City Dwellings

The roofline of the Tind house prototype, designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune for prefab company Fiskarhedenvillan, has more conventional Swedish gables than the flat-roofed modernism of typical prefab units.

The house is also Build it Green Certified, beating the sustainability requirements of Title 24 (guidelines issued by the California Energy Commission Building Energy Efficiency Program) by over 50%. The house’s laundry is hooked up to a grey water irrigation system and its gutters drain rain into barrels for reuse. The concrete also incorporates 25% fly ash.

In the dining area, Splügen Bräu pendant lamps for Flos hang over a Super-Elliptical table by Piet Hein and Bruno Mathsson for Fritz Hansen.

A custom table designed by Staffan Holm, capable of seating 26, runs the length of Anders Bergström and Kristina Lagercrantz’s kitchen in Gothenburg. Unfold pendants by Form Us With Love for Muuto, Lilla Åland chairs by Carl Malmsten for Stolab, and a painting by Hampus Pettersson complete the space.

For this Swedish kitchen, an extra-thin slab of Carrara marble was used for the countertop and backsplash so that it would recede into the space, not overwhelm it. The room is also outfitted with IKEA cabinets painted a serene powder blue—adding a vintage vibe, and a high-low sense of style.

A second bedroom was converted into a home office/dining room. A Dieter Rams 606 Universal Shelving System (below and opposite) lines the wall. The “Ziggy Diamond” wallpaper (behind the surreal Erle Loran painting) comes from Flavor Paper, a New Orleans firm that prints wall coverings to order, and the ingenious folding table is by Swedish designer Bruno Matthson.

The door to Eoghan Mahony’s office is set on a caster and has a hinge that runs the entire ten-foot height.

Darcy Miro and her son, Lucien, enjoy a moment in their new double-height living room. The Charlotte Perriand wall sconces are vintage finds.

A basic box that’s as tall as it is wide (28 feet) and 16 feet long, this Portland, Oregon house consists of rooms stacked vertically: an unfinished basement on the bottom, a kitchen-living area and a bathroom in the middle, and a bedroom on top, with the stairwell hinged onto the front of the home. The only interior doors are those to the bathroom, basement, and root cellar, leaving the rest of the space open and unfettered. At just 704 square feet, Katherine Bovee and Matt Kirkpatrick's home is a great lesson in making the most out of every inch. Click here to see the interior.

The entrance opens into a light-filled hall, with a Marcel Wanders chandelier and a Luna console table by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance.

"I think an architect’s job is to celebrate what people really care about and simplify and streamline the rest.” —Page Goolrick

Passive Voice-Julie Torres Moskovitz created New York’s first passive house using a tightly sealed envelope around an aging Brooklyn brownstone’s exterior. Her clients requested a home that was simple and low-maintenance and Torres Moskovitz brought them just that, with the latest energy-efficient appliances and minimalist palette. Photo by: Hai Zhang

Speaking to his original design, architect Saul Zaik says, “We were really just building boxes with a bunch of windows but experimenting with how you integrated indoor and outdoor spaces.” The house has seven different openings to the exterior, allowing different courtyard or patio settings for a range of outdoor activities, including seating for a gathering on the street-facing side. The Milfords hired Lilyvilla Gardens for the landscaping around the house, including variegated bluestone steps with thyme joints.

The living room sports a panoply of wood: Douglas fir for the ceiling, hemlock for the walls, and stained oak for the floor. The sofa is the Neo model by Bensen and the rug is vintage.

Linda Hutchins and John Montague hired Works Partnership Architecture to turn a former warehouse and auto repair shop into a versatile live/work space. The building is full of natural light, thanks to 11 skylights and a glass atrium in the center of the space, where a hammock and a vine maple tree sway in the breeze.

Geraldine and Kit Laybourne’s apartment is inside architect Neil Denari’s HL23 building in the Chelsea arts district of New York. It hovers above the High Line, a former elevated rail line now transformed into a public park. A pair of Bouquet chairs by Tokujin Yoshioka for Moroso are comfy perches from which to gaze down on the High Line. Photo by Christopher Wahl.