Alysi Store in Milan by Studiopepe.Studiopepe have designed a sophisticated boutique for the women’s fashion label Alysi in Milan's historic Brera district, set within the walls of a 17th-century building. It’s not often the ceiling detail that grabs you first in...
Space & Time in Melbourne by Russell & George.It appears to be somewhat of an existential architectural concept. A space that defies not just time and space but more intriguingly morphs into whatever is required of its user at any particular time of day, at the whim of any particular...
Refurbishment of a 1910 Church in Hawthorn by Doherty Design Studio.The downside of repurposing a church and renovating it to become a home is that more often than not they still end up feeling like a church. A church having an identity crisis. So it takes not just a brave soul to take on a brief to...
Swallowfield Barn in Langley, BC, Canada by MOTIV Architects.When Mum and Dad ask you to build them a house, as an architect you’ve got a bit of latitude. You also have a budget that Mum and Dad will never let you forget. And you have a long-term relationship with them that will outlive any...
Antoni Gaudi’s Casa Vicens in Barcelona Restored by MartĂnez Lapeña–Torres Arquitectes & Daw Office.Like most of GaudĂ’s work, this famous, first residential commission of the Catalonian architect, it is not subtle. No-one could accuse Antoni GaudĂ of being a minimalist. The striking exterior of layered brick patterns, highly...
This House with Plants in Japan by KamakuraStudio Is Not What You’d Expect.Indoor plants have loads of health benefits. As well as looking pretty nice, they’ll reduce carbon dioxide levels, diminish levels of pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and benzene, and even keep air temperatures down on warmer days. The...
Chalet in the Swiss Alps by Pierre Yovanovitch.Imagine a warm, cosy timber-clad ski chalet, with a picturesque vista across the snowy Swiss Alps. Now imagine if the chalet’s interiors had been designed by a former Pierre Cardin menswear designer with a keenness for luxurious, storied...
Alvaro Siza Vieira’s New Church of Saint-Jacques de la Lande in Rennes, France.Pritzker Prize-winning Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza Vieira has designed a beautiful, light-filled church for Rennes’ outer suburbs. Alvaro Siza Vieira's Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande will be the first church built in Brittany, France...
Sony Music Entertainment Amsterdam HQ by Space Encounters.Of course Sony Music’s Amsterdam HQ needs a vinyl boardroom table that doubles a DJ booth, and a stairway that is also a bar. It’s work made a bit more entertaining, and I for one, would not mind that meeting being added to my diary....