If there’s one thing Australian architects are really bloody good at, it would have to be The House. Houses Awards recently announced their 2013 shortlist for 125 residential projects across the eight categories. So many fantastic projects by amazing local architects, beautifully captured by our talented photographers. Australia’s got (some serious) talent! Here are just a few of my favourite projects…

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…

Inspired by the ghosts of the former inner city nightclub’s first patrons, Captain Melville in Melbourne was recently refurbished and re-invented as a restaurant and bar by the local studio Breathe Architecture. Previously known as Mac’s Hotel, the building dates back to 1853 – the time when the first settlers descended on Australian shores. In the spirit of this historic narrative, the fit-out is conceptually based on the scene of mass occupation of Australia in the 1850′s by immigrants chasing gold in the Australian Gold Rush…

I like a couple of things about this project. One of these things is that it reminds me of the beautiful Killiney House by Ireland’s O’Donnell and Tuomey, a masterful cascade of concrete with wonky roofs and trees and views a lot like this. This example, in far off Connecticut, takes a similar architectural stance but deploys timber and a fab green roof to nestle into its thickly wooded setting…

There is a lot to love about these interiors. From the interior branding point of view, they are a study in perfection. Not only do they embody Acne’s painfully stylish aesthetic, each store speaks a consistent visual language while maintaining individual sense of identity…