An Apartment with a Garden in Sao Paulo

How to create a oasis of calm in the middle of the relentless pace that the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil has to offer? Create a garden.
This occupant spend five years (such patience!) finding the apartment that had a quiet terrace and was within her budget. Once this was conquered, she worked with SAO Arquitetura to create this breezy, light-filled home and its defining characteristic - the narrow but elegant indoor/outdoor terrace. It's so nice to bring nature indoors in a big city. Read more about the design process and results here.

Photographs by Brian W. Ferry via Dwell.

A Shed Becomes a Guest House

This modern guest house was once a dilapidated tool shed - yes, hard to believe, right? Attached to a weekend retreat in Stanfordville, New York belonging to architect, Alan Orenbuch and interior designer, Bryan O'Rourke, they were finding the open plan of their main house did not allow for much privacy with regular guests each weekend (you can see why here). So they decided to renovate the attached shed into the stylish guest house. Read more about the modernist architectural inspirations and transformation here. I'd be happy to live here, let alone stay here. Lovely.

Photographs by Brian W Ferry via Dwell.

A Minimal Home in Venice Beach, California.

It was just over a year ago that I stopped over in Santa Monica, Los Angeles  for a few days on my way to Italy. I stayed with my architect friend, Stephanie who was a great host and showed me around her cool little neighbourhood.
One night we had dinner with a fellow architect friend of hers, Don Dimester and his wife Lisa, who invited us back to their Venice Beach home that evening -  and it was this place that you see here. I was excited to see it again when it was recently featured in Dwell magazine and to be reminded of my visit there.
Don designed this duplex for himself and his brother, Dennis (who I also met and asked me to keep talking so he could laugh at my accent). Read the article here to hear Don's story and how this unique home came about.

A dramatic stairwell going up the roof deck

Large rolling doors are used to open or close off spaces

Dennis' kitchen with sliding doors

The communal roof deck

 

Photographs by Eric Staudenmaier via Dwell.

New Zealand Holiday Home in Dwell Magazine

A New Zealand holiday home has made an appearance in the latest issue of US magazine, Dwell. Located at Onemana Beach, this compact prefab house was a collaborative effort between the clients, the builder and a group of architecture students. Read all about the unique process here.

 

 

Photographs by Simon Devitt via Dwell.