BELLAS ARTES

In Sri Lanka, Palinda Kannangara created the Frame Holiday Structure on a budget of $ 40,000. Built from steel scaffolding, exposed brick, and wood floors, the house can be easily disassembled and moved, adapting to the reality of the nearby floodplain. Luciano Lerner Basso’s Fortunata House in Brazil accommodates the surrounding nature: it was built around a tree of an endangered species and sits upon stilts so as not to disturb the forest floor. Miller Hull’s Loom House near Seattle has been called “the world’s most environmentally ambitious home renovation” because of its reliance on recycled materials and its efficient energy use.

Conceived by William Cecil, Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, and built between 1555 and 1587, Burghley House is a testament to the ambition and vision of the most powerful courtier of the first Elizabethan age. Designed by Cecil himself, in consultation with the Dutch Renaissance architect and painter Hans Vredeman de Vries, the architecture and interiors at Burghley reflect a mix of contemporary fashionable influences. The house’s facades are each markedly different, with a striking and ornate Gothic gatehouse beneath a roofline of cupolas and obelisks, and with French and Italian styles visible in the windows and pilasters. And inside, where the State Rooms house remarkable collections of furniture, textiles, and Old Master paintings acquired over the centuries, Cecil’s Gothic-style Old Kitchen remains alongside the magnificent Renaissance staircase and Italianate fireplace in the Great Hall.

The arrival, in 2021, of Australian global pop star Troye Sivan’s richly layered Melbourne home introduced the world to Flack Studio, a wildly creative, multidisciplinary practice of designers and architects well established in Australia. Launched in 2014, the studio is driven by an adventurous sensibility that embraces historical research and contemporary innovation. Furniture, lighting, textiles, fittings, and vivid colour coalesce into a holistic yet idiosyncratic experience. A deep sense of materiality, a passion for contemporary art, and an embrace of local community and makers are hallmarks of Flack’s projects, which include homes and restaurants throughout Australia, Los Angeles, Seoul and the Ace Hotel in Sydney.