An Entire Wall of Screens Opens This Australian Beach Home to Its Breezy Setting

When deployed, they make the residence feel more like an airy pavilion.

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: Moffat Beach, Australia 

Architect: Arcke / @matt_arcke

Footprint: 807 square feet 

Photographer: Christopher Frederick Jones / @christopherfrederickjones

From the Architect: "This compact home sits behind a commercial property, an adapted old fibro and tin roof beach shack, which is typical of the building type in the area. We styled the project’s high, pitched roof and clerestory windows as a nod to this ’50s and ’60s era architecture.

"Defined by the north-eastern elevation’s operable slatted screens, the house can be opened up to the prevailing breezes and filtered light, or closed to provide privacy and security. The design fosters intimate nooks for private moments as well as open living spaces for entertaining. The entertaining area can accommodate a large crowd around the barbecue and into the garden, and the  indoor dining table can seat eight.

"The weather in subtropical South East Queensland is pleasant most of the year and lovely on warm summer evenings. This livable weather is central to our aesthetic, and we tend to make little distinction between interior versus exterior design in our projects. Wherever appropriate we use textures, materials, and colors that sit comfortably both indoors and outdoors creating a cohesive, integrated whole. Here, the thermally modified timber battens used on all the screens were fabricated on aluminum supports. The natural rosewood timber doors and windows formed the basis of the color palette. Adding plywood joinery to the interiors and cooling green tiles set against crisp white brings the feel of the natural world indoors.

"Often our design choices result from choosing sustainable materials. Zincalume and pale concrete complement the simplicity of stainless-steel fixtures and fittings, all of which are more resilient in the coastal environment. Similarly, copper outdoor showers won’t corrode and the showers keep the sand at bay when returning surf boards from the beach.

"The Sunshine Coast is known for high rainfall, and is hot and humid in summer, so keeping well ventilated to stop moisture ingress is very important. High ceilings and louvre windows channel hot air out of the home and optimize cross-ventilation, supplemented by efficient ceiling fans to increase airflow.

"The large garden was also designed for local weather. Since hard surfaces create heat sinks, the outdoor space has limited concrete or paving. The driveway and parking area is grass paving, a permeable surface that allows grass to grow through it, reducing heat and letting water seep into the earth. The garden plants have been chosen to tolerate high moisture with a focus on native varietals to attract birds and wildlife.

"Aging in place was also an important consideration for our semiretired clients. The home is compact, easy to maintain and clean, safe and secure, almost step-free, and designed with generous circulation space."

Photo by Christopher Frederick Jones

Photo by Christopher Frederick Jones

Photo by Christopher Frederick Jones

See the full story on Dwell.com: An Entire Wall of Screens Opens This Australian Beach Home to Its Breezy Setting

Before & After: Pops of Green and a Sunken Sofa Bring an Alpine Home Back to Peak Condition

Through subtle updates, Studio Classico and Chapitre restore an ’80s stone residence originally designed by Alain Amédéo in the French countryside.

This house nestled above the hilltop village of Dauphin, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region of southeastern France, is easy to miss. About a 90-minute drive from Marseille, it’s located off a narrow country road that leads to hundreds of acres of woods and hiking trails. "You can’t see the house from the village," says architect Antoine Lallement. "And the road is not that comfortable to drive." By the time the property reveals itself, with a main house, a guesthouse, and a pool tucked into a steep hillside, "It’s kind-of a surprise," he adds. 

In 2023, architects Suleïma Ben Achour of Studio Classico and Antoine Lallement of Chapitre were hired by a Belgian writer to remodel his property in Dauphin, France.

Courtesy of studio classico

The 1980s home was originally designed by Marseille architect Alain Amédéo, in a style that combines traditional Provençal character—thick cement, stone walls, and a tiled roof—with modernist underpinnings. "We call this régionalisme critique," says architect Suleïma Ben Achour. "In English, it would be critical regionalism."

The style emerged in 1977 in opposition to cookie-cutter globalization and kitschy revivalism. "It’s a movement that incorporates modernist architecture with a vernacular vocabulary," explains Ben Achour. In this case, the home is sited on the shelf of the hillside, its thick stone walls pierced with large windows framed in thin green metal.

Before: Annex 

Before: The architects appreciated and preserved many of the home’s original details, like the thick walls and green metal windows.

Courtesy of studio classico

In 2023, the two architects—Ben Achour runs Studio Classico in Paris, while Lallement founded Chapitre in Marseille—were invited to the house by the owner, a Belgian writer, for a kitchen remodel. "It was tiny in comparison to the rest of the house," says Ben Achour. At the time, the owner was interviewing multiple architects, and he asked the pair to deliver a proposal summarizing their approach.

Ben Achour and Lallement suggested maintaining Amédéo’s approach, and incorporating changes that share the same "vocabulary," while keeping them distinct from the original home. "We use the word ‘affiliation,’" says Lallement. "It’s not about making a copy of the original, or giving the impression that everything was built at the same time." Adds Ben Achour. "We don’t build against the architecture, but we try to make our interventions blend in."

Before: Annex Garage 

Before: The owner wanted to convert the smaller 1,399-square-foot building into an artists’ residency with a studio.

Courtesy of studio classico

See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: Pops of Green and a Sunken Sofa Bring an Alpine Home Back to Peak Condition
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Concrete Blocks Meet Glass Walls at This $635K Michigan Home

Designed by famed local architect Jackson Hallett, the 1970s Midland residence manages to be monolithic and airy at the same time.

Location: 5208 Sunset Drive, Midland, Michigan

Price: $635,000

Architect: Jackson Hallett

Year Built: 1970

Footprint: 4,824 Square Feet (5 Bed, 5 Bath) 

Lot Size: 0.58 Acres

From the Agent: "Set among mature trees, Jackson Hallett’s Dean House immediately feels grounded in its surroundings. Designed in 1970 for Dale and Judith Dean, the house is a great example of Hallett’s architectural language. From the approach, you notice the composition first: a series of geometric forms that come together in a way that feels both sculptural and balanced. The shapes echo the vertical rhythm of the trees, and the whole structure reads as one cohesive idea. Floor-to-ceiling glass lines the living spaces, pulling in natural light and framing views of the surrounding woods. The living room, dining area, and kitchen flow easily without heavy divisions or unnecessary walls. Throughout the house, fireplaces anchor the main spaces, integrated storage keeps things clean and uncluttered, and a lower-level recreation room features a wet bar. In 1988, the home was expanded with a primary suite designed by Saginaw architect Rex Reittenbach. The addition is seamless, staying true to Hallett’s original vision. It offers a spacious retreat with an en suite bath, a private sitting area, and its own balcony."

Jackson Hallet was a renowned midcentury architect based in Midland, Michigan, where the Dean House is located. 

Photo by Mid Mod Michigan

Photo by Mid Mod Michigan

The home’s materiality nods to the original owners, Dale and Judith Dean, who worked in concrete block manufacturing. 

Photo by Mid Mod Michigan

See the full story on Dwell.com: Concrete Blocks Meet Glass Walls at This $635K Michigan Home
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Three Frank Lloyd Wright Followers Designed This $1.1M Ohio Midcentury With an "Ivory Tower"

Restored after years of neglect, Glenbrow sits at the edge of a wooded ravine, with a Zen garden, site-sourced stone walls, and a four-story structure awaiting completion.

Location:  7495 E Broad Street, Blacklick, Ohio

Price: $1,099,000

Year Built: 1940

Tower Built: 1964

Architects: Tony Smith, Ted van Fossen, Laurence Cuneo

Last Renovated: 2017

Renovation Architect: Joe Kuspan

Home Footprint: 2,854 Square Feet (3 Beds, 3 Baths) 

Tower Footprint: 850 Square Feet

Lot Size: 2.5 Acres

From the Agent: "Glenbrow is a two-and-a-half-acre estate built in 1940 as the vision of three architects tied to Frank Lloyd Wright: Tony Smith, Ted van Fossen, and Laurence Cuneo. Drawing on Wright’s principles of organic architecture, the home is closely tied to its natural setting, with stone quarried on-site used in fireplaces and accent walls throughout. The landscape becomes an extension of the architecture, with views of a wooded ravine and meandering stream that shift with the seasons. French doors open the interiors to a series of patios, creating an easy flow between indoors and out, with plenty of space for alfresco dining, including one area with a wood-fired oven. The high-performance kitchen features soapstone counters, a coffee bar, and extensive built-ins, and it opens to a large dining room with views of the scenery. In the living room, a restored built-in sofa and table made of old-growth cypress sit alongside a woodburning fireplace and a cozy niche for work or creative projects. An open-concept primary suite offers views of the Zen garden and ravine. Also on the property is a four-story ‘Ivory Tower,’ designed in 1964 by Ted van Fossen. Partially restored, it remains one of the property’s most distinctive features, ready for the next owner to furnish. For those who appreciate architecture, Glenbrow is an opportunity to own a piece of Central Ohio’s modernist legacy."

Tony Smith, Ted van Fossen, and Laurence Cuneo met in 1937 at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, then headed by László Moholy-Nagy. After the school closed, Smith and Cuneo joined Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship; in 1939, van Fossen received a commission to design and build a house for Rob and Mary Gunning, a young couple with a wooded lot on the edge of a ravine. The trio applied Wright’s principles of organic design to the residence, which they named Glenbrow. 

Photo by Joe Kuspan

According to renovation architect Joe Kuspan, the restoration was designed to unify decades of exterior modifications while allowing old and new elements to remain distinct inside. The material palette follows the home’s 1940 language of plywood, 1-by-2 pine trim, colored concrete floors, cypress, and stone.

Photo by Joe Kuspan

The living room features a restored built-in sofa and table made of old-growth cypress, a functional stone woodburning fireplace, and a corner work niche. Original cypress window and clerestory frames were restored with new low-e insulating glass, while custom birch and cypress built-ins serve as storage, shelving, and an AV console. 

Photo by Joe Kuspan

See the full story on Dwell.com: Three Frank Lloyd Wright Followers Designed This $1.1M Ohio Midcentury With an "Ivory Tower"
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Structural Elements Steal the Show at This Loftified 388-Square-Foot Barcelona Apartment

Beams and braces are splashed with color in the opened-up space, signaling a spunky evolution for a home that’s been in the same family for generations.

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: Barcelona, Spain

Designer: Its Not A Studio / @itsnotastudio

Footprint: 388 square feet

Photographer: Rocco Bibbiani

From the Designer: "This small apartment is not just a dwelling; it is a space that has belonged to the same family for generations, loaded with memories and layers of history that were crying out for a new identity. Originally, the space was fragmented in an almost unbelievable way: four rooms, a kitchen, a dining area, and a bathroom located outside on the terrace. A subsequent renovation two decades ago attempted to maximize its nearly 17-foot ceilings with a mezzanine, but the home still felt dark and compartmentalized. Our goal was clear: to free up the space and let the apartment breathe again. We tore down all the partition walls to create a single volume where the monumental height takes center stage.

"Instead of hiding the past, we decided to celebrate it. We brought the original structural elements to light, turning them into the visual axis of the project. Moving away from traditional understatement, we injected vitality through a bold color palette. The result is a vibrant interplay that contrasts with the classical architecture of Sarrià, bringing a youthful, bright, and deeply optimistic energy.

"What was once a dark and divided space is now a fluid home that honors its roots while embracing modernity. We have transformed a lifelong family apartment into a vibrant loft, proving that square meters do not limit the greatness of a design when you have height, history, and chromatic courage."

Photo by Rocco Bibbiani

Photo by Rocco Bibbiani

Photo by Rocco Bibbiani

See the full story on Dwell.com: Structural Elements Steal the Show at This Loftified 388-Square-Foot Barcelona Apartment

Original Brickwork Adorns This 1930s Ontario Tudor Seeking $2.9M

Located in a neighborhood known for its historic homes, the residence has been refreshed by homeowner and designer Stephanie Bryce.

Location: 3081 Balmoral Avenue, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 

Price: $4,100,000 CAD (Approximately $2,887,500 USD)

Footprint: 4,055 Square Feet ( 4 Beds, 4.5 Baths)

Year Built: 1930

Renovation Designer: Stephanie Bryce Interiors

From the Agent: "Tucked in the heart of Burlington’s sought-after Old Roseland, this Tudor home offers exceptional space and refined luxury for family living. Meticulous attention to detail is evident throughout, from the elegant wall treatments and ceiling details to the designer lighting and built-in speakers. The main level features a formal dining room with a woodburning fireplace, a welcoming living room with a gas fireplace, and a chef’s kitchen complete with an Aga stove, paneled fridge, and a butler’s pantry with secondary ovens and dishwasher. A main-floor mudroom with custom millwork adds everyday function and style. Upstairs, the primary bedroom offers a peaceful escape with vaulted ceilings and a luxurious en suite. The fully finished lower level has a spacious rec room, a three-piece bath, and abundant storage."

Originally built in 1930, the home has been updated by current owner and designer, Stephanie Bryce. 

Photo by Monster Media House

The fenced-in backyard has a pool and a stone patio. 

Photo by Monster Media House

Photo by Monster Media House

See the full story on Dwell.com: Original Brickwork Adorns This 1930s Ontario Tudor Seeking $2.9M
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From the Archive: A Closer Look at Artist Jim Isermann’s Pattern Happy Universe

"Ultimately, I still believe in the pragmatic populist ideal that nothing is beneath being improved by being well designed," the designer—whose work spans tiles, handmade rugs, paintings, and more—told Dwell 20 years ago.

Welcome to From the Archive, a look back at stories from Dwell’s past. This story previously appeared in the June 2006 issue.

Many contemporary visual artists are mining the reservoirs of design history in their art practice. Museum exhibitions on the conflation of "art" and "design" abound, generating new discourses and practices that blur critical distinctions between the two realms. One of the artists who has been at the vanguard of these concerns is Palm Springs, California-based Jim Isermann.

Over the last 25 years, Isermann has combined the functional and the aesthetic in complex but surprisingly undidactic work that has consistently provoked questions about the status of art and design. Focusing on the fertile exchange of visual information between high art and postwar industrial design, Isermann has created (among other work) wall hangings, handmade woven rugs and tiles, and vacuum-molded wall modules that seem to celebrate—in the boldest sense—idealized and unmediated visual pleasure.

Today, Isermann divides his work between large-scale commissions like a 9,000-pound chandelier for Genentech Hall, in University of California, San Francisco’s Mission Bay Campus; gallery shows; and new projects, which include the most recent iT House decals and a graphic pattern for fashion designer Trina Turk’s spring line. On the occasion of his recent Deitch Projects show in New York, we thought it was the perfect time to check in with Isermann.

Photos by Darcy Hemley / Fredrik Milsen

Unlike the artists in last year’s Cooper-Hewitt exhibition Design ≠ Art, which featured functional designs by visual artists like Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Rachel Whiteread, your work engages with design on another level. I see your Corvi-Mora modular wall, for example, as a portal to understanding your work. It looks commercially fabricated, but is in fact handmade.

Fabrication of work for gallery shows creates a conundrum for me because it raises all those old questions for viewers as to whether the work is "art" or "design." I work with commercial manufacturers and art fabricators, and I make work by hand, depending on the project. Many artists work with fabricators, but they don’t make art that exists in this no-man’s land between art and design. Yes, at first glance the Corvi-Mora wall looks like it is commercially fabricated, but in fact I spent six months making the 112 modules myself. They are hand-painted and there is a degree of imperfection and difference between them. Like a lot of my practice, the work is not exactly what you initially think it is.

Your work has a very strong effect on its audience. I see it more in the tradition of installation and site-specific art than design, which further complicates what you do.

It’s true that what I do is very open-ended. I design, or I propose, or I make something that functions in a space and has a dual or multiple purpose because it functions as art but does not knock you over the head as being art—or as having an impenetrable concept. It is about a particular quality of experience.

I approach art making, and especially the commissioned work, from a pragmatic point of view. I want to do the best within the given limitations and give something that has a slow, long-term enjoyment that resonates with its site. When you live with something day in and day out, you become attached to it in another way.

Where do you situate yourself on the modernist map?

"Modern" is a word that has many different meanings and is often misused. I used to really be fascinated by work like Verner Panton’s that existed between modern and postmodern. He made the leap, left behind the sterile materials that all the architects were using, and took on new synthetic materials that were all about colors and shapes. It was no longer about ergonomics and organic materials. Instead, he invented a supersaturated color theory and was famous for saying, "One sits more comfortably on a color one likes." I love that stuff. It exists for reasons other than the modern rules. It doesn’t do that postmodern thing, looking backwards—it is very optimistic and forward-looking.

You mentioned that you visited artist Donald Judd’s home and that, in your view, he really was an interior decorator. He made furniture and was obsessive about placement. Do you identify with the term "interior decorator"?

I cavalierly use the word "decorator": I am old enough to have grown up without openly gay role models. Homosexuals were accepted as florists, hairdressers, and, yes, interior decorators. I am not very militantly gay, but when I identify myself as a decorator it is as close as I get to being so. I do think my work has a gay melancholy or sensibility that is very difficult to talk about, and is not available to all.

The art critic Dave Hickey has referred to your work as having a "utopian optimism" that is "essentially domestic" and of the moment. Can you address the idea of utopia?

I guess I do aim for the perfect ideal. The early work was about the failure of modernism’s utopia to solve all the problems with good design for all. So there is a built-in melancholy of that not being achieved. With some of my newer work, there is the physical reality of human imperfection in hand-fabricating modules. Ultimately, I still believe in the pragmatic populist ideal that nothing is beneath being improved by being well designed. And I continue to remake the world piece by piece, object by object.

Photo by Tom Powel Imaging / Courtesy Jim Isermann and Deitch Projects

See more from the Dwell archive on US Modernist.

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