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When we think about homes, we tend to picture familiar ideas: comfort, privacy, function — spaces designed to suit many people at once (and, if all goes well, let at least two household members agree on where the sofa and TV should go). But sometimes, architects are asked to design something more specific: a place shaped not by broad assumptions, but by one particular life, habit or need.
Across settings and scales, the homes in this collection respond to unusual briefs with equal parts function and imagination. Some are built around creative work, like a house organized entirely around a vlogger’s daily routines. Others offer comfort through significant life transitions, from aging in place with Alzheimer’s to carving out a personal retreat in the wake of loss.
From spaces where dogs and humans live as equals to playful structures prioritizing a child’s sense of freedom, each project shows how architecture can leave generalizations behind and create homes that fit real lives — quirks included!
Vlogger Aguai’s Home
By LZA, Baoshan, Shanghai, China
Popular Choice Winner, 12th Annual A+Awards, Residential Interiors (< 3000 sq ft)
This home rethinks the boundary between living and working to meet the needs of a growing online career. Centered around a custom scrapbooking workbench, the layout branches outward, organizing both private life and professional activity in one flexible environment. Curved pathways guide movement through the house, reflecting the layered flow of daily routines and creative work.
Materials and spaces are carefully chosen to support content creation: the studio incorporates Aguai’s hobbies into its design, incubating inspiration and offering a welcoming backdrop for videos and workshops. By merging personal passion with professional needs, the home supports both focused work and relaxed living without drawing a hard line between them.
Dog / Human
By EKAR, Thailand
Designed to nurture the relationship between dogs and humans, this house in Thailand adapts both its scale and function for its four-legged residents. A low, agricultural-style roof signals zones for walking, sitting and resting, while wide column bases are shaped to fit sleeping dogs. The house includes a dog hotel and salon, allowing other dogs to share the facilities and creating a social space for both pets and owners.
Swimming pool steps are carefully sized for dogs to easily climb in and out; the roof intentionally lets rainwater fall freely to the ground. Every detail is shaped by mutual respect between species — a place where dogs and people live, grow and connect.
Light Path
By Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Pennsylvania
Built for longtime clients preparing to age in place with Alzheimer’s, this home prioritizes clarity, safety and connection to nature. A simple cross-shaped layout helps with orientation and memory by offering clear, predictable pathways. Wide hallways, accessible bathrooms and same-level entry anticipate future mobility challenges. A 92-foot (28-meter) skylight and expansive windows flood the interiors with daylight, aiding wayfinding and stabilizing circadian rhythms. Natural materials like reclaimed pine and bluestone create a low-contrast, familiar environment, reducing visual confusion. Custom door handles and lowered counters offer easier grip and access, supporting physical independence as needs change over time.
The Nearby House
By Asooarch Company, Garmsar, Iran
The Nearby House creates a shared meeting point for a brother and sister living apart, providing a simple, playful space between their homes. Set in an orchard, the tiny house is shaped by the needs of short visits and childlike exploration — from its curved brick walls that bend around existing trees to the blue-tiled water features that invite play. Every element is designed to support connection, whether through picking fruit, chasing light and shadow or gathering around shared spaces. The architecture remains low, tactile and open to nature, offering a familiar backdrop for memory-making. Rather than formal programs, the design prioritizes casual, spontaneous moments of togetherness, giving the siblings a place that belongs equally to both.
Softie
By OPA, Mill Valley, California
Softie transforms a strict Modernist house into a place of private release, responding to a client’s wish for a free, light and untethered environment. Rather than reworking the structure, the architects introduced a series of soft, cloud-like forms that drift through the home. These interventions dissolve the rigid grid with curved entries, softened stairs and floating shapes that blur traditional spatial boundaries.
Materials and details are kept deliberately fluid and irregular, allowing movement through the house to feel loose and intuitive. Even the terrace holds a “trapped cloud” above it, creating small, unexpected encounters with softness. By scattering these moments throughout all three levels, the design makes space for variation, daydreaming and quiet escape from external pressures.
LÂM’s home
By AD+studio, Vinh Long, Vietnam
This project was created as a midday retreat for a mother and daughter, designed around a child’s sense of freedom and play. Built on a narrow 10-by-33-foot (3×10-meter) plot, the house uses a single structural element—the “tree”—to anchor the design. The branching structure carries floors, forms stairs, shades the interior and creates spaces for small tasks, all while maximizing openness.
Communal areas are prioritized to strengthen the bond between mother and daughter, with flexible spaces that shift between play and daily routines. Combining functions rather than dividing them makes the house feel expansive despite its size. The light, playful structure echoes the daughter’s name, Lâm and the spirit of movement and growth it represents.
Mourning Dovecote
By S^A | Schwartz and Architecture, Sonoma, California
Created as a quiet retreat for a homeowner navigating grief and change, this 390-square-foot addition focuses on intimacy, memory and connection to nature. Designed to support a slower, more reflective way of living, the compact space draws on simple, tactile materials and close ties to its surroundings. Openings frame the landscape while muffled sounds, like the calls of nearby doves, filter in to mark the passing hours. Rather than expanding outward, the design turns inward, offering a personal, enduring refuge. Built during the pandemic and following personal loss, the project prioritizes familiarity, ritual and small, everyday moments over formal gestures or size.
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