Set in the scenic hills of Rio de Janeiro’s Praia de S?o Conrado neighborhood, this stone-and-cumaru-wood aerie—designed by Brazilian firm Studio Arthur Casas—frames breathtaking views across an infinity pool to the beach and Atlantic Ocean beyond.
Glass sliding walls on each of the house’s three stories open to exterior spaces on either side of the residence, including the verdant rear courtyard shown here.
A view from the front of the trilevel residence reveals its sleek form, an assemblage of stacked rectilinear volumes.
In the woods of Aurora, Oregon, some 30 minutes south of Portland, upstart New York City firm No Architecture devised this poured-concrete home—called Courtyard House—for a multigenerational family. Spaces in the house center on an open-air courtyard and are each flexibly designed for both living and sleeping.
Corbusian-clean lines and deftly deployed concrete characterize the aptly named Cube House by Brazilian architectural firm Studio MK27. Located in a leafy area of S?o Paulo, the residence’s hulking main volume appears to rest on two impossibly skinny columns; a substantial slab at the rear of the house visually keeps the box afloat. Metal panels open along the perimeter of the ground level to a lush garden and pool.
Windows on the upper floors glow lanternlike at night.
Los Angeles–based Dan Brunn Architecture crafted this three-story gem in the city’s Venice neighborhood for art-loving clients. Dubbed the Flip Flop House for the enigmatic pivoting walls that grace the dwelling’s top floor fa?ade (and as a nod to its beachfront site), the home is a combination of sliding window walls and slabs of poured-in-place concrete covered in white plaster.
A bedroom in the Flip Flop House opens onto a broad outdoor terrace with views of the beach and ocean.
Johannesburg-based GASS Architecture Studios built this house (known as Hillside) in South African wine country for a family of five, creating a breezy stone-and-wood retreat that opens onto rolling vineyards.
Walls of sliding glass capture views of the plantings and surrounding range.
Situated in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest metropolis, House for Trees—a two-bedroom home for a family of three—is designed in an attempt to return much-needed greenery to the rapidly urbanizing area. Five bamboo-formed-concrete pavilions topped with banyan trees (noted for roots that grow aboveground) distinguish this quirky complex, a prototype designed by local rising-star firm Vo Trong Nghia Architects.
Interiors feature redbrick walls and floors of either concrete or locally sourced wood.
Swedish firm Elding Oscarson created this simple, Y-shaped volume of wood and glass as a seasonal retreat in Moll?, a town that became a popular vacation destination at the turn of the 20th century. Accommodating a young family of three, the steel-frame structure is clad in glass around its base and in slats of Douglas fir above.
A spiral stair and freestanding fireplace help break up the open-plan interiors.
Broad square-shaped windows on the upper levels, and glazed walls on the lower floor frame views across the grounds to the sea while showcasing the interiors.
