Design Haus Liberty has built a lake house in Italy with a series of living spaces connected to rounded terraces that extend out like petals from a flower.
The studio, led by architect and Dezeen Awards judge for 2018 Dara Huang, designed Villa Mosca Bianca as a holiday home for a retired couple who wanted a place where they could host family members on the shore of Lago Maggiore.

The house's undulating perimeter and projecting terraces were designed to facilitate a relaxed lifestyle and encourage outdoor activities such as gardening, reading, swimming and al fresco dining.
"The terraces were organically drawn almost as wings coming off the house," Huang told Dezeen. "Each petal provides an opportunity to create a platform for the owner's hobbies such as yoga, eating, barbecue or hot tubbing."
The lakefront site dictated many aspects of Design Haus Liberty's design, including the need to raise the house three metres above the waterline.
Rather than elevating the structure on stilts or constructing a massive retaining wall, the architects used a series of terraces to create a sense of the building merging with the landscape and gradually stepping down to the water.

Design Haus Liberty conceived of the house as comprising three layers, with a large sheltered deck connecting the garden with the internal living spaces.
At the heart of the building is a circular garden containing a 70-year-old bonsai tree. This open-air space allows natural light and ve...