Once through the street-level entrance, the property's modern garage door comes into view. Stairs lead up to the kitchen.
The lake, seen from the pool. The patio doors are held open by rocks that Gomez-Pimienta collected on various pilgrimages: Taliesin West in Arizona, Chateau Neuf du Pape in France, and others.
Inside the cedar-framed pool house are a 40-foot-long lap pool and a hot tub. Should that feel too limiting or too tame, the Atlantic Ocean is only a short 200-yard stroll away.
The pool of the Phoenix house feels as laterally finite as the house feels spacious—but the view goes up forever. Photo by Dean Kaufman.
The flat roof of the Nakhshabs’ energy-efficient home is topped with photo-voltaic panels. It is the first single-family LEED Gold–certified residence in San Diego.
Interior designer Merrill Lyons plays with her son in the Brooklyn home she renovated with her husband, Charles Brill, a lighting designer and cofounder of New York–based company Rich Brilliant Willing (RBW). The couple’s design sensibility is marked by a warm mix of historic periods and styles, punctuated with pieces by RBW, including the circular brass Cinema chandelier that hangs in the living room. The leather sofa and teak credenza are vintage; the 1960s rosewood Genius armchair by Danish designer Illum Wikkelso was reupholstered with fabric sourced from an outlet.
A COZY AND MODERN INDOOR-OUTDOOR BEDROOM IN BUENOS AIRES
In Argentinean architect and furniture designer Alejandro Sticotti's bedroom, dappled sunlight and reclaimed-wood floors and walls give the room a warm, peaceful feel.
Dappled sunlight and reclaimed-wood floors and walls give the master bedroom a warm, peaceful feel. Giant sliding doors open onto a wraparound deck peppered with potted plants
from the couple’s vacations in Brazil, Uruguay, the Netherlands, and Italy.
Visitors can keep lookout for the St. Lawrence River’s resident marine mammals, which include Beluga and Sperm whales, from a pair of Adirondack chairs.
On Vashon Island, about 20 miles southwest of Seattle, architect Seth Grizzle designed a 440-square-foot multiuse structure for his clients Bill and Ruth True.
In fall, the color of this backyard in Charlottesville, Virginia, changes daily with the foliage. Elizabeth Birdsall marvels how new outdoor spaces on her property, like a patio furnished with upholstered seating from Gloster, make enjoying the woods an easy experience: “It’s like comfortable camping, all the time.”
Located just off the entry hall, this room opens onto a lush garden. The residents commissioned the overhead light from designers Sylvain Willenz and Hubert Verstraeten. “The use of red billiard ball references Charles and Ray Eames’s Hang-It-All coat rack,” says Smith. The wall-hung light is by the contemporary São Paulo–based designers Luciana Martins and Gerson de Oliveira. The rug is a Moroccan patchwork from the 1960s; the teak-and-leather Kilin chair is by Sergio Rodrigues; and the cane-backed sofa is a student daybed designed by Hans Wegner for Getama in the 1950s.
Nederhof purchased the vintage teak dresser from an online secondhand store. On it stand fertility statues and a miniature sculpture by Antonino Sciortino. The steel-framed glass doors fold back into the wall, and the space is oriented so clients can enter the office without traipsing through the entire flat.
In the main living area of Frank Nederhof’s renovated Amsterdam flat, a geometric sculpture by Antonino Sciortino hangs above an Erik Kuster sofa. The coffee tables are made from fossilized wood so heavy that each one requires two people to lift it.
A New Kind of Flat: Topanga Cabin
Jim Olson's #cabin at Longbranch Washington #olsonkundig
When building such a modest structure in a large landscape, designer and client often had to defend their vision to their collaborators. “We knew this house was going to be for Maggie and she would live there alone,” designer Lauren Moffitt says. “But people are always projecting for future resale. Putting in the smallest size of anything—to any subcontractor, it’s just not reasonable.”
Uninspired by the loft options in downtown Portland, Oregon, the Andréns opted to design and build their own freestanding version in the hills just minutes from the city. Read more about this sleek three-story loft here.
Inspired by the small scale of Japanese residences—in particular, Makoto Masuzawa’s 1952 Minimum House—architect Andrew Simpson designed his own economical 538-square-foot home set into a wooded site in Island Bay, a coastal suburb outside Wellington, New Zealand.
The Virgola lounge chairs in the Roseau print.
Stinessen placed each cabin carefully in order to ensure the best possible views and the right amount of privacy.
A tub zone lined in redwood connects to the master bedroom, which is furnished with a vintage Sergio Rodrigues lounge chair and Voyage Immobile seats from Roche Bobois.
A spiral staircase descends from the glass deck to the rain garden, which replaced a concrete pad.
The ceramics studio was formerly a pergola wrapped in chicken wire, used as a dog kennel by the previous owner. Inside the new structure, a vintage Danish chair, found on eBay, provides a modern perch. The windows’ deep mullions double as display shelves.
The knotty cedar cladding from Crenshaw Lumber was pretreated with an ebony stain from Timber Pro UV—twice on both sides—prior to being brought to the site, where it was left for eight weeks so that it could adjust to the moist seaside air before installation. “Cedar siding swells or shrinks when it gains or loses moisture while it reaches equilibrium with the content of the surrounding air,” says Michael. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.
Architectural designer Sebastian Mariscal and project manager Jeff Svitak created a house in Venice, California, for Michael and Tamami Sylvester. Known as Dwell Home Venice for its role as an exemplification of modern architecture, the house is an homage to indoor-outdoor living. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.
Fields of native grasses connect the main residence, situated at the top of the slope, to the new structures scattered below. A pergola extends from the post-and-beam structure that was maintained during the remodel of the midcentury home.
A section of the facade—a cross between a shoji screen and a barn door—slides open. Planter boxes contain edible varieties that fuel Mary’s culinary explorations.
The swimming pool offers an alternative plunge to the nearby Bantam River.
Classic butterfly chairs from Universal Patio Furniture are stationed by the pool. The mural is by street artist Morley, a close friend.
Ryan Anderson of RAD Furniture designed the stools as well as the table and benches on the pool deck.
Wood WorksFaced with the challenge of a diminutive New York apartment in desperate need of a refresh, architect Tim Seggerman went straight to his toolbox to craft a Nakashima-inspired interior, featured in our November Small Spaces issue.
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