Designs with Symbolism

The reinforced-concrete Church of St. Wenceslas, completed in 1930.

NAMELESS Architecture is a design practice run by Unchung Na, Sorae Yoo, and Kiseok Oh. Founded in New York, it has since expanded to Seoul, South Korea. The RW Concrete Church in Byeollae, a newly developed district in northeastern Seoul, "is set to become part of a new urban environment, materialized through its simplistic form, unified materiality, and program-based continuation of space," the firm says. Photo courtesy of NAMELESS Architecture.

With the free-floating birch pod defining the space, and the massive Venetian chandelier accentuating the volume, the great room is, indeed, great. The Suarezes wanted the living area to be a place where the family could be occupied individually while still together. Bonnie works in the kitchen while Santiago (seated on an IKEA couch borrowed from one of their sons until they find something else) works on the computer.

This home in a former Chicago church fully utilizes an original stained-glass window in its light-filled kitchen.

The undulating white-cedar door is a replica of one Santiago admired at a sushi bar in Japan.

Trinity Church, Boston, Massachussetts (1877) H.H. Richardson, a singular individual who made a practice of wearing monks' garb on a daily basis, created the Trinity Church in a style that became known as 'Richardsonian Romanesque'. The structure's rounded arches, broad earthbound tower supported by four piers, and articulated masonry, signaled an optimism and exuberance for solidity that has been repeated in churches and civic buildings across America.