Upon arriving at the newly opened Viceroy Los Cabos, one is almost unsure where the Sea of Cortez begins and the massive pool that surrounds and interlaces between most facilities ends. Designed by seasoned Mexico City architect Miguel Ángel Aragonés, the water-enclosed complex comprises a series of concrete volumes connected by a matrix of elevated walkways that bypass this sizable body of water. The spatial sequencing—from half-a-dozen restaurants, fully equipped spas and gyms, and various lobbies and lounges to private sanctuary-like guestrooms—is cinematic.

Inspired by the “poetic modernism” of Luis Barragán and Brutalist principles, Viceroy Los Cabos harnesses light, shadow, water, and silence as its primary materials. Though grand in scale, the resort unfolds as a series of more intimate spaces. One feels as though they are passing through a sequence of mazes, moving through natural light and darkness at just the right intervals. The only welcomed interruption, perhaps, are the woven, cocoon-like breakout structures set just above the pool’s surface.

In the 198 accommodations, a minimalist design scheme sets the stage for panoramic views of the sea. Some rooms appear to suspend above the pool below, framed by floor-to-ceiling glass. It is a far cry from the overtly maximalist ornamentation that defines other properties in the vicinity. That by no means leaves guests cut off from the rich cultural and natural offerings of the region. The blank-canvas approach actually helps make these features and attractions the star of the show.

The Sea of Cortez is one of the most biologically diverse marine environments in the world, and guests catching a glimpse of a whale is almost a certainty. Viceroy’s curated experiences include snorkeling, private boat journeys, desert excursions, and visits to local markets. There is also a rotating program of site-specific art installations, music performances, additional wellness activations, and special culinary experiences.

Restaurants include Cielomar, an upscale rooftop haunt serving Mexican fare. The sculptural interior of Otro Bar complements a menu of rare mezcals, while Casero is the main heart of the resort, where comfort food is served at breakfast and lunch. Near the distinctly beach-adjacent, oval-shaped pool that seems to hover over the setting is Nidito Beach + Poolside Bar, where mezcal and agua fresca flow freely.

The resort’s wellness offering is equally ritual-driven, blending ancestral healing traditions with contemporary wellness science. It incorporates a cold plunge, contrast therapy experience, hydrotherapy suite, and private treatment rooms.

Viceroy Los Cabos is defined by a more restrained, if monumental, form of luxury — an approach that lets everything else in the vicinity shine.

What: Viceroy Los Cabos
Where: Los Cabos, Mexico
How much: From $541 per night
Design draw: A Brutalist, poetic-modernist complex traversed by a single massive pool, with minimalist interiors that emphasize the surrounding natural setting.
Book It: Viceroy Lo Cabos

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Photography by Ema Peter.

A model for future living and sustainable urban life, Copenhagen is an increasingly popular destination. The compact Danish capital is home to a growing crop of distinct hotels that, contrary to the perception of Scandinavian design as sober and restrained, have emerged as bold, luxurious, even brazen statement pieces. Reaffirming the often-diluted concept of hygge—the Danish and Norwegian notion of taking time away from the daily rush to care for oneself and others—is the just-opened 1 Hotel Copenhagen. The 282-key retreat-within-the-city was comprehensively designed by internationally recognized practice Norm Architects with a balance of natural elements and human presence in mind.

In true adaptive reuse fashion, a mode increasingly defining Scandinavian architecture and design, the serene environment makes clever use of a 1930s building, ironically one with elaborate Neoclassical and Neo-Baroque exterior detailing. Step inside, however, and one is quickly transported away from the hustle of this dense, historically entrenched metropolis.

“The lively streetscape gives way to a warm and tranquil atmosphere,” the firm describes in a statement. “A sweeping staircase in reclaimed wood leads upward from street level, its sculptural form accompanied by living greenery that grows through the space like a slow and steady breath.” The accommodations this central yet unassuming feature leads guests toward are home-away-from-home sanctuaries perched above the city’s red, green, and black tile roofs. These retreats are fully equipped with kitchenettes and amply sized en suites.

“[The] spaces [are] shaped by natural materials, generous light, and an elegant softness,” the firm adds. “The rooms unfold in gentle layers, where raw tactility meets refined comfort, and where each transition is designed to support a calm, grounded way of being—allowing guests to feel at home, connected, and cared for.”

A muted tone-on-tone palette of natural materials coheres both refined and roughly hewn components. Subtle variations in texture and pattern ensure these domestic-like spaces do not become monotonous, especially as they filter in natural light. Plush but contained furnishings—a bit more generous than the proportions normally found in Midcentury Modern Danish design—evoke a sense of effortless comfort, incentivizing guests to actually put their phones down and fully relax.

The deft deployment of full-wall drapery helps achieve this encapsulating effect. The various functions of an environment approximating home are gently sequenced through the use of semi-translucent glass partitions. Some rooms open onto private terraces, bringing city life back into the equation, but from an elevated vantage point. The deftly enclosed but not stifling bathrooms are grounded by brick flooring, an earthen feature contrasted by slick blackened fixtures and framing.

“In the guest rooms, many elements are built directly into the architecture—crafted in stone and wood to form a calm, cohesive backdrop. These integrated details allow the spaces to feel intentional, bringing a sense of permanence while letting the natural materials define the experience.”

The common areas—a feature rarely found in Copenhagen hotels at this scale—are holistically appointed and handled with comparable attention. In these spaces, natural elements are not merely accents but equally important protagonists. The reception area, with ample seating that lets guests linger before venturing out into the capital, gives way to a lushly planted courtyard garden. Antechambers are imbued with an even more mollifying atmosphere. Allowing tree-trunk surfaces to speak for themselves, décor is kept to a minimum. What appear to be woven natural-fiber tapestries literally and conceptually encapsulate the hotel’s entire scheme.

In layout and layered materiality, 1 Hotel Copenhagen not only retreats from the urban fabric, but threads a line between past and present.

What: 1 Hotel Copenhagen
Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
How much: $294 per night
Design draws: A retreat-within-the-city reaffirming the potential of hygge design by carefully interlacing natural material and facilitating a calmer guest experience.
Book It: 1 Hotel Copenhagen

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Photography by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen and Karl Tranberg Knudsen.

Xiao Lin spent her formative years in the United States and China, and some of her most cherished memories are those rooted in place, from the front door of the family home to the rooms inside. “I remember the kitchen where meals were made and how everyone seemed to gather there, drawn by warmth as much as hunger,” she says.

Lin went on to earn a graduate degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, and then she traveled early in her career. Whether she was in Beijing or Amsterdam, she realized that even the most resonant spaces are never truly finished until the occupants make them their own.

In 2022 Lin founded her own firm, STUDIO XIAO, in East Hampton, New York. She specializes in residential and commercial projects. As she develops a concept, she is guided by her belief that a building should be felt before it is seen.

Her signature structures are pure in form and responsive to the natural surroundings rather than separate from the landscape. For Lin, a complete edifice is one that is really a compelling composition of mood, sound, and light, paired with her favorite materials.

Lin makes ceramics in her free time, and she enjoys how the elements unfold. “The firing and glazing bring their own surprises, outcomes you never fully planned for,” she notes. “There is a looseness that architecture, with all its predetermined processes, rarely gives you.”

Today, Xiao Lin joins us for Friday Five!

1. Birth Name Stone Seal

There is something quietly ceremonial about pressing stone to paper, the pause before, the resistance of the surface, then the reveal. This seal carries my name in traditional Chinese, carved by hand into stone, a tradition passed between generations of craftspeople who understood that the act of marking is also an act of meaning. Each impression is never quite the same.

2. Carved Horn Head Massager

Cut from a single piece of horn, the object changes with use: the tines growing smoother where fingers have pressed, the body acquiring a patina of touch. The contrast between the rougher hollows and the burnished exterior tells you exactly how it has been held, and by whom. It is a record of sensation written on the surface.

3. My Grandmother’s Sandalwood Mala Bracelet

My grandmother wore this daily, and the wood knows it. The grain has softened where her wrist met the beads, the fragrance of the sandalwood still present, faint, warm, insistent. It is my most treasured possession. Wearing this, I carry both her and her memories.

4. Handmade Ceramic Incense Holder

This piece thinks like a building. The long rectangular channel holds the incense at one end while the gently inclined base collects the ash as it falls, everything considered, nothing wasted. It has the quiet logic of good architecture: a clear diagram of function made beautiful through restraint.

5. Physical Architecture Model

We still make these by hand and in a practice increasingly mediated by screens, there is something irreplaceable about building a thing in space to understand a thing in space. Touching the roof, lowering your eye to the level of a room. The model doesn’t simulate the building, it thinks alongside it, a way of processing what drawing and rendering alone cannot resolve.

Works by STUDIO XIAO’s Xiao Lin:

Haven House
A walnut bookshelf in the primary bedroom follows the irregular roofline exactly, its rounded corners and rolling ladder holding the asymmetry of the room with ease.

Oyster Cove
A floor-to-ceiling plaster fireplace is the living room, its matte cloud-grey surface receding as the fire draws the eye. A wood-framed lounge chair and organic coffee tables ground the space in tactile warmth against the cool mineral backdrop.

Cove House
Renovated for clients drawn to mid-century sensibilities, this East Hampton residence is re-clad in elongated brick and corrugated aluminum. Materials echo the site’s existing masonry walls while sharpening the roofline’s geometry. Inside and out, a recurring slatted detail ties the facade, deck, bench seating, and pergola into a single cohesive language. The sunken pool, edged with a waterfall, drops to meet the lower level, dissolving the boundary between built volume and landscape.

Tier House
Perched high on a hillside, this residence is conceived as a quiet, fortress-like form from the street that gradually opens as you move inward. A solid front fence and rock garden create a slow, deliberate procession toward the recessed entry.

Gleason Renovation
A television room reimagined as a place of stillness. The back wall is anchored by a built-in sofa and bed with integrated lighting, a pull-out trundle tucked neatly beneath. Cabinetry folds into the window sill, unifying the wall as a single composed surface. Furnishings chosen with quiet intention turn the room into a sanctuary.

Photography by Xiao Lin.

On an 880-square-foot site in Toshima City—roughly the size of a generous one-bedroom apartment—Key Operation Inc. / Architects has produced a building that contains shops, clinics, cafés, maisonette residences, a curved atrium, a bouldering wall, a slide, and a hammock net suspended within a loft void. Located adjacent to the renewed Naka-Ikebukuro Park and just a two-minute walk from Ikebukuro Station’s East Exit, Clerestory Garden reaches a total floor area of approximately 5,000 square feet. That ratio, nearly six to one, is not unusual for central Tokyo, but what Clerestory Garden proposes is density that does not read as compression.

The project was conceived in relation to both Naka-Ikebukuro Park and Hareza Ikebukuro, the mixed-use cultural and commercial facility that opened in 2019. Once a sandy open space, the park has been renewed as a stone-paved plaza, a civic room of sorts that evokes the character of a European square and now supports cultural events and everyday public activity. Creating a sense of continuity with that plaza became a central theme of the building’s facade design.

Floor-to-ceiling heights of approximately 13 feet—generous by any urban mixed-use standard—establish an interior register of expansiveness that the tight plan area would otherwise foreclose. The decision was enabled in part by the site’s relatively relaxed height restrictions, but the move to exploit that allowance fully, rather than simply meet code minimums, reflects the studio’s deliberate spatial philosophy. Here, height is not treated as leftover zoning capacity, but as a tool for producing breath, light, and spatial complexity within a compact urban envelope.

The residential levels on the seventh and eighth floors carry this logic forward, with the maisonette units organized across two floors. The introduction of lofts transforms each into a quartet: a four-level domestic environment compressed into a two-story envelope. Circulation becomes part of the living experience. A slide connects levels, staircases double as spatial events, and movement through the apartment is choreographed rather than merely accommodated.

The eighth floor pushes the idea furthest, with a curved atrium opening the living-dining space vertically and a net suspended within it to create a hammock-like platform, accessible from above via the bouldering wall. Private rooms and wet areas are arranged on the seventh floor, allowing the domestic program to unfold as a three-dimensional sequence rather than a conventional stacked plan. Below the residences, the building’s commercial section applies the same cross-sectional intelligence. The first- and second-floor tenant spaces can operate independently, but they are also designed to be joined through internal stairs and a dumbwaiter, while the third through sixth floors are envisioned for shops, clinics, and similar uses.

The transom gardens—three-dimensional planting installed within the approximately seven-foot-high windows and the transom sections above them—create interstitial green volumes between the interior tenant spaces and the street. Wall greening was considered, but the architects instead chose this recessed planting strategy to maintain visibility into the tenant spaces while giving the façade a softer, more verdant presence in relation to the plaza. The result is greenery that is not merely applied to the exterior, but layered into the building section itself. Set back into recesses above a lower portion that extends to the site boundary, the transom gardens allow the building to maximize leasable floor area while introducing porous, planted depth along the facade.

That layered strategy continues in the building’s structure. Rather than matching the structural frame to the polygonal exterior shape of the site, the architects adopted a simpler central grid for cost and construction efficiency. The exterior could still respond to the irregular site geometry, while the internal frame remained rational.

Behind the transom gardens, windows aligned with this grid form what the architects call the “Luce Jardin,” or Light Transom Garden, where daylight filters softly through the planting and into the interior. Timber used on the underside of the transom garden eaves creates a second façade of sorts—one experienced from eye level when looking upward—lending warmth to a building otherwise defined by density, precision, and urban constraint.

Clerestory Garden ultimately proposes a more porous model for the mid-rise city building. It maximizes floor area ratio while carving out interstitial spaces for planting, light, and movement. In doing so, it harmonizes with the adjacent plaza and surrounding urban fabric while producing an architecture of density that feels unexpectedly expansive.

To view this and other projects by the studio, visit keyoperation.com.

Photography by ToLoLo studio Mayu Nakamura.

Unfolding across a vast site deep within Montana’s 3-million-acre Gallatin National Forest, One&Only Moonlight is a full-service, alpine-style resort comprehensively imagined by renowned architect Tom Kundig (cofounder of globally recognized practice Olson Kundig). Materials specific to the region and subtle nods to local structural typologies help its many buildings blend in, all while containing hyper-refined, monumental interiors. The strategy: “supporting the act of settling into nature.” The 92-key destination facilitates daily excursions — hikes, ski runs, and the like — but then provides guests with an expansive suite of “protective, elemental, and deeply grounded” amenities inside.

Nestled within this basin locale and framing sweeping views of Big Sky’s Lone Peak, with the Spanish Peaks farther afield, the highly crafted yet minimalist structures here offer the best of both worlds. Their dark metal rooflines, evoking a local agrarian vernacular, are anchored in place by quarried stone and timber sourced nearby. This earthy palette is framed and honed by steel, bronze, and copper accents.

Arriving along forest roads, guests first encounter a low-slung roof and timber-column-encapsulated porte cochère. A hearth where all gather before venturing out, the Main Lodge unfurls with a double-height lobby featuring a large-scale fireplace clad in roughly textured Montana Moss Rock and perforated steel. Mollifying the heaviness of this focal feature are carved oak wall panels, bronze detailing, woven textiles, and leather furnishings. It is a stylistic approach found throughout the rest of the resort. Nodding to Montana’s bootlegging past is the Dear Josephine Bar. The Wildwood Restaurant on the level below is accessed by a carved staircase wrapping a suspended bone sculpture.

Another “base camp” common area is the Sky Lodge. Perched on a knoll, this facility serves as the après-ski hangout. Its fully glazed window walls establish a near-seamless transition with the outdoors. And yet, exposed mechanics and steel trusses nod to a more industrial treatment. Saddle leather, wool, oak, and blackened steel reappear as grounding finishes. The adjacent Outfitters area is fully equipped with lockers and a pro shop. Its denim carpeting references the region’s hard-fought working heritage. The effect of moonlight on the waters of a mountain lake inspired the fit-out of the Landing Restaurant and Bar. The overall look and feel is refined: a contemporary interpretation of the standard, old-world mountain lodge.

The Spa pulls up from its slope-side siting, almost like a found ruin. Here, Moss Rock frames a breezeway accessing the reception area. Calming lichen grays and greens — slate floors, hand-troweled plaster, and sage porcelain tiles — frame the rest of the space. Wood-framed treatment rooms emerge as apertures along stone corridors. Other amenities include the tucked-away Moonshack, where reclaimed barnwood plays off corrugated roofing and copper gutters. Yet again, the design deftly coheres timeworn and pared-back aesthetic qualities.

The cabin-style guest accommodations — ranging from double queen rooms to larger king suites — also frame panoramic views. Items perhaps found on hikes feature prominently atop double-sided fireplaces, leather-wrapped headboards, and custom casework. These might include antlers, old skis, or maps. There are also 19 individual dwellings positioned deeper in the forest as even more secluded, cocoon-like retreats.

What: One&Only Moonlight Basin
Where: Big Sky, Montana
How much: From $1,075 per night
Design draws: A expansive resort nestled deep in a Montana forest, framing sweeping mountain vistas with large vernacular structures and a sober earthly material palette of woods, metals, and stones.
Book it: One&Only Moonlight

Go virtually on vacation with more design destinations right here.

Photography by Hufton + Crow and Charles Stemen.

Italian food is unlike any other, and when it’s shared with others, it is savored even more. The cuisine is so special that UNESCO designated it as an intangible cultural heritage, recognizing not only the cuisine but also the conviviality of the country’s cherished rituals, from family meals to age-old traditions still practiced today.

Füm, a new contemporary Italian restaurant in Atlanta, named after the Italo-Gaelic word for smoke, celebrates this same spirit. Designed by Arcturis | Square Feet Studio, Grassfed Culture Hospitality, and HAND Studio, a bustling piazza served as inspiration for the eatery. “There’s an expansive open space and the activity happens around it,” says Rachel Uhelski, interior designer and project manager at Square Feet Studio. “All of these different moments create a beautiful community.”

The layout is reminiscent of an open market, which encourages guests to circulate throughout the restaurant and gaze at the culinary delights on the menu. There’s a pasta maker’s room, wine station, and a chamber for dry-aged meat. One addition is not typically found in a town square—a DJ booth. All types of music are on rotation to keep the atmosphere in the 150-seat dining room lively. A wood-fired open hearth sits at the center of it all, paired with a show kitchen where executive chef Sebastián Vargas prepares signature dishes like cavatelli and trout.

Sculptural plaster forms a curved soffit overhead and wraps columns, creating softer lines in the space. A hand-finished limewash brings subtle texture to walls and complements the millwork. Blackened metal, forged by a local workshop, pays homage to craft. Coupled with brass accents, an interplay of light and dark elements offers just enough sheen.

A cocktail bar doubles as a glamorous statement piece. Its polished Ceppo Rosso marble top with embedded pebble fragments is reminiscent of Italy’s famous mosaics. The color palette takes its cues from farm-to-table tints. Paprika-toned ceiling insets are illuminated by cove lighting. The same rich red hue reappears across the wall behind the kitchen, and on banquette and bar stool upholstery. A coffee bar boasts shelving and tiles in a luxe pistachio green shade that enhances walnut wood furnishings.

At Füm, different facets meld as easily as the flavors do to highlight every detail and transform a simple meal into a memorable occasion. “The restaurant was designed to be engaging,” Uhelski notes. “And as you move through it, you experience each of the senses in one place.”

Photography by Andrew Thomas Lee.

As populations continue to age globally, architecture is increasingly confronted with a difficult question: how can homes support physical accessibility without reducing later life to a purely clinical condition? Too often, housing designed for aging prioritizes utility at the expense of atmosphere, identity, and emotional comfort. The result is a built environment that functions efficiently yet rarely feels aspirational. With Home for Life in Heifort, Belgian practice FELT proposes another possibility entirely––one where aging is treated not as decline to be managed, but as a stage of life deserving of beauty, autonomy, and architectural richness.

Designed for a retired couple wishing to age in place, the 170-square-meter residence quietly embeds accessibility into an environment defined less by accommodation than by spatial generosity. From the street, the single-story house appears almost archetypal: a compact white volume capped by a copper-toned roof and punctuated by a circular window that lends the façade a near childlike familiarity. The restrained exterior, however, conceals an unexpectedly layered interior landscape where light, timber, rhythm, and procession become active participants in daily life.

FELT founders Jasper Stevens and Karel Verstraeten resisted approaching ageing as a fixed condition requiring static solutions. Instead, the project anticipates change over time. “You cannot fully predict future ageing or possible challenges related to mobility,” the studio explains, “so that flexibility has to be embedded in the architecture itself.”

That philosophy manifests in subtle yet critical decisions throughout the house: generous circulation widths, sliding doors, level thresholds, adaptable kitchen components, and accessible sanitary spaces all work quietly in the background to sustain independence for as long as possible.

Importantly, none of these interventions announce themselves through overtly medicalized aesthetics. Instead, the house feels warm, tactile, and deeply domestic. Exposed CLT timber frames establish a visible rhythm across the interior, creating a sequence of alternating “served” and “service” spaces––a classical organizational principle reinterpreted for contemporary life. Larger open rooms unfold into more compact support spaces, creating a legible plan that can evolve alongside the occupants’ future needs.

“Alternating larger open rooms with servant spaces creates a plan that remains flexible over time,” the architects note. “It also allows the thresholds between spaces to become more open or more closed in the future, depending on changing needs.”

The timber itself plays an equally important psychological role. While accessibility standards often lead to sterile environments, FELT instead leans into material softness and familiarity. “You do not want an environment that feels like a device or an aid,” the studio says, “but a home that conveys calm, familiarity, and ease.” Throughout the interior, pale wood surfaces absorb and diffuse daylight, producing spaces that feel simultaneously intimate and expansive. White-painted sections heighten the contrast between structure and openness, balancing warmth with luminosity.

Perhaps the project’s most distinctive architectural gesture arrives overhead. Rising above the roofline are three sculptural chimney-like volumes clad in weathering copper. While they formally animate the otherwise modest silhouette, they also serve crucial environmental and experiential functions. Housing technical and servant spaces, the vertical elements draw daylight deep into the narrow plan from multiple orientations. Rather than acting as isolated skylights, these shafts become luminous spatial volumes in themselves.

The changing quality of light throughout the day becomes a subtle mechanism for perceiving time within the home. “The house feels different throughout the day,” FELT explains. “The passage of the day becomes almost tangible within the house.” In a project centered on ageing, this sensitivity to temporality feels especially poignant. Architecture here does not attempt to resist time, instead framing it gently and perceptibly through the atmosphere.

That emotional attentiveness extends to intergenerational living as well. Tucked within the roof volume sits a compact sleeping loft designed for visiting grandchildren. Accessible now via a pale blue spiral stair, the space introduces continuity and joy into a home otherwise organized around long-term care considerations. If the stair eventually becomes impractical, the loft can transition into storage without compromising the functionality of the main floor. The gesture reflects FELT’s broader refusal to reduce ageing to limitation alone.

What ultimately distinguishes Home for Life is its rejection of the assumption that accessibility necessitates neutrality. “We hope projects like this show that the opposite is possible,” the architects explain. “A house designed around aging can still have a clear identity, its own spatial qualities, and a distinct architectural voice.”

To see this and other works by the architecture and design studio, visit felt.works.

Photography by Stijn Bollaert.

To savor a fresh baguette from a bakery in Paris is truly a feast for the senses, and often a highlight for foodies on holiday abroad. Few offerings stateside compare, though, with grab-and-go bakeries that all too often imitate the look of a standard French café, with little variation.

The Bread Club in Dallas offers a different experience, with a contemporary take on traditional fare and favorite spots in the City of Light. Designed by INK+ ORO Creatives and inspired by the ritual of bringing loaves home from a Parisian market, it looks sophisticated without the contrived elements that would overwhelm the 1,120-square-foot eatery.

“The biggest challenge was reminding ourselves that we couldn’t turn the space into a French boulangerie,” says Tiffany Woodson, founder and CEO of the studio. “We kept coming back to strong architectural basics, trusting that restraint would do more to enhance the concept and showcase the product more than any decorative flourish could.”

The curved plaster ceiling adds a sense of volume, yet doesn’t seem heavy. It also serves as a marker that defines where customers line up, and highlights a main point of interaction, the counter. Delicate light boxes illuminate fresh goods, while shelving is accessible to both front-of-house staff and bakers that work in the rear. A coordinating vertical display stores the signature baguettes, and matching cases hold cold beverages and provisions.

The overall palette is neutral, but has just enough warmth, which forms a backdrop that will still align with the rest of the interior even as items on the menu or other facets change. Blue lettering on signage offers a hint of color. Luxe touches evoke the same softness as bread. Tiles with a subtle crackle finish complement the custom millwork. Walls with the same treatment used overhead provide a buttery texture throughout.

The Bread Club blends the essence of Paris and its home base to reimagine what a bakery can be, no matter the location. “There’s a subtle nod to Texas wheat woven into the design’s sensibility, but it’s never literal,” Woodson notes. “It gives the space a timeless, unpretentious quality that feels welcoming to everyone.”

To see this and other works by the design firm, visit inkandoro.com.

Photography by Aaron Dougherty.

As a young man in Iceland Tryggvi Thorsteinsson worked in construction, which shaped his view of his eventual profession. “Everything had to be imported so nothing was wasted, and that mindset stayed with me,” he says. “Architecture became an extension of that way of thinking; being intentional, simplifying, and making things that last.”

Thorsteinsson was also inspired by nature in his native country, which is raw and powerful. His parents created a botanical garden in the Westfjords region, where he happily spent hours and learned to cultivate plants. Just as with many aspects of life he realized he couldn’t rush the process, and that growth happens at the right time.

He eventually settled a world away in Southern California, where he co-founded Minarc with his partner and wife, Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdóttir. The pair is known for their innovative approach to blending interior and exterior environments via unique outdoor features, sunlight, and framed views of the surrounding landscape.

Whether a commercial development or a residence, each structure reflects Thorsteinsson’s deep commitment to sustainability. He favors reclaimed materials and eco-conscious options, similar to those that were fundamental on those early jobs back home.

It is particularly gratifying for Thorsteinsson when a project is complete and a client becomes a friend. “When they move in and start using the space, when the details hold up over time, and the house just feels right, that’s the reward,” he notes.

Today, Tryggvi Thorsteinsson joins us for Friday Five!

Photo: courtesy of Tryggvi Thorsteinsson

1. My Family

Family is the biggest part of everything. They keep me grounded and remind me what actually matters.

Photo: courtesy of Tryggvi Thorsteinsson

2. Skrúur Botanical Garden, Westfjords, Iceland

Skrúur, a botanical garden in the Westfjords of Iceland built by my parents, is where I learned patience. The idea is simple: you plant and care for it, and over time it grows and gives back.

Photo: courtesy of Minarc

3. The Way Water Moves

Patterns created by nature are efficient and honest. Water finds its path without excess or decoration. It’s a reminder to simplify and let logic shape design.

Photo: courtesy of Minarc

4. Moss on Lava Fields

The contrast of soft and hard, alive and ancient. Moss slowly claims the lava, showing how everything changes over time. This balance carries into architecture—using strong, lasting materials while leaving space for life to happen around them.

Photo: courtesy of Minarc

5. Natural Light

Light defines everything. The way it moves through space, changes throughout the day, and creates atmosphere is endless inspiration. If the light works, the space works.

Works from Minarc by Tryggvi Thorsteinsson with Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdóttir:

Photo: Courtesy of Art Gray

ION Adventure Hotel
ION Adventure is a luxury hotel in Iceland that blends architecture seamlessly into its dramatic natural surroundings near Mt. Hengill and Þingvellir National Park. Elevated on pillar-like structures inspired by Iceland’s earliest settlers, the design appears to float above the geothermal landscape, with a black, lava-like exterior that echoes the region’s volcanic geology. The hotel emphasizes openness and immersion, using expansive glazing, natural light, and outdoor living spaces to dissolve the boundary between interior and exterior. Sustainable, locally inspired materials such as driftwood, lava stone, and reclaimed wood are integrated throughout, alongside a prefabricated building system that prioritizes environmental performance. With panoramic views of glaciers, hot springs, and the Northern Lights, Ion creates a quiet, elemental retreat rooted deeply in Iceland’s landscape and mythology.

Photo: Courtesy of Art Gray

Zen House
The “Zen House” in Manhattan Beach is a minimalist two-story home and ADU for a family of four. While the courtyard, koi pond, and olive trees provide a serene, travel-inspired welcome, the project’s defining strength lies in its sustainability. Minarc prioritized environmentally conscious solutions from the ground up, using Kebony modified lumber for cladding, decking, and fencing to ensure longevity with a low environmental footprint. The home is built with prefabricated panels, a system that minimizes waste, increases precision, and significantly improves energy efficiency. Advanced insulation materials maintain stable indoor temperatures, reducing reliance on mechanical heating and cooling. These features work in tandem with high-efficiency equipment, including heat-pump-powered radiant floor heating and energy-saving appliances. Natural ventilation, ample daylight, and seamless indoor–outdoor connections further reduce energy use, creating a calm, modern, and environmentally responsible home that supports the family’s active lifestyle.

Photo: Courtesy of Art Gray

AlpIce
Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, the AlpIce Home (Alpine & Iceland) is a nature-inspired residence that balances simplicity, sustainability, and functionality. Designed to evoke dramatic natural landscapes, the home features subtly contrasting interiors, expansive glass walls, and abundant natural light that blurs the line between indoors and out. A multi-level layout offers seamless transitions between private and communal spaces, from guest suites and a family room that opens to the pool deck, to airy living areas and a primary suite with panoramic views of the Santa Monica Mountains. A standout feature is the sculptural accent wall of volcanic rock and sand—symbolizing “New Earth, New Life”—which reinforces Minarc’s philosophy of bringing nature inside. Built entirely with the firm’s eco-friendly mnmMOD system, the home prioritizes energy efficiency, durability, and healthy living, while advanced low-voltage lighting enhances ambiance, reduces environmental impact, and supports overall wellbeing.

Photo: Courtesy of Art Gray

Stairway to the Stars
Located in sunny Los Angeles, the Stairway to the Stars project is inspired by the area’s distinctive light and color, offering a seamless visual experience from the moment you enter through its striking oversized wood door to the expansive backyard beyond. While the home feels open and transparent, it maintains complete privacy from the street, enhanced by a front courtyard that leads to a lower-level guest apartment, theater, and entertainment space. Inside, clean, open living areas prioritize accessibility and comfort, with sculptural elements like a glass-ceilinged powder room adding artistic dimension. Upstairs, serene bedrooms and a spa-like primary bath continue the home’s calm, neutral palette. Outside, Minarc’s signature creativity shines through a dramatic façade staircase – evoking a “stairway to the stars” – and a backyard designed for both relaxation and entertaining, complete with a pool and full gym.

Mildred
Artfully situated in Los Angeles’ Venice neighborhood, the Mildred Residence balances clean simplicity, sustainability, and functional design. Inspired by dramatic natural landscapes, the home features striking contrasts, most notably a sculptural, glacier-like kitchen island set against polished concrete and black marble. while maintaining a seamless flow between spaces. Expansive windows flood the interiors with natural light, blurring the boundary between indoors and outdoor courtyards, while a multi-level layout connects private and communal areas with ease. Built using Minarc’s eco-friendly mnmMOD system, the residence prioritizes efficiency and environmental responsibility without compromising aesthetics. Completed with understated interiors by Erik Lindström, the home is a refined, nature-inspired expression of modern, sustainable living.

Our homes are changing fast all the while being asked to accommodate more and more functions. The same space used during the day as an office or playroom can moonlight as a lounge or sleeping chamber. When tasked with the transformation of a classic Milan apartment—traditionally fragmented into many smaller rooms—local architecture practice Atelierzero took a bold approach.

The maverick, locally based firm removed most non-load-bearing walls and methodically introduced a series of almost furniture-like inserts that divide the now main unit and adjoining studio home, but also allow for smooth, near-seamless transitions when needed. There are no doors, at least in the conventional sense.

Distinct yet complementary color blocking renders the pared-back, geometrically architectonic volumes as standalone elements, brought together almost like a miniaturized city skyline: buildings of various proportions placed side by side.

Inspired by the colonnaded porticos found throughout the northern Italian metropolis—and the commercial streets below—the main corridor, clad in a warm orange, serves as the apartment’s primary axis. Its almost Carlo Scarpa-like terrazzo floor is an emphatic “if-you-know-you-know” nod to context. On one side, rectilinear cutaways lead into the apartment’s main entertainment space. On the other, cabinet-embedded hatches open up to a powder room, utility space, en suite bedroom, and the semi-separate studio.

Holding pride of place in the “main hearth” great room of the apartment, the taupe-toned kitchen module appears to float on its own. It also strategically shields the more intimate study and dining area toward its rear.

Furnishings sourced from decidedly Milanese but globally recognized design brands B&B Italia, CC-Tapis, Oluce, and Flos intermix with iconic re-editions from equally emblematic producers Artek, Marset, and Thonet.

This shrewd, sparingly introduced curation ties everything together and softens what would otherwise be a starkly crystalline interior. The visual and visceral composition is intriguing. The adjacent studio reflects the same cohesive strategy, ensuring both spaces present as a unified, if physically detached, whole.

To see more work by the bold firm, visit atelierzero.it.

Photography by Specchi Studio.

Few coastal sites in Northern Europe carry the weight of SAR’s foundations– four grass-covered Soviet-era military bunkers and the remnants of an occupation that reshaped both the Baltic landscape and its people. Rather than erase this history, Riga-based OAD founder and lead architect Zane Tetere-Sulce folds it into a working premise. The question at the heart of the project is not simply how to build on the Latvian coast, where creeping dune erosion, protected biotopes, and rising Baltic waters make construction increasingly fraught, but how to build with a charged site – one where architecture has, through time and overgrowth, become nearly indistinguishable from landscape.

Discovered as a cluster of timeworn military remnants, the site’s four bunkers are reimagined into a compound for a multi-generational family – one main residence and two guest houses – shifting their original defensive logic toward a contemporary domestic reading of shelter.

The two guest houses, their roofs sown with living grass, sink back into the dune habitat they occupy, extending the ecological logic of the site rather than interrupting it. Their forms draw loosely from the original bunkers, expanding habitats for local fauna while maintaining a low, almost recessive profile against the shifting sands. The main residence takes the opposite posture – bridging two bunker foundations and entering from below, it lifts its primary living floor above the sea horizon. Life begins on the second level, where the communal spaces hover just above the landscape, forming a deliberate tension between levitation and groundedness.

OAD continues by explaining, “Instead of focusing on the conflict aspect of a military site, the attention is redirected towards the bunker’s core purpose – to keep its inhabitants safe from the hostile outside environment. Our intention was to explore the themes of safety and security within a different context rather than try and rewrite the history.” Conceived as a “safe haven” for three generations, the project responds directly to the region’s harsh coastal conditions, where northern winds are strong enough to bend century-old pines.

In the guest houses, deep-set windows create a bunker-like atmosphere, reinforcing this language of protection. That same vocabulary carries into the main house, where the ground-floor structural supports offer a raw reference to Soviet military architecture, anchoring the elevated volume above.

The main house roof is the project’s most technically revealing element. Its pronounced dual-slope profile follows strict local regulations typical of this stretch of coastline, yet OAD amplifies the form through fiber-cement cladding – a contemporary reinterpretation that subtly nods to Soviet-era materiality. Faced with the challenge of suspending such a mass above a fully glazed facade, the studio developed a bespoke metal frame, intentionally left exposed as both structure and expression.

The overhang on the south face is carefully calibrated, with upward-sloping soffits that shield interiors from peak summer sun while drawing in the low-angle light that defines Baltic afternoons. The result is a roof that performs as both environmental mediator and psychological anchor – its weight counterbalancing the transparency below.

In Tetere-Sulce’s words, “The local architectural regulations mandated a dual-sloped roof – we chose to lean into this constraint. By amplifying roof proportions, we aimed to evoke a sense of grounded heaviness to psychologically deepen the sense of security. This heavy structure also acts as a counterbalance for the rather lightweight building. By elevating the glass structure above the ground, we created a tension where the protective weight of the top balances the openness below.”

Within the interior, the architectural language is restrained, almost ascetic. Concrete floors, wooden surfaces, and tactile finishes substitute texture for color, aligning with OAD’s broader approach of letting materiality carry atmosphere. A vaulted, wood-clad ceiling further emphasizes volume in the main living space, while the expansive glass facade dissolves any clear boundary between inside and out.

The planning follows the rhythms of the day: morning light floods the main living terrace and communal areas, while the master bedroom’s apertures are oriented west to capture long Baltic sunsets. Across the compound, the architecture resists over-domestication, allowing the century-old pines, the protected dune landscape, and the approaching sea to remain the dominant forces.

SAR ultimately reads less as an imposition on the land and more as a calibrated response to it – a project that, in Tetere-Sulce’s words, “does not conquer the land but lives lightly upon it,” reframing a site once defined by defense into one shaped by quiet resilience.

View more information on OAD’s website.

Photography by Alvis Rozenbergs.

For some, the idea of entering a yoga studio can be fraught with feelings of intimidation and anxiety. What is meant to be a calm and meditative space can often be perceived by the inexperienced as exclusive, judgemental and unwelcoming; even those who are familiar with the discipline and have a long-established practice can be hesitant to join a new studio if it feels uninviting. Basic Space in Camberwell, South London, is decidedly not one of those studios.

Established by Jaime Hepburn as a “neighborhood practice,” Basic Space is warm, open, and inviting, thanks in no small part to its design. Devised by architect Matt Hepburn–founder of London’s haat studio and husband to Jaime–the studio fosters a sense of inclusivity and community through its considered material palette of frosted glass blocks, polished concrete, birch plywood, natural linen and organic plaster.

“The materials set the tone,” says Matt Hepburn. “They’re honest and tactile, the concrete underfoot, the texture of the plaster, the softness of the linen. We wanted every space to contribute to a feeling of uplifting calm.”

That feeling is noticeable as soon as one walks through the transparent glass door. Crisp yet serene, the reception lobby is flooded by natural light that streams in through the windows and is scattered about by a wall of frosted glass blocks. A sculptural plaster pedestal by architect and artist Freddy Tuppen anchors the space; serving as the check-in desk, the organically shaped podium is an approachable focal point that helps orient oneself within the space.

A corner of streamlined open shelving displays product in a neat and orderly fashion, while a low-slung Kashima sofa from Ligne Roset provides an opportunity to lounge before class or linger after. “It’s not like an ‘okay, in and out, see you later’ kind of place,” says Matt Hepburn of the lounge-like area. Beyond the reception, the changing rooms, clad in yellow-hued ceramic tiles, beckon with a soft glow.

The wall of glass blocks separates the reception from the main studio space (a second room appointed with Pilates reformers is found at the back); composed of elongated rectangles, the glass blocks are “slimmer and a little more elegant” than the more commonly expected square format. “I feel they have a slightly more contemporary feel,” says Matt Hepburn of the choice.

Fronted by full-height frosted glass, the main practice room is the epitome of serenity – daylight floods the space, but the glazing treatment soflty filters it and also provides a privacy screen from those passing by outside and mutes the visual distraction from within. Linen curtains can be used to close off the space entirely for workshops or other events, with the natural material contributing a softening effect that is complemented by warm birch plywood storage shelving.

Throughout the studio, the flooring is a uniform polished concrete with exposed aggregate that reads like a high-end terrazzo and is at once hardwearing and grounding underfoot. Matt Hepburn opted to not install a drop ceiling, instead allowing the visible industrial elements to play a role in the overall design.

The material-driven approach taken by Matt Hepburn for Basic Space has successfully created a yoga and Pilates studio that is inherently textural and honest – and one that gives the community an open and inviting place to return to time and time again.

To see this and other works by the firm, visit haat.studio.

Photography by French+Tye.