Located a short commute from Sydney's centre, Alexandria is a burgeoning suburb with industrial origins, observable by its skyline of sawtooth roofs, exposed trusses and utilitarian facades. For local Australian architect William Smart, creative director of Smart Design Studio, the conservation movement at the northern end of the precinct offered immense appeal.

Guided by property developer Lendlease, One Sydney Harbour sees the reunion of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano and interior designer Daniel Goldberg, founder and creative director at State of Craft. The two design visionaries previously collaborated in 2012 on both The Shard and Shard Place in London. The One Sydney Harbour site is already known as the home to the most expensive residence in Australia – the penthouse of Residences One was sold for over AU$140 million. But it’s the buzz that surrounds Residences Two, the next step in the harbourside development, that’s capturing renewed attention.

Causing a scene in a palette of dramatic blue and minty-fresh green, with mostly hidden hints of vivid red, the Studio Kitchen is the third experimental space designed by Melbourne-based architecture practice Kennedy Nolan in collaboration with Australian surface-manufacturing company Laminex. This time around, the architects have put Laminex’s luxurious matt-finished products through the wringer, highlighting the immense versatility of the fingerprint-resistant range.

Beyond its sinuous facade – an ornate veil clad with terracotta bricks and glazed ceramic blocks – Gallery House proudly serves the community in more ways than one. By day, the two-level concrete-framed building in Bansberia, a peri-urban locale in India’s West Bengal, acts as a gallery, gathering space and multi-purpose centre, offering local residents the opportunity to partake in activities ranging from education sessions to yoga classes. “At night, this space functions as a dormitory for resident staff,” says principal designer Abin Chaudhuri of Abin Design Studio (ADS). “The client enjoys a sense of pride and joy of ownership seeing the space put to good use.” Upon completion, the precinct is slated to be an important business and financial centre in Shenzhen, serving the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

On a late winter’s day with full sun and a brisk breeze, the sliding side panels of a vast Ampelite shed were open. A large almond tree – the first fruit tree to blossom – was vivid white and buzzing with bees. Shadows of birds moved across the roof with a clatter of claws. A pair of masked lapwings voiced their distinctive call. They typically inhabit large grassy areas near open water but have taken to nesting on flat roofs. The Longhouse roof isn’t flat, but perhaps it seemed like an expanse of reflective water from above. Within, all is glowing, leafy-green and very comfortable.

Perched high on a cliffside plot in Bowen Hills, a suburb just north of Brisbane’s CBD, La Scala is the private residence of Ingrid Richards and Adrian Spence of Richards and Spence. Drawing upon four years of collected ideas, the architects desired to create a house where the outside space acted solidly as its centrepiece. The resulting dwelling – a section of which was resolved by Ingrid with a sketch on a napkin while on holidays – evokes snapshots of the Mediterranean and Central and South America. Its bare masonry standing out under Queensland’s famed blue skies.

In an act of rebellion against the shrinking footprint of traditional green spaces among cityscapes, towering vertical gardens are clambering onto the agendas – and facades – of high-rise developments around the globe. And it’s a welcome sight. After all, the concrete jungles of the world are damn hot, pretty ugly and rather unpleasant to inhabit without them.

Locals who wander the foothills of Mount Coot-tha in Queensland, Australia remark that the distinctive, textured brickwork at Couldrey House is akin to sedimentary rock, tree bark or corduroy fabric. Wildly more playful and sweet-toothed with their words, “children say it is cake with icing,” says architect Peter Besley, who designed the recently built home for a member of his own family.

Defined by its colossal curves, scalloped detailing and coved rear benchtop, the Expansive Kitchen boasts all the hallmarks of Melbourne architecture outfit Kennedy Nolan. But this certainly isn’t a cookie-cutter response to the client's brief, explains practice principal Rachel Nolan. “Every approach we take for kitchens is always new,” she says. “We try not to ever roll out just what we’ve done before.” The client in this instance was Australian company Laminex and the challenging brief called for the brand’s range of laminates to be put to the test in innovative and exciting ways by Rachel and practice co-principal Patrick Kennedy.

The colonial shophouse buildings of Singapore, so-named due to the shared retail and residential functions, evolved from the early 19th century. With a restricted budget and only four months to complete the project, MOD opted to blanket Canvas House with an all-white veil, a brave move that Colin says, “blurs the distinction between new and […]