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Cool House in Hot Tavira by Vitor Villhena Arquitectura

Portuguese architecture studio Vitor Vilhena Arquitectura created this striking home in Conceição, Tavira, in the south of Portugal.

The house consists of two low, angular volumes connected by an enclosed glass walkway.

The walkway creates a curious sensation with a view to each side from a protected middle.

At different times of the day, it offers an everchanging perpective on the surrounding countryside.

The two volumes and the connecting glass walkway creates an enclosed courtyard.

The volumes of stark white pop against the blue skies of Portugal.

The interior is cool and glossy, all shiny white surfaces and a highly polished tile floor.

The smooth indoor tiles continue outdoors, extending the cool white interior into the heat outside.

Cool turquoise waters further extend the chilly respite of the cool interior.

The pool provides real relief in this setting in the region’s stifling heat.

The house is set in a vast plain noted for the region’s typical scrubby vegetation and olive trees.

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A Summer House on Andros Island

The roadside view of Embassies House contrasts the rock walls of ancient Greek traditions with the severe lines of modern architecture.

But the private garden side of the summer house is breathtakingly sculptural – carving bold white forms against the blue skies of the mediterranean.

Athens-based KLAB Architects achieve a delicate balance between tradition and modernity.

A fabric canopy shelters an open courtyard against a building that hints at a Greek monastery.

At the top of a hill on the rocky coastline, the house is surrounded by a 360-degree view all around.

The varied shades of rock lichens in the same muted palette as the stone wall provide the only landscaping in the arid landscape of Andros Island.

These nearby rocks are chopped up to form walls and pathways…

… and the remainder are ground up to form the gravel roofs for this guest house and the main house.

KLAB (Kinetic LABoratory) Architects was founded by Konstantinos Labrinopoulos and just voted among the top 50 young architecture firms by Wallpaper.

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Restrained Contemporary Classic on the Island of Mallorca

The pared-down lines of this stunner from Marga Rotger are a welcome addition to the beauty of Mallorca, off the coast of Spain.

Simple as it is, the client’s brief was for a home that is both a place to host gatherings of friends and family, and also caters to the lives of their children.

The house is a simple and smooth counterpoint to many overdone modern designs.

Plentiful social spaces are available to entertain friends and family.

Its main living spaces are vast and open to each other, colored in a variety of serene tones.

Large windows with minimal frames and insets look out onto an infinity pool, the patio, and the wild landscape beyond.

In their utter simplicity, the bedrooms are the very picture of repose.

Wide plank wood floors span throughout the home, even into the bathroom.

It is so completely restrained that only a single rustic wooden bench and a dry cactus landscape outside offers any hint of the Spanish heritage of the region.