Local studio Bloco Arquitetos has completed a house in Brasília surrounded by brick screens and wide entry portals that open up the central courtyard to the exterior.

Known as Casa Tupin, the 420-square-metre (4,520-square-foot) residence is rectangular with a large central courtyard.

The 2025 house, set in a gated community 20 kilometres from Brasília, was designed to integrate the interior and exterior with the courtyard, which functions as both the leisure space and the connective core of the home.

"A house without windows, that is a window itself – rather than opening punctual views, the project seeks to transform the entire architectural body into a mediator between interior life and the surrounding landscape," Bloco Arquitetos told Dezeen.

"This approach results in a building that engages the environment through performance rather than transparency," the studio said.

Instead of large expanses of glazing, the vertical planes between the raised concrete slab and deep roof structure are coral-coloured brick – arranged as solid walls or breeze block-like screen – wrapping the house in texture and filtered light.

Selected for durability and composition consistency, the brick and concrete protect the interior from excessive heat. The restrained palette allows light, shadow and time to become part of the architecture, the studio explained.

"This porous facade acts simultaneously as solar protection and as a permanent ventilation filter, allowing air to flow in all directions throughout the house," the studio said.

"All spaces are organized in relation to this system, which integrates structure, climate control and spatial experience into a single architectural strategy."

The circulation, living spaces and private areas are arranged to maximise cross ventilation and the idea of the house as a continuous architectural experience that follows the structural logic of the design.

Supported on 12 pillars, three-quarters of the plan is elevated above the ground to pull natural ventilation beneath the house, preserve the existing topography and allow the native plants of the Brazilian savana – or Cerrado – to grow beneath the residence.

"This elevation also allows the native small animals from Cerrado – mostly lizards and burrowing owls – to move freely between the outside garden and the inner courtyard," the studio said, noting that the layout also allowed for the preservation of an existing tree at the centre of the courtyard.

Suspending the house and detaching it from the ground helped the designers connect the spatial concept with the environmental goals.

"This structural clarity allowed the building to appear both stable and light, reinforcing the idea of elevation as an architectural and environmental strategy," the studio said.

"Another key achievement was reversing the perception of transparency – although the house appears closed and opaque from the outside, the interior is open, fluid and visually expansive."

Other recent residential projects that use screens for ventilation include the renovation of a Puerto Rican home by Paul Raff and a woven timber home in Goa, India, by Field Atelier.

The photography is by Joana França.

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Full-height windows framed by sculptural panels of glass-reinforced concrete overlook two stacked courtyards at Mozart House, a London home extended by local practice Studio Dera.

Located in the Belgravia Conservation Area, the Georgian terraced home is famous for being both the site where Mozart composed his first symphony at eight years old and later as the home of author Vita Sackville-West and politician Harold Nicolson.

Studio Dera was asked to create additional living space for the client, expanding an existing one-bedroom extension at the end of the home's garden.

This included transforming the volume of a former basement pool into an additional bedroom, excavating further to create a small lounge overlooking a sunken courtyard.

"The deep rear garden gave us the opportunity to think of the project as part of the landscape, rather than as a conventional extension," Studio Dera co-founder Marcel Rahm told Dezeen.

"Matching the volume of the former pool for the extension allowed us to get bold and creative with the extension while still allowing the Georgian house to retain its presence," he added.

Studio Dera described the layout of the home, moving from the living area of the main home into a glazed link corridor that runs along the edge of the garden, as an "episodic journey".

Full-height sliding doors open onto an upper courtyard, with a staircase leading down into the lower courtyard. This sunken space sits adjacent to the ne lounge space and the dining room within the original home opposite.

Above the excavated area, the ground-floor bedroom volume was designed to feel like a garden pavilion, with a narrow, deep-set frame surrounding a large set of sliding glass doors that link it directly to the courtyard.

"We were interested in the new work feeling like an extension of the domestic garden landscape, at moments almost becoming a landscape itself," said Rahm.

"The excavation grounds the project in the site, and the lighter pavilion elements bring openness and repose," Rahm added.

"The sculptural glass-reinforced concrete (GRC) intervention – particularly the light pavilion of the new bedroom at the rear – helps balance the weight of excavation with a more delicate architectural presence."

Both courtyards are paved, with large round planters potted with trees and shrubs. In the upper courtyard, areas of translucent walk-on glass provide natural light for the lounge and bedroom below.

Inside, finishes have been chosen to feel "timeless, tactile and robust", with travertine, timber and textured lime plaster echoing the sculptural GRC elements of the exterior.

Elsewhere in London, architecture studio Pinzauer recently extended the former home of Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud, adding similarly pavilion-like, concrete-framed spaces overlooking its rear garden.

Other London house extensions recently featured on Dezeen include Komorebi by ConForm, which uses perforated floors to filter light, and Druid Grove by CAN, which features cave-like openings and green timber tendrils.

The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

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Gridded volumes of exposed concrete surround a series of courtyards at the University of Málaga's Faculty of Tourism, designed by local studio Vaillo + Irigaray Architects.

Created as part of the university's expansion of its Teatinos campus to the west of Málaga's centre, the sprawling, low-lying campus provides 22,904 square metres of teaching spaces and student facilities.

Vaillo + Irigaray Architects divided the faculty into a series of courtyard-facing forms, drawing on the long history of cloisters and courtyards in both university buildings and Mediterranean architecture.

"The project proposal aims to follow the tradition, deeply rooted in our architecture, based on a system of aggregating volumes around courtyards," studio partner Yago Vaillo Usón told Dezeen.

"The courtyard typology is common throughout the tradition of educational architecture, given that the institution of the university originated in cathedrals between the 11th and 13th centuries," he added.

The Faculty of Tourism comprises three primary volumes, positioned according to the topography of the gently sloping site, which enabled a parking level to be sunk below ground.

These rectilinear volumes are divided according to function, with each organised around a courtyard designed to have a distinct "personality". One volume contains classrooms, another houses departmental offices, while the third has an auditorium, library and cafeteria.

The classroom and office volumes both overlook gravel-lined gardens with concrete planters, while to the south, the cafeteria and auditorium overlook a paved courtyard with rows of palm trees.

Surrounding these courtyards, the external concrete grid acts as a colonnade that shades the faculty's cloister-like corridors that are lined with full-height glazing.

"Each volume is organised around a courtyard, which reinforces the personality of each space, creating a green, cool, and welcoming area around which all activity revolves, thus becoming a protected outdoor social space," Usón explained.

"A public scale closer to urban infrastructure is established," Usón continued. "The structure becomes the essential architectural element of the project, capable of organising the program and defining its image."

"The building's image is formed by an exposed, in-situ concrete structure, both interior and exterior, with very slender, 15-centimetre-thick sections."

The faculty's three volumes are united by a central hall at its heart, which was conceived as an internal courtyard. It is topped by a sawtooth, skylit roof that filters daylight through a ceiling of concrete beams.

The corridors that wrap this central space connect directly to each volume's cloister, uniting them all around a flexible, open area that can be used for events and exhibitions.

Surrounding the faculty building, a series of landscaped and paved slopes has been introduced, including a botanical garden, overlooked from perimeter windows set within the deep concrete grid.

Other university buildings recently featured on Dezeen include an engineering building for Penn State University by American studio Payette, which is wrapped in reddish brick and metal fins, and an Indian teaching building by Sanjay Puri Architects that references ancient stepped wells.

The photography is by Rubén Pérez Bescós.

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French architecture studio Tectoniques has completed the Dominique Frelaut School in Paris, wrapping a central courtyard with a series of stepped volumes topped by green terraces.

Located in the suburban commune of Colombes, the five-storey, 5,180-square-metre school occupies a former industrial site and provides 25 classrooms alongside a clubroom and a canteen on the top floor with panoramic views over Paris.

Looking to maximise outdoor space, Tectoniques created what it described as a "vertical school", with a tall, narrow U-shaped plan hugging a central green courtyard.

The five storeys of classrooms within each wing step backwards as they rise, topped by planted terraces that are connected by steel and concrete staircases that "cascade" all the way down to the entrance gate.

The central playground is partially sheltered by a first-floor walkway perched on concrete columns that links the school's two wings and was designed to double as a "teaching garden", with long, narrow planters.

"Presenting a clear and easily recognisable form, at once monumental and familiar, the building coils around the playground like a protective enclosure," said the studio.

"Its staggered upper floors and varied pathways create a close relationship between the architecture and the landscape," it continued. "Exterior staircases cascade down to the courtyard, linking all the terrace levels and offering an open-air path with multiple panoramic city views."

Facing the street, the school's outer facade is more enclosed, clad in alternating vertical strips of flat and convex pale ceramic tiles that were informed by the work of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.

Large windows with narrow metal planters at their bases bring daylight into perimeter corridors connecting the classrooms, which were oriented to overlook the central courtyard through windows sheltered by metal grille awnings.

In each corner of the U-shaped plan, two helical staircases have been housed within cylindrical concrete cores. These are punctured with porthole windows on each level that draw in light from the courtyard, which is reflected by a mirrored disk on the ceiling.

Inside, the timber and earthen brick structure of the school has been left exposed. It was left in a more raw state for the circulation areas and softened with white-painted walls and built-in timber storage in the classrooms.

This was part of a strategy by Tectoniques to allow pupils to "grasp how the building was constructed and how it functions", which also included leaving ducting, pipework and electrical conduits exposed.

"The brick brings character to the spaces whilst also contributing to optimise inertia and hygrometry. The built-in furnishings, designed and produced with poplar plywood, soften the brutalism of some equipment and service features," said the studio.

"In furtherance of this goal, the structure and utility networks remain exposed for learning purposes," it added.

Tectoniques has previously created a similarly stepped form topped by green terraces for a home in Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d'Or, made using rough, sandy-coloured concrete that was poured in layers.

Elsewhere, Le Penhuel & Associés recently used "warm and welcoming" biomaterials to create the 2,400-square-metre Groupe Scolaire Simone Veil in the suburbs of Paris.

The photography is by Salem Mostefaoui unless stated otherwise.

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Architecture studio BekArch has converted an old bakery building into an apartment in Prague, Czech Republic.

Located in the city's Vršovice neighbourhood, the studio space was originally a neglected workshop, located in the inner courtyard of a bakery.

"We saw hidden potential in this space," BekArch architects Jan Bek and Martin Kříž told Dezeen. "We aimed to transform this 'invisible' and overlooked area into a fully functional and high-quality part of the residential building."

"The inspiration came from the opportunity to give new life to an old, distinctive structure and to turn it from a storage-like void into an inspiring place," they continued.

The resulting one-bedroom apartment measures 58 square metres.

In the centre of the living area, the studio installed a metal mesh bicycle display as a "symbol of the inhabitants' lifestyle".

The exposed concrete beam ceiling and skylights of the old workshop were retained, while rebar was repurposed for custom door handles, maintaining the building's original industrial features.

The interior is arranged into zones rather than enclosed by solid walls and includes a bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and a bathroom with a walk-in shower.

The studio replaced the doors with large windows and installed new skylight glazing, which allowed the room to be filled with daylight.

"The skylights essentially drew a map of the interior. We positioned the main living areas in the spaces flooded with overhead light, while the areas in between serve as circulation or quieter zones", the architects explained.

"The intensity of the light then naturally defined the zones: under the skylights and near the window, active living areas emerged, while the less illuminated corners became service spaces", they continued.

"In this way, the layout was shaped not by walls, but by light".

The architects opened the space to the courtyard by installing a large sliding door, which leads out from the living area.

"The lift-and-slide portal allows the studio's living space to extend onto the terrace during the summer months", BekArch said.

The studio finished the floor in Cemflow, a cement-based flooring system, to "reference Prague's historic apartments".

Spruce bioboard, a wood‑based material, features in several areas of the space, including in the kitchen, where it's paired with a stainless steel backsplash and countertop, and in the bathroom on the vanity top and washbasin.

"The spruce bio-board brings natural grain and warmth to the interior, visually softening the rawness of the concrete ceiling", BekArch said.

"In contrast, the polished Cemflow cast floor, with its uniformity and visual clarity, unifies the entire space and provides a neutral, yet technically perfect, canvas that allows the furniture pieces to stand out."

Other conversions recently featured on Dezeen include the conversion of a London police station into rental apartments and an industrial site in Latvia turned into a residential complex.

The photography is by Ondřej Holub.

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Architecture studio Weico has completed a headquarters for Chinese electric car brand XPeng in Guangzhou, China, with a roof that forms an X.

Located in Guangzhou's Tianhe district, Weico designed the cluster of angular office buildings to house 13,000 of the brand's employees.

The large headquarters is formed of two angular office blocks that rise in height from the southern end of the site, where the block's size was determined by a height restriction due to the proximity to of a heliport.

Both blocks were wrapped around courtyards that each contain multiple terraces of varying sizes with large trees and stepped seating areas. There is also a five-a-side football pitch.

The courtyard office blocks are connected by a low-level building toped by another planted and stepped terrace. Generous staircases were created along the facade of the main buildings, providing casual meeting and resting points.

Where the blocks join they create an X shape, which is highlighted by the rooftop photovoltaic panels, as a nod to XPeng's name and logo.

Along with office space, the headquarters contains research and development centres, reception spaces, showrooms and a testing centre.

On the ground floor various more public functions were arranged along the north-south axis through the building. These include conference facilities, an exhibition centre, sales showrooms, fitness centre, post office and even a small hospital.

Almost half of the 50,000-square-metre basement level of the main office building contains the staff canteen.

This dining area was arranged around four central courtyards that are lit from above ensuring plenty of day light and fresh air fill in the otherwise dark space.

"In the era of AI-driven smart mobility, architecture is required to be more flexible, interconnected, and experiential," said the Beijing-based studio.

"The headquarter is no longer a traditional administrative office container; it is evolving into a 'super connector' – integrating design with industrial research and development, connecting AI exploration with social applications, stimulating innovation, and closely relating to the consumer market," it continued.

A large underground corridor was created to connect the office complex to the nearby Cencun subway station.

Several surrounding buildings contain a flagship store, shared conference centre and a flying car take-off and landing site, each within a separate building.

Weico was founded by Sun Wei in 2021, it also recently completed a super factory for Xiaomi, another electric car brand in China.

Elsewhere in China, Team BLDG has converted two rural homes outside Shanghai into a guesthouse, while HCCH has designed a doughnut-shaped viewpoint and pavilion in Huizhou.

The photography is by Arch-Exist.

Project credits:

Gross floor area: 360,000 square metres
Architect-in-charge: Sun Wei
Project directors: Sun Mingze, Wang Deyuan
Project team: Sun Wei, Sun Mingze, Wang Deyuan, Duan Yun, Sun Chen, Zhou Jingyi, Zhang Lining, Zhao Yue, Zeng Lingyue, Peng Shijie
Local design institute: Shenzhen Capol International & Associates Co
Facade consultant: SuP Engineering Consulting (Beijing) Co.
Lighting consultant: RDI Lighting
Landscape consultant: Guangzhou S.P.I Design Co
Interior design: Cheng Chung Design
Contractor: China Construction First Building (Group) Corporation Limited
Exhibition design and construction: Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology Co

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Terracotta screens and lush courtyards feature at Villa Brisana, a house in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that has been overhauled and expanded by Canada's Paul Raff Studio.

Located on the country's northern coast, the house sits within an exclusive enclave known as Dorado Beach. The owners are a family of four.

The home was originally built in 2001 and totalled 3,380 square feet (314 square metres).

For the building's overhaul, Toronto-based Paul Raff Studio set out to create more space, a stronger connection to nature, and better responsiveness to the tropical climate.

A guiding principle was to blend "local, Caribbean traditions with modern ingenuity".

"Materials and construction methods reflect the region's architectural roots," the team said.

The team added a wing to contain an enlarged primary suite, bringing the home's size up to 4,145 square feet (385 square metres). The home is now U-shaped in plan, with an adjoining garage.

Exterior walls are covered in a combination of whitewashed stucco and terracotta clay tiles. The tiles form "solar screens" that range from 18 to 32 feet (5.5 to 9.8 metres) in length.

"Featuring scalloped cut-outs, the screens mitigate sun glare, provide privacy and add intriguing depth," the studio said.

"At night, with interior lights on, the screens cast intricate shadows, giving the home a lantern-like glow."

The interior features a division between public and private areas.

One side contains the communal zone – a kitchen and dining area, along with a living room flanked by a solarium and a kids' playroom. The other side of the dwelling holds the bedrooms.

The renovation project focused on improving flow and functionality within the home.

Walls between the den and kitchen were removed to form a larger space for entertaining. Peaked parts of the roof were exposed to create rooms with high ceilings.

In the living room, a 17-foot-high (five-metre) ceiling allows for tall walls to be used as surfaces for film projections.

A new clerestory in the kitchen brings in soft, natural light and "echoes the verticality of the pitched living room ceiling".

In the backyard, there is a swimming pool that extends alongside the primary bedroom.

There are also a number of lush gardens, some of which occupy space between the terracotta screens and the home's exterior walls.

The house features 11 doors leading to the outdoors, ensuring the connection to nature was "omnipresent".

"We wanted the house to feel like an extension of the landscape," said studio founder Paul Raff.

The project's sustainable elements include the reuse of the original home's structure and passive cooling techniques, such as orienting the home to maximise natural breezes.

Villa Brisana is meant to exemplify "thoughtful, high-quality design" within a tropical setting.

"The renovation elevates the region's architectural standard, setting a benchmark for luxury, sustainability and seamless indoor-outdoor living," the team said.

Other projects by Paul Raff Studio include two homes in Toronto – one with a mirrored staircase that creates a kaleidoscopic effect, and the other featuring flamed basalt stone cladding and an aluminium brise-soleil.

The photography is by Michael Stavaridis.

Project credits:

Architecture and interior design: Paul Raff Studio
Architecture/design team: Paul Raff, Alex Morassut, Steve Socha, Kate Bennett, Kristine Kim
Structural engineer: Doris J Quinõnes Rivera Structural Engineering Consultants
Mechanical engineer: RAP Consulting Engineer
General contractor: VML & Asociados
Steel fabricator: Steelway Group
Landscape consultant: Sigfredo E Faria-Vega
Landscape contractor: PRGD Landscape Designer + Contractor

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Mirrored surfaces create the illusion of additional space inside this renovated terraced house in Sydney, Australia, which local studio Alcami Architecture designed around a completely openable courtyard.

Terrace House Mirage is a renovation of a Victorian terraced house in the suburb of Chippendale, which was defined by a typically narrow footprint and a lack of natural light.

Architect Victor Alcami told Dezeen that his studio set out to "dissolve these spatial limitations and extend the perception of space beyond the party walls."

The project's most significant intervention is the central courtyard, which expands the home's usable area while optimising natural light and ventilation.

The courtyard is flanked by a bespoke bi-fold and sliding panel system that helps to transform the ground floor into a fully connected open-air space.

A chamfered ceiling surrounding the courtyard references American artist James Turrell's Skyspaces while also framing views of a neighbouring tree.

Mirrors along the tops of the walls create the illusion of an infinitely extending floating ceiling, informed by the American Bar in Vienna designed by Adolf Loos in 1907.

"The design challenges conventional notions of space and seamlessly blends indoor and outdoor areas, adapting this terrace to the Australian outdoor way of living with design solutions that are replicable in every single terrace house in Australia," Alcami claimed.

From the entrance, a pebble-lined path extends along the entire length of the house, with a mirrored wall creating the illusion of more space.

The path leads past the central courtyard to a living area featuring a cantilevered bench that appears to float in front of a glass wall looking out onto another courtyard garden.

Throughout the project, the architects incorporated elements that reflect the owner's cultural background, which fuses Spanish and Arabic traditions.

The use of metal chains, roller blinds and textural surfaces references Mediterranean architecture, while the incorporation of horseshoe-shaped arches evokes the famous Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba.

According to Alcami, this approach allows the standard terraced typology to form the basis for a home that reflects the owner's individuality and preferences.

"This project aligns with Gaston Bachelard's phenomenology of space, emphasising memory and lived experience in architecture," he suggested.

"The presence of vernacular materials serves as a bridge between the owner's childhood memories and their present-day home, creating a deeply personal environment rather than a generic terrace renovation."

One of the client's requests was to incorporate their favourite colour – orange – which is used as a bold accent against an overall natural and neutral material palette.

Orange tones are used for furniture and architectural elements such as the kitchen units and fridge, which are concealed behind bamboo roller blinds.

A central island featuring a backlit, translucent-orange onyx stone base serves as a focal point in this space. The island includes an invisible induction hob and also functions as a table, allowing the kitchen and dining areas to merge as one.

The most striking use of orange colour is reserved for the bathroom, which was designed as an immersive environment featuring an orange acrylic bathtub and freestanding washbasin, along with walls covered in orange mosaic tiles.

The house's private areas are located upstairs, where the main bedroom benefits from a balcony as well as borrowing light from a skylight above the adjacent corridor.

The remainder of the compact first floor is dedicated to a study or guest room that can be closed off using a bi-fold partition when privacy is required.

A row of orange cupboards extends along the entire length of the plan, emphasising the volume of the space and unifying the different zones.

Alcami claimed that the project's approach to spatial reconfiguration and its fantastical design details represent an alternative take on a familiar typology that could be adapted to suit many similar homes in Australia.

"This transformation challenges the conventional terrace house renovation, which typically involves moving the bathroom and adding a living area at the rear," said the architect.

"Instead, this project fully dissolves the terrace into the garden; an architectural statement about maximising light, air and openness within extreme spatial constraints."

Other recent Sydney homes featured on Dezeen include a house designed as a "kit of parts" and an Arts and Crafts-home with contemporary details.

The photography is by David Wheeler.

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A public park is the centrepiece of Cloud 11, a creative hub in Bangkok, Thailand, recently completed by architecture studio Snøhetta with local firm A49 Architects.

Set to open in the South Sukhumvit innovation district in March, the 250,000-square-metre complex is intended to bring together creative companies and entrepreneurs in the capital.

It takes the form of a large glazed volume raised above a central courtyard, which is open to the public and incorporates what Snøhetta said is "Thailand's largest elevated lawn".

Cloud 11 is an urban regeneration project created with A49 Architects for local property developer Magnolia Quality Development Corporation (MQDC).

Its design responds to the lack of public green space in Bangkok, which equates to less than seven square metres per resident, and issues of rising heat, air pollution and flooding.

Alongside the lawn, the central courtyard is made up of pocket parks and elevated gardens, intended to filter air, minimise heat and support biodiversity in the area.

"Cloud 11 represents a transformative vision for sustainable urban regeneration," said Snøhetta managing director Richard Wood.

"It presents an innovative adaptation model designed for Bangkok and other cities in the region, where environmental resilience is embedded into the urban fabric through an inclusive cultural park that will nurture both social and ecological synergy."

Cloud 11 is described by Snøhetta as a "horizontal landmark", with a layered composition that draws on Bangkok's shophouse streets, elevated skytrain lines, and emerging high-rise towers.

It incorporates a mix of residential, working, and leisure facilities, including studios, hotels, market halls and eateries.

The main courtyard is positioned between a tower and a podium to provide shading, and elevated above ground to prevent flooding.

Its giant lawn is intended for "everyday recreation" but can also be used as a venue for festivals and performances. Alongside it are sports courts and playgrounds, in addition to therapy gardens and areas for rest.

"By clustering these active, playful, and mindful zones, the design fosters intergenerational and intercultural exchange," said Snøhetta.

Cloud 11 is complete with green roofs, shaded walkways and accessible circulation routes, as well as bespoke seating made from wood and recycled plastic.

Natural ventilation is prioritised throughout the building to reduce energy demand, while a stormwater system includes porous pavements and bioswales.

Snøhetta is an architecture and design studio founded by Kjetil Thorsen and Craig Dykers in 1989. It first revealed its design for Cloud 11 in 2023.

Other recently completed projects by the studio include an extension to the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College in the US and a fish-farming facility that bridges rocky outcrops in Norway.

The photography is by Justin Szeremeta of StudioSZ.

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Australian studio Sam Crawford Architects has renovated and extended Waverley House in Sydney, reorganising the home around a timber staircase with nooks for sitting and relaxing.

Sam Crawford Architects adapted the original 1950s bungalow for a young, growing family, aiming to create a "peaceful but playful" environment with strong connections to the surrounding landscape.

"Our clients hoped to maintain the bones of the solid existing 1950s home and strengthen the connection with the verdant surroundings," director Sam Crawford told Dezeen.

"They were looking to create a home that encouraged connection as a family and also allowed for moments of privacy, without having to do everything in one open space," Crawford said.

A light-filled staircase made from spotted gum timber was added at the heart of the plan. The studio designed the staircase with split levels, integrating cosy nooks for reading and a mesh hammock above.

Natural light and ventilation are drawn into this central space through roof periscopes, as well as large windows looking onto the internal courtyard.

"The stairs are much more than a place of transit – they function as the centrepiece of the home with all the spaces on all four levels revolving around the staircase," said Crawford.

"There is a utilitarian function, a physical connection, but they are also multifunctional and include a hidden pantry, multiple nooks for reading, relaxing, playing, bringing in light and generating a large void creating a sense of space," he stated.

Avoiding a fully open-plan layout, the studio introduced smaller, quieter spaces at the front of the house on the ground floor. These include a study, a living room "retreat" and a utility area.

Beyond the central staircase, the studio lowered the rear ground floor in response to the gently sloping site, creating a separate level for the main living, kitchen and dining space.

"The move to split and drop the rear of the home was a big part of reconnecting the house to the site – it allows easy street entry whilst also opening living areas directly onto the garden," said Crawford.

Responding to a request for a strong connection to the outdoors, the living space features a large window with a deep wooden window seat overlooking the landscaped garden.

Upstairs, the first-floor extension to the bungalow has been designed to create a separation between parents' and children's spaces, which are split on either side of the staircase.

On the garden side, the parents' spaces include the master bedroom with an ensuite finished in green terrazzo tiles. There is also a second study with a built-in timber desk.

Meanwhile, the children's bedrooms are located at the front of the house, leading out to a small balcony.

The home's interior material palette is earth-toned, dominated by timber, tiles and terrazzo. Dark timber ceilings are contrasted with pale beeswax-finished render on the walls.

"There are a variety of colours in the house, with distinct palettes in different spaces," Sam Crawford Architects senior associate Jarad Grice told Dezeen.

"As much as possible, we used colours that are intrinsic to a material, like terracotta tiles or charred timber cladding," Grice added. "But we also used paint where appropriate."

"As the colours shift throughout each space, a similar materiality was maintained with the use of terrazzo, tile and painted surfaces," he continued.

"In the kitchen, there is a subtle but important shift in the timber finish – spotted gum is used throughout the house, aside from the kitchen cabinetry in ironbark."

Waverley House's original external walls were retained with the white "popcorn render" reinstated on the ground floor. This is contrasted with charred-timber cladding and natural timber battens on the first-floor extension.

The studio explained that the high-contrast finish was designed to create a dialogue between the new and existing parts of the house.

Sam Crawford Architects was founded by Sam Crawford in Sydney in 1999.

Other projects by the studio recently featured on Dezeen include a red-roofed community pavilion and a home renovation topped with a "garden oasis".

The photography is by Brett Boardman. 

Project credits:

Architect: Sam Crawford Architects 
Builder: Build By Design
Structural engineer: Structure Consulting Engineers
Hydraulic consultant: ITM Design
Landscape consultant: TARN
Quantity surveyor: QS Plus

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Emirati studio Some Kind of Practice presented a palm-clad pavilion with a central courtyard at this year's Dubai Design Week, exploring how this architectural feature has been shaped by climate and communities over time.

Titled When Does a Threshold Become a Courtyard?, the installation was positioned in the Dubai Design District and created by studio founder Omar Darwish alongside co-leader Abdulla Abbas.

The rectilinear pavilion is enclosed by towering walls made of concrete blocks and palm fronds, known as arish, layered on top of a wooden frame.

A deep wind tower was placed in the centre of the roof, covered with corrugated metal sheets, which allows air to circulate through the structure.

The duo wanted to create a courtyard using readily available "off-the-shelf" materials, marrying contemporary design with traditional architecture.

"We do a lot of research on the UAE in general, historically, materially, spatially, looking at how it evolved and how architecture evolved in the region," Abbas explained during a tour of the installation.

"So rather than just simply building a building with four walls and enclosing it and saying 'that's a courtyard', we wanted to look at it contextually."

Stacked concrete blocks were chosen in homage to the piles of stone that Abbas said people historically used to create courtyard boundary walls in the UAE's mountainous regions.

"Rather than stone, we looked at stacking concrete blocks, because in the 60s, when concrete was first imported from Japan, it completely changed the way we constructed in the country," said the architect.

"It led to the abandonment of a lot of these materials, which are still found today, but they're mostly used for temporary stuff," he explained, citing the use of palm fronds for makeshift shade structures.

Corrugated metal was selected to absorb heat and mitigate temperatures within the courtyard – a system that local people have used for decades in harsh climates.

"When you come into the space, it's a lot cooler than outside," acknowledged Abbas.

Abbas and Darwish wanted to imbue the installation with a sense of community, as a nod to the myriad neighbourhoods they visited across the UAE during their research.

A table and chairs were placed within the courtyard for a portion of the design week, and visitors were invited to interact with the structure.

Dubai Design Week, which concluded on Sunday, featured presentations including furniture by Italian studio Draga & Aurel and an exhibition by emerging designers hailing from across the Middle East.

The photography is courtesy of Dubai Design Week.

Dubai Design Week 2025 took place from 4 to 9 November 2025 at various locations across Dubai, United Arab Emirates. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world. 

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Glazed living areas shaded by a steel-framed cloister overlook a courtyard at Three Oaks Farm, a home in West Sussex designed by London studio Nick Willson Architects.

Located on the site of a disused farm on the outskirts of Ifold, Three Oaks Farm is surrounded by lawns, a wildflower meadow and a small pool, all of which are visible through the full-height glazing.

It was designed by Nick Willson Architects across a single level, ensuring the clients could continue living there comfortably in close connection to the landscape as they get older.

"The house explores what a contemporary courtyard house would be like in a semi-rural setting, one which explores the relationship of nature to building, ecology, sustainability and intergenerational living," said the studio.

"There is an intimate connection to nature between landscaping and the house. Views through the house have been carefully designed to provide a connection to nature, daylight," it added.

"The changing seasons will allow the views and colours through the house to change as the trees shed and forgo their foliage."

The facades of Three Oaks Farm contrast pale brickwork with full-height glazing that brings in light and views. They are topped by a zinc-clad roof with large overhangs, which extend to form a cloister-style space around the central courtyard and out to the gardens.

Living, dining and kitchen areas line the northern side of the courtyard on either side of a smaller herb garden, connected by a glazed link that opens onto the walkways through sliding glass doors.

A row of bedrooms encloses the courtyard's eastern edge, overlooking the wildflower meadow on the opposite side. This is hugged by the main bedroom to the north, alongside a yoga studio.

To the west of Three Oaks Farm, a garage block sits alongside a home office, plant room and utility space, divided into individual blocks that are separated by more small gardens and planters.

In both the bedrooms and living areas, sections of the roof pitch upwards to create double-height spaces with large clerestory windows, the sides of which have been clad externally in zinc shingles.

A monochromatic palette in the interiors contrasts with the more textural brickwork of the exterior, as well as the panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. Above, a timber-lined ceiling creates a continuity between the courtyard canopy and living areas.

"The key component of Three Oaks Farm was to combine new technology with an element of craft," said the studio.

"The house brings together a rich mixture of crafted elements and landscaping: the textural brick wall, zinc cladding and timber joinery, which are all made by hand, employing specialist tradespeople," it added.

The operation of Three Oaks Farm is designed to be "as off-grid as possible", with photovoltaic panels and battery storage, passive heating and ventilation, rainwater collection and an air-source heat pump.

Previously a director at Willson & Bell, Nick Willson founded his eponymous studio in 2010. Its previous projects include a house in London clad with sections of flint, timber and lead.

The courtyard typology was also recently explored by UK studio Hugh Strange Architects for a rural home in Cornwall, organised around a central garden that draws on a traditional farmstead.

The photography is by Gareth Gardner.

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Perforated brick walls, courtyards and arcades are intended to imitate the bylanes of an Indian city at The Street, a community clubhouse in Pune, India, designed by local practice Studio VDGA.

The Street was created to provide facilities and communal gathering spaces for a new community on the outskirts of Pune in Maharashtra, which comprises 240 self-build plots.

Across a 15,000-square-metre site, The Street provides a gym, kitchen, multipurpose hall, restaurant and pool for this community, all connected by a series of winding streets, courtyards and arcades designed by Studio VDGA to foster "spontaneous interactions".

"The core concept for the design of The Street was to create a facility that acts as a central hub for a plotted community, moving away from the stereotypical clubhouses built merely as marketing tools," the studio told Dezeen.

"This traditional influence continues in the layout, which mimics the feeling of vibrant Indian by-lanes," added Studio VDGA.

"The design nurtures a natural, open, and connected lifestyle, emphasising shared experiences, traditional values, and a sense of belonging, with a meandering street-like layout to encourage spontaneous interactions and shared stories."

Two entrances at both the north and south of the site lead to brick paths into the heart of The Street, where the main facilities are organised around open, stone-paved plazas.

To the east, a gymnasium and bathrooms sit alongside a large swimming pool. This is overlooked by an area of outdoor seating and a variety of sheltered spaces, including a steel-framed canopy and a concrete arcade.

To the west, both the sheltered multipurpose events space and an external area of amphitheatre-style seating look towards a plaza planted with a tree, while a tower-like form to the south contains the centre's utilities and a store.

Brick walls enclose the routes around the site, as well as an elevated seating area beneath a barrel-vaulted ceiling and with perforated walls.

Small changes in level around the site are intended to evoke the feeling of moving through a cityscape.

"Red brick was selected to evoke a sense of nostalgia and to root the structure in the landscape, a nod to traditional Indian architecture," the studio said.

"This is complemented by the use of raw concrete finishes, which provide a modern contrast while maintaining the building's authentic, unrefined character," it added.

Based in Pune, Studio VDGA was founded by principal architect Deepak Gugarii in 2003. Previous projects by the studio include a home in Dubai, also organised around a series of open courtyards, and an office in India with curving walls of honeycomb cardboard.

The photography is by Edmund Sumner.

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Design firm Wendover has converted the former St John's Wood police station in northwest London into a block of nine rental apartments, organised around a central courtyard.

Located at 20 Newcourt Street, close to the northwestern edge of Regent's Park, the project is the first rental scheme by design-led development firm Wendover.

The project involved the restoration of the Victorian-era exterior of the police station, as well as a contemporary extension finished in pale brickwork and concrete.

Inside is a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments and townhouses.

"We chose to retain and restore all exterior elements of the original Victorian police station building and the existing structure, preserving the historic character whilst adapting it for contemporary residential use," co-founder Jan-Paul Coelingh told Dezeen.

"Retaining this footprint posed challenges in order to accommodate the required apartment sizes, which we resolved through careful planning to create well-proportioned layouts with an emphasis on natural light and a sense of space," he added.

The three-storey, U-shaped extension connects to the rear of the existing building at one end, creating a courtyard at the centre of the site that is paved in cobblestones and planted with a tree.

Wendover describes this courtyard as being "inspired by European modes of communal living". It is both accessible and overlooked by each of the surrounding apartments through sliding glass doors at ground level and Juliet balconies and terraces above.

Drawing on the brickwork of the existing Victorian building, the extension is framed by pale brick columns, created using bespoke brick specials crafted by manufacturer Petersen Brick and positioned between concrete lintels.

This structure, developed with engineering studio Milk, frames large openings finished in olive green metalwork and painted timber, reflecting the greenery of the nearby park and the central tree.

"We wanted the architecture to address and celebrate the courtyard as the central 'interior' of the project and, importantly, create a welcoming communal space for residents to dwell and spend time," co-founder Gabriel Chipperfield told Dezeen.

"The self-supporting facade, an architectural point of difference with its rounded brick piers, concrete lintels and generous window openings, echoes the traditional tectonic of solid masonry construction of the original police station," he added.

Though different in size, the interiors of the apartments are united by their pared-back finishes, including white walls and wooden flooring, forming a neutral backdrop to the tenants' furnishings.

Chipperfield and Coelingh co-founded Wendover in 2023 with Saul Sutton. Its previous projects include the renovation of a Marylebone penthouse, which features a split bathroom design to cater to its client's contrasting tastes.

Elsewhere, Chatillon Architectes recently transformed a 1950s post office in Brittany into flats, adding an extension with a glass-brick facade.

The photography is by Simon Menges.

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Living units have been arranged around a central courtyard in Barrington 1503, a residential project by California studio LOHA that was designed to skilfully address the "complexities of communal living".

For a rectangular site in West Los Angeles, the studio designed a complex that consists of four distinct but connected volumes totalling 24,200 square feet (2,248 square metres).

Facades are clad in charcoal-coloured aluminium panels and raked plaster.

The four-level complex offers 79 private bedrooms – spread across 18 apartments – along with shared spaces for cooking, dining and lounging.

According to LOHA, the project introduces "much-needed density" to a neighbourhood that is filled with college students and new residents. The University of California, Los Angeles campus and Santa Monica College are located in the area. A more typical development would have accommodated far fewer residents, said LOHA.

Communal living projects offer an "essential and viable alternative" to the traditional housing models in Los Angeles.

"Los Angeles faces dramatic increases in the cost of living, further exacerbated by the overwhelming prevalence of single-residence homes," said LOHA.

"The co-living model is growing rapidly, driven by increasing demand for affordable housing and a stronger sense of connection among residents."

Barrington 1503 was designed to offer a mix of social and private spaces, with layered transitions between the two realms.

"At the heart of Barrington 1503's design is the concept of a spatial social gradient," the team said.

"As underscored by the Covid-19 pandemic, the success of co-living depends on skillfully balancing shared community spaces with well-defined private areas."

The building reads as a cube that was carved up to form the four volumes, which vary in size and shape. The volumes are set around a central courtyard that is open to the sky and ushers in sunlight.

Dappled light falls upon the site's network of exterior corridors and stairs, which are lined with white railings and connect the four volumes. These circulation elements facilitate both movement and social interaction.

"These pathways are more than just thoroughfares," the team said. "They are spaces of connection, allowing for chance encounters and fostering an organic sense of community."

Each of the building's 18 apartments contains a kitchen, living space, and either four or five bedrooms. There are between two and four bathrooms in each unit. All units come furnished.

The bedrooms range in size, from approximately 104 to 130 square feet (9.6 to 12 metres). Each comes with a full-sized bed, although a queen-sized bed could fit in most of the rooms, according to LOHA.

While the units will likely be attractive to students, the building is open to all types of residents.

The units stray from the typical rental apartment in a couple of ways.

First, they come with more bedrooms than are commonly found in a conventional apartment in America. Second, a tenant rents an individual room and is then paired up with roommates. In a more conventional context, tenants band together to rent a full apartment, rather than renting individual rooms.

The architects used various tactics to distinguish between public and private realms in the apartments.

In the living rooms, sliding doors and windows open toward the inner courtyard, providing a connection to the building's social life. In contrast, bedroom windows were placed along perimeter walls and look out toward the city.

Interior finishes include plywood cabinetry and wooden floors. The team used colour tones to signal transitions between public and private zones.

"A soothing sage green coats the kitchens and living areas, evoking lightness and tranquility, while the hallway walls darken as they lead to the bedrooms – subtly signaling a transition into more restful, intimate spaces," the team said.

Overall, the complex's design is meant to serve as a model for future co-living projects.

"The project thoughtfully addresses the complexities of communal living, providing an environment that supports both interaction and solitude in equal measure," the studio said.

"Barrington1503 not only embraces the promise of co-living but brings it to life with architectural precision, creating a model for 21st-century urban housing that is as functional as it is inspiring."

Other co-living projects in America include a complex near Hollywood by Bittoni Architects that is clad in white stucco and contains 23 bedrooms, and a pale pink building in Massachusetts that contains 30 units and a host of shared amenities.

The photography is by Eric Staudenmaier.

Project credits:

Architect: Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects (LOHA)
LOHA team: Lorcan O'Herlihy (principal-in-charge), Brian Adolph (project director), Nicholas Muraglia (team lead), Kenji Hattori-Forth (project team)
Client: Rize Alliance

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Chilean studio Paralelo Transversal has utilised passive strategies, including multiple courtyards for ventilation, in the design of a house oriented around a skylight on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile.

Casa con Lucarna was completed in 2024 with 3,250 square feet (302 square metres) of interior space, divided by open-air bays that help it cool in the warm climate.

"Casa con Lucarna was inspired by the need to respond to a hot climate using passive strategies – light, air and shadow as the core design tools," the team at Paralelo Transversal told Dezeen.

The focal point of the house is a large skylight – or lucarna – that brings softened, natural light into the main living space, located at the centre of the house, which is divided into organising modules.

The skylight juts out of the roof as the only vertical element of the otherwise horizontal design.

A triangular truss, supported on black steel columns, holds the profile of the skylight, which has frosted glass to dilute the light as it streams into the seating area below.

Shaded patios separate interior programs and promote cross ventilation, while deep overhangs reduce heat gain. With no active systems, the house relies on its arrangement for thermal comfort.

The house is organised in a gradient from public to private with the social areas – outdoor terraces and a barbecue area – located on the eastern end of the plan, moving through family spaces of the living, dining and kitchen areas in the centre, to the bedrooms on the western side.

The planted patios are framed in floor-to-ceiling panes of glass, allowing views through the home.

"At the far end lies the main bedroom, which overlooks the rest of the house and includes an exterior bathroom protected by a slatted wood screen that shields the west-facing facade from the sun," the studio said.

"The result is both functional and climatically effective."

The steel framework is elevated above the ground to enhance ventilation.

Warm wooden cladding fills in the framework as vertical boards and screens.

The standard-sized materials optimised cost and construction. A concrete walkway, raised just one step above the ground, connects the various outdoor spaces and separates the house from the lawn and gravel driveway.

"Exterior colors and materials – mainly wood – were selected to blend into the natural surroundings, while white interiors reflect light and enhance brightness," the studio said.

A minimised interior palette with – soft white walls, natural wood floors, black metal accents and framed wooden doorways – emphasises spatial flow and the home's light, which was seen as a material itself, the studio explained.

"The combination of a compact, efficient plan with a strong compositional gesture – the lucarna – gives the house a distinct identity while remaining simple and cost-conscious," the studio said.

Other homes recently constructed that centre around skylights include a California home with an underground workshop by Ogawa Fisher Architects, a rural New Zealand home with large circular openings in the roof by Kenshaw McArthur and the renovation of a 1960s Oregon house by SHED Architecture & Design.

The photography is by Marcos Zegers.

Project Credits:

Architecture: Paralelo Transversal
Lead architects: Sebastián Silva, Matías Baeza
Construction: Constructora Dewman
Collaborators: Juan Pablo Peró

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Staggered courtyards, colourful skylights and bridges animate this Indian school extension, which architecture practice Spacefiction Studio has designed to challenge the typical "constricted classroom format".

Located in the small town of Nellore in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the Rainbow International School has been expanded by Spacefiction Studio to accommodate its growing student population.

Spacefiction Studio was commissioned for the project by the non-profit organisation Wishwas Education Society, which purchased a two-hectare parcel of land next door to the existing school to design the three-storey block.

The studio's design is organised around a central spine that divides the plan into a north and south wing, and features bridges crossing on multiple levels.

Instead of a traditional four-walled classroom, the Hyderabad-based studio was guided by the ancient Indian gurukul education model, which is characterised by the image of a guru teaching under the shade of a large tree.

"The whole design started from the idea that the typical four-walled, constricted classroom format should be rethought and every classroom, irrespective of the floor it is located on, must have access to an open area," said Spacefiction Studio's principal architect Baba Sashank.

To ensure a less hierarchical pedagogical style, classrooms are open with an element of outside space. Even students on the higher floors share large, double-height courtyards with walls and ceilings painted terracotta red and sunny yellow.

The studio has staggered the building's south wing to protect the lower floors from the high southern sun and provide a comfortable interior environment in Nellore's hot and humid climate. This created large double-height columns that have been left exposed along the length of the atrium.

The elongated central spine of the building forms an air passage, funnelling a breeze through the school and cooling the building without the need for air conditioning.

"This adds an element of liveliness to an already lively environment," said Shashank. "Because of this constant wind flow, the humidity has no chance to linger, and the inside ambient temperature is always a lot cooler than the outside."

Large cut-outs in the roof bring light in from the top, and these have also been finished in yellow and red hues. They are sealed from rain with glass over trusses on top, and aluminium underneath to reduce heat gain.

Underneath these skylights, large planters run the length of the school and are filled with tropical greenery.

Rainbow International School's flooring is predominantly made of locally sourced Kota stone, interspersed with granite. This cool-toned green kota and grey granite set off the brighter colours used around the courtyards and skylights.

Other recent education projects featured on Dezeen include architect Jonathan Mizzi's learning centre for a school in Indonesia and Indian studio Vastushilpa Sangath's Shiv Nader School that features a banana-leaf shaped roof.

The photography is by Vivek Eadera.

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Canadian firm StudioAC has completed a residential building called Junction Semi for a family of seven, which features pale wooden cladding, a courtyard and a double-gable roof.

Located on an arterial street in Toronto's West End, the project was designed for three generations of family members – a couple, their three children, and a set of grandparents.

The project's name, Junction Semi, stems from the use of the word "semi" to describe duplex-type buildings in Toronto.

The building contains a pair of two-storey units that sit side by side. The units are separate but share certain spaces, such as a central courtyard.

The project was created on a site that formerly held a religious building. The team preserved aspects of the original building, such as the foundation and certain walls, but added a second floor and carved away areas on the ground level.

"Rather than massing buildings and leaving behind outdoor space, the first assignment was to carve away outdoor space from the existing building," said local practice StudioAC.

"The courtyard situates itself so that it helps to bring light into the deeper parts of the building that would prove dark without."

In addition to the courtyard, the occupants share a foyer in the front of the building, a garage in the rear and a rooftop garden.

Each unit has its own skylit stairwell. Wide stairs lead down to the main level, which sits below grade.

"As the main level is sunken below grade, the massing of the building is actually lower than its neighbouring properties, allowing the project to reference the existing scale of the streetscape," the team said.

In each unit, the ground level has a front and back portion, separated by the courtyard. The front holds an open-plan living room, kitchen and dining area, while the back portion contains a bedroom and the shared garage.

Upstairs, one finds bedrooms, terraces and the rooftop garden.

Natural light was envisioned as a primary feature, so the team opted for a material palette "that celebrates texture over colour".

"The spaces are finished using a monochromatic colour scheme that is muted to act as a canvas for the changing light," the team said.

Exterior facades are clad in pale wooden siding from Maibec. The home is topped with a double-gable roof.

On the street-facing elevation, the team carved out an opening on the upper level to form a terrace with a Japanese maple tree. The terrace abuts a primary bathroom with a soaking tub.

This design element was informed by the client's love of drawing a bath in their former home and hearing the wind passing through a tree. The client had casually mentioned this experience, and it ended up being a catalyst for a "major spatial gesture" in their new home.

StudioAC was founded in 2015 by Jennifer Kudlats and Andrew Hill. The studio's other projects include a country home along Lake Ontario that takes cues from agrarian architecture and a luxury cannabis dispensary in Toronto that has zig-zagging walls made of industrial grating.

The photography is by Felix Michaud.

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Local architecture studio Lo Design has created a condominium building in Philadelphia with a bevelled roofline and interior courtyards to maximise daylight for residents inside and outside of the building.

Located in Philadelphia's developing Francisville neighbourhood, The Francis apartment building is clad in white standing seam metal and abuts a historic brownstone located within in the same long, narrow plot.

The studio wanted to create a building that referenced the neighbourhood while staying distinct.

"Behind the handsome facade of the historic brownstone, the new construction peeks out – quietly announcing itself," said the studio.

"Along Cambridge Street, however, the Francis stands out as strikingly different and entirely new, while still referencing the massing and proportions of the surrounding and adjacent historic brownstones and carriage houses."

The building contains twelve "mid-market" condominiums across four storeys and two individual volumes, while the on-site brownstone also contains one inhabited residence.

The longer volume, called Building 1, is located at the rear end of the site, while Building 2 is affixed to the back of the brownstone.

According to Lo Design, the project's unique site and north-south orientation shaped much of the design, as the studio sought to bring daylight and outdoor space into all levels of the buildings.

"The massing and configurations of the Francis are the direct response to the unique challenges of the site and program," said the studio. "Due to the site configuration, providing light to each unit became the driving force for the design."

Lo Design used several strategies to achieve this, such as creating "porosity" through the entire plot and creating bevelled roof corners to lower the building's overall height.

Located in the backyard of the brownstone, the two residential volumes are separated by a brick pathway that runs through the entire site and links the flanking streets.

Courtyards were distributed through the site on ground level, culminating in a slim outdoor area at the centre of the project.

In this space, the studio lined each volume with Juliet balconies, which overlook neighbouring units across the way to "reinforce [a] sense of community" across the buildings.

A small courtyard is also located towards one side of Building 1, while the other side of the building bows slightly inwards, further reducing mass.

The studio also cut away at the building's roofline, beveling the corners downwards to create "a series of vaults".

"The project originated as a concept with two 'boxes' on the site ostensibly with flat roofs," Lo Design principal Evan Litvin told Dezeen.

"We realised that by pulling the roof corners down, we could create a series of vaults that minimise building height on the outer edges of the site, both maintaining tall ceiling heights and maximising daylight into the courtyards."

Geometric roof decks were placed on top of each volume and are publicly accessible to the units below.

On the interior, the angled corners carry into the top-level residential units, creating a gabled or attic-like effect. Across all levels, the plan ultimately provides access to a shared courtyard, private balcony, the shared roofdeck, or all three.

The studio used a light palette of white-washed walls and wood flooring to "bounce light effectively through interior spaces" and used metal mesh for the stairwells and balcony guardrails to create an "ethereal effect" throughout the project.

Overall, the studio sought to reference neighbouring buildings while creating a structure that is "strikingly different".

Lo Design is based in Center City, Philadelphia and was founded by designers Evan Litvin and Lea Litvin.

Other recent projects in the city include a refreshed townhouse by architectural studio TBo and a skinny metal-clad apartment building in the city's Fishtown neighbourhood.

The photography is by Round Three Photography 

Project credits:
Architect: Lo Design
Interior design: Bunker Workshop
Structural engineer: Larsen & Landis
MEP consultant: Hutech Engineering
General contractor: Grit Construction

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Architecture studio WATG and Wimberly Interiors have completed a boutique hotel in Wuxi, China, evoking a sense of tranquility informed by local poetry.

Named Hotel Wuxi MGallery Collection, the hotel is located within Dangkou Ancient Town, a typical Jiangnan-style area featuring canals, arched stone bridges and traditional courtyard houses built almost 2,000 years ago.

Both the exterior and interiors of the hotel pay homage to the architectural language of the surrounding site, particularly referencing the former residence of Hua Tai Shi – a historical poet from the region.

The buildings on the hotel compound all adopt traditional north-south orientations, with their forms, rooflines and internal courtyards nodding to Jiangnan's architectural vernacular.

The hotel stands next to an ancient canal, which is crossed by arched bridges and sheltered walking passages, typically seen in traditional Jiangnan gardens.

"Hotel Wuxi MGallery Collection offers an immersive experience that connects guests with the cultural legacy and rhythm of the region," said WATG creative director of architecture Raghavendra Shanbhag.

"We took great care to honour historical heritage and tradition, weave in community-centred elements with public access spaces, and create a contemporary, immersive experience for guests that extends beyond the bounds of conventional hospitality."

Upon arrival, guests enter a water courtyard, known as the Moon Court.

The circular opening on top allows collected rainwater flow into the courtyard below, creating a dramatic water screen.

Next, the main lobby features a backdrop of bookshelves overlooking the canal, described as "a contemporary interpretation of Hua's personal library".

A bar within the lobby has a wall clad with locally crafted blue ceramic tiles, with Hua's poetry scripts carved into it and lighting strips that mimic his brush stroke painting.

The restaurant features tree-informed ceiling design and suspended ceiling installations that create a dining experience under a tree, echoing the name of the space "The Tree Canopy".

The hotel also contains a teahouse and a cultural hub that showcases Hua's literary works, with a conserved Huang Shi Nong water feature designed to create a peaceful and meditative setting.

There are four types of guest rooms throughout the hotel, all with garden views, which stays true to Hua's former residence design.

Natural elements, as described in Hua's poetry, serve as the foundation of the visual narrative.

The muted colour palette and natural wood materials combined with replicas of Hua's artwork in each room, was designed to create a mood that encourages guests to pause, reflect, and find inner peace.

"We honour Dangkou Ancient Town's literary and architectural traditions through interiors that are rooted in local proportions, materials, and sensory richness that invites guests to slow down and engage with their surroundings," said Wimberly Interiors creative director Paolo De Simone.

Specializing in hospitality design, WATG was founded in 1945, with offices across US, UK, Singapore, and China. In 2008, it launched its interior design firm, Wimberly Interiors.

Other recent projects completed in China include a creative hub in Dalian, wrapped in a rusty Corten steel facade, and a pavilion on a rocky site in Chongqing with a stepped roof of imitation stone.

The photography is by Seth Powers.

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Architecture studio Neri&Hu has transformed a former industrial compound in China, into a creative hub, wrapped in a rusty Corten steel facade to reference the site's history.

Called The Yard, the mixed-use creative development is located in the centre of Dalian, a northeastern city in Shandong Province, surrounded by university campuses and software parks.

Neri&Hu converted six buildings on the site formerly used as offices, warehouses, and dormitories for a chemical research institute in the 1980s.

The compound now comprises galleries, retailers, offices, hospitality, a cinema, theatre and a small public library near the entrance.

"As an adaptive reuse project, the aim is to transform the compound into a destination to serve the local community and student population," Neri&Hu told Dezeen.

"Our design challenge was to find an architectural language that could unify the buildings, which all have varying heights and distinct facades that have undergone previous renovation efforts."

The studio created an enclosed courtyard in a U-shaped configuration with the same facade language used on each building and a new spatial system of walls, screens and canopies added.

Acontinuous passage connecting all buildings surrounds the central plaza, framing a large rock landscape, previously served for parking.

According to the Shanghai-based studio the arrangement wass informed by traditional Chinese gardens, to celebrate the compound's hidden nature "as a contemplative space offering refuge from urban cacophony".

"The concept behind The Yard stems from a reflection on the project's context, situated in a hidden and introverted locus within the city; a small haven of a soon to be forgotten urban memory," said Neri&Hu.

Corten steel is the main surface material throughout the compound, paying homage to the site's industrial past, while its changing nature through time will maintain the record of the buildings' future evolution.

The existing stucco facades of the former workers dormitory, which will be converted into offices, were kept and restored.

On the ground floor, a series of wooden gates and garage stalls used for repairs in the past also keep their original look, waiting to be adapted into creative retail spaces.

A full-height glazed opening at the back building of the compound reveals the gallery spaces inside.

Inside the buildings, new plaster finishes along with partially exposed bricks and structural elements were designed to create a contrast between old and new.

Neri&Hu was established by Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu in 2004. The interdisciplinary studio is known for projects that respond to the context and heritage of their settings.

The practice's previous projects include a bao restaurant in France and an arts centre featuring rows of arches and barrel vaults, both reference Shanghai's traditional alleyways.

The photography is by DONG Image, unless stated otherwise.

Project credits:

Client: Dalian Chuanshi Yiju Business Management Co – The Yard
Partners-in-charge: Lyndon Neri, Rossana Hu
Associate-in-charge: Zhao Lei
Design team: Ivy Feng, Wenbo Da, Christine Chang, Siyu Chen, Susana Sanglas, Feiteng Feng, Haiou Xin, Ziyang Lin, Lyuqitiao Wang, Greg Wu
LDI: Zhongdi Design Group Co
Lighting: Linea Light (China) Co, Hangzhou ROLEDS Technology Co
General Contractor: Dalian Qian Sheng Feng Design Engineering Co

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Architecture studio Whittaker Parsons has added an elongated extension to a 1970s terrace in southeast London to create a light-filled courtyard house.

Whittaker Parsons renovated the existing home, which the studio described as an "unremarkable suburban dwelling", and added a 14-metre-long rear extension.

"Breaking from the usual infill or extruded approach, this extension to a 1970s terrace utilises the plot's extra width to form an elongated extension, running perpendicular to the rear elevation," Camilla Parsons told Dezeen.

"This created a private shaded courtyard garden and provided unexpected spatial variety and flexibility within the home."

Constructed with hempcrete blockwork topped with a Douglas fir roof, the extension stretches the length of the garden to create the feeling of an enclosed rear garden courtyard.

Whittaker Parsons intentionally aimed to design an alternative to the typical London rear extension, although this initially met resistance from the planning department.

"It wasn't entirely smooth – the initial application raised eyebrows for diverging from the typical London terrace form – the permitted development three/four-metre rear extrusion or side infill," explained Parsons.

"However, after withdrawing it and engaging in a more detailed dialogue with a senior officer, the initially proposed 14-metre-long perpendicular extension was approved."

Described as "deliberately flexible", the extension contains a trio of connected rooms overlooking the garden through full-height windows.

Built ahead of the renovation of the existing house, the clients and their young family lived in the extension for four months, while renovation works took place.

The extension currently contains a sitting room and a guest bedroom with a toilet sandwiched in between.

"The homeowners originally intended to purchase a separate garden room to live in during the construction," said Parsons.

"Instead, we proposed integrating this space into the extension, allowing them to phase the work and stay on-site throughout the build," she continued.

"This approach saved them thousands in rental costs and resulted in a flexible extension that can function as a main bedroom suite, playroom, or study."

The studio turned the entire ground floor of the existing house into an open-plan kitchen and living space, which also has large windows overlooking the garden. Three bedrooms and a family bathroom are located on the first floor.

Throughout the project, Whittaker Parsons aimed to use natural, textured materials to create intriguing functional spaces.

"We aimed to achieve a sense of 'just right' in line with the architectural concept of lagom, which prioritises functionality, practicality, and incorporates natural materials and textures to create spaces with purpose and intention," explained Parsons.

Working with one of the clients, Price & Myers associate structural engineer George Reed, the studio aimed to ensure that the project was as sustainable as possible.

"We focused on the fundamentals – getting the diagram correct, carbon modelling, committed to responsible sourcing and optimising performance wherever possible," said Parsons.

"We evaluated methods of construction using carbon modelling tools, opting for screw piles and a lightweight construction approach," she continued.

"We continue to monitor the property's performance to understand how we can improve next time."

Led by Parsons and Matthew Whittaker, Whittaker Parsons was established in London in 2015.

The studio previously added a loft extension to a mews house in London and designed The Naked House, which was longlisted for sustainable interior of the year at the 2021 Dezeen Awards.

The photography is by Ellen Christian Hancock.

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A wavy, terracotta lattice stretches along the front of the concrete Iztapalapa PILARES Community Center, which was designed by architectural studio Fernanda Canales to "empower community members".

Located in Iztapalapa – a heavily populated borough in Mexico City known for its high crime rate –  the building was designed as part of the government-backed Points of Innovation, Freedom, Art, Education and Knowledge (PILARES) programme.

The programme works to build supportive public facilities in vulnerable areas across the city.

"Iztapalapa PILARES Community Center is part of a series of projects that make up an initiative of the Mexico City government to provide cultural and learning centres for the city's most neglected neighbourhoods and marginalised communities – offering classes, workshops and various activities in a safe atmosphere," said the architecture studio.

The Iztapalapa centre is situated next to a men's penitentiary – a 633-square-metre building that includes workshops and classrooms for activities such as carpentry, gastronomy, body art, internet training and reading.

"This project aims to empower community members to equip them with positive tools to cope with everyday life," the team said.

The facility consists of single-storey, rectilinear volumes arranged around a central outdoor space.

Envisioned as an agora, the open-air space is divided up into four rounded components, each treated as an individual courtyard.

The layout can be viewed as "two arms that open towards the courtyards, embracing them", the firm said.

The outdoor space connects all the interior rooms and eliminated the need for corridors.

For the structural system, the team used concrete slabs and columns. Small spans helped ensure an efficient construction process.

Walls were made of concrete block. Along the entrance facade, the team added an undulating lattice made of porous terracotta bricks with a triangular pattern.

Throughout the facility, concrete was left in its natural state, with no paint or coatings, to enable easy maintenance.

"All the finishes and equipment were proposed having in mind that they should be affordable and long-lasting," the team said.

The team incorporated standard doors and window frames, and lighting fixtures were all surface-mounted, allowing for easy maintenance and replacements.

Sliding glass doors and operable windows facilitate cross ventilation and bring in natural light.

Surrounding the building are green spaces for gardening, sports and recreation.

Other projects in Mexico include a community centre for the elderly that features a circular form and simple materials, and a rural house made up of black boxes set around a courtyard.

The photography is by Onnis Luque and Rafael Gamo.

Project credits:

Architecture: Fernanda Canales
Collaborators: Aarón Jassiel Pérez, Iris López Rico, and Marco Antonio López Rico
Structural engineering: Gerson Huerta, Grupo SAI
Construction: DE ARQ Diseño de Espacios

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California studio Brooks + Scarpa has included roofs with exaggerated gables for the angular black-metal-clad Steeplechase house in the forests of North Carolina, USA, designed to merge modern and traditional elements.

Steeplechase is a 2,573-square foot (239-square metre) house that is nestled on a wooded 65-acre site in the Appalachian foothills near Hillsborough, North Carolina.

Completed in 2024, the house was designed as a space for reflection and to serve as "a pavilion amongst the trees."

Brooks + Scarpa designed the home for long-time clients who were ready to trade their decade-long life in the Hollywood film industry for a tranquil lifestyle reminiscent of their upbringing near Montreal, Canada.

The team replaced an old house with a new, contemporary design while leaving 98 per cent of the natural site untouched.

Steeplechase is characterised by two 31-foot (9.4-metre) high gables, narrowed and stretched to dramatise the region's vernacular form.

"By blending these traditional elements with modern design principles, the residence creates a unique visual language that speaks to both heritage and innovation," the team said.

"This approach results in a building that stands in harmony within its natural setting, offering a forward-looking model for sustainable residential design, thus serving as a beacon of architectural innovation, showcasing how thoughtful design can enhance human and environmental well-being while respecting and revitalising traditional forms."

Clad in corrugated black metal with minimal overhangs, the would-be parallel gables are canted inward to form a jagged central courtyard and redirect interior views across a terrace and through a clearing.

The southwestern gable ends are entirely clad in glass, broken only by black window framing.

The northern gable form holds the public areas of the house, while the southern form contains the private sleeping quarters.

A wedge-shaped zone runs along the northeastern side of the house, with the kitchen and dining areas connecting the gables. This lower bar is transparent on both sides, acting like a glazed loggia that immerses residents in the forest.

"This transitional space divides and connects the two distinct zones of the house while allowing a sense of spaciousness and escape," the studio said.

In addition to the large windows, strategically placed skylights allow natural light to wash interior spaces deep into the plan.

Selected for both their aesthetic appeal and sustainable qualities, natural materials inside such as plywood reference the surrounding landscape.

"The structure's reflective glass and black metal exterior give the building an ever-changing presence during the seasons; receding into the forest's dappled light in the summer and winter stalk-like tree structures and standing out like a beacon with the occasional winter snow," the studio said.

"The natural plywood interior creates a protected and warm gathering place while preserving the spectacular view into the forest."

Other projects Brooks + Scarpa recently completed include an apartment complex clad in all-white metal in Los Angles and a Florida sports complex that is wrapped in a concrete shell with wave-shaped openings.

The studio also recently released an angular concept for a Holocaust memorial outside the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee.

The photography is by Mark Herboth, Lawrence Scarpa and Steve Chase.

Project credits:

Architect: Brooks + Scarpa
Project team: Lawrence Scarpa, Angela Brooks, Micaela Danko, Jeffrey Huber, Iliya Muzychuk, Chinh Nguyen, Fui Srivikorn, Calder Scarpa, Yimin Wu, Arty Vartanyan
General contractor: Tonic Design and Construction, Katherine Hogan and Vinny Petrarca
Structural engineer: Carolina Mendez, Kaydos-daniels engineers
Landscape architect: PLAN(t)

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Indian architecture practice Studio Saransh has married black basalt with steel for its self-designed workspace in the suburbs of Ahmedabad, India.

Named Oasis, the 1,170-square-metre workspace marks the studio's relocation from the city centre to the quiet suburbs as they aimed to move away from the "chaos of the city".

The studios created five blocks on the site, surrounding a central, sunken courtyard. These blocks were connected by open walkways, designed to encourage employees to step outdoors throughout the day.

"The walkways not only facilitate movement but also serve as communal spaces, encouraging chance encounters and fostering spontaneous collaborations among the studio's inhabitants," said the studio.

The gateway into the campus was intentionally placed away from the main buildings to encourage staff to take a short walk along a bougainvillaea-covered "fort-like" rubble wall to get to their desks.

The larger blocks – the main studio and a cluster of cabins for the practice's partners – are located on the west of the lake.

The main studio has a double-height structure topped with a north light roof. A part of the space is fitted with a mezzanine which was designed to allow for future expansion.

The mezzanine is connected to the block of cabins by a bridge hanging over the courtyard.

"The planning fosters collaboration, accommodates diverse work preferences, and encourages a strong connection with the environment," explained Studio Saransh director Malay Doshi.

Smaller blocks occupy the site on the eastern side of the sunken courtyard – including a service block, an administrative block and a cluster of meeting rooms overlooking a lemongrass-lined court tucked in the northeast corner of the site.

The courtyard is lined with large steps on one side, gradually sinking down towards the west to minimise the contrast in height between the various blocks on site.

"One of the biggest surprises during execution was how the land modulation combined with the landscaping transformed the perceived scale of the space," Doshi told Dezeen.

"By sinking portions of the site and layering it with tall grasses, the design was able to create an intimate, human-scaled courtyard despite the surrounding buildings."

A large lily pond strewn with lights resembling reeds was created on the lowest level of the courtyard.

"The water contributes to the sensory experience, creating a soothing ambiance, while helping the courtyard stay cooler through the day," the studio explained.

"Visitors in the courtyard become active participants in this unfolding narrative of a day at the studio," it continued.

"One can find people in this space all through the day, having enthusiastic discussions over a coffee, having a heated argument with someone over a phone, watching tiny fishes in the pond getting eaten by herons or just sitting and sketching."

Each block on the campus has a pitched roof covered with corrugated steel sheets supported by a predominantly steel structure.

The steel structure is coupled with 400 millimetre-thick walls made from locally sourced basalt, serving as an effective heat barrier against the southern sun.

"Driven by the core vernacular principles of western Indian architecture, the courtyard and the surrounding pitched roof blocks give a definitive contemporary form to the studio," the practice commented.

Doshi remarked that the new campus was well received not only by staff but also by clients.

"The most common response we get from visitors is that the studio feels more like a retreat than a conventional office," he added.

Studio Saransh was founded in 1994 by Malini and Manish Doshi. The practice focuses on architecture, urbanism and interior design.

Other self-designed studios recently featured on Dezeen include Isern Serra's "deeply human" Barcelona studio and the Parral Building in Mexico city by Taller Héctor Barroso, which houses the practice's workspace.

The photography is by Ishita Sitwala. 

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A ring of rooms staggered around a courtyard doubles as an indoor dog run at this rental villa on Awaji Island, designed by Japanese studio 1110 Office for Architecture.

Positioned close to the northern coast of Awaji Island, the holiday home is named Necklace Villa after its looped form, in which the rooms are mostly linked rather than separated by walls.

The area in which the house is located is currently undergoing rapid development, which 1110 Office for Architecture said is resulting in a "theme park-like" feel on the island.

In response, the studio aimed to create a house that acknowledges the site's enduring natural qualities, resulting in an insular, stepped ring of understated volumes around a sloping courtyard.

"Awaji Island is currently undergoing rapid changes," founder Hiroto Kawaguchi told Dezeen. "In response to the landscape becoming more theme park-like, we considered the question of what aspects will remain unchanged, and how architecture should respond to this transformation."

"We aimed to block the views from nearby houses and the passing cars on the road, ensuring that only the natural environment, such as the sky, greenery, and sea, remains visible," he added.

Necklace Villa is created by two L-shaped volumes that step downwards from the southeastern and northwestern corners to enclose the central courtyard, aligning with the site's topography.

A sheltered wooden walkway wraps this internal courtyard, creating a semi-outdoor loop for dogs to run around, with various entry points that are both human and dog-sized.

The home's interiors follow this stepped profile, with both the floors and the windows stepping upwards to minimise overlooking from the adjacent roads and to prevent dogs from barking at cars driving past.

Walls have been used sparingly in the more private bedroom and bathroom area, while in the living, dining and kitchen space, the steps act as dividers, allowing dogs to run through.

"The characteristic of courtyard house – being closed on the outside and open on the inside – was deconstructed by changing the scale of individual rooms," Kawaguchi said.

"The rooms facing the road gradually raise the floor height, eliminating the feeling of car traffic and allowing both humans and dogs to live harmoniously without walls."

Pale cedar planks line the interior of the courtyard and the majority of Necklace Villa's interiors, while the external walls and roof have been clad in reddish-brown steel panels to reference the surrounding tiled roofs and protect against the salty coastal winds.

Another dog-friendly home is the Dog/Human House in Thailand by EKAR, which contains a mixture of human and dog-sized spaces.

Other Japanese houses recently published on Dezeen include an off-grid home cloaked in solar panels by Florian Busch Architects and the Hand in Hand House by Nendo.

The photography is by Yohei Sasakura.

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Local architecture studio AMASA Estudio has repaired a communal pavilion for a housing block in Mexico City as part of an overall effort to improve public spaces in the city.

The project was commissioned and supported by local housing agency Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores (INFONAVIT), which has been responsible for building nearly one-third of worker housing units throughout the city since the typology saw a rise in the mid-20th century.

Led by AMASA Estudio studio founders Andrea López and Agustín Pereyra, the project included repairing a central, 12-metre-high domed pavilion located in the courtyard of the agency's first housing development, the UH INFONAVIT Iztacalco Complex, built in 1972 and located in Iztacalco.

Over the years, the central steel and concrete structure had fallen into disrepair due to "construction deficiencies", and following a 2024 competition issued by INFONAVIT, AMASA Estudio was selected to rehabilitate the pavilion and the surrounding space.

This work included reinforcing the pavilion's structure, as well as slipping a brightly coloured, corrugated metal roof into its dome to create a cover for a public space.

"A suspended, inclined roof system – formed by a steel grid and lightweight metal sheets – was secured with tensile steel cables," said the studio.

"This solution optimized resources by covering the space with minimal material yet maximum impact."

The boldly coloured materials were also chosen to contrast the grey concrete of the structure in years prior.

Other improvements to the courtyard include the addition of a neighbouring circular pavilion, covered with the same brightly covered corrugated metal panels, as well as seating and fitness equipment.

According to the studio, AMASA Estudio was selected for the project given a submission that focused largely on in-depth site analysis, financial feasibility and collaborative project management across multiple public entities.

"Ultimately, this project demonstrates that large budgets are not always necessary – what matters most is a well-planned, well-managed, and well-designed public investment strategy that breathes new life into communal spaces and strengthens the social fabric of Mexico City's housing communities," said the studio.

Other similar projects include a nearby community centre designed by WORKac and Ignacio Urquiza and a series of public spaces designed by Boldarini Arquitectura e Urbanismo to improve informal favelas in São Paulo.

The photography is by Zaick Moz courtesy of AMASA Estudio

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Architecture practice Studio Ruan Xing has created an arched, central hall as part of the renovation of a building on the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's School of Design campus in Shanghai.

The studio, which is led by Ruan Xing, who is also the dean of School of Design at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, renovated a trio of buildings that were arranged around an atrium with a glass canopy.

Informed by the campus' suburban location in Shanghai's Minhang District, Ruan told Dezeen that he aimed to redesign the building as to evoke a suburban home, enclosing the previously semi-open buildings.

The studio removed the glass canopy, as well as the reinforced concrete beams and columns that supported it, and replaced it with a timber structure to form an internal hall.

"The glass ceiling – originally supported by a robust beam and column structure – made summer here feel like a steaming greenhouse and winter as unpleasant as a biting cold wind," Ruan told Dezeen.

"After removing the 'redundancies', what remained was a symmetrical and 'clean' structural frame that encloses the open glass atrium to create an internal hall."

The wooden arches and soaring ceilings were designed to pay homage to the wooden arches from China's Song dynasty.

Studio Ruan Xing added skylights to let in natural light and create dynamic shadow plays as the light travels through the arches.

Upon entering the building, a gallery that showcases students' and alumni's work leads visitors to the main hall, which is separated from the gallery by a screen wall.

According to Ruan, this was intended to create a "awe effect" when people see the main hall for the first time. The hall also contains a cafe and a library and ends with a courtyard garden that hosts design workshops.

Ruan kept the symmetrical composition of the original buildings and used it to determine the shapes of the rooms positioned along passageways across the upper three floors.

On the first floor, the original load-bearing walls and space-frame roof structure were retained, as they suited the scale and space requirements of a lecture theatre.

"All the rooms together form a harmonious ensemble within the building, and their shapes are not primarily determined by their intended functions," explained Ruan.

"If one room is suitable as a professor's office and another as a seminar room, then the function of each room is defined accordingly."

The exterior of the building was clad in terracotta panels, transitioning from coarse to more refined as they rise. This design was intended to imitate the natural ageing process of the material.

"I hope the 'ageing' of the design building will be a gradual and graceful process," said Ruan.

Ruan was the associate dean at the faculty of the Built Environment at University of New South Wales in Sydney before he joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was the curator of the China Pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023.

Elsewhere in China, UK studio Zaha Hadid Architects designed Beijing's largest convention centre with copper-coloured curves, while Danish studio BIG has completed Jinji Lake Pavilion in Suzhou featuring a glass-tiled undulating roof.

The photography is by Su Shengliang.

Project credits:

Design team: Zhao Dongmin, Wang Kai, Wang Hao, Lu Shaobo, Wu Xiongyin, Xu Hang, Cao Zitian, Xie Dong, Chu Liren
Construction drawing: Studio Ruan Xing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Design Research Institute, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) 8th Bureau of Decoration and Engineering Co
Timber structure design development: Studio Ruan Xing, Timber Structure Department at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Design Research Institute
Inner courtyard landscape design: Studio Ruan Xing, Shanghai Yijing Architectural Landscape Co
Interior design: Studio Ruan Xing, Studio Wu Jian, Aomomo Architectural Studio
Signage design: Li Pengcheng, Shen Siyin, Tan Xin
Lighting design: Studio Ruan Xing, Shanghai Jinxi Architectural Technology Consulting Co

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Mexican architecture firm Estudio Cristina Grappin has opened a large stone house to coastal breezes between the courtyard and the Pacific Ocean in Punta Mita, Mexico.

Known as Casa Quinto Sol, the 2,440-square metre residence was designed to to be an "ode to its surroundings," according to the studio.

"By integrating into the verdant cliffs that descend towards the Pacific Ocean, we aimed to create pathways that unveil the beauty of nature," Cristina Grappin, who runs her eponymous studio, told Dezeen.

Grappin called the 1.3-acre site the "true protagonist" of the residence, which features two pavilion-like forms that integrate into the site's slope without obstructing views of the ocean or the distant Cerro del Mono (Monkey Hill).

Surrounded by endemic plants that form a private jungle, the house was constructed with local stone – using local craftsmanship and vernacular construction techniques – "to give the impression of the house being part of the existing natural site".

The 11-bedroom house is split into two forms – a low-slung see-through pavilion that holds public spaces on the waterside and a partially submerged sleeping block with two levels of bedrooms.

The larger form wraps like a C around a central courtyard that serves as both "an enclosed oasis and transitional space" between the bedrooms and the breezy living and dining space, which opens via folding glass walls for cross ventilation.

"Another key feature of our design is the direct connection of every interior space to its exterior, either emphasizing views of the ocean or to the interior patios."

The stone complements the grey marble floors that run both inside and outside and the natural-toned plaster that provides thermal insulation to the walls. Local tropical wood caps the spaces.

In addition to the core spaces, the residence packs entertainment areas – including a cinema, professional bowling alley and game room – in a basement level under the bedrooms for added privacy and sound control.

A wide deck with an infinity edge pool runs along the water side of the house, ending in a wooden pergola that shares an outdoor living and dining room.

Additionally, a fire pit sits on the roof allowing residents and guests to relax with the best views of the water.

"Despite having an extensive program, each space in the house retains a distinctly human scale, fostering a sense of warmth and intimacy that invites contemplation of the surroundings," Grappin said, mentioning the studio's complementary role as interior designer of the project.

"Most furnishings feature Mexican and Latin American designers as well as artisans. By thoughtfully integrating interior design, landscaping, and the architecture of the pavilions, we crafted a cohesive narrative that contributes to the project's character."

Other houses recently completed along the Mexican coast include a three-pavilion house in rose-coloured stucco on the Yucatán Peninsula by Reyes Ríos + Larraín Arquitectos and a cement house with stone screens in Cerritos by RED Arquitectos.

The photography is by César Bejar.

Project credits:

Architecture: Estudio Cristina Grappin
Design team: Cristina Grappin, Adrián Suárez, Brenda Vilchis
Interior design: Cristina Grappin, Sofia Ricciardi, Adria Martinez, Michel Olivares, Jorge Navarro
Lighting design: Javier Ten
Landscape design: Entorno paisaje and Pedro Sanchez
Bioclimatic consultant: Biomah
Construction team: Stone Contractors

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A timber veranda frames a courtyard at House for Ela, a home by Switzerland-based architect Ewa Kaszuba on a forested site in a spa town near Warsaw.

Designed for a retired couple, the house is a modern take on the grand parkland villas that rub shoulders with modernist mansions in Konstancin, a 19th-century town approximately 20 kilometres south of the Polish capital.

Kaszuba was commissioned to design a house to replace an existing 1930s villa, named Ela, which had deteriorated to the point where it required demolition.

Built on a V-shaped plan, the replacement consists of two intersecting volumes, arranged in a near-mirrored layout. Its two wings meet at a precise 60-degree angle creating a semi-courtyard on the south side.

Running around House for Ela's courtyard, Kaszuba placed a wooden facade punctured by glazing and lined with repeating columns, influenced by the garden structures and verandas of many of Konstancin's historic villas.

This larch veranda-like structure supports a deck on the first floor, providing balconies for the upstairs bedrooms with views over the pine forests.

"The client wanted bright living spaces with plenty of southern exposure and garden views," Kaszuba told Dezeen.

"At the same time, they valued their privacy, so we knew that the house had to be oriented primarily to the private side of the property."

House for Ela's ground floor contains the living area in one wing and a terrazzo-lined indoor pool in the other, while the first floor holds the main bedroom and guest rooms.

On the street side, Kaszuba kept the massing similar to the old house to ensure the project did not feel larger. In contrast to the warm wood facade, the street-facing entrance is solid and textured with rough plaster, designed to fulfil the need for privacy.

"The house achieves a balance between monumentality and domesticity. It certainly makes its presence known in the streetscape and does not go unnoticed," added Kaszuba.

"However, inside, it offers numerous opportunities for both small and large interactions."

Inside, a foyer space leads to a wooden floating staircase. This is among the wooden finishes used throughout the home, including on its walls and cupboards.

Rocks uncovered during excavation were intentionally integrated into the landscape, corresponding with interior spaces and the garden planting.

House for Ela is complete with a geothermal heat pump and solar panels, designed to help offset the energy demands of the indoor swimming pool. An underground level contains the house's services and a garage, reducing the building's above-ground footprint.

House for Ela is the first independent project completed by Ewa Kaszuba, who was born in Warsaw and is now based in Zurich.

Other Polish houses recently featured on Dezeen include a farm house built with local craft and materials and a holiday home clad in corrugated metal.

The photographer is Robert Świerczyński.

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Living spaces are arranged around a central courtyard at this house in Valencia, Spain, which local studio Viruta Lab has designed to celebrate the legacy of influential feminist artist Ángela García Codoñer.

Casa Gesso aims to establish a dialogue between contemporary architecture and some of the pioneering work created by the artist in the 1970s, deconstructing how women were traditionally portrayed in Spanish society.

Viruta Lab founders David Puerta and María Daroz are fans of García Codoñer, who is best known for her collages, screen prints and acrylic paintings featuring stylised depictions of the female form.

García Codoñer was also Puerta's professor at the Valencia School of Architecture and later his mentor at the university's Artistic Heritage Fund.

He explained that the artist's approach to colour and form informed the material palette and minimalist aesthetic of the house, which he described as a "habitable blank canvas" for reflecting on her work.

"In essence, it is a home that allows one to inhabit the ideas of Ángela García Codoñer and demonstrates that residential spaces can also be conceived for reflection and questioning established norms," the duo said.

The 145-square-metre property in the suburb of Picanya is composed of two volumes that reflect the different heights of the neighbouring buildings.

The main living spaces are contained within a one-and-a-half-storey high structure that adjoins a two-storey high block housing the bedrooms and bathrooms.

The building's facades are clad with vertical bone-white porcelain tiles chosen to evoke the traditional washhouses that once housed local artists' studios.

A courtyard at the centre of the house provides natural light and ventilation to the living room and kitchen-dining room located on either side.

This space is clad with the same porcelain tiles as the facades to create a sense of continuity between interior and exterior, while a section of the adjacent hallway floor is finished with slimline tiles to match the courtyard's surface.

"The day area sequence is composed of three completely pure architectural prisms, geometrically and visually uninterrupted, with the second being a void positioned between two solids, emphasising views through transparency," Puerta told Dezeen.

"These volumes are designed as perfect spaces of calm and contemplation, suitable for working or exhibiting artworks like an exhibition hall, thus projected with half-height ceilings."

Each of the living spaces in Casa Gesso was inspired by a particular series in García Codoñer's oeuvre, with furniture, fabrics and artificial lighting chosen to reinforce their different themes.

"Within the design's rich details, the effect of calm and unity allows Ángela García Codoñer's work to dominate the space, becoming the architectural protagonist, supported by changing elements like light that make their nuances vibrate in diverse ways," said Daroz.

The living room at the home's entrance houses a 1979 work from her Labores series exploring traditionally female handicrafts, which Viruta Lab referenced through the inclusion of rugs, upholstery elements and decorative details that evoke cross-stitch.

A painting from the 1973 Morfologías series, in which García Codoñer deconstructed the way women are portrayed in Spanish society, features in the kitchen. Here, rounded forms recall the sinuous shapes found in the paintings, while a female bust provides a focal point in the courtyard.

A wall that extends the full length of the house and separates its two programmatic volumes is lined with storage that incorporates a door leading to a concealed staircase connecting the two floors.

The main bedroom houses a 1974 collage from the Misses series, which denounced the objectification of women in beauty pageants. The work is paired with a tweed headboard alluding to the meticulous "construction" of the female image, as well as the artist's collage work.

A pared-back material palette creates a sense of warmth and neutrality throughout the interior. Large-format porcelain tiles used for the floors are complemented by the natural tone of the stained-oak cabinetry, while upholstery introduces a softer element to the scheme.

The architects told Dezeen that the way Casa Gesso is organised and decorated results in spaces that are suitable for observing and experiencing García Codoñer's work, without explicitly feeling like an exhibition.

"Architecture, with its constraints, was designed to perfectly respond to the initial concept, and together with materiality, they cohesively created this universe of reflection," Daroz said.

"Spaces possess specific functions and are created for activities but we attempted to blur the rigid lines limiting them, enabling them to serve purposes beyond their initial design."

Daroz and Puerta founded Viruta Lab in 2020 as a reflection of their shared artistic and architectural passions. The studio aims to deliver organic, warm and timeless spaces that balance function with emotion.

Previous projects by Viruta Lab include the renovation of a former fisherman's house in Valencia's El Cabanyal neighbourhood, featuring chequerboard tiles that reference the building's nautical heritage.

The photography is by David Zarzoso.

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Danish studio CF Møller Architects has completed Tampere Psychiatric Clinic in Finland with calming spaces that are intended to aid with patient wellbeing.

Located at the edge of the Tampere University Hospital campus overlooking a pine forest, the 30,000-square-metre facility accommodates 180 patients across a series of brick- and timber-clad forms that hug external courtyards.

As in many of its healthcare projects, CF Møller drew on the principles of "healing architecture" - an approach based on research into the impact of architecture on wellbeing that prioritises access to the outdoors, natural materials and daylight.

"Every element, from spatial organisation to material choices, was tailored to enhance recovery and wellbeing," said studio partner Maibritt Dammann and associate partner Mårten Leringe.

"The clinic's placement amidst pine forests and the inclusion of outdoor spaces, such as courtyards and private balconies, highlight the healing benefits of nature, enhancing mental wellbeing and embodying the principles of healing architecture," they told Dezeen.

To maximise connections to the outdoors, Tampere Psychiatric Clinic is organised as three U-shaped volumes around a central landscaped courtyard. This is wrapped by an internal "therapy walk" connecting the wards.

The plan also places administrative spaces in shared cores closer to the centre of the building, meaning patient rooms look outwards to benefit the most from external views.

Around the perimeter of the site, each of these U-shaped blocks hugs additional garden spaces, one of which contains an entrance square with steps and a lift.

"Each ward is designed to be flexible and adaptable to different stages of recovery, balancing communal and private spaces," Dammann and Leringe said.

"Staff areas are strategically placed for efficiency, ensuring easy accessibility while maintaining a separation from patient zones," they added.

A pale palette of natural materials defines Tampere Psychiatric Clinic's interiors, including wooden panelling and furniture that is complemented by white walls and areas of warm yellow, orange and green tones.

Large windows break up the brick exterior of the clinic to ensure that spaces are well-lit even on grey days, with vertical brise soleil providing shade and privacy.

"The material palette was inspired by Tampere's industrial heritage, featuring durable and tactile materials like brick, ceramics, and wood," described Dammann and Leringe

"These materials provide a warm, welcoming atmosphere while establishing a connection to local history and craftsmanship," they added.

CF Møller Architects was founded by Christian Frederik Møller in 1924.

Its other recent projects include a flood defence system doubling as a nature park in Denmark and the headquarters for toy company Lego, which is adorned with giant versions of Lego building blocks.

The photography is by Wellu Hamalainen.

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US studio Schwartz and Architecture has completed a courtyard-style house in California that is closed off to the street yet opens up in the rear, allowing for ample natural light and a connection to the outdoors.

Located near downtown Menlo Park, the Modal Home sits at a busy intersection and across the street from a high school. It was designed by San Francisco-based Schwartz and Architecture, or S^A, for a family of four.

One of the main concerns was to block out noise coming from the street and the school. In turn, the team took an unconventional approach and created a single-storey, courtyard-style house with a solid exterior and no front yard.

"The siting of the home at the front edge of the corner lot is somewhat counter-intuitive," the team said.

"Instead of shirking from the noise to the farther reaches of the site – de facto creating a large front yard of limited value – the architects sidle the structure up to the street and turn its back to it."

The elevations facing the street were envisioned as a 14-foot-high (4.3-metre) "acoustic wall."

The height and length of the wall – along with the board-formed concrete used to build it – were informed by a study of what decibel levels would be acceptable for the clients.

The concrete facades have limited openings. Along the western side, the team incorporated several rectangular breaks in the wall that are filled with frosted glass.

"This new home turns inward to create an urban cloister buffered from the surrounding city," the team said.

The entrance to the house is found on the southeast, where in addition to the tall concrete facade, there is a lower perimeter wall made of wood slats set within a metal frame.

Upon passing through a gate, one finds an entry space lined with a patterned metal screen, which shields views of the courtyard.

The inner facades feature a mix of charred wood, stained cedar siding, blue stucco and board-formed concrete.

From glazed doors to roof cutouts, openings were carefully placed to maximise passive cooling during the year's hottest months and to provide a connection to the outdoors.

The openings also usher in daylight.

"To compensate for the loss of sound and view inherent in the architect's strategy, they focused every element of the design to intensify the ephemeral nuances of natural light over the course of the day," the team said.

To further strengthen the visual qualities, the team implemented a layering effect to create a sense of depth and scale on the relatively small site.

"For the architects, the leitmotif of the project was the commitment that the loss of one sense should always be balanced out with heightening the perceptions of another," the team said.

In terms of the layout, public and private areas are separated within the dwelling.

The southern half of the plan contains the communal spaces – a sitting area, dining space and an open-concept kitchen and living room. The other side holds bedrooms.

Finishes include concrete and white oak flooring, wooden millwork and quartzite countertops. A bathroom features large-format reddish tile flooring and walls clad in porcelain tiles that look intentionally cracked.

Throughout the dwelling, the exterior concrete wall is "ever-present", as is the courtyard and backyard, where one finds greenery, a fire pit and a swimming pool.

Other California projects by Schwartz and Architecture include an accessory dwelling unit at a Sonoma house with cedar cladding and a faceted roof, and a home studio for the firm's founder that has built-in nesting boxes for birds.

The photography is by Bruce Damonte.

Project credits:

Architecture and interior design: S^A (Schwartz and Architecture)
S^A team: Christopher Baile, Wyatt Arnold, Laura Huylebroeck
Contractor: Webb Construction
Structural engineer: iAssociates
Lighting design: Pritchard Peck Lighting
Landscape design: Studio Green

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Staggered volumes organised around a rounded courtyard form the net-zero Westmark Lower School, which was designed by architecture studio NBBJ to "reduce anxiety and stress" for students with learning differences.

Located in the southern California town of Encino, the facility is part of the larger Westmark School, which serves children with learning challenges such as dyslexia and dysgraphia.

There is a significant need for educational facilities that accommodate neurodiverse students, said the team at NBBJ's Los Angeles office.

"One in five children have learning differences, yet most schools are not designed with neurodiversity in mind," said NBBJ.

Infused with inclusive and natural elements, the Westmark Lower School is meant to serve as "a prototype for how design can best support students with distinct learning styles".

Encompassing 15,500 square feet (1,440 square metres), the building accommodates a total of 120 children in grades one through five.

U-shaped in plan, the facility – which has two levels and a basement – is organised around a courtyard with circular areas for gardens and seating.

A California sycamore tree lies at the heart of the courtyard.

Staggered volumes help minimise sound transfer between classrooms, and deep roof overhangs provide shade while "creating a soft natural light that is comfortable for children with visual impairments".

Exterior walls are wrapped in fibre-cement panels, aluminium-composite panels and wooden slats. The basement level has walls made of board-formed concrete.

Cross-laminated timber made of pine was used for soffits and ceilings, adding visual warmth to the facility.

A series of terraces on the upper level serve as outdoor classrooms. Providing ample outdoor space was a top priority for the design team.

"The school is oriented around nature to reduce anxiety and stress, which may be enhanced in students with learning differences," the team said.

"Every space is no more than 50 feet from the outdoors, so nature becomes a key part of a sensory learning experience, social exercise and creative play."

Within the building, one finds "right-sized classrooms" filled with natural light. There also is a black-box theatre and an occupational therapy space.

Throughout the school, the team sought to reduce unnecessary stimuli. Muted colours, dimmable lights and natural materials help encourage focused learning.

"The project applies the latest in neurodiversity insights to provide comfortable, choice-driven learning environments while increasing student well-being," the team said.

The school has a number of sustainable features, including water-efficient landscaping and plumbing fixtures.

It has solar capabilities to be added in the future.

The project incorporates zero-carbon measures advocated by the International Living Future Institute, and the project is on track to receive LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council.

Other educational projects in the US include a colour-filled school in Detroit by PLY+ and MPR Arquitectos that is meant to spark "experimentation and exploration" and a California boarding school with jagged rooflines that allude to the surrounding mountains.

The photography is by Ty Cole.

Project credits:

Architect: NBBJ
Contractor: Suffolk Construction
Civil engineer: KPFF
Structural engineer: Fast + Epp
MEP engineer: tk1sc
Landscape: SWA (Los Angeles studio)
Environmental graphics and lighting: NBBJ
Sustainability/energy analysis: Atelier Ten
Acoustics: Antonio Acoustics

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The founders of California-based 3R Studio have created a compact, live-work unit for themselves called Evelyn ADU that consists of two gabled volumes connected by a glazed bridge.

Located in the rear yard of a 1938 home in Albany, a town near Berkeley, the project was designed "in response to the increasing density within the urban landscape of the Bay Area," said local firm 3R Studio.

The architecture firm's married co-founders Mai Tran and Le Pham bought the home in 2015, moved into its tiny basement and rented out the upper portion. Their goal was to save money to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) for themselves on the 3,800-square-foot (353-square-metre) property.

Last year, they completed the ADU – a 630-square-foot (59-square-metre) building that "navigates the limitations of a compact site".

"Encircled by tall apartment buildings, it addressed challenges related to privacy, sunlight, and integration with neighbouring structures," the studio said.

"Situated amidst urban density, it's a backyard retreat in a bustling urban context."

Rather than a single block, the wood-framed building consists of two offset bars clad in white stucco and linked by a glass-enclosed corridor. The bars are topped with gabled roofs, mimicking the style of the property's main home.

The ADU is organised around its own private courtyard and is separated from the main house by greenery.

"By breaking the conventional form into smaller volumes, the ADU effectively defines private outdoor spaces and buffer zones," the team said.

"Upon entering, visitors often express surprise and are immediately drawn to the courtyard, which showcases trees, light and towering bamboo."

The building serves as both a primary residence and the main office of 3R Studio.

One of the two volumes holds a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. A wooden ladder provides access to a guest loft. The other volume contains a multipurpose room with a library loft.

"The living spaces are compact yet highly efficient, conserving cost and energy," the team said.

The building has an energy-recovery ventilation system and radiant floor heating.

The fenestration is highly strategic to prevent glare, provide ventilation, offer views and usher in daylight — all while maintaining privacy.

The material palette was driven by concerns for durability and local availability, and salvaged materials were used when possible.

The formwork used to build the ADU's foundation was repurposed to frame roof rafters, and wood from a demolished shed was used for retaining walls. Shower flooring is made of salvaged ipe wood from another site.

Overall, the home is meant to harmonise form, materials and energy efficiency while standing the test of time.

"Our approach prioritises what truly matters over accumulating details or decorative features," the studio said.

"This holistic approach underscores our commitment to lasting, eco-conscious design."

Other ADUs in America include an Austin unit by North Arrow Studio that is clad in corrugated metal and has a birdhouse-style circular window, and a Los Angeles two-storey unit by Assembledge+ that features blue fibre-cement cladding and an asymmetrical gabled roof.

The photography is by 3R Studio.

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A series of intersecting blocks and voids form House of Courtyards, which Indian practice Studio VDGA has added to a neighbourhood in Dubai.

Arranged around a number of courtyards, the home was designed to mimic traditional desert architecture while drawing on aspects of Indian design.

Intending to reflect local architecture, Studio VDGA formed the home from textural, blocky volumes and tall walls, using warm tones and Corten steel across the facade and interior.

"Being our maiden project in UAE, it was our effort to be very close to vernacular architecture and give full justice to the context," the studio told Dezeen.

"The external textures were inspired by the desert mud-plastered look."

Between roughly textured blocks as well as other volumes that feature rhythmically louvred Corten steel panels, the home's front entrance is raised up a set of stone steps leading to the ground floor.

Inside, the rooms were spread across three large floors, including a basement level.

On the ground floor, a lobby and home office are closest to the entrance, before a circulation space wraps around a courtyard to offer access to a large, open-plan kitchen, living and dining space connected to a guest lounge.

Other spaces on the ground floor include two en-suite guest rooms that branch from the guest lounge, as well as staff kitchens and living spaces.

Towards the other end of the floor are formal living and dining spaces for use during special occasions.

White marble flooring was used across most of the interior spaces alongside a material palette that the studio aimed to keep as minimal as possible.

"The material palette was restricted to minimal so that we could balance the interior experience as well," said the studio.

"The main challenge while creating architecture was to limit the interiors as much. We did not want to go overboard with our interior expression and material palette while maintaining the austerity of the architectural language," it continued.

Upstairs the bedrooms also have marble flooring as well as other white elements including floor-to-ceiling curtains and light stone-coloured walls.

Comprising car parking spaces and a suite for the family's driver, the basement level is flanked by the home's main swimming pool, which is dropped below the rest of the landscape.

While most spaces are defined by the rectangular volumes of the home, arches and more organic forms were introduced around the pool, including arched openings that run along the poolside.

"Since the design was guided by the vernacular desert architecture, the elements were also borrowed from the desert homes," said the studio. "Arches and rectangular openings being prominent features of the desert homes were used in combination."

"While major fenestrations are rectangular, certain areas of the house, such as the pool draw inspiration from the traditional hammams," it continued.

Between the home's spaces, a range of courtyards were created, including semi-outdoor courtyards and gardens, as well as voids that extend through all levels of the home.

A number of the courtyards contain water features and pools with levelled landscaping made from hand-chiselled Indian sandstone.

"We have created many levels in our elevations to enable the self-shading of the structures while forming overwhelming sciography patterns," said the studio. "Our courtyards remain shaded when sun is the harshest, allowing one to freely use them across all seasons."

"The landscape was kept local with emphasis on succulents, Palms and Olives," it expanded. "Olive trees adorn all our courtyards and they figuratively bind the entire house."

Other Dubai homes recently featured on Dezeen include a curved, mix-use housing complex designed to alter urban living and a sculptural housing development designed to resemble a tulip field.

The photography is by Ema Peter unless stated otherwise.

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A series of staggered, multi-level courtyards animate the plan of In-between Gardens, a house in the town of Tiptur, India, designed by architecture studio A Threshold.

The courtyards accompany each of the main living areas, functioning as semi-public meeting places in the home that A Threshold said help to "breathe life" into it.

This design is informed by the local old town in which it is located, where communal gathering spaces are considered an important part of the urban fabric.

"The family background involves a rich tradition of large family gatherings, where relatives and guests come together regularly," In Threshold told Dezeen.

"To accommodate this, we designed the home with numerous multilevel informal gathering spots, featuring wider steps and platforms for interactions," it explained.

"This design concept mirrors the communal atmosphere found in surrounding vernacular villages, where gathering under the Banyan tree is a common practice."

According to A Threshold, In-between Gardens has been created in Tiptur just as the town is beginning to experience "rapid, unplanned growth".

By incorporating the courtyards within the home, the studio also hopes to provide the family with a comfortable internal environment away from the surrounding construction works.

"Tiptur, a small town still untouched by urbanisation yet, now finds itself amidst rapid, unplanned growth and construction in its surrounding layouts and plots" the studio explained.

"Unfortunately, there could be possibilities of tall building towers in the immediate surroundings in the future years" it continued. "Our focus was on creating an inviting environment within our control, fostering a curated indoor landscape flooded with natural light and air."

In-between Gardens' open-plan kitchen and dining area is accessed through the entry court and organised around a stepped courtyard garden at the heart of the plan, which provides a visual connection to the courtyards on the first floor.

Designed to "gradually unfold", a living room is tucked behind this kitchen garden, leading into the main bedroom, family bathroom and utility room.

A family room opens onto the two courtyards on the first floor and connects the two ensuite bedrooms to the north and south.

Looking to maintain privacy for the sleeping areas, the primary bedrooms are located away from the main courtyards to the rear of the property. buffered from the external stone wall by stretches of green planting.

Externally, In-between Gardens is enclosed by a black-granite stone wall wrapped around the lower exterior, sourced from the local quarry nearby.

This wall is designed to provide security while helping to cool the interior of the home by protecting it from the harsh sun. Its bold black finish is paired with minimalist white-washed walls above that reference the local vernacular.

Wood and marble dominate the interior of In-between Gardens, with standout details including teak salvaged from the client's previous residence and reused for the doors and windows.

A bold yellow metal staircase that serves as maintenance access for a roof terrace juxtaposes these earthy finishes, acting as a focal point that injects "a lively character into the home".

A Threshold also recently completed Ineffable Light, a family home that uses funnel-shaped concrete skylights to illuminate a plant-filled courtyard at its heart.

Elsewhere in India, The Stoic Wall Residence in Kerala, which is animated by barrel-vaulted concrete roofs and laterite walls, and Pott House in Hyderabad, which is topped by a lantern-like roof.

The photography is by Atik Bheda.

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Barrel-vaulted concrete roofs are supported by thick laterite walls at The Stoic Wall Residence in Kerala, India, completed by local studio Lijo Reny Architects.

Located in Kadirur, the home is designed by Lijo Reny Architects to be modern yet regional, with a layout and material palette that respond to Kerala's tropical climate.

It is organised into a series of distinct areas across a large site surrounded by trees, following the path of the sun and separated by small courtyards.

"Amidst [Kerala's] scorching heat, incessant monsoon rains, and lush vegetation, this home exemplifies the art of harmonising with nature," explained the studio.

"The design language employed at The Stoic Wall Residence is unapologetically modern, yet the soul this house remains profoundly regional," it added.

The L-shaped plan of the home is divided into four zones, beginning with a formal living area topped by a barrel-vaulted roof alongside an open parking area.

Indoor and outdoor walkways cross a large courtyard and lead to the second zone, where a large living, dining and kitchen features full-height glazing overlooking external spaces on both sides.

To the north, the third area contains three ground-floor bedrooms, each topped by a small barrel-vaulted roof and featuring glazed ends overlooking the garden.

This zone also contains a pooja, or prayer room, accessed by a long corridor connecting each bedroom and lit by small, circular skylights.

"Each of the primary rooms on the ground floor opens either to landscaped external areas, internal open-to-sky courtyards, or in some cases, both," explained the studio.

"These courtyards serve as focal points that connect and diffuse the spaces, imbuing the home with a deliberate sense of weightlessness while harmoniously engaging with the surrounding natural environment," it added.

The fourth zone sits on its upper level, containing an additional bedroom and home theatre. These are wrapped by a semi-outdoor walkway, sheltered by a screen of fluted terracotta blocks supported by a tubular metal frame.

To unify the interior and exterior, both share similar material finishes, with exposed concrete, laterite stone and paved flooring creating a backdrop for the simple furniture and artworks from the client's own collection.

"These elements and more collectively serve as essential anchors, grounding the house firmly within its natural surroundings, evoking a traditional palette that harmonises with the distinctive context of northern Kerala," explained the studio.

Others Indian homes recently featured on Dezeen include Pott House in Hyderabad, which Kiron Cheerla Architecture topped with a lantern-like roof, and Toy Storey in Kerala, which Wallmakers has constructed with approximately 6,200 discarded toys.

The photography is by Turtle Arts Photography.

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German studio Alexander Poetzsch Architekturen has converted a former chocolate factory in Dresden into a youth club and assisted living centre for children.

Overhauled for the German Child Protection Association, the building now contains a therapeutic housing community with a youth club, counselling centre, workshop and library alongside administrative and conference spaces for the organisation.

As the old chocolate factory is recognisable across the district, Alexander Poetzsch Architekturen sought to minimise visual changes to the existing structure and celebrated its industrial material palette throughout.

"We were in a constant battle for saving as much as possible of the building, trying to implement the existing structures in our design and avoiding demolition," project's leader Uta Lambrette told Dezeen.

"In this case, there was another idea, the idea that by visualising old and new simultaneously, we could make the construction, history and value of this building more comprehensible to the young people who live and spend time in it," she added.

The most significant alteration to the existing structure was the removal of the roof above its large manufacturing hall to the south. Here, an open courtyard has been added, framed by the hall's existing walls and supporting steel beams.

The resulting L-shaped block surrounding this courtyard contains administrative and workspaces on the existing sunken ground floor, with accommodation housed above to provide more privacy.

Along with additions to the second floor, a third floor has been added at the top of the factory building. An external stair at the rear connects the second floor to the courtyard.

Where extensions have been made, they have been finished externally in a pale plasterwork to subtly mark them out against the original brickwork, where traces of old windows are left visible.

A large entrance gate at the front of the site has been retained and repainted, with its old glass panels replaced with sheets of perforated metal, mirrored in the large, south-facing windows in the old factory hall.

"We have allowed old and new to stand side by side, sometimes in contrast, sometimes merging," said Lambrette.

"We believe that every building has a right to exist and we think that we need to get to the point where we can repair and maintain them instead of waiting until it is too late," she added.

Internally, this same approach has been used, with areas of exposed brick and concrete side-by-side with white-painted walls and newly-tiled bathrooms.

Other converted chocolate factories featured on Dezeen include a home and studio in La Bisbal by Anna and Eugeni Bach and an office in Berlin with secret storage by IFUB. In the same building, IFUB also created a lofty apartment with vaulted ceilings that celebrate the building's industrial heritage.

The photography is by Johann Husser.

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Concrete loggias overlook a courtyard at this social housing block in Paris, which French studios Francois Brugel Architectes Associes, H2o Architectes and Antoine Regnault Architecture have converted from offices.

Named Ilot Saint-Germain, the housing is located in two interconnected blocks previously owned by the Ministry of the Armed Forces in the city's seventh arrondissement.

To the south, a load-bearing stone building dating back to the 18th century faces the road, while to the north, an L-shaped, concrete-framed building from the 1970s hugs an internal courtyard.

Francois Brugel Architectes Associes, H2o Architectes and Antoine Regnault Architecture were tasked with transforming these former workspaces into 254 social homes, while adding a gymnasium and kindergarten for residents and the wider city.

Looking to highlight and complement the qualities of the existing buildings, the studios retained and restored their structures, drawing on their palette of pale stone and concrete for the gymnasium and kindergarten.

"The important thing was to work with the existing features, using the qualities of the original buildings and making them visible," H2o Architectes' Jean-Jacques Hubert told Dezeen.

"There is a real interest in thinking of the different ways in which these buildings, through the project, belong to the city," added François Brugel Architectes Associés's founder François Brugel.

An open courtyard space at the centre of Ilot Saint-Germain now also houses the gymnasium, which has a sunken concrete form with a wood-lined interior illuminated by clerestory windows.

On the opposite side of the central housing block, the kindergarten is contained in a matching pale concrete volume, finished with narrow vertical openings.

Both concrete volumes are topped by garden spaces designed by landscape architecture studio Élise & Martin Hennebicque, with ramps and steps providing access to the gymnasium's roof.

Ilot Saint-Germain's apartments are organised to minimise internal corridors and their interiors are kept minimal and flexible to allow residents to adapt them to their needs.

Facing the courtyard, the 18th-century block opens up with large, arched windows, while the 1970s block has been lined internally with loggias, providing each apartment with sheltered outdoor space.

"Each building offers specific layouts [that] result in a wide variety of typologies," said Hubert.

"Each user must find their place in the daily life of their home, the garden and the amenities," he added.

The use of pale concrete at Ilot Saint-Germain was guided by the stone and concrete finishes of the existing buildings, which have been complemented by dark wood window frames and pale metal balustrades.

Recently featured in Dezeen's Social Housing Revival series was another retrofit of a former military site in Paris, The Caserne de Reuilly, which saw h2o Architectes alongside six European practices adapt a former barracks site into nearly 600 homes.

The photography is by Jared Chulski.

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A gridded facade of fibre cement, glass and large blinds defines this house in western Slovakia, designed by local studio Beef Architekti.

Called House of Grid, the single-storey home in the city of Trnava is designed to offer a seamless connection between its interior and exterior spaces.

Beef Architekti has lined the colonnaded facade with large blinds, which open up the spaces behind them into "outdoor rooms" for use in the hot summer months while providing solar shading.

Between them, pale fibre cement clads the load-bearing walls and columns, designed for a pared-back look that stands out within its surroundings.

"The intention was to create a generous spatial framework with a seamless visual axis, which runs from the entrance right through to the garden," the studio told Dezeen.

"The house stands out in its local context for its austerity and purity," it continued.

Inside, House of Grid contains a living, dining and kitchen space and two bedrooms. These are positioned around a courtyard with a mature tree and stepping stones, reminiscent of a Japanese rock garden.

On entering, the hallway leads directly to the open-plan living space and the colonnade beyond, emphasising the visual and physical connection between the interior and the garden.

The interior is finished with varying textures of marble, oak, and painted and milled MDF, providing a warm and natural look to all spaces.

"Extensive wall surfaces, floors, and built-in furniture are articulated through a play of material textures," said Beef Architekti. "Smooth surfaces alternate with textured finishes, creating an interplay of contrasts."

Beef Architekti is a Slovakian architectural studio founded by Rado Buzinkay and Andrej Ferenčík.

Other Slovakian homes featured on Dezeen include an old mill and farm conversion by RDTH Architekti and a trapezoidal building framing views of a forest by Ksa Studený.

The photography is by Matej Hakár.

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UK architecture studio Foster + Partners and local studio Ponce de León Arquitectos have broken ground on its first project in Uruguay, an apartment building wrapped around a multi-storey glass courtyard.

Located in the upscale Carrasco neighbourhood of Montevideo along the beachside avenue Rambla Tomas Berreta, The Edge will contain eight apartments, with a pool, gym, sauna and shared garden located on the lower levels. The project is being carried out in collaboration with Ponce de León Arquitectos.

The building's facade will consist of private terraces that stretch along its 197-foot (60-metre) length. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows and doors enclose each floor and end in curved corners.

White concrete will be used to clad the outside – a nod to the "pale tones" of the beaches of Carrasco.

In the lobby of the four-storey structure, a circular courtyard is lined with clear glass and features a tree.

"The cast glass courtyard is at the heart of the design, bringing daylight and greenery directly into the building and creating a unique experience for the residents," said Foster + Partners partner Juan Frigerio. "Its sculptural quality underlines the project's contemporary elegance."

In the upper levels, the courtyard slices through apartments located at the centre of the building, with other apartments flanking them on either side. Here the open-air courtyard will be completely enclosed by semi-opaque glass to provide light as well as privacy.

In these apartments, the courtyard insertion will form a slim passageway framed by a built-in bookcase that leads to the living areas. More built-in bookcases will line the base of the glass insertion.

"The building's split-core allows for a natural separation to the apartment entrances, which are located on either side of the leafy central space with private access to the floors above," said the team.

Each apartment contains access to a terrace, while private rooftop gardens line the top level, with these outdoor areas providing cross-ventilation.

The building's shared garden is located on the other side of the courtyard, which steps down into a subterranean level containing a pool and gym.

"We are delighted to see the practice's first project in Uruguay coming to fruition," said Foster + Partners head of studio David Summerfield. "Our design seeks to offer the highest quality living experience, by perfectly balancing views, light, and green space."

Elsewhere, the studio recently revealed images of a twisting, garden-covered building in Hollywood and completed an Apple Store buried below ground in Shanghai.

The images are courtesy Foster + Partners

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Architecture studio Buzz has transformed three sunken courtyards created for an underground car park into gallery, event and activity spaces for Beijing MAHA Arts Centre in China.

Collectively named the Hermit Space, the three venues are each designed with a distinct atmosphere and intended to "seamlessly integrate" with the parkland surroundings.

"We attempt to investigate whether other spatial categories can be inspired or filled by art and content to further extend the new forms of art space," explained Buzz.

"[The project] aims to connect art spaces with nature, communities, and commuting routes, creating links between two points," it added.

The largest and most central venue is Islet Space. It is enclosed with a sloping grass roof surrounded by a ring of skylights that illuminate the main gallery space and cafe below.

A staircase framed by stone-clad walls surrounds its roof, leading down into the white-walled interior where sliding glass doors connect the gallery and cafe.

"Standing inside, one can see a large open void space illuminated by natural light, creating the impression of a floating metal island in a halo of light, hence its name," said the studio.

"The central design of the main exhibition hall echoes the design of the top, creating an exhibition scene with a similar sense of floating," it added.

The second courtyard, named Cave Space, has been topped by a curving concrete roof that blends in with the park to create a small hill, with a glazed cut-out bringing light into the installation and media art space below.

Inside, the white walls of the Islet Space have been swapped for continuous, curving surfaces of exposed concrete, intended to evoke a cave.

"Its form originates from a smooth curve, as if splitting open a gap in the ground, and the entrance naturally winds its way down into the building," explained Buzz.

"In the afternoon, sunlight filters through the surrounding buildings, shining into the gap in the ground, leaving behind swaying tree shadows."

The smallest of the three Hermit Space venues, the Ravine Space, is topped by a skateboard area and contains an indoor climbing wall and activity room below.

Surrounding a square in the centre of the park, each space is designed for visitors to encounter as they stroll through the park, or can be accessed more directly via the car park beside which they sit.

"The underground parking lot is traditionally seen as a building's negative entrance," said the studio.

"However, today, the underground garage has become an unavoidable path for people's comings and goings, even serving as a crucial interface for entering communities," it added.

Buzz was founded by Ziyu Zhuang in 2016 and has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Berlin.

Other re-use projects recently completed in Beijing include FOG Architecture's transformation of a historic courtyard house into a flagship store for a fragrance brand and Approach Design's retrofit of a former police station into an office and urban park.

The photography is by Yumeng Zhu unless otherwise stated.

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Architecture practice Be Studio has created the Churruca apartment block in the coastal region of Maresme, which is organised around a four-storey internal courtyard.

Influenced by the local Mediterranean vernacular and coastal climate, the apartment block has a cream-hued facade with balconies fronted by green blinds and ceramic tile detailing that enable the block to "blend with the surrounding buildings".

"The combination of continuous facade coatings and ceramic tile pavements is a basic and common solution in Mediterranean architecture," studio co-founder Silvia Baulies Domènech told Dezeen.

"In this case, we have complemented it by adding glazed ceramic tiles typical of Catalonia and cord-operated sun protection blinds, which are also elements found in the traditional vernacular houses," she added.

Within the block a bright and airy central courtyard serves as a vertical circulation core providing access to the seven residences and operating as a key communication point between the residents.

Seeking a different material language to the building front, Be Studio completed the courtyard with white corrugated steel set off by an orange staircase adorned with arched openings and a lift tower clad with burnt-red ceramic tiles.

"The building is structured with a system of bands that organise the interior and exterior zones," Baulies Domènech said.

"The courtyard occupies a central band to allow the dwellings to be positioned around it, enabling them to benefit from increased natural light and cross ventilation," she continued.

"The communal spaces of the building are very bright, spacious, and visible from within the seven residences. They have been designed to eliminate hidden, isolated, or unsafe corners."

Two one-bedroom apartments are located at the building's front, while larger apartments ranging from two to three bedrooms are situated behind the central courtyard.

Each of the larger apartments were strategically organised around a central space hosting a bathroom and laundry facilities, adjacent to an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area on one side and bedroom quarters and an entrance hall on the other.

By centralising the spaces for domestic activities, Be Studio intended to create an "inclusive housing" format designed with a "gender perspective".

"Regarding the interior layout, the kitchens and cleaning areas have been opened up to the rest of the dwelling, designed to accommodate more than one person at a time," Baulies Domènech said.

"This approach prevents them from being secondary spaces that facilitate the segregation of roles within a family unit."

Within the apartments, predominantly white interiors were complemented by wood accents used for windows and doors, while the use of traditional ceramic tiles is repeated throughout the wet areas.

Outside, a large external terrace finished with tiled paving and pink-hued walls sits adjacent to the living spaces of the first floor residence. Two smaller patios are provided for the lower ground apartments by voids cut out of the terrace above.

Additionally, a communal rooftop terrace is located at the front of the building.

Be Studio was established in 2018 by Baulies Domènech and Gaspar Bosch.

Other recently completed apartment blocks include a Melbourne apartment block enlivened by bright yellow balconies and a Mallorcan duplex enclosed with dynamic shutters.

The photography is by Adrià Goula.

Project credits:

Architects: Be Studio, Gaspar Bosch and Silvia Baulies
Project execution manager: AIM Facility
Structure: Campanyà Vinyeta

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Rectilinear volumes of timber and concrete form a residence in coastal Washington by MW Works that merges with the wooded landscape and is "designed to be overlooked".

The project, called Longbranch, is located on Key Peninsula within the Puget Sound. The house sits on a sloped, 7.8-acre (3.2-hectare) overlooking an inlet and is site studded with evergreen trees.

The owners are a couple who had visited the area for decades, staying in a small beach cabin.

When a nearby property became available, they purchased it and embarked on creating "a new home for themselves, a bunch of foster dogs, a few horses, and visiting family and friends," the team said.

The property came with an ageing, suburban-style home with a tennis court, along with a series of retention walls that disrupted the landscape.

These structures were removed, and in their place, Seattle-based MW Works designed a single-storey house that blends with the "landforms, trees and understorey".

"Longbranch is a home designed to be overlooked," the architectural firm said.

The home is positioned on a downward slope, looking toward the inlet. Access is provided by a gravel driveway that gently curves through the property and offers glimpses of the building's roof upon approach.

The main dwelling consists of a central volume and two wings, which together encompass 3,100 square feet (288 square metres).

These elements are organised around an entry courtyard with a rock garden and two mature Douglas fir trees. The owners had requested that the house be designed around the soaring trees.

Just steps away from the main dwelling is a detached garage totalling 800 square feet (74 square metres).

The exterior features a mix of dark-stained cedar and concrete. The concrete mix was modified to accentuate "the natural and fluid nature of the material".

The foundation makes use of pin piles and grade beams, which "carefully cross above tree roots so that the building and forest can share the same ground".

Green roofs help the building blend with its natural setting and provide habitats for small creatures.

"That small patch of meadow grass has already become the habitat for a colony of frogs and a favoured perch for a variety of birds," the team said.

Upon entering the house, one finds cosy rooms with earthy materials such as rough-sawn timber and knotty oak.

The central pavilion contains the communal spaces – a kitchen, dining area and living room – which flow onto a spacious outdoor deck. The great room's ceiling is crossed by beams made of locally sourced timber.

To one side of the pavilion is a primary suite wing, and to the other side is a flexible guest wing and mudroom.

"Guest rooms provide just enough space for visiting children but also double as a media room and sewing area," the team said.

Each interior space has a carefully calibrated relationship to the outdoors. Sleeping areas feel tucked within the trees while the public spaces offer broader views of the terrain.

"Each room offers its own connection to the landscape – sometimes intimate in scale, sometimes expansive," the team said.

Overall, the home is meant to provide a strong connection to the natural environment and to enhance the rituals of daily living.

"The design strives to provide practical solutions that elevate the simple routines of everyday life, resulting in a home to ensure and be loved for generations," the firm said.

Founded in 2007 by Steve Mongillo and Eric Walter, MW Works has completed a number of dwellings in the Pacific Northwest.

Others include an "intentionally modest" home that serves as a nature retreat for a multi-generational family and a compact, rectangular cabin with facades made of blackened cement and weather cedar.

The photography is by Andrew Pogue.

Project credits:

Architect and interiors: MW Works
MW Works team: Eric Walter, Christian Kittelson, Bradley Kinsey
General contractor: Sparrow Woodworks
Engineer (structural): PCS Structural Solutions
Engineer (civil): SCJ Alliance
Landscaping: Black Lotus Landscaping
Plaster: Studio C / Cathy Connor
Geotechnical engineer: Georesources LLC
Arborist: Steve Wortinger
Survey: Aspen Land Surveying LLC

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The first case study in our Social Housing Revival series looks at a housing block in Vienna by local practices Berger + Parkkinen and Querkraft Architekten, which is organised around a central "common heart" that harks back to the city's golden age of municipal construction.

Named Seestadt Aspern Housing, it was completed in 2015 by Berger + Parkkinen and Querkraft Architekten for housing cooperative EGB.

The block, known as D12, provides 213 apartments, eight shops and community facilities in Vienna's new district of Seestadt Aspern, one of Europe's largest urban development projects.

Due for completion in 2030, this new district will provide homes for 20,000 people and 20,000 workplaces, organised across 240 hectares around an artificial lake on the site of a former airfield.

Arranged in a series of timber-clad blocks with projecting concrete balconies around an internal courtyard, D12 was conceived by Berger + Parkkinen and Querkraft Architekten as a continuation and development of Vienna's rich social housing legacy.

Vienna's effective approach to social housing provision, often termed the Vienna Model, has long set it apart from any other city in the world, and has seen it named world's most liveable city by The Economist magazine several times.

A quarter of Vienna's residents are social tenants, and the majority of people in the city live in homes built on land that is publicly owned or owned by cooperatives to discourage speculation.

The beginnings of this housing model were during a period of socialist control between 1918 and 1934 known as "Red Vienna”, during which new taxation on luxuries was introduced to fund the construction of affordable public housing for workers.

The vast complexes built during this period, such as the iconic Karl Marx-Hof, were known as Gemeindebauten or "communal buildings" – a reflection of their role in providing not only housing but all of the facilities a community might need.

In Vienna, it is a legacy that looms large for those creating new social housing, and beyond it is often cited as a blueprint for how other European cities might tackle rapidly worsening crises in the provision of affordable and social housing.

"The fascination of huge housing units, including all that is necessary for the community from small shops, childcare, spaces to meet and party up to cultural facilities, as built in the 1920s and 30s, is enormous," Berger + Parkkinen founder Alfred Berger told Dezeen.

"When designing a project like Seestadt Aspen D12 these are inspiring examples – to overcome the idea of procuring flats for people without setting up a wider frame, without thinking of how the building will perform in terms of social qualities," he continued.

In terms of their design, the developments of Red Vienna rejected the prevailing modernist penchant for isolated slab and point blocks, instead creating new street-fronts and public spaces that sought to integrate with the city's historic layout.

While the brownfield site of the Seestadt Aspen development has no immediate context on which to draw, it nonetheless demonstrates a continued interest in central Vienna's historic layout, in particular the courtyard typology.

At plot D12, this was a typology that Berger + Parkkinen and Querkraft Architekten wanted to develop, looking to further integrate the block with the surrounding streets.

Breaking the plan up into seven blocks arranged in parallel to one another, the complex encloses its central courtyard more loosely, offering a number of routes to and from the surrounding city and more gradual transitions between public and private spaces.

"The inner courtyards [of the Gemeindebauten] were certainly a strong image for our ambitions, but it needed more," Berger explained.

"It needed a complex interplay between private, semi-private and public areas, with intelligent positioning of common services like laundry rooms next to gymnastics and playrooms,” he added.

This central, semi-public courtyard – dubbed the "canyon" by the studio – provides a space for residents to "experience community", with meeting areas and play spaces for children overlooked by a stepped seating area and lined by sloping timber-clad walls.

The complex is raised atop a basement car park and a ground-floor level of commercial and community spaces, finished with full-height windows to create a "shopfront" to the street and a concrete walls that are covered with metal mesh for growing plants.

A series of access routes combining staircases, internal "streets" and raised walkways stitch together each area of the complex, which aim to prevent the development of "corridor-like routes" and instead offer chances for interaction.

"To avoid monotony and anonymity, we decided to cut up the system into identifiable units with familiar dimensions, creating a sub cluster within the bigger cluster of the access decks," said Berger.

"The courtyard finally brings it all together. It serves as a transition between private, semiprivate and public space," he added.

Each block is constructed around a concrete frame, with highly-insulated external walls of prefabricated wood that are finished with larch planks.

The frame structure allows for greater freedom in the facades. Facing the street, extruded concrete forms create sheltered balconies, while facing the internal courtyard larger, open-topped balconies provide space for seating areas and growing plants.

Inside, each of these blocks shares a linear arrangement of apartments around circulation cores, with a basic structure allowing for a high level of flexibility when laying out the apartments.

Part of this flexibility was about catering for a wide variety of residents and lifestyles rather than assuming that social housing is for a particular type of resident, as has always been a part of Vienna's approach.

"In our practice, we have been lucky to contribute housing projects on various social levels, like subsidised housing, non-subsidised middle-class housing, but also some luxury housing," said Berger.

"We think that working across social boundaries is helpful to develop architectural expression that avoids the trap of bold social coding, and rather seeks for a cultural link," he concluded.

The photography is by Herta Hurnhaus.

Social Housing Revival

This article is part of Dezeen's Social Housing Revival series exploring the new wave of quality social housing being built around the world, and asking whether a return to social house-building at scale can help solve affordability issues and homelessness in our major cities.

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In this lookbook, we've collected eight homes from Vietnam to the USA that are kept ventilated and illuminated by central courtyards.

Courtyards have been used in ancient and contemporary architecture as a tool to trap and funnel breezes and natural light into the core of a building.

Most often, they are completely open to the elements and can extend upwards through multiple levels of a building, with some surrounded by balconies, loggias, or walkways.

Vegetation and water features placed at the centre of courtyards also help to cool the surrounding air, while seating or lounge areas provide a place to take it all in.

One or more courtyards were dispersed along the footprints of the eight homes below, for interiors that are relaxing, open and bright.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen's archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring tranquil interiors with oversized windows, enclosed staircases and metallic furnishings.

House for Young Families, Vietnam, H-H Studio

Designed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, this house in Vietnam features green spaces throughout its entirety so its owners could be connected to nature while working remotely.

Its interior was organised around three courtyard gardens that were dispersed along a linear plan, while the structure extends upwards around them in a series of stacked white volumes.

Find out more about House for Young Families ›

Quarry House, Australia, Winwood McKenzie

Australian studio Winwood McKenzie renovated the Quarry House by inserting a garden and internal courtyard through its narrow site, which split the residence into three distinct portions.

The house's newly built living, dining and kitchen border the courtyard on one side, while a multi-purpose room and study sits across the way.

Find out more about Quarry House ›

Casa Ederlezi, Mexico, Práctica Arquitectura

Práctica Arquitectura divided this narrow concrete infill house in Mexico into two distinct portions centred around a courtyard.

Hallways and staircases were oriented around the perimeter of the double-height space in plan and a living space and second floor bedrooms were placed on either side.

Find out more about Casa Ederlezi ›

Santa Monica Modern, USA, Walker Warner Architects

This L-shaped home in California encloses a spacious courtyard that features multiple seating areas, a ping-pong table, plantings and a concrete fire pit.

Walker Warner Architects designed the courtyard to be suitable for entertaining, as well as to take advantage of the southern California climate.

Find out more about Santa Monica Modern ›

Portugal house, Portugal, Bak Gordon Arquitectos 

Bak Gordon Aquitectos split this Portgual home into two portions by inserting a courtyard at its centre and populated the area with an interior garden, which is surrounded by windows and openings.

"The small functional patio allows for natural light and cross ventilation as well as a permanent natural garden presence," said Bak Gordon Arquitectos architect Nuno Tavares da Costa.

Find out more about Portugal house ›

Casa Vedia, Argentina, BHY Arquitectos

Two courtyards were inserted into the corners of Casa Vedia in Argentina, which the studio explained were employed to optimise interior spaces.

Each courtyard is double-height, with plantings tucked along its perimeter. Additionally, two terraces were placed on top of the structure's roof that sits in between them.

Find out more about Casa Vedia ›

Casa VO and Casa WO, Mexico, Ludwig Godefroy 

Located in Puerto Escondido, Casa VO and Casa Wo are a series of houses organised underneath two large, circular concrete openings that fan upwards from a central meeting point.

An entryway and garden sit under one such opening, while the remaining living spaces are tucked underneath the opposite across two levels.

Find out more about Casa VO and Casa WO ›

Tile House, Vietnam, Bloom Architects

Bloom Architects designed this home in Vietnam to stay cool despite the hot climate by creating a sloping, tiled roof that traps wind and pushes it into the interior of the house.

"[In the] sunny season, tiles surrounding the house prevent it from being radiated [with] heat. Combined with natural ventilation, the house is always cool," architect Dinh Anh Tuan told Dezeen.

Find out more about Tile House ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen's archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring tranquil interiors with oversized windows, enclosed staircases and metallic furnishings.

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White volumes, balconies and planters are stacked around a central courtyard at House for Young Families in Da Nang, Vietnam, which has been designed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

H-H Studio created t dwelling with spaces that could be used flexibly and provide a close connection to the outdoors for the home's clients, who worked entirely remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This is a specific aim in the project: a House for Young Families developed to adapt to changes in social life in general and architecture in particular after the Covid pandemic," explained the studio.

"Specifically in architecture, the family house transforms from a place of residence to a place to live,  work, study, communicate, grow crops, exercise and entertain."

To maximise daylight on the long, narrow site, the home was set back behind a metal gate to create space for a large entrance patio, covered porch and a central courtyard.

At the back of the ground floor, sliding glass doors lead into a kitchen and dining area, which also opens onto a smaller garden at the rear of the home.

"The porch is flexibly used as a multi-purpose space: receiving guests, relaxing, working, holding parties, parking bicycles and motorbikes at night," said the studio.

"The kitchen and dining area are located behind to be able to observe the entire house," it added.

A staircase on the northern side of the building connects the home's three storeys, where bedrooms and a study sit on either side of the central courtyard.

The main bedroom was positioned above the ground floor porch, allowing it to easily overlook all the home's outdoor spaces.

The form of House for Young Families was stepped to create rooftop gardens on the second and third floors, which are intended for growing vegetables, as well as small balconies and planting areas alongside the bedrooms and study.

"We developed spaces according to height to reduce construction density to create many garden spaces on the first floor along with limiting the usable area to create spaces like terraces and balconies," H-H Studio founder Huynh Tuan Huy told Dezeen.

"This allows activities taking place inside the house to be easily moved to help people enjoy their lives and good things from nature: air, wind, light, trees, sky, moonlight...this idea is unifying for both exterior and interior."

Both inside and out, the walls of the home have been given a textured white finish, emphasising its geometric, stacked form and contrasting the green planting.

Other homes in Vietnam recently featured on Dezeen include De Chill House by X11 Design Studio, which similarly focused on the incorporation of outdoor and planted spaces.

The photography is by Hoang Le.

Project credits: 

Design and build: H-H Studio
Design team: Le Trung Cuong, Doan Kim Dung, Tran Nhat Thinh
Technical manager: Huynh Thuy Vu
Chief architect: Huynh Tuan Huy
Manufacturers: inax. Nam sung

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Italian studio Peter Pichler Architecture has designed the angular headquarters for manufacturing company Bonfiglioli in Bologna, with a slanted roof covered in pleated mesh.

Located in Bonfigliolo's industrial site in Calderara di Reno, the building has a rectangular form punctured by a central outdoor courtyard and a series of terraces on the sloping roof.

According to Peter Pichler Architecture, the roof is angled to enlarge the building's north-facing facades and increase the amount of office space with indirect natural light.

"The design challenges sustainability through an intelligent geometry," studio founder Peter Pichler told Dezeen.

"It's a celebration of indirect northern light in an office building and a building with maximum comfort for the people working in it."

The seven-storey building has a steel exoskeleton that angles outwards at ground floor level before rising vertically.

Its taller glass facades are orientated north, while the shorter south-facing facades and the slanted roof are covered in a pleated "second skin" made from mesh aluminium to filter direct sunlight.

Peter Pichler Architecture opted for geometric shapes and metal materials to reflect the Bonfiglioli brand, which manufactures products for industrial automation, mobile machinery and renewable energy sectors.

"The main design goal was to create an efficient and functional office building that represents the identity and cultural values of the Italian company Bonfiglioli," said Pichler.

"The pleated facade geometry is inspired by the company's gear motors while the aluminium mesh recalls the shavings that are produced daily as a byproduct of the company supply chain."

At the centre of the building is a garden courtyard, designed to naturally ventilate the interior through the chimney effect.

A covered glass bridge on the third floor spans across the courtyard to connect the two sides of the office.

"A bridge was added on the third floor across the courtyard to facilitate workflow and communication between the departments, promoting synergy and interaction in the workplace," explained Pichler.

Six south-facing terraces punctuate the sloping roof and provide outdoor areas to floors from the third level to the top.

Steel spiral staircases on the ground and sixth floor animate the interiors.

"Two sculptural spiral staircases, crafted from steel, are more than a physical connector between floors, but are a symbolic vortex of creativity exchange, inviting a continuous flow of ideas," said Pichler.

Pichler established Peter Pichler Architecture with his wife, Silvana Ordinas, in Milan in 2015.

The studio has designed several angular buildings based in Italy, including a concrete villa in a vineyard in South Tyrol and a proposal for treehouse hotel rooms in the Dolomites mountain range of northern Italy.

The photography is by Gustav Willeit.

Project credits:

Architect: Peter Pichler Architecture
Structure and MEP: Arup
Electrical engineering: Arup
Facade planning: Pichler Projects
Fire consultant: ICS Ingegneria
Acoustics: Solarraum
Site supervision: Studio Taddia
General Contractor: Ing Ferrari and Pichler Projects

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Australian studio Winwood McKenzie has extended a former worker's cottage in Northcote, Melbourne to create a house arranged around two courtyard gardens.

Named Quarry House, the home is located alongside the former Northcote Quarry and Brickworks – now the All Nations Park – and references the site's industrial past with a palette of exposed brick and concrete.

Constraints on the narrow site meant that the new spaces had to be accommodated across a single storey, and to ensure ample daylight Winwood McKenzie inserted a fernery and internal courtyard, splitting the home into three distinct areas.

"Due to the budget and a small site, the design had to evolve with clever responses to dealing with compact space and easily constructible but highly crafted architectural detail," said the studio.

"This gave impetus to think cleverly about adaptability, future use and the ability to contract and expand, allowing for the clients desired indoor-outdoor lifestyle," it continued.

"The design does not impede or draw attention to itself within the urban context, giving it the feeling of a secret garden."

Facing the street, the original white frontage and verandah was restored and refurbished with while tiles and a metal canopy, creating a covered seating area overlooking a small front garden.

Within the existing footprint of the worker's cottage two bedrooms and bathrooms, which look out onto a small fernery, were created.

To the south, a long corridor creates an axis connecting the old and new spaces of the home, leading into a living, dining and kitchen area that overlooks a central paved courtyard.

Defined by a concrete kitchen island, a wall of timber cupboards and exposed wooden ceilings this space forms the heart of the home, intended to provide an "inner-city oasis" for the family.

Full-height sliding glass doors open out onto the central courtyard, on the opposite side of which a multi purpose room, study space and laundry room were created.

"A concrete kitchen island rises from the concrete floor to create the new hearth of the home for a growing family, while the floor-to-ceiling double-glazed windows and doors surround the courtyard but protect the interior from Melbourne’s inclement weather," said the studio.

In the new spaces, the exposed grey masonry walls were left exposed both internally and in the garden areas, intended to create the feeling of a single space in keeping with the desire for an "indoor-outdoor lifestyle".

A historic worker's cottage was also the subject of a contemporary renovation by Australian practice Studio Bright, which added a rear extension to a home in Melbourne wrapped by patterned breeze blocks.

The photography is by Rory Gardiner. 

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