GRAPHĒ

$1M Lots—in an RV Park? Plus, Everything Else You Need to Know About This Week

Parisians are swimming in the Seine again, California scales back CEQA to approve more builds, Dodger Stadium gets a midcentury-minded refresh, and more.

Some RV parks are shedding their rustic image and going full luxury, with $1 million lots, resort-style casitas, private pools, and wine cellars. Here’s how formerly temporary pit stops are becoming more like mini high-end neighborhoods—and driving up costs in desirable locations. (The Wall Street Journal)
Robert De Niro, the actor and now hotelier, has a clear vision: design that whispers wealth, not screams it. That means trading chandeliers and marble for more understated luxury at The Beach Club, his new retreat on Barbuda. (Wallpaper)
As other teams chase shiny new stadiums, the Dodgers are betting on preservation. Led by architect Janet Marie Smith, Dodger Stadium’s $100 million renovation honors its original midcentury modern design while adding player nap rooms, fan plazas, and more. (The Architect’s Newspaper)

Swimmers in the water, at the Grenelle safe bathing site on the Seine river on its opening day, in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on July 5, 2025. The River Seine reopened to Parisian swimmers this morning for the first time since 1923, offering locals and tourists a welcome respite after scorching temperatures. — The Seine River in Paris just reopened to swimmers on July 5 after being closed for more than a century.

MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

After a century-long ban on swimming in the Seine, Parisians can now take a dip thanks to a $1.65 billion Olympics-driven cleanup that made the notoriously polluted river safe. Here, a New York Times reporter tests the waters herself. (The New York Times)
California just passed two laws that roll back CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act), clearing the way for infill housing, childcare centers, and high-tech manufacturers. The laws are prompting cheers from pro-housing advocates and alarm from environmentalists. Governor Gavin Newsom is calling it a win for "abundance," but critics are skeptical. (Bloomberg)

Top photo by Andre Burghard

This Clever Twist On an A-Frame Cabin? It Started in a Classroom

Students in a design-build program led by architect Peter Braithwaite envisioned the retreat—and then picked up power tools to help bring it to life.

Peter Braithwaite and his young family have long felt the pull of Terence Bay, a small fishing village just outside their hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. They regularly visit property they own there, six acres of rocky, forested land overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and what Braithwaite describes as a "half-bog, half-pond." Until recently, however, the property only had structures for Braithwaite’s design-build firm, including a cabinetry workshop; there was nowhere for his family to stay overnight.

Architect Peter Braithwaite and students of a design-build program at Dalhousie University’s School of Architecture created an A-frame cabin on his family’s property in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia.

Photo: Ema Peter

Then an opportunity to add a retreat presented itself. A few years ago, Braithwaite, who’s also an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University’s School of Architecture in Halifax, was asked to lead a two-week design-build program called Free Lab where students sketch, model, design, and ultimately construct a small to mid-size project. At first, Braithwaite planned to create a communal boathouse with his students on nearby shared land, but after neighborhood pushback, he proposed a pivot. Why not use his own property instead?

From there, the idea evolved into an experimental A-frame residence that would serve as a second home for Braithwaite’s family and a laboratory for his students. Together, they set out to reimagine the traditional form in a contemporary way.

The cabin is the fourth building Braithwaite has added to his six acre property, joining earlier structures that once supported his design-build practice. — The cabin is the fourth building Braithwaite has added to his six acre property, joining earlier structures that support his design-build practice.

Photo: Ema Peter

The structure is "cranked" thirty degrees from the point of entry to maximize nature views and encourage solar gain, Braithwaite says.

Photo: Ema Peter

See the full story on Dwell.com: This Clever Twist On an A-Frame Cabin? It Started in a Classroom
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From the Archive: Inside London’s Pioneering Prefab Housing Complex

At the turn of the millennium, the Murray Grove development attempted to rebrand modular construction, confronting Britain’s housing woes and heritage hang-ups.

As a part of our 25th-anniversary celebration, we’re republishing formative magazine stories from before our website launched. This story previously appeared in Dwell’s April 2001 issue.

In a London gripped by a feverish surge of lottery-funded, bread-and-circus building that has given the city everything from the ill-fated Millennium Dome to the Tate Modern, and against a background of an economic boom whose imminent end is now clearly being signaled by a deluge of ultra-high-rise skyscrapers, Murray Grove is so modest as to be almost invisible.

It’s a simple L-shaped block of flats, just five stories high, in a scuffed and worn-out neighborhood near London’s financial district. The flats are not large; the smallest are no more than a couple of rooms totaling less than 600 square feet. And yet Murray Grove, in the year since it was completed, continues to collect awards of every description. It has turned into an essential stop on the London architectural tourist trail. It is the subject of a raft of studies and evaluations to determine just why it has been such a success, and how its lessons can be applied to affordable new housing elsewhere. And, most importantly, it is a place in which people who can afford no more than the modest rent of $225 a week actually want to live. With its heavy concentration of twentysomethings, it would make a perfect set for a British version of Friends.

Under the direction of a 140-year-old housing charity, Murray Grove is a project that has attempted to tackle all the great sacred cows of English housing. And remarkably, it has somehow contrived to kill them off, one by one, with a deftness that borders on ruthlessness. England’s housing, it should be understood, is still at the stage that English food was at not so long ago, before the country discovered green vegetables and extra-virgin olive oil. For the most part, it is the architectural equivalent of Spam. It doesn’t have to be this way, and certainly Murray Grove offers richer flavors.

In the 1960s, many of the best and most idealistic of Britain’s architects devoted their careers to designing high-minded contemporary housing for the welfare state. Precisely because of their efforts, good design found itself fatally tainted with the stigma of welfare housing. Public housing was linked with modernism and so-called good design. So the private sector set out deliberately to make its housing look as un-architect-designed as possible. That meant fake Tudor, Kentucky Fried Georgian, and tacky layouts. Nobody, it seems, ever lost money underestimating the taste of the British public.

It’s a legacy that has persisted. To this day, there is a belief in Britain that when it comes to designing crowd-pleasing homes, high kitsch is a better bet than high tech.

There is an equally pervasive preconception that no self-respecting Englishman is going to opt for a flat when he can live in a house with a garden. Then there is the belief that the British want their homes built using so-called traditional building methods, preferably involving bricks laid by hand. The conviction that a prefab is not a proper home runs deep. In Britain the very word "prefab" is indelibly marked with the distant memory of wartime austerity, when returning servicemen were expected to start civilian life with their families in prefabricated houses erected on bomb sites. These homes, then, are about as welcome in the more prosperous Britain of today as wartime recipes using powdered milk.

Murray Grove has set out to demolish all of these myths. Architecturally it may not quite be Zaha Hadid, but it has clearly been designed by an architect with ability. James Pickard is a 38-year-old partner in the recently established firm of Cartwright Pickard. Interestingly, he had never designed a house of any kind before he entered the competition to build the Murray Grove Apartments. For 15 years, though, he had been convinced that Britain was not going about building houses the right way. "The northern Europeans make us look primitive," he says. Murray Grove is the result of his personal crusade to show that there is a better way of doing things.

See the full story on Dwell.com: From the Archive: Inside London’s Pioneering Prefab Housing Complex
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On Norway’s Western Coast, a Tiered Retreat Lets the Landscape Lead

The home’s locally sourced materials and upright, blocky form "enhance the atmosphere" of its surrounding fjord and mountains.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Valldal, Norway

Architect: Office Inainn / @inainn.eu

Footprint: 1,367 square feet

Builder and Sound Engineer: Sunmørsalpar AS

Structural and Civil Engineer: Norconsult AS

Cabinetry Design: Limstrand Interiør AS

Photography: ONI Studio / @onistories

From the Architect: "Built without leveling the land, this hillside residence redefines what it means to build with—rather than on—the landscape. On Norway’s dramatic western coast, a new private residence by Office Inainn completes a quiet yet striking conversation between architecture and nature. Designed in collaboration with the client and completed in April 2025, the home is perched high above a fjord on a steep, rocky slope—where building is always a negotiation with the terrain.

"From the start, the team chose not to level the steep, rocky terrain—preserving its character instead of reshaping it. This decision defined the entire project. Two subtly shifted volumes follow the slope, creating natural variations in height, guiding light, and eliminating the need for added walls. Rooms emerge from the geometry itself, forming a structure that feels grown rather than built.

"Visitors approach the house along a narrow path between rock and building—a movement that continues inside as a tall, linear corridor. It’s a gentle transition from wild landscape to warm interior. Light filters in through wooden walls that reflect the changing tones of the coast, until finally the view opens wide to the fjord. Each room frames this view differently, responding to trees, terrain, and shifting light.

"Materials were locally sourced or chosen to feel native to the site—simple, tactile, and quiet. Their purpose: to enhance the atmosphere, not distract from it."

See the full story on Dwell.com: On Norway’s Western Coast, a Tiered Retreat Lets the Landscape Lead
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The Old Hollywood History of St. Croix’s Skyhawk Villa

A late-night real estate rabbit hole led an architect to his next renovation: a midcentury movie star’s abandoned cliffside manse built by a disciple of modernist masters.

Five years ago, architect and hotelier Chris Pardo, cofounder of the boutique ARRIVE hospitality brand (now part of the popular Palisociety hotel group), found himself knee-deep in several design projects on St. Croix. "I’ve always loved the island," says Chris, who first learned about the tropical locale through a real estate brochure when he was just 12 years old. "As I was flipping through, I found this property for sale called the King Christian Hotel. It was forty rooms on the waterfront in St. Croix and selling for $700,000."

Even at that young age, something drew Chris to the hotel—and the island at large—and nearly three decades later he purchased the property with plans to renovate. "I’d been in the hotel business for a while," he says, noting that by the time the pandemic hit, he had two major hospitality projects underway on St. Croix (with plans for more) and was spending at least 50 percent of the year on the island, often crashing long-term at a buddy’s place. "That’s when I started looking for a permanent house," Chris says. "I couldn’t just keep staying with my friend for the rest of my life. At a certain point you’re like, Okay, I’m too old to be couch surfing."

Chris kicked off his search one night while browsing real estate listings—a hobby he admits to indulging when insomnia hits. "I was looking on auction.com," he remembers, "and I saw this house. It was one of only three properties for sale in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and I couldn’t believe I didn’t recognize it."

Before: TK TK — Before: The St. Croix villa was in rough shape when architect Chris Pardo found the listing.

Courtesy Chris Pardo

Punching the address into his phone, Chris saw that the house was perched on a cliff overlooking St. Croix’s main town, Christiansted. The image on the listing had been taken from an odd angle, making it nearly unrecognizable as the landmark villa just up from the bay, visible from the main highway. "I realized that I see this house every single day," he says, "so I just drove up there. It was completely abandoned. The fences were all falling down, so I climbed inside and walked through it. The house wasn’t in great shape—it had plants growing through the floors, old furniture everywhere, and it needed a lot of repairs and updates."

Despite the derelict conditions, Chris saw through the mess and knew the property had potential. "First I saw the view," he says, noting the unobstructed sight lines to the lush green hills and bright-blue harbor. "Then, there was the swimming pool. Even though it was broken up and in bad shape, the fact that it was already there meant I could fix it." The structure’s distinctive footprint—two round towers connected by a breezeway—and original terrazzo floors were an added bonus.

After his late-night scouting session, Chris started digging for the house’s history, sifting through Google for mentions of the property. His search led to articles about midcentury Hollywood actress Maureen O’Hara and her third husband, Charles F. Blair Jr., who moved to the island in the 1970s. Blair, an aviation pioneer made famous by his 1951 solo flight over the North Pole, had launched a commuter airline, Antilles Air Boats, in Christiansted Harbor in 1963. ("It ended up being the largest seaplane company in the world in its time," says Chris.) The couple hired Wisconsin architect John Randal McDonald—who, in the 1940s studied under the likes of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra, and Louis Kahn at Yale—to design their St. Croix villa, from which O’Hara could watch her husband take off and land from the port below.

See the full story on Dwell.com: The Old Hollywood History of St. Croix’s Skyhawk Villa
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In India, a Daring New Tiny House Shows What Social Housing Can Be

Working pro bono for a single mother and her two children, No Architects creates an experimental home with a vaulted roof, permeable walls, and custom furniture.

On a compact plot in the Eravipuram neighborhood of Kollam, Kerala, India, an unusual home by No Architects presents a radical new vision for social housing. Designed for a single mother and her two children, the 700-square-foot home features a vaulted roof inset with brick jaali (latticed screens), a landscaped border, and a warm, earthen palette—offering a sense of light and space rarely found in houses of this scale and typology.

Kudoo is built on a two-cent plot—a unit of land measurement, commonly used in parts of South India, equivalent to 1/100th of an acre. Half of the site is occupied by the built form, with a landscaped border surrounding it. A major challenge was the location of the home, 100 metres from the main road. This meant that everything had to be carried to site by hand and added to the construction cost. — Koodu is built on a plot measuring two cents—a cent is a unit of land measurement, commonly used in parts of South India, equivalent to 1/100th of an acre. Half of the site is occupied by the built form, including its landscaped border. One major challenge was the location of the home, 100 meters from the main road. This meant that everything had to be carried to site by hand, which added to the construction cost.

Photo by Harikrishnan Sasidharan

Built as a pro bono project, Koodu—which translates to "Nest"—was realized through a combination of government funding, donated materials, and, most importantly, No Architects’ commitment to making good design accessible to all.

"This project was done on a very small plot—around two cents [871 square feet] in total," says Neenu Elizabeth, who cofounded No Architects with Harikrishnan Sasidharan. "The house itself has a footprint of just one cent. It’s really an example of small-space living." Despite these limitations, the client needed three bedrooms, a living area, dining space, and a kitchen.

The dining table was custom-made from scrap, with salvaged stone slabs for the surface and bent TMT bars forming the legs. NO Architects drew up the design and it was crafted by a local artisan. The sofa and built-in bench were also crafted from leftover materials, resulting in the playfully mismatched upholstery. — The custom dining table is made of salvaged stone slabs and bent TMT bars. No Architects drew up the design and it was crafted by a local artisan. The sofa and built-in bench were also made from leftover materials, resulting in the playfully mismatched upholstery.

Photo by Harikrishnan Sasidharan

"The living and dining area opens up to the landscaped outdoors," says the client. "It’s our favorite part of the house, where my mother and our relatives can gather in the evenings to chitchat." The living area also includes a prayer space.

Photo by Harikrishnan Sasidharan

See the full story on Dwell.com: In India, a Daring New Tiny House Shows What Social Housing Can Be
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Three Sisters (and Their Families) Share This Prefab Beach House

The Queensland retreat’s three units have sets of rooms that can be utilized to accommodate a given group dynamic.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Point Lookout, Queensland, Australia

Architect: Blok Modular / @blokmod

Architect: Vokes and Peters

Footprint: 6,450 square feet

Builder: Blok Modular

Builder: Pagewood Projects

Structural Engineer: Optimum Structures

Civil Engineer: HCE Engineers

Hydraulic Consultant: CWA

Certifier: BCA Certifiers

Town Planner: Survey Mark

Photographer: Christopher Frederick Jones / @christopherfrederickjones

From the Architect: "Blok Three Sisters is a new multifamily modular project composed of three coastal terrace houses, constructed in the Blok Modular factory in Brisbane, Australia, and assembled on-site on Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) by the same team. Designed for three sisters who had spent their family holidays as children in a house on the same site, the terrace houses enable their shared vacations to continue with their own children and extended families. Individually the houses are designed with agility and flexibility in mind, in anticipation of the adapting and evolving household population and demands on them to accommodate change in family dynamic.

"This project sets a benchmark for lightweight, medium-density housing on the island, providing an adaptable and resilient solution to environmental changes and challenges. Its modular design enables the structures to be elevated, relocated, or repositioned in response to potential threats such as flooding, storm surges, or rising sea levels.Each dwelling can be occupied in a number of ways to accommodate changing dynamics in each family: they can be configured as a one-bedroom apartment on ground level with two bedroom and bathroom and living above, as living downstairs with three bedrooms above, or as a four-bedroom house.Central gardens bring light, airflow, and new vegetation into the center of a long skinny plan. Glazing systems stack away to promote cross-ventilation throughout.

"At the rear of each terrace a generous double-height portico immerses the occupants in the dune vegetation and views of the Pacific Ocean and is overlooked by an elevated living room. At the upper level, a further two bedrooms are colocated with a bathroom, accommodating adult children, friends, or grandchildren. One bedroom draws its amenity from the central garden, the other looks over the street to a vegetated hillside. A defended breezeway connects all rooms of the terrace and terminates at the generous volume of the central garden."

"The project prioritizes pedestrian and bicycle transportation by including bike storage, and not car accommodation. The master plan arranges three dwellings with direct and equal access to the dunes, providing unhindered pedestrian access to the beach."