Next time I hear someone whinge about how hard it is to design a good-looking workspace on a budget, I’ll personally bitch-slap them across the face, tell them to stop talking shit and instantly point them towards this post. This is a promise. People, can we all please agree right now that workspaces don’t need to be ugly, predictable, corporate or boring as bat-shit? I hope we can stop producing boring or try-hard office interiors from now on. Can we please do that? Ok, that probably won’t happen any time soon, but in the meantime let’s take a look at this little gem – Joint Café & Workspace in Bangkok, Thailand designed by a local design practice 56thStudio.

Colombo and Serboli Architecture have transformed a neglected and previously poorly planned interior into an attractive holiday home. The apartment is located on the sixth floor of an art nouveau building in Barcelona, Spain. The space had to be completely replanned and all existing partition were demolished. Faced with a tight budget, clever solutions were required to create an attractive, contemporary holiday atmosphere.

This beautifully simple, compact summer house in Hamra, Sweden was designed by architecture studio DinellJohansson. The client initially asked for an existing barn to be converted into a summer house. Instead, DinellJohansson designed them a barn-like home. Don’t you love it when architects don’t just listen to their client’s brief, but rather go on to create something even better. I love that shit! The house is a simple rectangular structure with single open space, focusing on sustainability and minimisation of waste. Unique furniture and joinery assembled from remaining or reused building material and clever use of space make this house one of a kind.

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.

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.

Prix Fixe is a first time collaboration between two clever and seasoned operators in the Melbourne hospitality scene, chef Philippa Sibley and restaurateur Jason Jones. The duo commissioned Fiona Lynch to create their latest dining room and Australia’s first ticketed restaurant. Prix Fixe embraces the inherent sense of theatre present in busy, dynamic restaurants, and celebrates a return to glamorous dining. The restaurant interior is formed from a material palette of mirror and marble, brass and metallic glazed linen, exposed ceiling fixtures and concrete, with a bold, confident and directional aesthetic. The end result is ultimately a play on contrasts – moody and inviting, luxe and raw, but above all incredibly dramatic.