Future love

The new office makes the most of the exposed brick, tall ceilings, and large southfacing windows. "Because we are based in New York, we don’t have a ton of space," says Dots co-founder Patrick Moberg. "We wanted a clean, thoughtfully designed place to build and play games." Murphy interpreted these wishes into an aesthetic she describes as "traditional American office meets Scandinavian home."

Light streams into the bedroom through walls of floor-to-ceiling glass. The windows are triple-glazed, creating a tight, eco-friendly seal.

Turning its back to the street and next-door apartment like a curled-up cat, the long, narrow house spills out sideways to the garden, designed by landscape architect Andrea Cochran.

In the light-filled bedroom is a vintage teak coffee table and a Danish modern floating bed.

Another view of the deck.

The clients insisted that none of the trees on the property be disturbed, so Kevin Alter and his team at Alterstudio Architecture built a deck and an overhang around two of them.

An additional six weeks of construction were required on site to accommodate the large amount of decking and the two-car garage. Archiblox's David Martin said the toughest challenge of construction was the “double void area in the living room."

The spatial drama on the interior comes from the staircase and tatami room upstairs. The daffodil pendant overlooking it all is from Ikea. The butterfly stool is by Sori Yanagi and was a birthday present from Konishi to Gaffney.

“Having diagonal wood slats make spaces more dynamic, and in a way enable greater use of the material,” Pereira says. A small deck on the second level forms a shaded alcove below where residents can doze in a hammock.

The stairs and the wood paneling were designed and built by wood-worker Noah Israel, a longtime neighbor and friend.

Eco-friendly features like solar panels and rainwater catchments keep this retreat's environmental footprint small. Immediately to the right of the entry is the main living space, which features a Jetmaster 700D wood-burning fireplace with a tiled hearth.

The rear facade is a surprisingly modern counterpoint to the traditional front. Here, traditional brick is traded for modern stucco.

This minimalist home outside of Antwerp was designed by AIDarchitecten with a simple black swing hanging underneath its covered patio. Photo courtesy of AIDarchitecten

CP Harbour House is a vacation home outside of Toronto designed by MJ | Architecture with a large, bed-like swing hanging on the tree-surrounded deck. Photo courtesy of Lorne Bridgman

An Egg swing from Patricia Urquiola’s Maia collection for Kettal sits in the garden.

Nicole Hollis designed this contemporary home in Hawaii for a couple who were Southern California natives that fell for the coast of Kona long ago. The home boasts indoor/outdoor living that’s complete with a relaxing bench swing to enjoy the Hawaiian breeze. Photo courtesy of Laure Joliet

Studio 19, a student program at Auckland’s Unitec Institute of Technology, designed the Onemana Holiday Home in a coastal town on New Zealand’s North Island on a sloped plot of land. Working with the students allowed the couple to afford a custom-built home, which was built on-campus over the course of 12 months. The outdoor deck, which includes a wicker chair swing, is level to the home’s floor making it a natural extension of the interior. Photo courtesy of Simon Devitt

In Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen's home (you might recognize Bjerre-Poulsen as the photographer of this Danish house, which was featured in Dwell's April 2012 issue), white walls and cabinets allow details, like the herringbone worksurface crafted from reclaimed wood and lighting fixtures, to shine.