Sean Wilkins

Inspired by a primitive tent, this A-frame cabin is a simple one-bedroom retreat nestled in the New Zealand rain forest.

Totem after Ettore Sottsass by Edgar Orlaineta (2013) An example of Latin American craft that "[presents] a response and challenge to international icons," according to curator Lowery Stokes Sims, this wire-framed shelving system by the Mexican artist is a playful take on Ettore Sottsass's iconic Carlton bookcase.

Architect John Hix—who, as one might gather, worked under renowned American architect and concrete aficionado Louis Kahn—designed the hotel Hix Island House in Vieques, off Puerto Rico. The latest guest house on the property is called Casa Solaris and is entirely removed from the commercial grid, running completely on solar power. Photo by Michael Grimm.

Nakada works from an Alvar Aalto table in the living and dining area, adjacent to the kitchen. He saved on some elements, such as the plywood cabinetry, and splurged on others, such as the Finn Juhl chairs and Vilhelm Lauritzen lamp. A skylight beneath the angled roof allows in a sliver of constantly changing light.

Giolight, for Gallery Roberto Giustini & Partners, 2007 Grawunder’s bestseller—and one of her most iconic pieces—is included in the permanent collections the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Produced for a Rome gallery in two different sizes, the lights are highly coveted by collectors. Six of the larger, hanging versions were created for $25,000 each and were sold out in a week. A week later, one sold at an auction for $75,000.

“Our specialty is really big and really small,” says Eliza Blank, founder of The Sill, where popular offerings range from towering fiddle-leaf fig trees to tiny tabletop succulent sets.

The structures on the farmstead are to consist of cheap, salvaged, degradable, and transportable materials—like shipping containers, chain link fence, canvas, and straw bales. The buildings will provide storage for tools and produce, sheltered workspace, an office, a restroom, temporary housing for one employee, and even a small farm stand.

This detail of the Duality Kitchen shows the built-in storage, rendering additional kitchen furniture and shelves unnecessary.

The apartment’s main stairwell, disguised as a Shaker cabinet–meets–Japanese tansu stair, houses storage for kitchen ephemera. The finish is hand-painted and accessorized with raw brass hardware.

Though the home is expansive, the team made certain to waste as little space as possible. Clever moments of storage, like this sliding shoe closet, abound.

The wall beneath the stairs holds hidden storage, including an Enomatic wine dispenser and Sub-Zero refrigerated drawers.

Windows are scattered throughout the house in order to let in natural light wherever possible, while custom furniture with clean, minimal lines contributes to the natural palette.

The L-Cube system by Christian Werner for @duravit at #DODLA.

The soothing master bathroom is a vision in white and grey. On the walls, Statale 9 tiles by Viva blend the aesthetics of concrete and rough-hewn wood. This textural element contrasts with the crispness of the angular sinks and tub from Neptune’s Wish Collection.

The traditional Japanese bathroom is located just off the central passageway between the two parts of the house. The couple wash here before bathing and relax in the wood-lined onsen, or tub.

In the serene upstairs bathroom, Kennon paired Chinese Bluestone floors from Defazio with white ceramic wall tiles from local supplier Classic Ceramics. The tub is by Bette with a Roger Seller faucet, while the bathroom sink is by Argent with a Grohe faucet.

The Salvatori marble tiles in the bathroom were added at the last minute, once everyone was confident that they would not put the project over budget.

In the master bath, a custom raised Silestone sink is surrounded by a teak countertop and Porcelanosa glass tiles. Teak slats anchor the glass-enclosed shower.

The main bathroom is only partially separated from the sleeping area by a glass partition. The absence of opaque walls creates a feeling of openness and cohesion in the bright mezzanine space.

The bathrooms feature the same polished concrete flooring and poured concrete counters found elsewhere in the home. A honed granite recessed shower provides a visual counterpoint to the sea of white and steel.

On the house’s lower level, Schicketanz’s guests have a bathroom complete with a steam shower to themselves. Anodized aluminum windows pop against white subway tile from Waterworks. The vanity is from Ikea and the fixtures from Hansgrohe.

The living room is further lit by three protruding skylights angled to catch morning and afternoon light.

Sofia von Ellrichshausen and Mauricio Pezo’s reinforced concrete home in Chile stacks rooms for working in a vertical column atop horizontally-oriented spaces for living.

According to Gaultier, "My imagination comes from the cinema...I love the idea that nature is capable of trumping concrete."

Armstrong designed this mossy, zen courtyard garden to mark the division between the public area of the house (the loft-like living room) and his "private inner sanctum": the master bedroom and his-and-her bathrooms. The plantings pick up on the golden hues of the carefully sited 19th century Japanese screen.

Hale and Schaer built most of the office's structures themselves, including the back loft working area and its steps, covered in artificial turf. Though Shed Built was founded as a design-build office, when its four principals became just two, Hale and Schaer decided that the only way in which they would become better at designing would be to do more design, so they dropped the build half of their business.

This loft in Monza, Italy served as both a theater and a bank in its earlier days. Ornamentation and a difficult structure made a second floor very difficult to achieve. Lissoni did it however, though the real feat may well be this black staircase which seems to float in the stark white room.

Jaklitsch's Marc by Marc Jacobs shop on Melrose in Los Angeles draws on the stripmall tradition, though opens up into more of a loft style interior. Photograph by John Linden.

The addition of a loft increases square footage, providing a larger, more private office/workspace.

The mini-loft concept was simple enough: The space had to function as a traditional loft—high ceilings, open floor plan, large windows, and the sense of expansiveness offered by much larger lofts. Seems reasonable until you remember they had to squeeze a fully functioning kitchen, dining area, living room, bedroom, and bathroom, complete with bathtub, into just 500 square feet.

An adjustable ladder, which blends in with the walls in Vipp's signature ebony powder-coated steel, leads up to the sleeping loft.

Inside studio suite #213 at Met Lofts, designed by Los Angeles-based firm Rachel Winokur Interiors.

Tribeca Manufacturing Building New York–based architect Andrew Franz undertook the renovation of a landmark circa-1884 former soap warehouse in Tribeca, originally designed by George W. DaCunha in the Romanesque Revival style. Franz reorganized and modernized the six-story building—which retains its original 16-foot beam ceilings, brick walls, timber columns, and elevator winches from the former freight shaft—by incorporating steel, glass, handmade tile, and lacquer to complement the masonry and heavy timber. An interior courtyard and rectangular mezzanine are situated below the original 16-foot gull-wing ceiling planes.

InFarm Loft In their industrial loft in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, Guy and Erez Galonska have built a cottage industry around indoor farming, including a farm-to-table supper club. Photo provided by InFarm

A skylight floods the loft space with daylight and offers views of the stars at night.