering: WSP
Lighting, AV & acoustical: Arup
Sustainable design: Steven Winter Associates
Exhibits/graphic design: C&G Partners/Potion Design/Art Guild
Construction manager: Hill International
General contractor: Paul J. Scariano, Inc

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Local architecture studio Romero de la Mora has created an expansive concrete and wood holiday home with a protected courtyard in Tepeji del Río, just outside Mexico City.

Casa Camelia was completed in 2021 at the Amanali Country Club and Nautica in Tepeji del Río by Romero de la Mora Architecture and Development.

The shallow 455-square-metre, U-shaped house was arranged so that all of the recreational areas are along the perimeter and the house can be opened in four cardinal directions to bring in light, air and views of the surrounding golf course.

"The general inspiration was to create open spaces connected with nature and the environment from architectural elements in a material mixture with Mexican craftsmanship," the studio told Dezeen.

The two-storey home was constructed with light-coloured, flat-finished concrete – referencing the mud and earth of the site – with large warm wooden beams that run across the ceilings of each space and draw attention to the scale of several double-height spaces.

Selected for durability and low maintenance, the home's material palette also includes sand-coloured chukum and stone cladding.

Floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding glass walls are framed in thin black metal, which reappears in the delicate metal railings of the bedroom balconies.

Within the warm, neutral interior, the living space is sunken, allowing residents to sit on benches the level of the floor, while surrounded by windows.

A continuation of ceiling beams past the sliding glass walls of the kitchen dissolves the transition between the interior and exterior.

Some of the terraces are open to the outdoors, while the expansive northern outdoor area is walled for privacy.

The open eastern terrace was positioned to act as a thermal buffer to mitigate temperature inside the house and, combined with the parallel layout for cross ventilation, negates the need for mechanical air conditioning and heating.

A solar-heated rectangular pool in the north yard is flanked by a patio space. The ventilated living spaces on the ground level feature double-height ceilings in certain areas that are topped by clerestory windows, some of which have concrete louvres.

The second level steps back from the perimeter of the house and the centre of the plan is recessed here, forming a deeper U-shape.

Inside, a corridor contains a bridge between the primary suite and the secondary suite, running parallel with the louvred window. The beams of the sloping roof are exposed in the bedrooms, which have private terraces and built-in furniture.

Planted roofs top either end of the first level while solar panels are arranged on top of the shed-like second level, located next to the skylights that illuminate the double-height staircase.

The team aimed to "make a restful home that fulfils the function of generating peace through quality spaces and natural textures, colors, lots of light and fresh air".

Nearby, architecture studio PPAA also used a concrete and wood mass in a Mexico City home, with a board-formed finish that provides texture and detail to the facade.

Other projects that include chukum include a museum outside of Mérida by Estudio MMX.

The photography is by Ariadna Polo.

Project credits:

Architect: Romero de la Mora Architecture and Development
Project team: Rodrigo Romero de la Mora, Edgar Fonsseca, Alan Islas

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Local architecture firm Studio North designed a custom garden and garage combination complete with Corten steel planters and a green roof in Calgary, Alberta.

Known as the Garden Garage, the 700-square foot (65-square metre) garage sits on the sunny edge of a 12,000-square foot (1,115-square metre) lot and holds two cars for a 1,785-square foot (166-square metre) house.

Located in Calgary's Upper Mount Royal neighborhood, the project works to address a typical conflict between the functional parking space and recreational yard space by hybridizing the two programs with intersecting planes.

The detached square structure is partially embedded into the earth and a sunken staircase leads up to a raised garden space.

The garden features an array of Corten steel planters that act as miniature versions of the garage's planted roof, which slopes slightly toward the garden.

Immediately adjacent to the garage, a steel gate – characterized by a custom vine-like laser-cut perforation – conceals a second staircase that connects the driveway directly to the garden.

"The project is about the collision of the backyard plane and the driveway plane, which creates a condition that is part landscape and part garage, part natural and part manmade," the Studio North team told Dezeen.

"The sequence of space and material from lower to upper seeks to create a transitional threshold from the surrounding urban context to an immersive otherly landscape that offers an escape from the city."

The rough-textured garage was created to highlight the client's collector automobile and serve as a habitable work and storage space.

The driveway-facing facade is clad in Shou Sugi Ban – a Japanese wood charring method – siding that contrasts the surrounding landscape and is punctuated by a translucent glazed garage door with gridded black framing.

The light-filled interior of the garage features two-tone walls that reflect the datum line of the outside topography.

A dark steel base provides an impact-resistant condition fit for heavy-duty work, while the lighter fir cladding makes the top half of the walls feel airy.

The fir wraps along the ceiling which is supported by light-coloured wooden beams.

Light streams into the back of the garage through two large windows and a glass door, which opens to the open-air back stairway.

"Above, a green roof and terraced planting extends the natural topography of the backyard into an elevated plane of natural vegetation, perfectly curating a view from the backyard over the surrounding neighbourhood to the tree canopy and sky," the studio said.

The resilient native vegetation thrives on the south-facing roof and serves as a natural attractor for bees. The sloped roof directs water to custom perforated scuppers along the edge that, in turn, waters the planters below.

The stacked, multi-size planters contain both solid and open Corten boxes, forming both seating and stair access up to the roof for maintenance. The planters also have integrated drainage holes for even water dispersal.

"Together, the collision of material and texture between the garden and the garage meets to create a juxtaposition of softness and robustness," the studio said.

"The [garage's] rough and sharp-edged industrial palette plays to the client’s interest mechanics; meanwhile, the greenery above becomes a countering palette of soft and delicate plant and animal life to enhance the feeling of natural immersion and escape from the surrounding city."

Recently, Studio North completed a cosy cocktail bar in Calgary that juxtaposes dark, matte walls with a light-weight perforated fir screen that folds up the corner and creates a series of barrel vaults throughout the contemporary speakeasy space.

The photography is by Hayden Pattullo and Damon Hayes Couture.

Project credits:

Lead architects: Matthew Kennedy, Hayden Pattullo
Designer + builder: Studio North
Project management + design: Matthew Kennedy, Mark Erickson
Construction management: Matthew Tyrer, Matthew Kennedy
Parametric design: Hayden Pattullo
Engineering: Recad Consulting Ltd
Photography: Hayden Pattullo + Damon Hayes Couture
Representation: Saaraa Premji Mitha
Custom steel fabrication: Mercedes and Singh
Excavation: ADR Excavating
Electrical: Vaughn Electrical Services
Green roof design: Green T Design
Carpentry: White Spruce Carpentry

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Local studio Anonymous Architects has completed a residence with a concrete plinth that cantilevers off a mountainside in Los Angeles.

The Olancha Drive house was finished in 2022 in the Mount Washington district of Northeast Los Angeles. It was designed in response to the site's steep angle – which reaches 45 degrees in some areas – and the views afforded by the vantage point.

The hillside parcel challenged the design team to limit the horizontal footprint – balancing the 1,000-square-foot (93 square metre) house on friction piles driven into the earth. The team, in turn, stacked the spaces top-down.

"The sequence of space and program is vertical not horizontal, which is an inversion of typical residential experience in California that blends inside and outside," the Anonymous Architects team told Dezeen.

From the street, the house is appropriately "anonymous" and private.

The home's garage is on the top floor, functioning like a large box truss wrapped in a screen of vertical grey wood. A tunnel-like staircase leads down to the "front yard" – which is a walkable roof terrace space, outlined by a black metal railing.

Framed by V-shaped columns, a trapezoidal swimming pool is tucked under the cantilevered garage. Two square skylights in the deck open the main level to the sun.

The main level appears as a floating box wrapped in white metal and is connected to the hillside by a concrete mass.

"By using only steel and concrete, the construction methods and materials are related more closely to commercial building instead of typical residential wood construction," the team explained, choosing to expose the structure, as well as essential electrical and plumbing infrastructure, as a visual component for the interior design.

The living spaces of the one-bedroom house act as one large room with moveable partitions and sliding doors dividing the public areas from the bedroom and media room. A wall of folding glass doors opens the interiors to a balcony that runs the length of the house.

Since the home has no side windows, all of the spaces are oriented toward the Los Angeles skyline.

While accessed from above, the pool becomes the focal point of the main level with a window from the kitchen into the water. The window brings light into the interiors and breaks up the solid concrete wall.

"Adding a window allowed the pool to become a feature even when it was not being used for recreation, playing into the desire for elements of the house to be dual-purpose," the team said.

"Dual-purpose elements are very important in small spaces. If elements of the design can perform multiple functions, then the space will feel larger because it is capable of doing more."

The raw structural elements were offset by natural wood walls and cabinets and white oak panels that are "plain sliced to give the wood a more organic quality."

Selected by Sarah Rosenhaus Interior Design, the soft furnishings and fabrics designate a colour for each space and add warmth and texture.

The basement level contains barrels for rainwater collection.

Nearby, Anonymous Architects cantilevered another house off a hillside, but the studio also encircled a mature cypress tree with the bedroom and wrapped the home with cedar. In Mexico, architecture studio LBR&A cantilevered a steel-clad house to minimise the impact on the landscape.

The photography is by Taiyo Wantanabe and Marcia Prentice.

Project credits:

Architecture: Anonymous Architects
Interior design: Sarah Rosenhaus Interior Design

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