A Sydney home Revisited by Carter Williamson Architects

Good architecture leaves room for life to happen. Brise Soleil was designed by Sydney-based Carter Williamson in 2009 and revisited by the same practice more than fifteen years later, not to start over, but to evolve.

The home had been well lived in. Its voids still carried light through the plan. Its robust exterior still held firm against the street. What had shifted was life itself. The owners didn't want to leave. The question became how the house might change with them.

The insertion of a lift within the internal courtyard quietly reshaped the plan. What began as an accessibility intervention prompted a broader reconsideration of how the home was navigated and used. The kitchen moved. Pathways widened. Thresholds softened. The ground floor became more generous, more fluid, more attuned to ease — a reimagining of daily living without the erasure of what came before.

Yet the defining qualities of the original design remain. Light continues to fall through the voids, animating walls and floors throughout the day. What has changed is tone. Where the interiors were once restrained, warm timber joinery and a richer material palette now introduce tactility and depth, making the contrast between robust exterior and intimate interior more pronounced than ever.

The kitchen was redesigned to support accessibility without sacrificing conviviality. Bespoke cabinetry and carefully resolved joinery ensure that the rhythms of daily life continue seamlessly, maintaining its social heart.

Brise Soleil is not a reinvention. It is an evolution. A house that has matured alongside its occupants, and proof that architecture designed with care can absorb change without losing its identity.

Credits 

⁠Architecture and Interior Design: Carter Williamson Architects

Styling: Claire Delmar

Photography: Pablo Veiga⁠

Build: SFN Build

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PAREIL Revives a Traditional Bastide in the South of France

In the foothills of the hilltop village of Tourtour in France’s Var region, a traditional Provençal bastide has been carefully reimagined by the architecture studio PAREIL. The project marks the practice’s latest work focused on historic buildings, following its noted renovation of Mas Baudran.

Commissioned by London-based owners seeking a relaxed family retreat in the south of France, the project involved a complete renovation of the existing buildings alongside a comprehensive redesign of the surrounding landscape. PAREIL — established in 2023 between Paris and Marseille — oversaw both the design and the site supervision, with a transformation that remains anchored in the region’s architectural traditions.

The property sits within a layered hillside landscape typical of rural Provence. At its centre is a stone bastide serving as the main house, accompanied by an outbuilding connected by a porch that now functions as a studio, and a small dovecote that incorporates a garage. Like many vernacular structures of the region, the house was originally designed with climate in mind. Thick stone walls provide thermal inertia with volumes and orientation adapted to the Mediterranean climate, while the northern façade is partially embedded into the rock, shielding the building from prevailing winds.

While much of the exterior had been altered in the late twentieth century, including the addition of terraces and a swimming pool, the project involved reshaping the terrain and terraces to adapt to the steep site. Inside, the architects reorganised the layout to restore a coherent functional flow, introducing a balance between generous communal areas and more intimate rooms suited to everyday living. The aim was to enhance the home’s original character, creating a timeless, elegant holiday atmosphere.

Though the renovation involved significant structural work, the interventions remain discrete. Traditional materials — including stone, terracotta, lime plaster and local woods — are used throughout, reinforcing a sense of continuity between the architecture, the surrounding landscape and contemporary use. Passive ventilation systems, underfloor heating and biosourced insulation were also integrated to improve environmental performance without disrupting the character of the house.

The landscape design forms an equally important part of the project. Working with Studio Nolet and Sigmap Jardin, the architects reworked the property’s stepped agricultural terraces — known locally as restanques — reorganising the terrain to respond to the steep site. Upper and lower terraces were redesigned and extended, establishing a more cohesive relationship between the house, the garden and the wider landscape.

Founded in 2023 by Caroline Weill and Laetitia Paradis, PAREIL’s approach sees them anchor themselves in both an environment and human context. This has led to them developing a unique and sensitive architectural signature. Their aesthetic combines the simple and appropriate use of materials, elegant details, and the celebration of regional and artisanal expertise.

That approach is evident here. Rather than imposing a new identity on the house, the architects have worked with its inherent qualities — its orientation, materiality and relationship to the land— allowing the bastide to evolve while remaining firmly rooted in its Provençal setting. The result is a home that feels both inviting and deeply connected to place: a timeless retreat shaped as much by landscape as by architecture.

Credits

Achitecture: PAREIL (in collaboration with Studio Nolet)

Landscape designer: Sigmap Jardin

Landscaping: Auffray Paysage

Photography: Jean-Baptiste Thiriet

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Casa Tao by HW Studio

Some houses are designed. Others are remembered. Casa Tao, by Mexican architecture practice HW Studio, is the latter — a home shaped not by an image, but by a way of living. Located in Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s Pacific coast, the project responds to climate, memory and the deeply personal story of its inhabitants.

In Puerto Vallarta, where sun and humidity define the rhythm of daily life, shade is not simply relief — it is refuge. For Gustavo, who grew up locally in a humble family home, shelter and seclusion were not abstract concepts but lived experiences. The house needed to embody that sense of protection and coolness, not only physically but emotionally. Shade, in Casa Tao, becomes a promise of calm — a sanctuary from the noise and heat of the outside walls.

Gustavo’s intellectual curiosity also shaped the home’s direction. With interests spanning philosophy, architecture, music and photography, his references lean toward formal clarity and restraint. The influence of figures such as Alberto Campo Baeza, Fan Ho and Andrei Tarkovsky can be sensed in the home’s quiet geometry and its reverence for light and shadow.

A formative trip to Japan with his wife Cynthia and their daughters further anchored the family’s aspirations. They described wanting to feel as though they were “living inside a Japanese museum” — not in a grand or austere sense, but in the way such spaces hold stillness. Where light filters gently. Where time slows.

Rather than opening out towards the landscape, the architecture turns inwards. Large glazed façades were avoided to prevent intense heat, and an oblique angled relationship to a tree-lined plaza allows the sea breeze and scent to pass through without exposing itself fully to the coastal glare.

Layered vertically, the bedrooms, garage and service areas form a grounded base, while above, a suspended double-height volume contains the social spaces. Elevated above street level, these living areas feel surrounded by air, open to the trees and salty breeze that crosses the plaza. Elevated patios act as terraces for contemplation, subtly framing sky and foliage.

The bedrooms gather around a patio, where a curved wall and tree creates a natural softness and welcome threshold for visitors. Rather than turn its gaze outward to the neighborhood, the home opens to the sky, seeking shade, breeze and filtered light — favouring introspection over exposure. Everything is arranged so that living happens in a slower, fuller way.

The materiality of the house is tactile and sensory. White surfaces glow under the coastal sun, while concrete absorbs light rather than reflecting it. An honest material that becomes warm through use and time, where light does not bounce — it settles.

There is an affinity between Casa Tao and the ideas explored in Junichiro Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows. Tanizaki described shadow not as darkness, but as depth — as a veil that allows beauty to emerge gradually. Casa Tao embraces this sensibility. Light is never assertive; it filters and diffuses, allowing spaces to unfold slowly. Here, dwelling becomes a form of study — an invitation to pause and contemplate. The house withdraws gently, offering shade as sanctuary. Every corner encourages you to remain rather than pass through, and each shadow feels like a quiet promise of wellbeing.

Photography by Gustavo Quiroz, Hugo Tirso and César Belio

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