As the holidays approach, we take a look at houses from India to Scotland that would be ideal places to spend the vacation in for the latest roundup in our 2025 Review.
Photo by Newcolour Inc
Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto created this circular home, called Earth, on Ishigaki Island for hotelier Not A Hotel.
The concrete walls encircle a roof garden, which slopes upwards to the sea and downwards towards a courtyard and fireplace area.
Photo by Brandon Stanley
HATA, USA, by Anastasiya Dudik
Self-taught architect Anastasiya Dudik was informed by Soviet-era brutalism and California’s history of domed architecture for this holiday home in Pioneertown, California.
Inside, the house is divided on one side into a sleeping area, and a large open living room with a conservation pit on the other.
Photo courtesy of Studio Sangath
Alloa Hills Weekend Home, India, by Studio Sangath
Local practice Studio Sangath designed this sprawling concrete and brick home for a couple that wanted a retreat from their working, city life in Ahmedabad, India.
The home consists of cubic forms arranged around a central courtyard to create a “meandering” layout.
Find out more about Alloa Hills Weekend Home ›
Photo by Michael Moran of OTTO
CLT House, USA, by nArchitects
nArchitects founders Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang created this lakeside cabin in New York’s Hudson Valley as a nature retreat for their family.
The duo used a CLT structure to build the house to allay environmental concerns.
Find out more about CLT House ›
Photo by Gregori Civera
Prefab House Changeover, Spain, by TEST
Architecture studio TEST prefabricated this deep red holiday home off-site and placed it on top of six shotcrete pillars leftover from another mountainside cabin on the same plot.
Large wooden shutters protect the exterior and open to reveal the glass panels that surround the two-level house.
Find out more about Prefab House Changeover ›
Photo by Edmund Sumner
Rancho del Bosque, Mexico, by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos
This holiday house in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, consists of six semi-circular structures that branch off a main volume, which holds a living area.
The smaller structures contain a lounge area and individual bedrooms, while another, rectangular structure on the other side contains a kitchen.
Find out more about Rancho del Bosque ›
Photo by Alex Lesage
Pine Island Cottage, Canada, by Bureau Tempo and Thom Fougere
Canadian studios Bureau Tempo and Thom Fougere worked together to pull in natural elements from the rocky Ontario surroundings for this holiday home on an island in Georgian Bay.
“Translating that tactile experience into the interior in unexpected ways became a guiding goal in selecting materials,” said Fougere. “It often came down to finding the minimum touch with the maximum impact to achieve this.”
Find out more about Pine Island Cottage ›
Photo by Clemens Poloczek
Casa Plaj, Portugal, by Extrastudio
Casa Plaj in Portugal juts off its grassy, hilly site in a cantilever.
The front facade of the building is relatively closed, while the three other sides contain wide-open windows that look out over the surrounding coast.
Find out more about Casa Plaj ›
Photo courtesy of Jim Stephenson
Fairburn Tower, UK, by Simpson & Brown
Architecture studio Simpson & Brown transformed this ageing, 16th-century tower house in the Scottish Highlands into a holiday home, preserving the house’s unique character while giving it modern upgrades.
“Unfortunately, the tower eventually became a ruin in about the 1750s, but regardless of how crumbly it seemed, it had that potential [and] that sense of history and needing to be saved,” said project architect Julie Barklie.
Find out more about Fairburn Tower ›
Photo by Anne Deppe
GDR Bungalow, Germany, by Jan Winkelmann and Julia Carloff-Winkelmann
Owners Jan Winkelmann and Julia Carloff-Winkelmann converted this 1960s bungalow located outside of Berlin themselves, updating the structure with a colourful palette that called to California modernism.
The duo completely gutted the house, reorganising the interior and opening up the space for a more modern layout, while still maintaining elements of its functionalist roots.
Find out more about GDR Bungalow ›
The post Top 10 holiday homes of 2025 appeared first on Dezeen.