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East Lake House, designed by Robert Young Architects, features two structures to capture sunshine and breezes from all angles.

Front facade facing West at dusk

Looking North into the Dining Room

The beds, closets, and bathroom nooks are all built-ins, so one space seamlessly flows to the next with a sense of uniformity.

The four bedrooms have different sleeping configurations and enough space to accommodate friends and extended family. The bed frames are made from rauli timber.

Influenced by both Benedictine monasteries and Japanese residences, award-winning British architect John Pawson created The Life House – a minimalist holiday rental home in Wales with a pure and uncluttered ambience that encourages a state of quietude and contemplation.

Upon entering the house, one immediately sees right through to the rear garden from the main corridor.

A staircase leads up to the apartment units.

Duratherm windows paint the black brick wall of the staircase with sunlight.

“Instead of confining the house’s different uses into separated rooms, they have been connected with each other, aiming at producing the general feeling of spatial expansion,” said the firm.

While very modern for the neighborhood, the home still fits and pays respect to the landscape.

The family cat, Rey, steps in front of the concrete fireplace in the living room. Floor-to-ceiling windows enhance the indoor-outdoor connection.

Luciano Kruk perforates a concrete volume with glass walls to fashion a simple yet elegant vacation home in the province of Buenos Aires. On a quiet lot populated with aged pinewood, Luciano Kruk designed a modest vacation home for three sisters and their families. The 807-square-foot, two-level home is ensconced in its forest setting. The firm employed board-formed concrete inside and out to connect the building with its environment. "Pine planks were used to set the formwork so that the partitions, as well as the slabs, would preserve the texture of the wood veins in an attempt to establish a harmonious dialogue with the bark of the local trees," said the firm.

The dining and kitchen space opens up directly to an expanse of grass that leads to the water’s edge.

Construction pausing during the pandemic turned out to be a boon: Living in the half-finished space, the couple realized they needed to open up the pass-through to the rest of the house for even more circulation.