Sitting at the peak of a hill in the Moroccan mountain ranges, Villa E rises up from the landscape, like a form extruded from the earth. The locally sourced Oika stone walling reads like an extension of the landscape. From the road in the valley, only the tiniest window openings pierce through the structure, veiling the life that occurs inside. Hidden within is a private mountain retreat by Studio KO. With studio bases in both Paris and Morocco, Villa E represents the convergence of ideas from both design cultures. Studio KO weave together the contemporary minimalism of Paris with the earthy textures of the Moroccan aesthetic.

It’s cool y’all – chill. Yellowtrace hasn’t become a blog about Buddhism. We are still all about crazy cool design and “What Happens in Buddhism Stays in Buddhism” is nothing more than a little bit of left-of-field thinking wrapped up with clever design which we hold so close to our hearts. Bangkok based 56thStudio is a creative collective that deals with quirky design and cutting-edge graphical matters. According to these guys, a piece of furniture can be inspired by and conceived from the strangest circumstances – even from a scandal. Their latest series “What happens in Buddhism stays in Buddhism” takes it’s cue from a story of a Buddhist monk who turned out to be a monumental crook.

Nick Olson and Lilah Horwitz built a recycled window house made entirely out of salvaged materials and found objects set in the West Virginia Countryside.

Amongst over 400 entrants Figureground Architecture has been awarded the 2014 Hospitality Design Award and the 2014 Best of State Commercial Design Award for transforming a concrete shell warehouse in Fitzroy into a busy café and roastery. Inspired by the intimacy of Melbourne laneways, the design took advantage of the high ceilings to create a long narrow ‘dining hall’ experience. Economic materials such as operable black painted pallets and corrugated polycarbonate define the space and create a playful sense of habitation. The language of operable panels is also used in the external seating area which can be completely open during the day or securely closed down after business hours.

This beautiful house-to-be is designed by Malmö-based architecture studio Förstberg Arkitektur (FAF). That’s right people – you are looking at extremely realistic and super beautiful 3D renderings of “House for mother”. Insane. In the membrane. This work-in-progress residence is located on a 325sqm site in the Southern Swedish city of Linköping. Built for the Linköpingsbo 2017 home exhibition, the house is divided into two parallel structures slightly shifted from each other, creating spaces both in front of and behind the building. Oriented to the park in the north and the alley in the south, “House for Mother” is a reflection of it’s neighbourhood plan, which incorporates a variety of housing types into relatively small blocks of land.

Welcome to the 21st century! “Architecture Animée” are a series of GIFS that showcase famous buildings in motion and in different perspectives, brought to us by French artist Axel de Stampa. De Stampa creates shape shifting buildings by transforming architecture by SANAA, Herzog and de Meuron, David Chipperfield and many others into amazing moving structures.