It is not often that an interior designer is given complete free rein by the client. When presented with this opportunity for a house in the Charlevoix ski area, Quebecois interior design firm Perron took on the challenge with the enthusiasm of a keen skier on virgin powder and created a delightful holiday home perfect for large gatherings.

At first sight, it is hard to believe that this peculiar building, occupying an enviable beach-front spot on Canfield Island in Connecticut, is a family home. With its barn-like structure, Critall-style windows and enormous double smoke-stack chimneys, you could have easily mistaken this 8 bedroom house as an industrial relic from the Victorian era.

All too often, homeowners build extensions which blend into the existing house when a bold, high-contrast design can be much more effective. For the Host House in Melbourne, Splinter Society extended a traditional cottage by building a rear extension with sharp angular walls cladded in black timber.

When Patricia Urquiola, a long time Haworth collaborator, was commissioned to renovate the hotel, she created a multi-functional space which shows how good hybrid work-hospitality-leisure spaces could look.

Trousdale Estates has been home to countless celebrities. Jamie Bush and Dennis Gibbens were commissioned to renovate one of the houses in the neighbourhood and took their inspirations from Hollywood glamour and mid-century style.