Vinohradská is a two-bedroom apartment renovation in Prague, Czech Republic, by SMLXL. Set in a traditional Vinohrady building, the project steers a clear, masculine minimalism through layered material contrasts and restrained moves. Clean volumes, custom storage, and tailored proportions create a practical home for a single resident without erasing the building’s character. It reads calm, precise, and quietly expressive.
Ridge on the Chimney lands in Chimney Corner, Canada, as a quartet of rental cottages by Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects on Cape Breton’s western shore. Framed by cliffs and mountains, the house-scaled cabins draw from local barns and fish shacks while answering fierce coastal winds. The project works as hospitality, yes, but it also reads as a careful study of vernacular form, rugged climate, and the rituals of retreat.
Villa A “Santa” is a house in Italy by Selina Bertola, designed in 2025 with a measured approach to reworking a coastal home. The project concentrates on materials, light, and a sculptural hearth to reset identity without changing the plan, favoring warm neutrals and tactile finishes that echo the shoreline. Calm guides the brief.
Studio House sits in Costa Rica as a private house shaped by slope, jungle, and Pacific light. Designed by Formafatal founder Dagmar Štěpánová for herself and partner Karel Vančura, it pairs porous living with quiet refuge. The two-level villa near Uvita trades a conventional façade for exposure to air and ocean, threading terraces, a pool, and a rooftop into the site’s fall. It lives outdoors as much as in.
Casa PYE Cuernavaca lands in Cuernavaca, Mexico, as a grounded study in renewal by Lopez Duplan Arquitectos. The 1990s house becomes a generous family retreat with refreshed rooms, larger social areas, and a tighter bond to its shared garden. Designed in 2024, it balances continuity and change through a simplified palette, smart systems, and playful bedrooms that invite children to make lasting memories.
Sausalito Retreat sits atop Wolfback Ridge in Sausalito, CA, United States, a three-level house reworked by 35th Collective. The 2,500-square-foot, 1951 structure now expands to three bedrooms and three baths with broad glazing and timber-lined rooms. Inside and out, the project reads as a quiet refresh that leans into wood, stone, and brass while opening to the San Francisco Bay.
Stealth House lands in Austin, TX, United States as a compact house by Specht Novak that hides its life within. The 2024 ADU turns its back to the street with corrugated Cor-Ten cladding, then opens to courtyards and full-height glazing that soak interiors in daylight. Privacy drives the parti, yet the plan feels effortless and bright.
Carcassonne reshapes a heritage-listed house in Melbourne’s leafy south-east into a family home by FMD Architects. The project relocates daily life to a stepped, north-facing addition and reopens the original fabric to light and garden views. Across the lot, rooms now connect with both a public front garden and a private rear yard and pool, drawing a clear line between arrival, shared living, and quiet retreat.
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