If I had to nominate a favourite typology in domestic architecture (it’s a question we’re all asked most days), it would be the courtyard house. And this one, by São Paulo’s UNA Arquitetos, is a cracker. A good courtyard house does many things at once – holds the edges of a site, opens up a kernel of space in the middle, cradles privacy within, permits views across into other rooms and in so doing enlivens opposite ends of the home. I could go on…

Is it just me or does this look like the kind of place where unicorns and Snow White would hang out? This outdoor dining pavilion is full of romance and fairytale whimsy. It suggests a history of slowly creeping vines which, over many years and many passing seasons, have eventually swallowed the building whole…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – LA houses like this are what happens when modernist ideas go to the coast, unwinds by the beach, and unravels in all this louche, approachable brilliance. This is the sort of modern house you’d want to be your friend…

Hiroshima based UID Architects studio was founded in 2003 by Keisuke Maeda. Clearly an advocate of designing in section and 3D, every project pushes the boundaries of solid and void, inside and outside, public and private. I think this is what happens when architecture and landscape architecture make babies…

In my professional opinion, this project is what I like to refer to as “the shit”. You know – as in shit-hot amazeballs-type-interior. Also known as extreme love. It’s beauty alone could break many eyeballs and melt the internet. So what is it? I’m so glad you asked. As the title of the post suggests, Sweet Alchemy is a pastry shop designed by a Greek firm Kois Associated Architects for a celebrity pastry chef Stelios Parliaros…