Pink PoMo Pair and a Wardrobe House Top Dezeen's October List

Architect Peter Morris's Cloud House, a pink postmodern pair of residences in north London's Gospel Oak, has taken the top spot in Dezeen's houses of the month for October 2026. The monthly roundup ranks the five most popular residences featured on the architecture site, as measured by reader interest.

The shortlist spans five countries and a wide budget range, from a bungalow conversion in Prestwich, northern England, to luxury villas on Ibiza's eastern coast and above Lake Zurich. One house looks like a wooden wardrobe. Another squeezes a quart into a pint pot. Modesty and money share the stage.

What topped the ranking?

Cloud House, UK, by Peter Morris. Morris designed the pair of residences — one for himself and his wife, the other for a neighbour with similar tastes — to give his enthusiasm for postmodernism (an architecture of playful historical references and colour, dominant in the 1980s) full rein.

He told Dezeen he wanted to give his "love of postmodernism a chance to reveal itself fully" with the project.

"The key goal was to make a beautiful building which I hoped might create a little moment of joy for anyone walking past it on the street," Morris said. It's a rare architect who designs for passers-by as much as clients. The photographs are by Juliet Murphy.

Which house looks like furniture?

Wardrobe House, Czech Republic, by Šépka Architekti. The name is the brief: the house was intended to resemble a wooden wardrobe. Like a piece of flat-pack furniture, it was prefabricated as a kit of parts and assembled on-site.

The practice designed it for a couple who wanted to give two of their teenage children independent living space. The house sits in the garden of the main family home — a teenage annexe with the styling of an IKEA aisle, though considerably better crafted. Photographs are by Aleš Jungmann.

What does luxury look like this month?

Bellavista 11, Spain, by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos. The villa steps down a hillside on the eastern coast of Ibiza in three low-slung volumes. The Valencian studio kept it unmistakably minimalist: pared-back white concrete rectangles, stacked and staggered against the slope.

Think of it as the Mediterranean's answer to a gallery wall — every surface doing quiet, expensive work. Jesús Orrico took the photographs.

House on a Slope, Switzerland, by Think Architecture, takes the other luxury route: burying it. The house overlooks Lake Zurich, and an underground corridor connects its two parts. The Swiss studio was tasked with fitting a very large amount of floorspace onto a narrow, sloping site while staying as sensitive as possible to the landscape — hence the split plan and the link below grade. Nate Cook photographed the project.

Where did the small budget go?

Deyne Avenue extension, UK, by Loader Monteith. The Scottish practice turned a two-bed bungalow in Prestwich into a four-bedroom family home with only a modest expansion of its footprint.

The studio described the approach as "squeezing a quart into a pint pot": a rear extension, a dormer loft conversion and a full reorganisation of the floor plan delivered two extra bedrooms without sprawling into the garden. It's the roundup's most instructive entry — proof that square metres matter less than the plan that organises them. Jake Balston took the photographs.

What does the list tell us?

October's ranking suggests readers reward contrast. A pink PoMo pair, a flat-pack wardrobe, two villas for the very wealthy and one thrifty Manchester extension all made the cut. Morris's Cloud House won the month on charm rather than square footage — a useful signal for architects wondering whether wit still sells.