Amazing Mid Mod Construction

Here's an interior of the Ashmun house with its floating mezzanine and ample natural light.

The Dow Test House (Carras House).

The drafting room is austere, though well lit and full of impressive joinery. Photo by: Balthazar Korab

Dow’s office is the transition point between the studio and the residence he shared with his wife, Vada, and their three children. Nestled down a short flight of steps, the room is an energetic and idiosyncratic study of contrasts, from the round lines of the George Nelson Saucer pendant and the strung gourds to the sharp, geometric planes of the layered ceiling.

Though the front of this 1880s home in Adelaide, Australia, maintains a traditional facade due to strict heritage laws, the rear is modern eye candy at its best. See more of the home.

In the 1980s, the retreat was made up of three tiny pavilions linked by wooden platforms. By 2003, the pavilions had been connected by a unifying roof, creating a single form grounded onto the hillside and projecting out over the landscape.

Designed by Philip Johnson for Eric Boissonnas and his family, this house was completed in 1956. Originally designed as a series of pavilions constructed of steel, brick, and glass, the home has since been updated by subsequent owners.

The house that started it all: Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. He and David Whitney used to invite great minds from the architecture, design, and art worlds to visit the house for evenings of discussion and debate. When the Glass House opened to the public in 2007, its programmers continued the invite-only tradition.