Backstage at The Old Vic expands the Grade II* listed theatre in London, United Kingdom, with a new charitable wing by Haworth Tompkins. The project folds a café, learning centre, rehearsal rooms and event venues into one extension, giving the institution a daily civic presence beyond performance nights. With community access, sustainability and accessibility embedded from the outset, the building reframes how a historic theatre can work for its neighbours as much as its artists.
Rose building stands on the riverside avenue of Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal, where Aurora Arquitectos reworks an old house into a layered interior narrative. Behind the rational facade, the project turns an eccentric private world into five independent apartments that preserve mosaics, murals, and carpentry while adding contemporary structure. Each new dwelling grows from the original rooms, so the building reads as one continuous story in five chapters.
Kownatki Lake House sits in Kownatki, Poland, as a refined holiday house by Archmondo Piotr Kowalczyk that draws directly from the quiet Masurian landscape. The project anchors a 36-hectare lakeside development and uses rigorous detailing, robust materials, and a barn-like form to give contemporary leisure living a distinctly local character. Guests move between forest, water, and home with an ease that feels both grounded and deliberate.
Mansion Lom gathers a far-flung family in a renewed house on the Banj plateau above Ljubljana, Slovenia, where OFIS architects work with rugged karst tradition. The studio keeps two existing stone buildings at the core of the project, binding them with a restrained new wing and a warm, wood-lined interior. Eight children and parents find a shared base here, in a landscape once almost forgotten yet rich in durable forms.
Westview Residence sets a calm, precise tone on a steep Austin, TX, cul-de-sac, where Alterstudio Architecture navigates oaks, grade, and creek with quiet confidence. The house steps down from the street into a private woodland hollow, using brick volumes and a long glazed great room to frame daily life within the remaining wild pocket of this suburban edge.
Palisades Redux ADU gathers a house, new accessory dwelling unit, and garage around a reshaped yard in Santa Monica, CA, United States, by Vertebrae. The project turns a typical residential lot into a communal court where angled volumes and laser cut aluminum screens choreograph views, privacy, and daylight. What reads as sculptural forms from the main home becomes intimate living quarters and support rooms tucked behind a responsive facade.
Casa do Engenho sits within an agricultural estate in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, where architect Jorge Prata reworks an ancillary building into the family’s primary house. Once a rigid, compartmentalized volume used mainly for gatherings, the former pool house is now recast as a fluid, light-steered home with contemporary character. Across two levels, everyday life unfolds between preserved stone, new wood, and a renewed connection to the surrounding landscape.
House in Čakovice anchors a young family in Prague, Czech Rep., with a clear, minimalist house shaped by Edit! Architects. The compact volume holds a two-level layout that separates quiet work from shared daily life while drawing long views to the hedge-wrapped garden. Inside, a central gallery ties rooms together with light and sightlines.
