Catch The Waves At This Airy La Jolla Coastal Escape

It started as solely a kitchen renovation. A surf-loving couple and their three grown children needed better flow within the double galley layout at their La Jolla, California, vacation home. Goil Amornvivat and Thomas Morbitzer of New York-based AMMOR Architecture, which the clients knew from working with the firm on their Manhattan pied-à-terre, were called in to help. As the project began, however, other design snafus throughout the three-story, 2,200-square-foot residence became apparent, and AMMOR’s scope expanded to a gut renovation.

The beach house is on a corner lot, but, because of a corridor preserved to maintain unobstructed Pacific Ocean views, it’s exceptionally narrow. Attempts to wedge conventional furniture into the living areas and bedrooms left them cramped and awkward. So, AMMOR formulated a series of multipurpose built-ins that allow each space to expand and contract in both occupancy and use. “Everything is like a Swiss army knife,” says Bangkok-born Amornvivat, who looked to traditional Chinese daybeds to inspire con­vertible seating-cum-beds for two such rooms, high traffic zones in the daytime due to their bathroom access; else­where, benches and stairways incorporate drawers. In general, the architects kept the new bleached-walnut mill­work “long, linear, and pulled toward the edges of the house,” he adds, like in the living room, where an expanded gas fireplace now meets a hearth with integrated cabinetry, including a hidden charging station for devices.

Surf’s Up At This La Jolla Beach Home by AMMOR Architecture

The seaside location also contributed to how Amornvivat and Morbitzer determined the material palette. To avoid corrosion via salt spray through the terrace doors and picture windows, wood, as opposed to metal, builds most of the furnishings, down to handles and pulls. In fact, durability is a focus for the interiors overall—flooring, for example, ranges from porcelain tile to rugs in nylon, polyamide, or wool—due to both the environment and the family’s active lifestyle; a large surf shower for changing out of wetsuits conveniently adjoins the laundry area. Throughout, the architects kept fabric colors neutral, including the entry’s reupholstered Rodolfo Dordoni settee, to showcase the ocean vistas.

“This is where family members come to chill out, it couldn’t be too formal,” Morbitzer notes. “They’re not necessarily hosting dinner parties, but they’ll have a lot of people over for dinner.” If those visits turn into sleepovers, visitors can stay between a top-floor loft and the three guest bedrooms, which sleep a total of nine. Storage is cleverly built to the exact dimensions of their carry-on luggage.

Enjoy The Views At This Beach Escape By AMMOR Architecture

FROM FRONT BURKE DECOR: TABLE, CHAIRS (KITCHEN), CHAIR (GUEST BEDROOM). MIELE: APPLIANCES (KITCHEN). DEKTON: SOLID SURFACING. BRIZO: SINK FITTINGS (KITCHEN, BATHROOM). MOOOI: RUG (LIVING ROOM). PHILLIP JEFFRIES: GRASS CLOTH. SPARK: FIREPLACE. CONCRETE COLLABORATIVE: FIREPLACE TILE. SAMSUNG: TV. CB2: WHITE TABLES. THIBAUT: BENCH FABRIC (SITTING ROOM, BATHROOM). RBW: SCONCE (SITTING ROOM). MAHARAM: SETTEE FABRIC, PILLOW FABRIC (ENTRY). MARK ALEXANDER: HEADBOARD FABRIC (MAIN BEDROOM). DWR: RUG, SCONCE. LARSEN: HEADBOARD FABRIC (GUEST BEDROOM). JUNIPER: SCONCES (GUEST BEDROOM, MAIN BATHROOM). VISUAL COMFORT: CEILING FIXTURE (LOFT). LG: APPLIANCES (LAUNDRY). RUGGABLE: RUG. THROUGHOUT ROCA: FLOOR TILE. FLOR: CARPET TILE. KNOLL; ZINC: PILLOW FABRICS. BENJAMIN MOORE & CO.: PAINT. HIGHLINE CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. 

Ghislaine Viñas Transforms A 1980s Home Into A Joyful Retreat

Who doesn’t appreciate a healthy dose of happiness? Design-wise, nobody brings it on like Ghislaine Viñas. That special talent is what’s kept one repeat client coming back for more, first hiring her to design their Manhattan loft, then their Palm Beach, Florida, condominium, and now a five-bedroom residence in Pound Ridge, an hour’s drive north of New York City. Third time’s a charm—and, to riff on the proverb, charming, too.

The property certainly didn’t start out that way. The 1980’s-built home, set on a wooded 5 ½-acre site, was generously sized, at 6,000 square feet spread across three levels, one below grade. But it was nondescript to the point of drab, with pervasive dark-wood flooring. “It did not exude joy,” Viñas summarizes. So she devised a dynamic overhaul that would marry her signature pop with the family’s love of mid-century design—particularly the wife, whose taste was honed by growing up amid vaunted masterworks. “My methodology is to extract what I can from myself and combine it with what the client wants,” Viñas explains. Here, the shared vision entailed establishing a crisp envelope, with whitewashed walls and Scandinavian-style pale-oak flooring, to offset the jolts of blue, green, and orange the homeowners favored.

Ghislaine Viñas’s Bold Design Brings Joy To This 1980s Home

Although Viñas preserved the existing floor plan and eschewed structural work—“no need for wasteful changes”—she did tweak some details. Out went traditional molding and baseboards, in came strong vertical banding via wall paneling and hand-painted stripes. She also introduced the clients to her pal Alan Barlis, principal of BarlisWedlick Architects, who executed additional interventions with firm associate Jessie Goldvarg. “Our work was at the edges and the outdoors,” Barlis says, describing a scope that included extensive landscaping and hardscaping, some 2,500 square feet of decks and patios, and new interior/exterior connections. The BWA team also transformed a 550-square-foot erstwhile garage into a bright, Scandi-inspired guest barn. 

Viñas studiously avoided mid-century-mod clichés by comingling recherché vintage items with custom creations from her own drawing board. In the living room, for instance, a bespoke white-oak coffee table—with the delightful surprise of colorful inset boxes—sits comfortably alongside Joseph D’Urso chairs, a Warren Platner ottoman, and a lamp by Dutch outfit Atelier Van Lieshout (Viñas is Dutch and grew up in South Africa). Fellow Netherlander Piet Hein Eek’s 11-foot chandelier, composed of mismatched glass shades, anchors the main stairway, now graced with a more fluid railing. On the landing, an Eero Saarinen settee faces off with a Richard Woods art credenza. Meanwhile, Viñas tamed the large scale of the main bedroom with a double headboard—the front layer upholstered, the back one wood-paneled. 

Fusing Color With Timeless Style

Surprisingly, Viñas’s favorite moments fall in the house’s lower level, starting with the moody green-and-blue board-and-batten staircase that leads down to the bottom floor. “It’s like a tunnel to happiness,” Viñas comments. This level, now with 16-foot sliding doors that connect to a new pool terrace by way of a garden, contains game and media rooms as well as the husband’s office. For a work break, nothing beats gazing at Robert Rauschenberg’s Platter from the incomparable comfort of a Charles and Ray Eames lounge.

Tour This New York Home by Ghislaine Viñas + BarlisWedlick Architects

Explore The Home’s Lower Level Inviting Moments Of Joy

FROM FRONT KNOLL: SETTEE (LANDING), SWIVEL CHAIRS, LOUNGE CHAIR, OTTOMAN (LIVING ROOM), SOFA (BARN). HBF TEXTILES: SOFA FABRIC (LANDING, MEDIA ROOM, BARN). EMISSARY: CURVED TABLE (LANDING). CHRISTIAN HAAS: TALL TABLE. JONATHAN ADLER: RUG. ARONSON’S FLOOR COVERING: RUGS (LIVING ROOM, BEDROOM). HOLLAND & SHERRY: SWIVEL CHAIR FABRIC (LIVING ROOM). MOOOI: FLOOR LAMP. WORKSTEAD: SCONCES. THE RUG COMPANY: CUSTOM RUG (MEDIA ROOM). NAULA DESIGN: CUSTOM OTTOMAN (MEDIA ROOM), CUSTOM BED (BEDROOM), CUSTOM OTTOMAN (BARN). MAHARAM: OTTOMAN FABRIC (MEDIA ROOM). SUITE NY: SOFA. PASTOE: CABINETS (MEDIA ROOM, BARN). RICHARD WOODS: CREDENZA (LANDING). THE FUTURE PERFECT: PENDANT FIXTURES (LANDING, KITCHEN). RBW: SCONCES (BASEMENT STAIRCASE, MUDROOM). FLAVOR PAPER: WALLPAPER (MUDROOM, BEDROOM). COLLECTOR NYC: CUSTOM CABINET FABRICATION (MUDROOM). INDUSTRY WEST: STOOLS (KITCHEN). 57 ST. DESIGN: NIGHTSTAND (BEDROOM). ISAMU NOGUCHI: TABLE LAMP. DESIGNTEX: BED FRAME FABRIC. CONTARDI USA: READING LIGHT. ANOTHER COUNTRY: TABLE (BARN). DESIGN WITHIN REACH: CHAIRS. ZERO LIGHTING: PENDANT FIXTURES. ARTISTIC TILE: BACKSPLASH TILE. LUCY TUPU: CUSTOM RUG. SVENSKT TENN: OTTOMAN FABRIC. HERMAN MILLER: LOUNGE CHAIR (OFFICE). ARTEK: STOOL. KASTHALL: RUG. PIERRE PAULIN: ARMCHAIRS. ROMO: ARMCHAIR FABRIC.  LA CHANCE X NOTE DESIGN STUDIO: STOOL. RS BARCELONA: PING-PONG TABLE. THROUGHOUT SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY: PAINT. ACARA CONSTRUCTION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.

Britto Charette Brings Grandeur To A 1980’s Indianapolis House

2024 Best of Year Winner for Small Residential Renovation

The issues with this 1980’s house in Indianapolis began with the rinky-dink foyer. Between it and the living room was a powder room, which left something to be desired in terms of privacy. The foyer also had, on one side, steps up to a narrow corridor leading to the library. To bring grandeur to this entry sequence, Britto Charette had the powder room demolished, which allowed the foyer to be expanded and opened up to the living room as well as the corridor to the library to be widened. Then, slabs of diamond-matched Calacatta Green marble that reach the ceiling were installed around the living room’s fireplace, adding a sense of monumentality. An addition at the rear of the house was also transformative. It yielded a windowed alcove in the library and, directly above the alcove, on the second floor, a seating area in the main bedroom suite that overlooks the property’s verdant grounds.

PROJECT TEAM: JAY BRITTO; DAVID CHARETTE; VANIA GARCIA.

Singapore’s First 3-D Printed House Is Retro-Futuristic

2024 Best of Year Winner for Medium City House

The first 3-D printed house in Singapore pays homage to the planet’s first energy source, the sun, via a conical central form rising multiple stories and terminating with an oculus above the ground-floor dining area. Vents at the base allow hot air to rise through the cone, where it’s disbursed by a passive turbo extractor fan on the roof. A heat pump for water, meanwhile, generates waste cool air that passively chills the circular staircase as it leads to the mezzanine, second story, and attic, each with their own bedrooms and bathrooms. The aesthetic of the 6,000-square-foot residence by Park + Associates is appropriately retro-futuristic. And while the prototype might be the first of its kind, with results like this, it certainly won’t be the last.

PROJECT TEAM: LIM KOON PARK; CHRISTINA THEAN; JUTHATHONG RUTCHATANUNTAKIT; ESTHER WONG.

Rain Gardens Nourish The Land Around This Striking Home

2024 Best of Year Winner for Residential Landscape

Just a mile or so from the Atlantic Ocean and sited in a low-lying flood zone adjacent to a picturesque farm field, this just over 1-acre property in Sagaponack, New York, by LaGuardia Design Group is part sponge, part residence of the future. FEMA necessitated the house stand some 10 feet above-grade; terraced steps and decking (complete with a built-in fire table) bring it down to earth. As for that earth, it’s nourished by flowering rain gardens that slow stormwater, capture site runoff, and attract pollinators with year-round plantings, while cutting gardens in raised steel boxes attract the eye. The design of the infinity-edge pool ensures it won’t flood; all the greenery helps to ensure the land won’t, either.

PROJECT TEAM: CHRISTOPHER LAGUARDIA; DANIEL THORP; SARAH DEGRAY.

Sustainability Is Baked Into The Blueprint Of This Caribbean Home

2024 Best of Year Winner for Large City House

Residences located in tropical areas like the Caribbean must strike the right balance between maximizing and mitigating the ample resources of sun, breeze, and rain. Such was the case for this house, designed around natural ventilation. The 16,400-square-foot structure by Moneo Brock takes the form of a trio of travertine-clad concrete platforms—each set at a slightly different level to follow the topography—anchoring a grid of steel columns that in turn support vaulted brick roofs. Walls are alternately sliding glass, fully open, or composed of wooden louvers; on the property’s street-facing side, a screen wall built of local stone hushes traffic noise. Sustainability is baked in: Solar panels harness sunlight, large cisterns collect rainwater used to feed the numerous ponds and pools that cool the interior, and tanks beneath the main slab purify blackwater for household use.

PROJECT TEAM: BELÉN MONEO; JEFFREY BROCK; FEDERICO PÉREZ; JAVIER DEL POZO; FRANCISCO BLAZQUEZ; PEDRO ARNANZ; ISMAEL SANZ; YAIZA CAMACHO.

How Brutalism Shapes This Chic Australian Home

2024 Best of Year Winner for Medium Country House

Set on a grassy knoll with distant views over Bass Strait, this 8,100-square-foot, two-level beach house in Sorrento, Australia, uses board-formed concrete with a virtuosic ease that the masters of European and Brazilian brutalism might envy. Partially embedded in the hillock, the podium base contains guest accommodations, recreational spaces, and a cast-concrete staircase that spirals upward like a pleated ribbon to the main living quarters above. Upstairs, architect Travis Walton broadens the material palette: stained-oak paneling in some rooms; a blackened-steel media wall in the living area; and patinated-brass cabinetry, a black marble backsplash, and a dark-green stone island in the kitchen. Designer Simone Haag has furnished the light-filled interiors with a treasure trove of contemporary production and craft pieces, including Patricia Urquiola chairs surrounding a marble-topped dining table designed by the homeowner.

Inside A Mountain Chalet In Montana With Sweeping Views

2024 Best of Year Winner for Large Country House

The extreme weather conditions of a site 8,400 feet above sea level informed nearly every aspect of this 9,000-square-foot home in Big Sky, Montana. O’Neill Rose Architects positioned it in a cut in Lone Mountain to block harsh northwest winds, then built a tall stone base that withstands 12-foot-tall snowbanks and extends to support a cantilevered volume with views of the Spanish Peaks. The main inspiration came from timber snow fences, which are used across the American West to protect cattle from drifting snow. The design team translated the concept into a shou sugi ban–treated wood screen that wraps the upper level; it artfully captures snow in the facade and shelters outdoor areas like the hot tub terrace. Inside, a geothermal heating system, high-performance insulation, and triple-glazed windows form an energy-efficient cocoon. Fluted ash millwork references the mountain’s pole pines, and sculptural plaster ceilings recall snow drifts, creating serene spaces in constant dialogue with nature.

Behold This Century-Old Edwardian Townhouse Reno In Toronto

Toronto’s Roncesvalles neighborhood is home to art galleries, Polish eateries, a farmer’s market, and verdant parks. It’s also where photographer Andrew Rowat, whose award-winning work has appeared in Bon Appetit and Vanity Fair, now resides. After stints working in Shanghai and New York, the global denizen returned to the city with his wife and newborn son looking to purchase a home in 2019. “It was a year of firsts,” recalls Rowat, who settled on a quaint, century-old Edwardian townhouse in the hip enclave.

Rowat had no intention of making major changes to the two-story home, other than a simple appliance upgrade in the kitchen. The layout proved challenging, however, so Rowat sought help from his former officemate and longtime friend, architect Delnaz Yekrangian. “Like most Toronto semi-detached homes on relatively deep lots, daylight had to be ‘dragged’ inside,” recalls the architect, who suggested opening the main floor for maximum sight lines and adding skylights, among other features. “In the software business, it’s called ‘scope creep’,” laughs Rowat, who tapped another colleague, Hong Kong-based designer Daniel Fintzi, to collaborate for the grueling facelift. “Fortunately, all three of us are very detailed-oriented,” notes Rowat. “As a photographer adept in leveraging natural light, he was the perfect client,” concurs Yekrangian.

The trio worked asynchronously, aiming to marry form and function wherever possible while maintaining the home’s 2,000-square-foot envelope and historic character. Old Canadian houses lack closet space, Rowat explained, hence a slew of built-ins: cubbies, drawers, benches and nooks for optimal storage, and uprights meant to mimic two-by-four beams delineating the entryway. A wall-hung toilet allows for additional counterspace in the powder room. Upstairs, Fintzi designed a spacious full bath with heated large-format porcelain tile flooring and marble countertops, specifically cut so the veins flow continuously from backsplash to counter to overhang.

In the formerly cramped kitchen, expansive Corian countertops host a bevy of custom features like an integrated knife strip, induction mobile charging, and discrete cutting boards. A tabletop extends from a lower drawer that can be folded away after use, and an 8-foot louvered ceiling diffuses atmospheric light while concealing the Bluestar range’s exhaust pipe. “The ceiling is often an overlooked canvas for creativity and function,” concurs Rowat.

Fond of Japanese and Scandinavian design principles, the homeowner embraced a wabi-sabi approach through a reductive palette of white-painted walls and pale millwork with Canadian maple flooring, complementing the dwelling’s original brickwork. Rowat debated repointing the latter but ended up keeping it as-is. “Cracks and missing mortar all tell a story of sorts,” he muses. “I enjoy looking at my photographs hanging from this brick that was made more than a century ago.” A large-format print of Kazakhstan’s former Hotel Aral adorns the coat closet, another, of Gaudí’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, adds drama to the dining area.

Rowat’s 20-year career is evident elsewhere, with furnishings and fixtures curated by fellow artists and industry connections. He discovered Vancouver-based lighting studio Bocci after an assignment shooting the co-founder Omer Arbel for T Magazine. Arbel’s pearlescent ovoid chandelier and globular table lamp adorn the dining room, opaque red and yellow orbs appear near the entryway. “Almost every piece or decision in the house comes from some sort of a personal connection,” reflects Rowat.

In total, the renovation took eight months, give or take a few straggling pieces. Rowat, for his part, is pleased. “I have often thought of the home as a palimpsest, where each subsequent owner adds a layer of their own to the underlying manuscript,” opines the photographer.

Peruse Andrew Rowat’s Toronto Transformation