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      Green tiles fill renovated São Paulo apartment by Casulo

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      Green tilework in multiple rooms is contrasted with terracotta plaster at this São Paulo apartment, renovated for a couple by local studio Casulo.

      The 220-square-metre apartment was overhauled for friends of the designers, who made it clear that the space “should not have a minimalist atmosphere”.
      Renovations to the apartment included opening up the kitchen”Shortly after their wedding in early 2020, the couple bought an apartment at a closed-door auction, without knowing the actual status of the property,” Casulo partner Camila Abrahão told Dezeen. “On the first visit, we realised that the state of the apartment did not reflect its profile at all.”
      Therefore, the studio overhauled the interiors, keeping only the positions of the rooms and the wooden floor in the bedroom suite.
      Terracotta plaster was chosen to contrast the areas of greenThe most drastic improvements were made to the kitchen, which was previously subdivided into non-functional spaces including a small balcony with a barbecue.

      Casulo opened up the room to create a large space that integrates the grill, while a series of sliding, fluted glass panels were installed to close off the cooking area as desired.
      Furniture was sourced from various vintage stores in São PauloGreen tiles cover the floor, the sides of the central peninsula and the back wall. In contrast, a terracotta volume begins in the kitchen and wraps around to the entryway, concealing the powder room.
      “Almost all the references brought by [the client] had a green colour,” said Abrahão. “We brought the earth colour to balance and contrast it.”
      The green-tiled bar overlooks a view of the city’s skylineVarious shades of green are also used in the living area for the dining table, sofa and a tiled bar adjacent to the full-height windows that enjoy views of the skyline.
      Flooring in this social space was swapped for black slate, while the remaining walls and a masonry bench that connects to the enclosed balcony were painted white.

      Eight São Paulo apartment renovations that make the most of their Brazilian heritage

      Although re-lacquered, the dining table was the only piece of furniture retained from the original apartment, because it was too heavy and cumbersome to remove.
      “The furniture was almost entirely extracted from antique dealers in the city of São Paulo and we combined these pieces with some of the contemporary design,” Abrahão said.
      The wood floor in the bedroom was one of the only elements retained during the renovationStandout vintage finds included the midcentury Wave Bank bench by Jorge Zalszupin and a 1970s Italian coffee table with striped cylindrical legs.
      In the bedroom suite, the same tiles from the bar were applied to the walls and tub in the bathroom, where the black slate flooring and fluted glass panels are also repeated.
      The same green tiles used for the bar cover the walls and tub in the bathroomApartment living is extremely common in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, and renovations there often involve injecting colour and personality into the homes.
      Examples include an interior filled with peach, green and purple for a fashion editor, and another with burnt pink ceilings in the bedroom.
      The photography is by Joana França.

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      Ten white bathrooms that are far from boring

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      Our latest lookbook explores contemporary takes on traditional white bathrooms, proving that monochrome doesn’t have to be monotonous.

      White bathroom interiors are an enduring household trend, typically chosen for being practical but also for their connotations of cleanliness.
      Yet, their simplicity is often seen as being sterile, traditional or devoid of design.
      The ten examples listed below challenge this notion, demonstrating that with the right choice of tiles, plants and layers of texture, a white bathroom can still be an inviting sanctuary.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing colourful staircases, living rooms with stone surfaces and light-filled glass extensions.

      Photo is by Maxime BockenThe Euclid Residence, Canada, by Ancerl Studio
      Wall lights, curtains and a framed print make the white bathroom at The Euclid Residence feel more like a living room than a purely practical space.
      Located off of the house’s main bedroom, the room also features a softly curved tub that grants its user views out onto an adjoining balcony.
      Find out more about The Euclid Residence ›
      Photo is by Fernando GuerraHouse in Fontinha, Portugal, by Manuel Aires Mateus
      To add visual interest to the clean-cut washroom at House in Fontinha, architect Manuel Aires Mateus embedded a bathtub within its floor.
      The level change is demarcated by polished concrete that also helps to break up the space. Beside it, a low-lying window introduces splashes of colour into the room.
      Find out more about House in Fontinha ›
      Photo is by Ben HoskingThe Melburnian Apartment, Australia, by Edition Office
      Skinny white tiles envelop the bathroom at The Melburnian Apartment, covering its curved walls, floor and walk-in shower that is hidden and accessed through a large opening.
      Designed by Edition Office, the tiles are teamed with a large mirror and a vanity cabinet that has a marbled finish and monolithic washbasins on top.
      Find out more about The Melburnian Apartment ›
      Photo is by Hey! CheeseXS House, Taiwan, by Phoebe Sayswow Architects
      Phoebe Sayswow Architects gave this white bathroom a graphic quality by using bright pink grout between its glazed white tiles instead of the traditional grey or white options.
      To add depth to the room, which is located in a small one-bedroom apartment in Taipei, a matching vanity unit projects from the wall. The space is finished with black bathroom products and a suitably-bold begonia maculata plant.
      Find out more about XS House ›
      Photo is by Christoph RokittaBerlin Mitte apartment, Germany, by Atheorem
      Local architect Atheorem brought a serene and ethereal quality to the wetroom of this apartment in Berlin using all-white finishes and minimal fittings.
      A pair of floor-to-ceiling curtains provide privacy for the owners when showering, while also adding a layer of texture and filtering soft natural light into the space.
      Find out more about Berlin Mitte apartment ›
      Photo is by Kevin ScottThe Portage Bay Float Home, USA, by Studio DIAA
      Studio DIAA used square tiles to create the all-white interior of this shower room, located in a floating house in Seattle’s Lake Union.
      Fixed with pale grey grout, the tiles bring a textured appearance to the room that contrasts with its smooth metal accessories. On sunny days, treetops framed through a skylight overhead cast shadows across their surface.
      Find out more about The Portage Bay Float Home ›
      Photo is by Luis ViegasCasa da Volta, Portugal, by Promontorio
      The deliberately simple interior of this ensuite washroom helps to draw attention to three large cactus plants in the white-walled courtyard outside.
      Maximising the sense of lightness and openness in the room, a large mirror lines one wall and the ceiling joists are left exposed overhead, painted white to match the rest of the space.
      Find out more about Casa da Volta ›
      Photo is by Shannon McGrathAlfred Street Residence, Australia, by Studio Four
      One of the most minimalist bathrooms on the list is this all-white interior designed by Studio Four as part of the Alfred Street Residence in Victoria.
      Large white tiles run across its floor and walls, framing a freestanding tub that is illuminated by a skylight above. To add an element of texture, a white-painted wooden stool sits in the corner.
      Find out more about Alfred Street Residence ›
      Photo is by José HeviaPalma Hideaway, Spain, by Mariana de Delás
      Plants, tiles and marble have been used to animate the white-walled bathroom at the Palma Hideaway, designed by Mariana de Delás in Mallorca.
      The floor is raised to accommodate a sunken bath on one side, which is lined with dark-green tiles that also feature elsewhere in the home – helping the room act as an extension to the living spaces.
      Find out more about Palma Hideaway ›
      Photo is by Rafael SoldiHillside Midcentury, USA, by SHED
      This spacious white bathroom and walk-in shower by SHED is sheathed in hundreds of tiny circular tiles and lit by a frosted-glass window that stretches from floor to ceiling.
      The size of the tiles and window help to emphasise the openness of the room, while wood elements and a potted plant help bring an element of cosiness.
      Find out more about Hillside Midcentury ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing colourful staircases, living rooms with stone surfaces and light-filled glass extensions.

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      Arquitectura Nativa creates rammed-earth retreat for retired archaeologist

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      Arquitectura Nativa has completed a home in Mexico for a retired archaeologist and their partner, using “rudimentary and artisanal techniques” that help the home blend into its surroundings.

      Casa Martha is located on a steep and rocky site facing the ocean in La Misión, a small village situated roughly halfway between the cities of Tijuana and Ensenada, in the Baja California region of Mexico.
      The La Misión home by Arquitectura Nativa stretches across three levelsThree levels step down a hill, forming the living spaces for a couple and their guests.
      Local architect studio Arquitectura Nativa laid out the most public areas of the home on the lowest level. On this floor, there are two guest bedrooms, a dine-in kitchen and a generous outdoor patio facing the street.
      Many of the materials used in the home, such as the artisanal wooden shutters and rammed-earth walls, were chosen for their hand-made qualities and appropriateness to the building’s context.

      The public spaces can be accessed through the folding doors on the house’s lowest level”Casa Martha is modelled with deep sensitivity and respect for its surroundings,” Arquitectura Nativa principal Alfredo Navarro Tiznado explained.
      “The main construction element is compacted earth. In this way, the site and its topography are consolidated as the raw materials of the project,” he added.
      An open-plan living space takes up the second floor”The first level is divided into two areas, the visitor area made up of two rooms and the study area that can function as a painting and carpentry workshop or as a garage,” Tiznado explained.
      A breezeway open to the elements separates the two halves of the home. At the back of the property, two smaller courtyards ensure that every space gets natural ventilation and daylight.

      MDO converts rammed-earth houses in rural China into holiday villas

      A flight of stairs flanked by rammed-earth walls leads to the intermediate level, which the architect described as the “heart” of the home. This is where the main living space is located.
      An open-concept kitchen, living and dining room are flanked by glass walls, which open out towards the landscape and are shaded by an overhanging concrete slab.
      The home is surrounded by a sheltered walkwayA walkway surrounds the home that can be closed off with wooden shutters.
      “This lattice generates protection from the prevailing winds, as well as a component of privacy towards the interior,” Tiznado explained.
      Outdoor terraces can be accessed from the upper floorsThese handcrafted panels also create a “play of light and shadows,” Tiznado added.
      The studio also laid out two terraces on the roof of the spaces below, offering the occupants a variety of places to enjoy the outdoors.
      Walls of rammed earth and doors made from wood let the building blend in with the siteThe topmost level is significantly smaller than the two lower floors and is reserved for the owners.
      The second-storey perch offers the best views of the surrounding landscape and is separated from the guest rooms to give all occupants plenty of privacy when using the 310-square-metre home.
      “The main chamber has a view of the context’s landscape — in this space, the interior is blurred with the exterior,” said Tiznado.
      Wooden shutters help modulate the sunOther recent buildings in the Baja California area include a private residence that was converted into a hotel by Paolo Sarra and studio Punto Arquitectónico, and a hotel that combines modern design with traditional influences by Max von Wertz.
      The photography is by Oscar Hernández Rodríguez.
      Project credits:Architect: Alfredo Navarro TiznadoDesign team: Kenia Esmeralda García Rosas, Hanna Appel Hernández, Giancarlo Reyes OlguinConstruction: Pedro Luis Curiel Bojórquez, José Francisco Ramírez García, Alfredo Navarro Tiznado,

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      Studio Modijefsky favours clean lines in renovation of Dutch dyke house

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      Amsterdam interior design firm Studio Modijefsky has created a contemporary family home inside of a local dijkhuis – a traditional Dutch dwelling set next to a dyke.

      Located in the north of Amsterdam, the house was originally built for a middle-class family in the 1800s. But the building suffered substantial fire damage while serving as a kindergarten in the 1980s and had to be completely rebuilt in the same style.
      Home Dijkhuis is a renovated dyke house in AmsterdamStudio Modijefsky was asked by the new owners to create an interior that would respect the building’s heritage while introducing modern touches.
      Spread across 260 square metres, the home features an entrance, living area and study on the same level as the dyke. A spacious kitchen, dining area and garden are set a level down at the back of the house, while four bedrooms occupy the first floor under the gabled roof.
      Its low timber-beam ceiling is left exposed in the kitchenThe Netherlands has a long history of building next to its vast network of dykes – the embankments stretching thousands of kilometres along its coastlines and riverbanks to protect the low-lying country from flooding.

      As these dykes raise the ground level, a dijkhuis is often split across storeys of different heights and lighting conditions, which creates both challenges and creative opportunities according to Studio Modijefsky.
      “To create an interior that fits the original architecture while freshening it up, the spatial qualities of each living area were assessed and the properties of height, light and each building structure and window shape were maximised,” explained the studio.
      A green corduroy sofa and a walnut cabinet dominate the loungeIn the downstairs kitchen and dining area, a low timber-beam ceiling creates an intimate space anchored by a large table, where the family can come together for meals or enjoy views over the garden through the wide French windows.
      In the kitchen, a terrazzo-topped island is complemented with dark wooden door fronts, a backlit glass display cabinet and terracotta tiles on the floor.
      Marble detailing features throughout the house in fireplaces and splashbacksUpstairs, on the level of the dyke, the house’s entrance hallway leads into a bright living room, which the design team describes as “the most lavish space in the house”.
      It features tall arched windows and a high curved ceiling with art deco ornaments, giving the room a spacious and welcoming feel.

      Rainforest foliage and mirrors feature inside Amsterdam bar by Studio Modijefsky

      The walls and ceilings are painted in three different hues of white, strategically placed to enhance the room’s architectural features.
      “In a room with so much natural light, darker colours could be used to dramatic effect such as on the dark herringbone floor,” said Studio Modijefsky. “But all eyes will here be drawn to a monolithic walnut cabinet, whose shape mirrors the windows opposite it.”
      A built-in bar is set in one corner of the loungeIn addition to the walnut cabinet, the room is furnished with an olive-green corduroy sofa and a built-in cocktail bar with a terrazzo top.
      Across the hallway is a toilet decorated with off-white tiles that are glossy on the walls and matt on the floor. Other furnishings include wooden plinths, a purple marble splashback and an oak-wood cabinet with brass details.
      The study, which doubles as a guest room, has built-in storage cabinets and an en-suite bathroom with travertine instead of marble detailing.
      The curved ceilings of the dijkhuis create a sense of being envelopedFour bedrooms, two bathrooms and a separate toilet are squeezed onto the dijkhuis’s first floor. To create enough space for these living arrangements, the design team installed two dormer windows that run along two-thirds of the roof’s length.
      The floors and walls here are lighter compared to downstairs, with parts of the original beamed roof left exposed.
      Bathrooms on this floor feature rectangular tiles arranged in a herringbone pattern, which is echoed in the parquet of the bedrooms. In the corridors, the studio switched the pattern to straight planking in order to emphasise the vertical dimensions of the house.
      Four bedrooms are housed on the first floor under the home’s gabled roofStudio Modijefsky, which was founded by interior architect Esther Stam in 2009, has completed a number of projects in the Dutch capital in recent years.
      Among them is a travel-themed eatery with swampy purple ceilings and yellow-tiled walls that recall grassy meadows, as well as the renovation of a 119-year-old restaurant.
      The photography is by Maarten Willemstein. 

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      Studio Paolo Ferrari combines wood and granite for Canadian lake house

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      Exposed finishes that draw cues from the forests and geology of Canada come together in this remote holiday home by Toronto-based architect Studio Paolo Ferrari.

      Named after the Muskoka region where the project is located, the retreat overlooks Lake Rosseau, an area that is known as one of Canada’s most sought-after vacation destinations.
      The retreat overlooks Canada’s Lake RosseauThe area sits roughly two hours north of Toronto, and is known for its natural setting. It inspired a collective of painters, known as the Group of Seven, who produced some of the most iconic Canadian imagery of the early 20th century.
      “We wanted to create a place of respite from the intensity of city life and also to build as sensitively as we could, complementing, but never overwhelming, the surrounding environment,” said Studio Paolo Ferrari.
      Granite and Douglas fir define the interior designTwo primary materials were used for the two-storey building: granite, which forms many of the islands in the area, and Douglas fir, which the architects used in the exposed roofs found throughout the home, as well as in cabinetry and on certain walls.

      “The granite is coarse-grained and hard,” said the studio. “It references the minerality of the site and imbues the interiors with a sense of ruggedness.”
      “The Douglas fir offers tactility and warmth, and it connects the house with vernacular building traditions,” the studio added, noting that some of the materials used came from the site itself.
      Studio Paolo Ferrari placed the communal areas on the upper floorStudio Paolo Ferrari designed an inverted layout for the two-bedroom home, placing the communal areas on the upper floor to give them the best views of Lake Rosseau.
      The open-concept kitchen, living, and dining room is anchored by a granite kitchen counter that appears to be made of a rough block of stone. Its edges cantilever out, creating a place to sit for a casual meal.
      Two bedrooms feature on the ground floor”The kitchen island – a large, unfinished block of granite – evokes the boulders and outcroppings one sees across the Canadian Shield, an expanse of bedrock that extends from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Coast,” said Studio Paolo Ferrari.
      “With its size and monumentality, the island offsets the expertly crafted cabinetry that surrounds it.”
      A granite island takes centre stage in the kitchenThe living room is fronted by tall, sliding glass doors that open onto a terrace that offers sweeping views of the lake below.
      Most of the surfaces are covered in a light-coloured wood, which helps the space feel airy and bright.

      Ali Budd Interiors transforms Muskoka log cabin into art-filled cottage

      The bedrooms were located on the ground floor. The primary suite faces out onto the lake, while a guest bedroom is located at the back of the home. Its windows open out onto rocky outcroppings and thick trees, lending the space a sense of privacy.
      “Windows frame views in all directions, not only outward to the lake but also inward to the granite escarpment, which is every bit as exquisite as the dappled water,” added the studio.
      Furnishings were kept simple throughout the homeThe home’s bathrooms were finished in dark granite, creating a sense of contrast from the bright open spaces in the bedrooms and communal areas.
      Throughout the home, the furnishings were kept as simple as possible.
      “Our guiding ethos was warm minimalism,” Studio Paolo Ferrari explained. “The interiors derive their elegance from a lack of visual clutter.”
      The lake house includes a gabled roofOther natural retreats in Canada include a dramatic, cantilevered structure overlooking a lake, and a ski cottage that appears to have been split in two, by Montreal-based firm Naturehumaine.
      The photography is by Joel Esposito.

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      Frama designs apartment for filmmaker Albert Moya in Renaissance villa

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      Copenhagen design brand Frama has contrasted modern furnishings against dark wood panelling inside this hybrid apartment and workspace in Florence, which belongs to Spanish director Albert Moya.

      The self-contained residence occupies a number of rooms inside the Villa Medicea di Marignolle, a Rennaisance villa and estate nestled among the hills of Florence’s southwestern suburbs.
      Frama has furnished the Florence home of Albert MoyaThe building once belonged to the House of Medici – a powerful Italian banking family that achieved prominence in Florence in the 15th century – and was often frequented by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.
      Today, it is split into multiple apartments including Moya’s, which was renovated in the 1970s and consequently has a different feel and appearance compared to the more traditional parts of the villa.
      The brand introduced modern furnishings to contrast against the dark wood panellingMoya, who became known for his 2013 short film American Autumn, asked Frama to turn the space into a modern residence that encourages “artistic encounters” by offering spaces for living as well as for hosting small events and collaborative workshops.

      “I teamed up with Frama to create a studio, a space acting as a school where artists can meet students, a place where everyone can learn something new, absorb knowledge and exchange ideas,” he explained.
      “There is a natural interaction between the interior architecture, Frama’s universe and each selected piece. It is a harmonious, unified and balanced approach.”
      Touches of stainless steel and aluminium help to brighten the interiorDespite the need for introducing “contemporary comforts”, Moya wanted the final design to respect the building’s heritage.
      As a result, the Frama team didn’t make any structural changes and didn’t mount anything on the walls in order to preserve the warm wood panelling that was introduced as part of the renovation.
      Instead, understated furniture, lighting and textiles from the brand’s collection were brought in to style the flat, using a simple material palette of wood, cork, marble, stainless steel and aluminium.

      Frama creates ultra-minimal interiors for Juno the Bakery in Copenhagen

      Apart from Moya’s own bedroom, the apartment encompasses a kitchen and studio space, a living room, a second bathroom and two mezzanines – one housing a gym and the other a guest room.
      The interior is designed to encourage socialisation, connection and meaningful conversations between the filmmaker and his guests.
      For this purpose, it features two different kinds of workspaces: a quiet area in the kitchen designed for independent work during the mornings and more social areas in the living room and on the mezzanines for gathering in the afternoon.
      Frama made no structural changes and left all walls untouched”The residence will allow the creative mind to wander in solitude or in relation to others,” said Frama.
      “Albert seeks to explore silence and spaciousness and, at the same time, to experience a non-conforming living studio where focus, imagination, expressiveness and mindfulness are free flowing.”
      The apartment looks out at the estate’s cypress treesFrama is a multi-disciplinary brand that creates everything from homeware to furniture, lighting, scents and skincare, all the way up to entire interiors projects.
      Previously, the company has designed a Beirut concept store with limewashed surfaces and simple concrete fixtures, as well as a collection of fabrics made from biodegradable materials such as algae and terracotta.
      The photography is by Teodora Kaolchagova and Fredrik Aartun.

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      Ten contemporary living rooms with cool stone surfaces

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      Rough-hewn granite and smooth marble are among the materials chosen for the living rooms in this lookbook, which use stone to create elegant interiors.

      While stone surfaces can help rooms feel cooler during hot summer days, they also create a warm, organic atmosphere in modern interiors – especially when contrasted against glass surfaces and other natural materials, such as wood.
      For our latest lookbook, we’ve chosen 10 living rooms from the Dezeen archive in which different types of stone add textural interest and bring a touch of the outdoors into the home.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks on light-filled glass extensions, exposed wooden floorboards and timber-clad bathrooms.
      Photography is by Timothy KayeGrange Residence, Australia, by Conrad Architects

      Australian studio Conrad Architects described its design for Grange Residence as a “split form of minimalist stone blocks.” Inside the four-bedroom home, concrete and stone were used to create a minimalist interior.
      The living room is a smorgasbord of stone detailing, with marble used for both shelves and furniture and a contrasting stone chosen for a built-in bench.
      Find out more about Grange Residence ›
      Photography is by Prue RuscoeBudge Over Dover, Australia, by YSG
      The original travertine flooring was kept in interior design studio YSG’s renovation of Budge Over Dover house in Sydney.
      The smooth, glossy floor is contrasted with an aubergine-hued plaster ceiling and a pale green statement wall, while a black marble coffee table and maroon chairs complete the interior.
      Find out more about Budge Over Dover ›
      Photography is by Joe FletcherAtherton Contemporary, US, by Pacific Peninsula Architecture and Leverone Design
      Texas split-cut limestone was used for both the exterior and parts of the interior of this house in Silicon Valley, California.
      In the living room, the chunky wall creates an interesting backdrop to a low wooden sofa and a warm wooden floor. A shaggy pillow and ridged floor mat pick up on the uneven textures to create a subtly matching interior.
      Find out more about Atherton Contemporary ›
      Photography is by Durston SaylorWriter’s Studio, US, by Eric J Smith
      Located in a forest in Connecticut, US, this writer’s studio, which was designed for a poet, has an unusual writing and living room that has seemingly been attached to the exterior of the cantilevered building.
      The house’s exterior wall, which is made from fieldstone and bluestone, forms the back wall of the glass-cube room. Rough-hewn stone walls are featured throughout the studio.
      Find out more about Writer’s Studio ›
      Photography is by Darius PetrulaitisGreetings from Rome, Lithuania, by 2XJ
      A structured stone wall with arched openings has become a decorative centrepiece in this apartment in Lithuania, designed by local studio 2XJ. The studio clad the wall in slabs of Italian travertine to turn it into an elegant feature.
      “We decided to highlight this wall and create the home around it, to separate the house into active and restful spaces,” the studio explained.
      Find out more about Greetings from Rome ›
      Photography is by Bruce ColeLoghaven Artist Residency, US, by Sanders Pace Architecture
      A decorative rustic stone wall holds the hearth in Sanders Pace Architecture’s Loghaven artist campus, nestled within a forest in eastern Tennessee.
      The rough-hewn stone contrasts against a wooden ceiling and white plaster walls, while a patterned rug and leather daybed add cosy touches to the large living room.
      Find out more about Loghaven Artist Residency ›
      Photography is by Mark Seelen, Ambroise Tezenas and François HalardChalet, Switzerland, by Liaigre
      Paris studio Liaigre refurbished this Swiss chalet in St Moritz, excavating a basement to add a sauna and a spa.
      The granite leftover from the excavation was used to line the living room walls, creating an interior that nods to the snow-capped mountains outside.
      Find out more about this Swiss chalet ›
      Photography is by Jeremy BittermannLaurelhurst, US, by MW Works
      US studio MW Works updated this 1960s home in Seattle to create a more open layout. A material palette of wood, concrete, stone and glass was used for the renovation.
      The studio aimed to create a stronger connection between the interiors and the outdoors, as seen in the living room. Here, floor-to-ceiling windows open up to the outside, while the fireplace has been re-clad in dry-stack limestone to create a decorative textural contrast.
      Find out more about Laurelhurst ›
      Photography is by David CerveraRaw House, Mexico, by Taller Estilo Arquitectura
      Located in Yucatán, Mexico, Raw House opens up towards a leafy courtyard garden. Just inside the courtyard, the living room floor is covered in smooth grey marble, creating an elegant and cooling interior.
      Dark-brown wooden and leather furniture, including a pair of classic Barcelona chairs by Mies van der Rohe, give the room an organic feel.
      Find out more about Raw House ›
      Photography is by Building NarrativesStone House, UK, by Architecture for London
      This extension to a family home in London was designed as a monolithic stone shape, with a playful interior that includes a small arched entrance for the family’s cat.
      The tiered terrace that extends from the outside to form a plinth inside was built from an agglomerate stone made from recycled waste quarried in Lombardy, Italy.
      Find out more about Stone House ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks on light-filled glass extensions, exposed wooden floorboards and timber-clad bathrooms.

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      “Homes manifest mechanisms of power via relationships of gender, class and age”

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      The way our homes are designed is intrinsically linked to domestic power struggles, write Charles Holland and Margaret Cubbage.

      What is the relationship between architecture and power? How can buildings – inert piles of stone and steel, glass and concrete – exert power over us?
      The obvious place to look might be examples that clearly aim to control or confine us, such as prisons. Alternatively, power may be found in buildings for political institutions or corporate HQs. There is, however a subtler realm in which architecture exerts control over our lives. That place is one that almost all of us experience: the ordinary domestic spaces that we inhabit every day.
      Our homes shape our lives and inform the dynamics of our social relations
      What can such spaces say about power? Surely the rooms in which we live, eat and sleep are an escape from the hierarchies of the workplace or our increasingly CCTV-controlled public spaces? The home is associated with being a place of refuge but also somewhere to connect, or disconnect from the outside world.

      As innocent as they may appear, our homes shape our lives and inform the dynamics of our social relations. They manifest mechanisms of power via relationships of gender, class and age. Why do we separate functions into separate rooms? Why are some spaces more private than others? These questions are of course culturally specific. Not all societies organise their houses in the same way. And what might seem like an ordinary convention to some might be an unimaginable luxury to others.
      Radical Rooms, an exhibition currently running at the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Architecture Gallery, explores this knotty subject, examining the micro-territories of our homes. It begins with the plan – the most basic of architectural drawings – and examines the way that the arrangement of rooms in our houses reflects the way that individuals, couples, groups and families organise themselves.

      Women-led studios create sculptural pavilions for Women in Architecture exhibition

      The exhibition focuses on a history of housing in the UK, mining the RIBA Collection of drawings to find examples where traditional power relations have been subverted and where new ways of living have emerged as a result.
      It also looks at the characters behind the buildings, revealing figures within architectural history that have not always been acknowledged or accurately documented.
      Gender relations are inscribed in the plans of our houses. This is a question of both how spaces are organised – think of traditional male preserves such as the study or the historic association of women with kitchens – and of who owns and authors them. The history of famous houses is often also a history of the famous men who designed them, or the men that wrote about them.
      Houses are innately collaborative ventures
      Radical Rooms shifts that focus instead onto houses that were designed, commissioned or curated (and sometimes all three) by women. In doing so it draws on the work of important historians including Lynne Walker, Elizabeth Darling and others.
      Houses are innately collaborative ventures. We share them and they are extended and added to over time. The history of architecture though is largely a history of individuals, of single authors and buildings preserved as static objects. Prior to the development of discrete roles for architects, clients and builders however, authorship was less clear. This ambiguity might well have allowed (admittedly wealthy) women who were otherwise formally disempowered from designing buildings to exert a powerful influence on the development of architecture.
      Take A La Ronde, an eccentric, sixteen-sided house built on the Devon coast in the late 18th century. The house was built for two female cousins, Jane and Mary Parminter, but its authorship has been the subject of much debate. Keen to find a male architect, historians have traditionally plumped for John Lowder, the son of a relative who would have been just 17 when the house was completed. It is more likely that the house was a collaboration between Lowder and the cousins, who had just returned from a Grand Tour of Europe’s classical architecture.
      Hopkins House uses Venetian blinds to distinguish between spaces for living and work. Photo courtesy of the Historic England ArchiveThe degree to which Jane and Mary Parminter designed the house might be unclear, but their unique way of occupying it wasn’t. Arranged in plan like a clock face, the cousins moved around the house during the day, following the path of the sun. When they died they stipulated that it be left only to unmarried women, an explicit rejection of the patriarchal system of male inheritance. A man eventually did come to live in the house and, revealingly, he was responsible for drastic changes to both its layout and appearance.
      The design of Hardwick Hall, an Elizabethan mansion in Derbyshire, is generally ascribed to Robert Smythson. The house was commissioned though by Bess of Hardwick, an immensely wealthy 16th-century aristocrat. Her involvement in the design of her house, the fourth that she commissioned, extended well beyond the role of client as it is currently conceived. Principles of the house’s layout, its material choices and decorative scheme reflect Bess of Hardwick’s intense involvement.
      Prejudices around authorship have continued into the current era. Take Team 4, a well-known but short-lived collaborative practice from the 1960s that consisted of three women and two men. The subsequent fame of the men – Richard Rogers and Norman Foster – has tended to eclipse the role of the women – Wendy Cheesman, Su Brumwell and Georgie Wolton.
      Field House pursued an interest in dissolving boundaries
      Wolton was the most short-lived member and the only fully qualified architect of the group at the time. She subsequently designed Field House, a radical, steel-framed, open-plan residence that has remained somewhat below the radar of architectural history ever since.
      Field House pursued an interest in dissolving boundaries within the home as well within the discipline of architecture. Its interior was conceived largely as a single, fluid space with minimal separation. The exterior walls were entirely made of glass so that the interior merged with the external landscape. Intriguingly, the house is currently described as dismantled rather than demolished, reflecting an interest in adaptability and moveability on the part of its designer.
      This blurring of uses and of the inside and outside also manifests itself in the Hopkins House in north London, designed in the mid-1970s by Patty and Michael Hopkins. Originally used as their office as well as their home, the house has no corridors and minimal separation of functions. The combination of its delicate steel structure and Venetian blinds helps to subtly delineate the different zones of family and work-life within the home.

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      Some 50 years before, in 1926, Eileen Gray designed an apartment in Paris that consisted solely of moving screens and metallic curtains. The remarkably innovative interior, designed for her sometime lover Jean Badovici, also rejected the discrete division of domestic space into separate functions in favour of a dynamic internal landscape that could be re-made every day.
      Radical Rooms looks not only at power within the plan but at who gets to design those plans. The exhibition provides a platform for the exposure of (mainly) overlooked women designers and architects, revisiting the ways in which women influenced design prior to formalised architectural education. It deconstructs the domestic plan and exposes it as something intimately bound up with the power structures in which we live.
      Radical Rooms: Power of the Plan is free to visit and will run throughout July and between 5-24 September at the 66 Portland Place in London. For more information, see Dezeen Events Guide.
      Charles Holland is a professor at the University of Brighton, the principal of Charles Holland Architects and a former director of London studio FAT. Margaret Cubbage has been curating design and architecture exhibitions for 15 years.
      The top photo is by Gareth Gardner, courtesy of the RIBA.

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