Kokako Heights House sits above Matatā, New Zealand, with a clear view to the coast and native bush. Designed by Arkhē in 2024, the house reads as a modest, site-led composition focused on light, breeze, and careful orientation. This compact house places rooms along the land’s edges and pulls the living areas toward the view, trading excess for clarity and durable, low-energy comfort.

Naxxar House sits in Naxxar, Malta, where AP Valletta recasts an 18th-century palazzino as a contemporary house. The architects add a sculpted stone screen to guard privacy from a new apartment block while opening the interiors to gardens. Completed as a 2023 reworking, the project folds local craft, reclaimed materials, and measured light into a lived-in domestic setting. It feels grounded and quietly sure of itself.

Palm Springs House stands on Toronia Court in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, designed by Arkhé as a house composed around courtyard living and climate sense. The plan pulls into an L and opens to a private pool, while a warm timber entry cuts the restrained street face. Inside, a calm palette and timber underfoot underline the easy pace of the coastal setting.

Country House sits in Poland, conceived by IFAgroup as a house that hews to village scale and a calm lakeside rhythm. The project reads as a deliberate low profile, spreading across an 8000 m² plot with terraces turned to water and forest. It steers clear of monumentality and draws warmth from reclaimed timber and planted roof, creating a measured retreat shaped by the land.

Patios House Landscaping stands on Brazil’s Costa Verde in Mangaratiba, where Rodrigo Oliveira shapes a lush, route-driven garden for a low-slung coastal residence by Studio MK27. The project orients daily life around courtyards, shaded paths, and open terraces that drift toward the water. It’s a residential landscape tuned to breeze and light, a calm counterpoint to the mountain’s edge.

Notting Hill Flat places a Grade II listed townhouse in London, United Kingdom, back into daily circulation with a clear, contemporary hand by WER Studio. The house shifts to an open, light-forward upper level and a calmer bedroom level below, preserving the building’s character while updating its workings. Across the plan, crafted cabinetry, refined finishes, and measured interventions turn a historic shell into a family home.

Riba House sits in Puembo, Ecuador, a two-level house by TEC Taller EC that takes its cue from a venerable carob tree at the site’s center. The bar-shaped plan wraps the tree to frame views toward Quito and the Andes, then loosens into a terrace that stretches the daily routine toward the horizon. Urban edge meets valley quiet here, and the plan mediates both with poise.

Pemberton Heights Pool House renews a landmark property in Austin, Texas, United States with a crisp backyard pavilion by Paul N. Brow Architect. Conceived in 2024 as a pool house for gatherings, the addition connects lounging, dining, and a full bar to the water’s edge through expansive sliding and pocketing glass. Guests move from garden to interior without pause as the room shifts from air-conditioned comfort to open-air revelry.