An architectural trip around the world in eight striking reports. Summer residences in the Dominican Republic, South Africa, St. Barth s and Fire Island, but also a contemporary, extremely simply designed country house in Flanders, a restored twelfth-century convent in the South of France, a majestic palace in Marrakech and a house with breathtaking mountain views in Switzerland. Restored by architects and interior specialists from all corners of the globe, the houses featured in this book still have one important thing in common: the continual search for peace and serenity in architecture and interior design, in symbiosis with the surrounding landscape and out of respect for history and local traditions.