These breezy cabins are for the goats — human guests camp nearby

Just when we were despairing about the homogenisation of European resorts, along comes Moldova to show us what a family retreat can be. Set on a patch of Dnister riverbank in the village of Pohrebea, Kozy is a ‘city of goats’ conceived with playful Wes Anderson sensibility by LH47 ARCH, an architecture practice located in the nation’s capital Chișinău, 40 minutes away. LH47 ARCH have turned the family-holiday concept on its head, designing a community of painted cottages that the resident goats call home. Human guests stay in a tented glampsite on the hillside.

Goat houses are composed of natural straw layered with clay, lime and age-worn terracotta tiles salvaged from nearby villages, and foundations of reclaimed wood and stone. Interiors with bookshelves and chandeliers can be glimpsed through the windows. Among the cottages are a town hall, post office, police station, tourist office and a grocery store where visitors can buy feed for the goats with bespoke Kozy Coins.

The palette of prime Lego colours is therapeutic on its own, but all 3,000 sqm function as a healing venture, prioritising interaction with the environment. Life is lived out in sun-baked fields, and goats snuggle with visitors like cats. Mindfulness activities like pottery, painting and — unsurprisingly — goat yoga monopolise the agenda. A night on the landscape feels like a great, collective exhale.

‘We combined goat therapy with architecture,’ says LH47 ARCH founder Serghei Mirza. ‘This is neither a zoo nor a farm. It’s a place where people step into the lives of animals. When roles are reversed like this, our ideas about what architecture can do change completely.’