"An increasing number of developers are creating communal areas where residents and their guests can socialize."
- Telegraph

• A Black Box Among the Georgians (pictured here). "Home exterior colors go in and out of fashion, but uninterrupted black has seldom been a popular choice. That doesn’t bother Ed Reeve, whose inky new house lurks among the 1830s brick Georgians in De Beauvoir Town in London like a stealth bomber in a field of biplanes."
• A house designed for the outdoors. "A series of single and double-storey pavilions loosely encapsulates a central garden space. The swimming pool is integrated as a water feature of the garden, where outdoor spaces are brought indoors and vice versa."
• House among the treetops. "Architects Steven Isaacs and Lisa Saville wanted to disturb no wildlife when building their home, even building around a council protected tree that pierces the rear deck."
• Britney's Former NYC Pad Is Flipping Out. Britney Spears' old pad in New York City refurbished and back on the market for $6,995,000.

The unashamedly boxy lake front house by British developer Yoo is one of 160 homes to be built overlooking seven lakes in the Cotswolds. The development is marketed at London residents in need of a home in the country. The glass-fronted residences offer sweeping views of the lake and are built in Slovenia of Russian wood. View full image.

"The Cotswolds are definitely changing and their image is being raised," says Yoo's co-founder John Hitchcox, who used to be a co-owner of the Manhattan Loft Corporation. "It is a design-orientated residential project. I wanted to build an environment where urbanites can come to the country." There is a host of celebrity designers working on the project: Phillipe Starck is Yoo's co-founder, while Sophie Conran, daughter of Sir Terence, and Jade Jagger were enlisted to design furnishings and interiors.

• Property in the Cotswolds: Contemporary class
• Photo Gallery
• The Lakes by Yoo