An Exhibition Spotlighting the Creative Prowess of Yves Saint Laurent is on View in Portugal

Talk about staying power. Since early June, some 5,000 visitors have visited the Palace of the Dukes of Cadaval in Évora, Portugal. But they’ve come to see an exhibition relating to Morocco. That’s because it also involves an influential creative force who died in 2008.

“Love–Marrakech Opened My Eyes to Colour: Yves Saint Laurent” offers three different perspectives on the French fashion designer’s passion for the region, in two locations on the palace grounds. One of the sites is the Church of São João Evangelista, a 15th-century edifice with a stunning vaulted ceiling and azulejo tile paneling. Running down what had been the nave is a long platform populated with mannequins donning vintage Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pieces that were inspired by the designer’s first visit to Marrakech in 1966. In the palace proper are additional exhibits: one showcasing the work of 13 contemporary Moroccan artists and another, a collection of Saint Laurent’s annual handmade greeting cards, converted into poster form and featuring the word love.

This London Apartment for a Famous Singer Nods to Idol, David Bowie

When a famous British singer bought a pad in a Foster + Partners multi-tower apartment complex on the banks of London’s River Thames, a duet of desires played in his mind. First, he longed to transform its undoubtedly luxurious but standard-issue interiors into one of the city’s great party spots. And second, a beloved portrait of his idol David Bowie had to take pride of place.

After a few scrolls on Instagram, he found his players: Simone Gordon and Sophie van Winden of Owl Design. The pair had met in an interior architecture course at Ravensbourne University London, rebelling against the school’s partiality toward glass-box minimalism. By 2014, a few years after graduating, they’d founded their own firm, lending their signature blend of fluid shapes and bold colors to hospitality and office projects across the country. The pandemic moved them mainly into residential spaces, freshening up homes with a touch of post-Memphis here, post-Modernism there. With Owl remixing the 2,000-square-foot three-bedroom apartment, the singer knew he’d have a hit.

Gordon and van Winden’s top-to-bottom redesign is indeed off the charts. The pair addressed the challenges of the building’s distinctive curved walls—lovely on the outside but hard to work with in the rooms themselves—with a Memphis-inflected preference for clear geometric forms. The living area walls boast built-in bookshelves that trace the curves, divided into snappy triangular compartments for the client’s collectables.

Owl did put a lot of work into the elevations of each room. “The living room walls are covered in Venetian plaster,” Gordon continues. “That was a real challenge, getting all the nooks and crannies.” Hallways are coated in high-gloss paint to amplify the abundant daylight. And the spare bedrooms boast eye-catching wallcoverings: a blue faux–grass cloth for one, and an op-art repeating pill pattern for the other (the client’s manager’s favorite place to crash).

While guests inevitably dash into the dining area to check out the blockbuster views, the true VIP spots are the hallway in which the Bowie portrait holds court and, unexpectedly, the nearby WC. Its walls are clad in sequin homages to Aladdin Sane’s famed lightning-bolt face paint, and a secreted stereo greets each partier with a timeless hit and timely exhortation to party: “Let’s Dance.”

gubi through chaplins: chaise longue (dining area)

utu soulful lighting through do shop: floor light, ceiling pendant

noom: chairs

zieta through monologue: mirror

viero: wall plaster (living area)

maman rugs: custom rug

amy somerville: sofa fabric

through jane richards interiors: armchair

the conran shop: side table

massproductions through clippings: coffee table

doozie light studio: chandelier

Sella Concept: stools (kitchen)

shimmerwalls: custom wallcovering (wc)

mirror balls: mirror ball

phillip jeffries: wallpaper (guest bedroom)

Jonathan Adler: cushions

holloways of ludlow: table lamp

&tradition through clippings: side table

warwick: sofa fabric (snug)

hung up: custom cushions

gp & j baker: cushion fabric

cto lighting: wall light

the conran shop: side table

Arte: wallpaper (second guest bedroom)

warwick, kirkby design, larsen: headboard fabrics/bed upholstery

natural bed company: side table

oyoy: lamp

moustache through nunido: chair

lydia hardwick: vase

craft gallery: framed print

hung up: curtain fabrication (primary bedroom)

métaphores: curtain fabric

warwick, nobilis, dedar: headboard fabrics

utu soulful lighting through do shop: wall light

Arte: wallcovering

carpenter & carpenter: custom bedside table

forbo flooring systems: custom flooring

hux: custom millwork (living room, snug); custom table (dining room)

the cotswold bed company: custom beds (bedrooms)

fixup: general contractor

This Park City Property Boasts Stunning Views and Elevated Amenities

Gated communities are not usually known for their architecture. Houses are often dated and ostentatious, with little connection to their surroundings. The Iluminus Group wanted to prove the stereotype wrong at a private enclave in Park City, Utah. The development firm hired CLB Architects to design a timeless residence that was simpler and more elegant than its neighbors—though just as enormous—and would appeal to potential outdoors-oriented buyers. “Their goal was to establish a new standard for thoughtful design in this part of Utah,” CLB partner and architect Eric Logan explains. At the same time, the house would have over-the-top amenities like a climbing wall, sports court, bowling alley, and spa. CLB showed that these directives need not be contradictory.

The 4.9-acre site is on a steep slope in the Wasatch Mountains, thick with spruce, fir, and aspen trees. At 8,500 feet above sea level, the property has commanding views of the Park City Mountain resort and across a valley. CLB approached the landscape with respect. Based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Bozeman, Montana, the studio has decades of experience designing high-end mountain residences and strives to honor the natural beauty of each location. “We take the notion of connecting with place very seriously,” Logan says. “We’ve been lucky to work on some incredible properties in the West, and we try not to screw them up. Sometimes I think, You should do nothing here and make it a park. But something will be developed there, so we do the best work we can.” At the Park City site, CLB aimed to make the house as compact as possible given the extensive program and keep it from sprawling too far into the forest.

CLB built the home, dubbed Monitor’s Rest, into the hillside and designed an L-shape plan. Approaching from above, visitors enter a courtyard and see a structure that looks smaller than its 18,000 square feet. “The courtyard creates a quiet space where you can take in the sky and get oriented, and it also brings light into the home,” Logan says. The building’s exterior establishes the material palette used throughout: Croatian limestone, shou sugi ban cedar cladding, steel-framed windows, and a copper roof. Its simple form is designed to withstand the harsh winters; anything too expressive will leak or get scraped off in the snow.

The experience of the enclosed, serene courtyard deliberately contrasts with the openness of the interior. A limestone foyer, the nexus of the two-story house, leads in three directions. You can turn right to go to the primary bedroom suite and the office or left to the living and dining areas. Straight ahead is a dramatic atrium with windows facing the forest and stairs leading down to the guest bedrooms and bowling alley.

At the back of the ground floor is a small tower. Since the house is built into the hillside, Ostrander wanted a pop-up perch where residents could take in 360-degree views. Measuring 19 by 19 feet, it has a wraparound balcony and references the forest-fire watchtowers found in national parks. “It’s a little retreat that’s whimsical and unexpected,” Ostrander says. Warm and intimate, it practically begs for a kids’ sleepover, though a floating fireplace, rosewood table, and Moroccan Mrirt rug make it plenty sophisticated for adults. Like the rest of the property, the tower is both fun and refined, and brings a whole new perspective to the neighborhood.

clb architects: andy ankeny, brent sikora, jake ostlind, cassidy stickney, jaye infanger, erica hawley

design workshop: landscape architect

magelby construction: contractor

sherwood design engineers: civil engineer

kl&a, inc.: structural engineer

energy 1: mechanical/electrical engineer

orsman design: lighting designer

jouffre: custom sofa (living room)

Eny Lee Parker: lamps

semeurs d’étoiles through invisible collection: custom chandelier (entry)

konekt: ottomans (hearth room)

pierre augustin rose through invisible collection: custom coffee table

place textiles: custom sectional fabric

daniel becker studio: custom chandelier

through tom robinson: vintage dining chairs

miksi through invisible collection: custom rug

christopher kreiling through blackman cruz: lamp (office)

ski lift designs: custom ski lift chair (stair)

bourgeois boheme: custom chandelier (den)

dornstab through kalmar: floor lamp

stark: rug

brunswick bowling: bowling alley

restoration hardware: side table

fromental: wallcovering

juniper lighting: lights (guest bath)

Duravit: sink

clé: tile

marrone: custom range hood (kitchen)

wood stone: pizza oven

Dornbracht: sink fittings

old plank collection: art sheep (hallway)

response hg: flooring (sports court)

the court company: wall panels

luxury mrirt rug through benisouk: rug (tower room)

grand splendid studio: rug

through two enlighten: vintage mirror

crump & kwash: custom desk (guest bedroom)

made goods: desk chair

sutherland furniture: lounge chair

masterpiece millwork & door: custom millwork

craftsman upholstery: custom sofa fabrication (hearth room, bowling alley, tower room)

newell studio: custom coffee table (living room); custom dining table (hearth room); custom wall panels (office); custom shuffleboard table (bowling alley)

through 1stdibs: vintage chair (office); armchairs (den); bench (hallway); table, lamp (tower room)

blueprint lighting: custom pendants (primary bedroom, primary bathroom)

marset: reading lights (bedrooms)

watermark: sink fittings (bathrooms)

Italian Illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli Displays 37 Works at Her First Exhibition in France

“We don’t embroider cushions here.” Those were the dismis­sive words Le Corbusier uttered to a young Charlotte Perriand when she came to his Paris studio one October afternoon in 1927 looking to work with him. Fortunately, she was not deterred: She was ultimately hired and became a significant collaborator on many of his projects, one being the Unité d’Habitation de Marseille, for which Perriand did the interiors. It’s that quote along with Perriand’s body of work that inspired Olimpia Zagnoli’s current exhibition—titled “Ici nous ne brodons pas de cousins,” Corbu’s above quote in French—at the iconic housing unit, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The Italian illustrator’s first exhibition in France features 37 pieces, from a 2019 cover for The New Yorker to ones created specifically for the show, including her debut sculpture, which is in concrete echoing the rough-cast concrete facade of Corbu’s building. But Zagnoli’s lines and color combinations, along with the idea of making art a part of everyday life are winks to Perriand.

This Tropical Modernist Miami Home is at One With its Surroundings

“This house is surprising for Miami,” admits Max Strang, founding principal of Strang Design. While the city’s name typically conjures up visions of South Beach residences packed on prime palm-tree-lined waterfront properties, he and firm partners Alexandra Mangimelli and Elizabeth Starr created something altogether different for a family relocating from Brazil. On an estate-sized oak grove just 20 minutes from downtown, the project accurately reflects the couple’s heritage in everything from the layout and materials to the landscaping and furnishings.

The house that originally stood on the lot was torn down, allowing a new one to grow from the ground up. The studio specializes in contextualizing homes to their immediate surroundings via use of natural materials, eschewing plain white boxes. Here, this approach translated to an earthy palette and the placement of plant life—and the structure itself—in a manner that blurs the line between building and landscape. “We were careful to work with existing oaks and gumbo limbos when siting the house,” Strang recalls. The firm designed planters to wrap the second-floor exterior, supplemented by aluminum privacy louvers that double as trellises, enabling vines to climb up the facade. “Eventually, the elevations will be partially enveloped in the growth,” he predicts.

The project, Strang continues, “presented an opportunity to marry our firm style, which we describe as ‘environmental modernism,’ with the more tropical modernism of the Brazilian aesthetic.” An H-shape footprint creates a series of wings, a configuration that allows light to spill into every corner. Multiple rooms feature floor-to-ceiling glass pocket doors that open onto a pool, abetting an easy rapport between indoors and out while upholding a strong sense of privacy. The sliders are also practical: “Miami is hot as hell, but as long as you have generous shade and a little bit of a breeze, you’re fine,” Strang notes. Starr adds that the openness of the layout suits the clients’ lifestyle: “How the family entertains informed the variety of seating areas and the circulation between them, as well as the creation of interior and exterior spaces that flow into one to another.” The latter include a patio-adjacent club room equipped with an exhaust system to handle cigar smoke.

The furnishings, many of which were collected by the owners over the years, pay poetic homage to the concept of relocation. The living room contains midcentury pieces by Jorge Zalszupin, who moved to Rio de Janiero in 1949 after fleeing his native Poland to escape Nazi persecution, and Jean Gillon, born in Romania and later based in São Paulo. Both were known for their use of local materials and traditional furniture-making techniques. Also inhabiting several rooms is seating by Sergio Rodrigues, frequently referred to as the father of Brazilian furniture design, who made languorous pieces that responded to his country’s tropical climate and easygoing way of life. They’re right at home here.

While the palette is predominantly earth-tone, with travertine flooring and abundant teak paneling, generous moments of color are provided by the homeowners’ art collection. Works on display are drawn from an international roster, including Ethiopian talent Elias Sime; Munich-born New York–based Janaina Tschäpe (who was raised in São Paulo); and Amir Nikravan, an American artist of Iranian and Mexican descent. The design team provided settings that create a rich, varied backdrop. One piece, Sime’s Tightrope: I Want to Slow Down and Think, 2017, a collage of repurposed electronic components, was bought while the house was under construction, “so we had to find a wall that would work,” Mangimelli says. A secondary seating area in the main living space became the designated spot. “The piece really looks like it was meant to be there,” she notes of the serendipitous result.

In keeping with South American tradition, the kitchen is not the central hub, but rather positioned off to one side of the floor plan. That said, it’s no wallflower—note the dramatic geometric-patterned backsplash tile. “It was definitely the right way to go,” Mangimelli says of the attention-grabbing encaustic mosaic.

Although the residence is well-suited to entertaining, it does have a public/private divide, with the more tucked-away second floor housing bedrooms, a family room, and a gym. One wing is devoted to guest quarters and the two childrens’ rooms, the other to the primary suite. Despite the home’s generous size—10,000 square feet—it contains only five bedrooms. The intent was to create spacious sanctums, Mangimelli says, “rather than see how many bedrooms we could fit.”

As for the 1.5-acre plot, the clients’ request was a garden that gives joy. To accomplish this, Strang Design collaborated with La Casona Garden to create a “manifold sensory experience of sight, smell, hearing, and taste—a garden of earthly delights,” landscape designer Ana Miron explains. Plantings are diverse, a mix of ground cover, flowers, small bushes, and various sizes of trees, designed to complement the oaks. Native species are included, as well as a section certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a wildlife habitat, with the land offering ideal conditions, Miron says, “for companion species, birds, bees, butterflies, and squirrels.” And, of course, the property’s human residents.

strang design: maria ascoli, vanessa arteaga peña, viviana conley, catherine crotty

la casona garden: landscape consultant

francisco cuello jr.; henry vidal & associates, inc.: structural engineers

jorge g. maldonado: civil engineer

contemporary builders, inc.: general contractor

david krynauw through southern guild gallery: chandelier (dining room)

restoration hardware: armchairs, tables (patios); beds (primary bedroom, daughter’s room)

apparatus studio: ceiling lights (club room, primary bedroom)

mia cucina: cabinetry, countertop (kitchen)

artistic tile through ceramic matrix: backsplash tile

subzero-wolf: wall ovens, cooktop

ligne roset: ottoman (daughter’s room)

Duravit: toilet (primary bathroom)

vola: sink fittings

opustone: travertine

es windows: windows

dn design studio inc.: millwork

This Napoli Home by Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva Architetti is a Hidden Gem

Italy’s third largest city, Naples, is not exactly known as a locus of peace and quiet. “The city is certainly chaotic,” says architect Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva, who has lived most of his 41 years there. “Its charm also comes from managing to find the serene and calm in that chaos.” That is precisely what he accomplished with his redesign of a three-bedroom, four-bath flat in the upscale Posillipo quarter for art/design collectors Irene and Teodoro Falco and their teenage daughter and son.

In a twist of fate, the 3,400-square-foot apartment, located in a 1956 building by Davide Pacanowski, has roots in dell’Uva’s youth, when he first became acquainted with the work of the Polish-born architect, a student of Le Corbusier’s. “I lived in a stretch of the Posillipo hill and was fascinated by the sight of Villa Crespi, a bold project of rationalist architecture that Pacanowski designed in 1955,” he recalls. The cliffside residence, with cantilevered slabs wedged between ancient pine trees, “was, for me, a symbol of the direct relationship between architecture and sea.”

Alas, his clients’ flat, though retaining some historical elements like porthole windows, had been restored in the 1990s “to a more neoclassical taste that eradicated its original charm,” dell’Uva recounts. “I really tried to get it back.”

Doing so entailed reconfiguring the floor plan around sea views, so that the public areas and main bedroom face the Gulf of Naples. Dell’Uva forewent corridors and divisions in favor of making the space as open as possible. The entry leads to conjoined living and dining areas (the Falcos requested a statement salon in which to receive guests) separated from the eat-in kitchen by full-height brass-frame glass doors. To the left of the living area’s fireplace—a steel marvel designed by the French sculptor Robert Ascain in 1972—a curved wall subtly directs foot traffic to a row of sleeping quarters: first the main suite, followed by bedrooms for the kids, as well as their own youthful sitting room. The son gets a custom berth tucked into a space-age aluminum enclosure.

The gulf also inspired the color scheme: sparsely deployed yellows and blues (see the cipollino marble paving the entry and cladding the primary bath walls) against a background of sparkling white. The city’s world-class cultural scene also figures prominently in the form of the couple’s blue-chip art collection as well as covetable vintage furnishings from a cadre of specialist dealers. Elements by maestri of design invariably factor into any dell’Uva project. He grew up surrounded by the work of Gio Ponti, Franco Albini, and others, which instilled a love of design in him from an early age. “Even as a little boy I would draw houses and interiors,” he recalls. (Dell’Uva was certainly precocious: his first project, at the tender age of 17, was the renovation of a family home his architect great-grandfather had designed in 1924; and he launched his own studio at 23, shortly after graduating from the Università di Napoli Federico II.)

cc tapis: rug (living area)

la cividina: sofas

through galleria francesco: coffee table

tacchini: armchairs

rezina: resin floor

through dimore gallery: floor lamp

through robertaebasta: chimney breast (living area), chandelier (dining area)

Nilufar: custom table, chairs (dining area)

paola c.: glass centerpiece

through galleria massimo caiafa: leather armchair (son’s room)

cassina: chairs (kitchen)

abimis: island

B&B Italia: sofa (kids’ lounge)

through galleria rossella colombari: vintage ceiling light

alimonti milano: marble (bathroom)

Dornbracht: sink and shower fittings

galleria elena: tilework (primary bedroom)

Nilufar: sofa

Flavio Albanese Collaborates With Thom Browne on His New Tennis Shop in Saint-Tropez

In the fashion world, Thom Browne is well-known for redefining tailored men’s and women’s wear. Less known, however, is that he was a competitive tennis player in high school. Both talents come together at the Thom Browne Saint-Tropez Tennis Pro Shop, his new stand-alone store at the French private members club Épi. The project is a collaboration with Flavio Albanese, founder of ASA Studio Albanese, which helped design Brown’s Miami 2018 flagship.

Similar to that location, the boutique is outfitted nearly head to toe in gray subway tile—a nod to vintage locker rooms. But whereas Florida’s is dark gray, this location is lighter toned, complimenting the resort’s wellness focus, and approximately a quarter of the size. Browne and Albanese have tastefully accessorized the tidy space with mid-century furniture by such American and French designers as Paul McCobb and Pierre Jeanneret, along with custom pieces. And then aced it all with a door-to-door strip on the floor of red, white, and blue tile—the brand’s signature stripe found on the grosgrain-tab labels in Thom Browne merchandise.

This Horse Farm in Brazil Features Design Standouts by Studio Arthur Casas

You might call the fascination humans have for horses “primal.” After all, we have been captivated by them ever since we were cave dwellers and painted their images on the rock walls. Over the ages, they have remained a source of inspiration for artists—and architects. In fact, there may be no more iconic work of Latin American modernism than Cuadra San Cristóbal, a private residence and stable outside Mexico City designed in the 1960s by Luis Barragán, himself an avid equestrian. Stunning as the austere white house is, it’s the stable with its punched-out walls in rosy hues, trough waterfall, and L-shape exercise pool that most beguiles. The spare, artful arrangement of mass, space, and color brilliantly showcases the horses as if they were living sculpture. 

Continuing in that tradition is a new recreation complex that architect Arthur Casas recently completed at Coudelaria Rocas do Vouga, one of Brazil’s leading Lusitano horse studs, in the old colonial municipality of Itu, northwest of Saõ Paulo. The Lusitano is a majestic breed of ancient Portuguese origin, once prized as a war charger and now sought after for competitive sport and personal equitation. Casas’s brief encompassed indoor and outdoor spaces where the client could not only parade his purebreds but also entertain, hold meetings, and provide accommodations for visiting family, friends, and prospective buyers. 

The architect, who is known for fusing modernist and contemporary styles with tropical flair, responded with a comprehensive scheme that gives a nod to the Mexican master, while being wholly his own. “I always wanted to one day create a work where horses—for me the most beautiful animals—could be part of the scenery,” he confides.  

The Studio Arthur Casas principal is a longtime proponent of sustainable architecture. “If I could, I would create invisible works,” he says, “leaving nature to take the lead.” He studied the site carefully to optimize his plan’s potential for cross ventilation and natural illumination, reducing the need for air conditioning and artificial light. Quick construction was also of the essence, so Casas chose prefabricated steel frames for the structures, shortening building time to a mere 10 months and keeping waste to a minimum. 

Like his horses, the client is of Portuguese descent, and he continues to have strong ties to his ancestral country. With that heritage in mind, Casas conceived the complex as a pair of simple, low-slung buildings—a 9,700-square-foot entertainment pavilion and a 5,400-square-foot guesthouse—replete with courtyards and water features, classic elements in Portugal’s romantic old quintas. While the pavilion and guesthouse are strikingly contemporary in appearance, the materials used inside and out are evocative of those Iberian rural estates, with their stone walls, timber columns and beams, and azulejos, the flamboyantly patterned blue-and-white tin-glazed tiles seen throughout the country. Keen that the complex also blend with the landscape, Casas sourced many of his materials locally and adhered to a palette of earthy tones. The different textures and hues of the rough stone, carbonized pine, and burnt concrete are what gives his design a rustic, yet sophisticated character. 

Handsome as the complex is by day, it’s even more stunning as night falls. Ground-level spotlights bathe the exterior stone walls, accentuating their surface textures, while recessed floodlights in the ceiling softly illuminate the interior, with table and floor lamps providing an additional warm glow. When a fire blazes in the central hearth and the Lusitanos are put through their paces in the gathering dusk outside, guests may well experience the same primal stirrings of wonder that our ancestors must have felt when the flickering firelight played across the horses painted on their cave walls. 

Studio Arthur Casas: nara telles, rafael palombo, gabriel leitão, paulina tabet, camila dalloca, marcos retzer, raul valadão, amanda tamburus

renata rilli paisagismo: landscape consultant

mingrone iluminação: lighting consultant

osborne construtora: general contractor

viúva lamego: wall tile (entry)

etel design: coffee tables (sitting area), center tables (home theater)

micasa: sofas (sitting area, home theater)

boobam: folded-steel side tables (sitting area, home theater)

dpot: armchair (sitting area), side chairs, bar stool (dining area)

herança cultural design art gallery: lounge chair, ottoman (sitting area), round tables (dining area), table lamp (guest room)

studio objeto: table lamp (sitting area), bench (guest room)

blackball: pool table (games area)

arquivo vivo: caster chairs (dining area)

oswaldo antiques: armchair (guest room)

BY KAMY: RUG

curtains emporium: custom headboard

arthur casas for trousseau: bed cover

deca: sink, sink fittings (bathroom)

l’oeil: chaise longues, side table (swimming pool)

corcovado, kvadratt, uniflex: upholstery and curtain fabric

la novitá: upholstery leather

Studio Bright Transforms a Historic Melbourne Property into a Cozy Family Home

It can be challenging to make a true family home in an urban environment. That was the brief for Studio Bright, which created a refuge for a couple with two young girls in a dense and gritty part of Melbourne. The clients had acquired a small Victorian terrace house that a previous resident, architect Mick Jörgensen, had modified in the 1980s by adding an extension; as a result, the interior detailing, from ornate cornices to modernist wood beams, spanned the centuries. Led by director Melissa Bright, the studio transformed the structure by adding two new wings—one with a roof deck—that better support the homeowners’ lifestyle.

Outdated service buildings on the site, including a shed and a garage, were removed to make way for the additions and an interstitial courtyard. The larger of the two extensions is a wedge-shape two-story volume of painted brickwork, its upper level wrapped in brown-painted metal mesh; accessible through a new entrance, the wing’s ground floor houses the kitchen and dining area and the primary living area/lounge. One flight up is the primary suite with a roof deck that boasts views of a tall elm. The second new volume, on the opposite side of the main courtyard, contains a home office and a bike room.

The original Victorian building became a family zone—complete with bedrooms for the girls and their own hangout space—that can be closed off via large sliding doors. “The configuration makes for connected family living but supports separation,” Bright explains.

The architect made careful decisions in how she joined the Victorian, the previous addition, and the new spaces. This feat was done with a steady hand that made sweeping structural changes to the layout in the existing portion. For example, the circulation route in the original building was moved from the south side to the north in order to give the girls’ bedrooms sunlight and views of the courtyard. The Jörgensen beams were removed but only partially, allowing for higher ceilings while also nodding to the home’s history. “We thought it was nicer to let all of these layers come through,” Bright explains. “Three eras sit together as a cohesive whole.” In this way, memory of the home’s past becomes a part of its present day.

grazia and co.: custom swivel chairs, custom daybed, custom coffee table (lounge)

instyle: leather upholstery

warwick: daybed fabric

l a a l: wall lights

truss forte: steel mesh (exterior)

dulux: steel mesh paint

nood co.: sink (kids’ bathroom)

cabinet smith: custom cabinetry

academy tiles: tiles

zuster furniture: sideboard (kids’ living space)

snelling studio: table, stools

jardan: sofa

muuto through living edge: chairs (kitchen)

inax through artedomus: tiles (primary bathroom)

lindsey wherrett ceramics: custom ceramic basin

duralloy: custom shower screen powder coating

australian sustainable hardwoods: wall panels, joinery

artefact industries: ceiling lights

brodware through e&s: sink fittings

artemide through stylecraft: wall lights (bathrooms)

eckersley garden architecture: landscape architect

meyer consulting: structural engineer

provanbuilt: builder

5 Homes Around the Globe That Nod to Their Surroundings

The strikingly diverse shapes of these five residences from around the globe are in direct response to their specific locales—physical and cultural.

HW Studio Arquitectos

Morelia, Mexico

Half buried under a grassy hillock, this 2,700-square-foot bunkerlike house—all concrete, wood floors excepted—is accessed by a narrow high-walled pathway that expands slightly to accommodate a tree. The bedrooms in the back look onto an equally narrow walled courtyard, while the large, vaulted living space in the front is completely open to the wooded ravine, thanks to an entire wall of glass.

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Imogen Pullar Architecture

Walkerville, Australia

At a mere 475 square feet, this seaside family retreat is a tiny house that doesn’t feel that way at all, thanks to lofty pitched ceilings, a mezzanine level, built-in furniture and storage, and expansive views of mountains, forests, or bay wherever you look. The exterior is clad in non-combustible fiber cement—the area is prone to bushfires—which a team of local artists has covered with colorful murals, making the little structure a delightful sight in its own right.

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

HGX Design

Hudson, New York

Despite its size—more than 6,000 square feet in all, including a basement media room and gym—this elegant weekend house sits lightly on a grassy ridge, its clean form and silvery cedar cladding echoing the simple rural buildings in the area. Inside, a limited color and materials palette—walnut planks, also silvery, on floors and some walls; other surfaces painted a single, unifying hue—and soaring 13-foot-high ceilings create serene, light-filled spaces as hospitable to people as they are to the homeowner’s art collection.

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

MCXA Group

Malinalco, Mexico

Nature and pre-Hispanic culture guided the design of this 2,900-square-foot house, which is surrounded by trees and located near Aztec ruins. Comprising a series of flexible volumes interwoven with courtyards of varying size, the residence is a seamless blend of indoor and outdoor spaces that take full advantage of the leafy canopy overhead while referencing ancient materials (chukum, a Mayan stucco) and structures (wood blocks that echo the steps of the region’s iconic pyramids).

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Nicole Blair

Austin, Texas

Like a bird, this 660-square-foot addition perches on four steel columns a couple of feet above the existing bungalow’s roofline. It’s shop-built steel frame was craned into position in a single day and then clad in low-maintenance oxidized-steel siding that chimes with other site elements. The split-level interior offers flexible space for family living, hobbies, and, during the pandemic, a hairstyling station.

PrevNext

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•