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A few hours from Mexico City, a home enclosed in the belly of the earth embraces the landscape and establishes a mythical covenant between architecture and nature.

To relate to its natural surroundings, which are framed by wooded mountains and carpeted with avocado fields, architect Francisco Pardo literally chose to make this vacation home for a young couple to disappear into the belly of Pachamama, the Mother Earth of Central American cultures, which covers the construction. The partially hypogeal house is built into the hill it stands on, with a green roof from which avocado trees emerge: a solution that is effective both from a landscape and a technological standpoint, as it offers optimal internal thermal conditions in an area subject to significant fluctuations, thanks to the earth on the roof acting as insulation and keeping the home at a constant mild temperature. The volume embedded in the ground unfolds inside like a huge container in exposed concrete, with a practical and flexible layout thanks to the reduced partitions. The central living space unites the several adjacent rooms: the kitchen, dining room, and living room, the bedrooms (the master, children's, and two guest bedrooms), and the study. It has access to a panoramic terrace with a whirlpool tub and views of the forest. A patio dug into the ground on the opposite side gives additional access as well as a second source of natural light and ventilation. The interiors are distinguished by a simple, low-maintenance design that is nonetheless attractive: the exposed concrete structure contrasts with walls covered in Chukum, a natural stucco from the Yucatan region, and recycled raw pinewood; custom-made furnishings - the kitchen, the black metal fireplace - demonstrate meticulous attention to detail and the desire to characterize an essential, almost monastic, but warm and welcoming space. An outdoor cabin made of recycled wood, which serves as a

U / U Studio has transformed a run-down space into a new community asset using minimal interventions. Underneath an elevated busy road in central Prague, a neglected pedestrian underpass has been restored into a colorful public area that supports skateboarding, basketball, BMX, climbing, and other activities. Though this space was previously avoided, it is now hoped that a diverse spectrum of residents and tourists, particularly young people, will use it and feel welcome. Local architecture firm U / U Studio, known for constructing interesting skate parks around the Czech capital and beyond, oversaw the renovation. ‘As “skate architects”, we immediately knew that implementation of skateboarding and other leisure activities is the perfect way of healing this area,’ says Martin Hrouda from U / U Studio. ‘The skate community occupied this spot right after opening and is taking care of it. Putting new life and joy into the spot seems to be working and the place has become safe for everyone.’

Thanks to its sensory design, OPEN Architecture's open-air concert hall appears to emerge from the landscape.

The Chapel of Sound, a monolithic open-air concert hall hidden in a rural valley in Chengde, two hours northeast of Beijing, was completed by OPEN Architecture.

The building, which resembles a naturally occurring rock formation erupting from the terrain, is made of concrete mixed with an aggregate of local mineral-rich rocks. The structure, designed in partnership with Arup, comprises an inner and outer shell, and each striation cantilevers out from the preceding layer to form an inverted cone shape.

Wutopia Lab designed Tianya Books as a permeable volume connected to the landscape: triangles, floating volumes, and transparencies characterize the space, structured on two levels. Tianya Books, located in Tianya Haijiao, a part of southern China previously imagined to be the end of the earth but today a famous tourist destination watches the sea as a meeting place between man and nature. This relationship is managed by the glass, which covers the building, reflecting the surface of the ocean during the day and displaying the internal red shelves at night, similar to the "morning light that brightens the entire beach." The project, created Wutopia Lab, was initially made of a simple glass parallelepiped, from which a triangle was later carved on the short west side to preserve a banyan tree. The building is divided into two levels, with the ground floor housing a bookshop, a café, and reading areas, and the first-floor housing children's reading areas and a small auditorium that appears as a floating, transparent volume detached from the facade and located about 6 meters from the ground. This place, which

Bright, rich colors and open, flowing spaces: Orazio Palace designed by Daniela Colli opens up to the city and includes conviviality areas, a restaurant and a sky lounge bar.

The hotel in the 4L Collection chain is located in Rome’s Prati district, near St. Peter’s Basilica and Castel Sant’Angelo. Orazio Palace has 65 rooms including 6 suites, and is inspired by the colors of Rome’s twilight: materials and shapes in saturated, bright colors are distributed through open, fluid spaces. Soft hues alternate with orange tones in the double-height lobby. The courtyard's regular pattern, where the garden is located, contrasts with the orange steel furnishings; the suites feature Klein blue seating, marble surfaces, and chrome titanium lamps. On the seventh floor, there is a restaurant, which is surrounded by a glass volume with a perimeter terrace, where bright green sofas and chairs in flowery velvet and Vienna straw meet. The sky lounge bar is a glass open-air room with woven rope sofas and metal armchairs with pink accents. This space overlooks wonderful Rome.