10 designer homes to explore this summer From the French Riviera to Mexico, via Italy’s most iconic locations

Mid-March is that moment of the year when the same thing always happens. Summer is still far away, but close enough to start seriously thinking about it. Group chats begin to turn into small improvised travel agencies: Airbnb links sent at two in the morning, screenshots of unlikely terraces, endless debates between those who want the sea and those insisting on an art city. Booking a house for the summer has almost become a generational ritual. The right pool is searched for, the sea view, the architecture we saved months before on Instagram or on some curatorial profile. But if budget wasn’t an issue -or if we could simply dream a little- where would we actually book?

From the French Riviera to Mexico, these are ten architect-designed houses where anyone would want to spend a summer week with friends. Spoiler: many of them aren’t even bookable.

Palais Bulles

The Palais Bulles, designed by architect Antti Lovag and made famous by designer Pierre Cardin, looks like something out of a 1970s futuristic dream. A series of terracotta-colored spherical volumes overlooking the Mediterranean. Today it’s not a holiday home: it has become an iconic location for fashion shows, events and music videos. The kind of place you imagine in a fashion campaign or a pop video shot at sunset.

French Riviera, France

Casa Malaparte

Perched on a cliff on the island of Capri, Villa Malaparte is one of the most cinematic houses in the Mediterranean. Commissioned by writer Curzio Malaparte and designed with architect Adalberto Libera, it is famous for its monumental staircase leading to the roof. It is not rentable. But it is often used for films, fashion campaigns and editorial shoots. Just think of Le Mépris by Godard to understand why.

Capri, Italy

Villa La Scala

Overlooking Lake Garda, Villa La Scala is a spectacular house designed by architect Vittoriano Viganò. Its most iconic feature is the sculptural staircase that descends from the house to the lake, almost like a direct connection between architecture and water. Today the villa is mainly used as a location for photo shoots, fashion campaigns and private events.

Lake Garda, Italy

Casa Gilardi

Designed by the master of Mexican architecture Luis Barragán, Casa Gilardi is one of the most poetic houses ever built. Pink, yellow and blue walls interacting with natural light and an indoor pool. Today it can be visited by appointment as a house-museum and is a pilgrimage destination for architects and designers.

Mexico City, Mexico

La Muralla Roja

The La Muralla Roja complex, designed by architect Ricardo Bofill in the 1970s, has become a visual icon of the contemporary Mediterranean. A labyrinth of staircases, courtyards and pastel-colored terraces. Here, however, there is good news: some apartments are actually available on Airbnb. Although competition is global.

Calpe, Spain

Casa Finisterra

Built on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Casa Finisterra is a private villa designed by Steven Harris Architects. It became famous for its architecture embedded in the rock and today is mainly used for high fashion shoots and photographic productions, but note: it is listed on Airbnb.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Casa Wabi

Designed by Tadao Ando on the Pacific coast, Casa Wabi is not a private house but an art foundation. It hosts artist residencies, exhibitions and cultural programs within a minimalist concrete architecture facing the ocean.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Can Lis

After designing the Sydney Opera House, architect Jørn Utzon built Can Lis as his own Mediterranean residence. Today the house is managed as a foundation and study space for architects, known for the way it engages with the landscape and the light of the sea.

Majorca, Spain

E-1027

Designed in 1929 by designer and architect Eileen Gray, E-1027 is one of the manifestos of modernist architecture on the Mediterranean. After years of restoration, it has become a museum site open to visitors, a must-see for lovers of 20th-century design.

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France

Casa del Acantilado

The Casa del Acantilado, designed by GilBartolome Architects, seems to emerge directly from the rock with its undulating metallic-scale roof. It is a private house, available for rent, and has become one of the most shared contemporary architectures online.

Salobreña, Spain