umaid ahmed

Entry Courtyard

As most of the original interior had been gutted and remodeled by previous owners, the surviving design elements were just the bones, including the floor plan, facade, and most of the original framework. The owner used these structural components to heighten the indoor/outdoor quality, while also replacing frosted glass with clear, double-paned glass.

The result is a bright, Portuguese home designed in a clean, formal style, where contemporary interiors exist in harmony with the house’s historical shell.

Tom Conrad and Kate Imbach’s first bedroom redo creates as many problems as it alleviated, blocking their view of Noe Valley behind a wall, for instance. Their second attempt, shown here, opened up the balcony, which has a Frame lounge by Francesco Rota for Paola Lenti. A Grand Repos chair by Antonio Citterio for Vitra faces the bed.

An enclosed courtyard, bordred by ipe, is arguably the most distinctive feature of the house that the Phil Kean Design Group created for Adriana De Azevedo, Daniel Coelho, and their two daughters in Winter Park, Florida.

“The original home was in a state of disrepair, had a series of dark, small rooms that were disjointed, and it had very little connection to the outdoors,” Montalba said. The exterior’s wood siding was replaced with concrete board, and native plants grow in the front and backyards.

The rear unit’s front entrance faces the courtyard, and has the same acrylic stucco and painted wood siding as the front unit’s exterior. The door, which has a custom-steel awning over its frame, is painted in “hep green” by Sherwin-Williams.

Dawson Wood Interiors of Truckee, California built the rear unit’s kitchen cabinets with rift white oak. Cornerstone quartz countertops and Ikea parts complete the space.

“Church Street is a pretty busy through street, [and] now everyone knows the ‘rusty steel house,’” Zack says. The front unit’s exterior is made of acrylic stucco, custom wood siding, and Cor-Ten steel.

Making use of the hilltop location, each window was planned to frame interesting vistas or to find the best sight lines around adjoining buildings.

The Schafers' building, The Merrimac, built in 1999, is one of San Diego's first modern, mixed-use redevelopment projects.

The elevated dining room opens out to a side patio, which climbs the wall just behind the house.

Loft-like features are used throughout the first floor interior space, including raw polished concrete floors, exposed beams (one of the few elements of the existing home that were preserved), and diamond-plate steel cladding on the floating staircase.

In our city guide to Paris, Erwan Bouroullec curates a must-see list in the French capital. Photo by: Jessica Antola

The courtyard features a more standard garden.

Continuing the theme of incorporating old and new, the couple furnished their home with family heirlooms from Thailand, Germany, and China alongside modern pieces.

A stony walk and a line of bamboo, original to the property, direct visitors to the entryway of the Pfeiffers’ modest 1956 slice of heaven.

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.

A series of black Muuto chairs—Fiber, Cover, Nerd, and Visu—surrounds a 70/70 table and white Ambit pendants, both by TAF Architects for Muuto.