More from Contemporist Newsletter
As pet-friendly design evolves, more homeowners are asking architects and interior designers to consider the needs of their cats, not just as pets, but as part of the family. From built-in walkways to custom furniture, these four homes show how thoughtful design can create spaces where cats thrive and aesthetics remain intact. Whether it’s climbing, hiding, or simply observing from above, each project offers creative solutions for living stylishly with feline companions.
Worrell Yeung has designed a two-part retreat in the wooded hills of Columbia County, New York, for a young family looking to connect with the landscape. Set on an 88-acre ridgeline, the project includes Ridge House and Ridge Barn, two structures that balance clean architecture with raw, expressive materials. Blending land art, local references, and a pared-back palette, the Brooklyn-based studio created a place that feels both grounded and quietly sculptural.
In an episode of Özlem Discovery, a YouTube channel known for unique home tours, viewers are introduced to a secluded vineyard house tucked away on a one-acre plot in the tranquil hills of Sapanca, Turkey. Designed with strong influences from Japanese architecture, the home offers a bold and refreshing take on vacation living, unlike anything typically seen in the region.
Overlooking Boa Viagem Beach in Recife, Brazil, this apartment by Architects Office was redesigned to bring the ocean and sky into every corner. Guided by the concept of the horizon, the layout was reworked to expand views and blur the boundary between interior and exterior. The result is a space where structure, materials, and flow center on openness and calm.
More in architecture
With tributes from Witold Rybczynski, Gerhard W. Mayer, James Howard Kuntsler, and Jeff Speck.
Fannie and Freddie’s mortgage blacklist, the air traffic controller shortage, the largest landowners in the US, a blended wing airliner, and more.
Tucked inside a postwar building in Conca D’Oro, a northern neighborhood in Rome defined by dense urban growth and enduring mid-century structures, this apartment project by Italian studio 02A reveals what happens when renovation meets restraint. Housed in a 1960s brick-and-concrete building, the home retains its original layout while embracing a refreshed material language and nuanced spatial interventions.
Earlier this month I came across the following graphic, originally posted on Reddit in 2022, showing the state of housing affordability in the US.