Concrete

Yumi (left) and Maya (right) cheese around on the steps leading into the front door. Inside, there is ample space for removing and leaving one's shoes, another Japanese element.

Pros: Concrete countertops are durable, resistant to heat, and can be less expensive than natural stone, especially when completed as a DIY project. Cons: Concrete must be sealed before being used; otherwise, its porous nature means that it will stain very easily.

Light Show: Resolution: 4 pierced a concrete wall edging the exterior stairwell with acrylic cylinders to make a clever lighting installation. The cylinders transmit sunlight during the day, Tanney explains, and at night the installation becomes a “backlit constellation” triggered by motion sensors.

Inspired by an old technique that Le Corbusier experimented with in the 1930s, Gregory Katz has imprinted Lot Four Two Four’s name on the exterior wall at the entrance, using laser-cut Perspex on concrete. Read more about this South African concrete abode here.

The bathrooms feature the same polished concrete flooring and poured concrete counters found elsewhere in the home. A honed granite recessed shower provides a visual counterpoint to the sea of white and steel.

A spacious deck was created as part of the addition. A cantilevered concrete bench stretches out to the rear garden and complements the adjacent concrete wall.

Sofia von Ellrichshausen and Mauricio Pezo’s reinforced concrete home in Chile stacks rooms for working in a vertical column atop horizontally-oriented spaces for living.

A mesh steel bridge sits above a cast concrete outdoor canopy on the patio. Concrete floors are polished on the inside, and kept rough on the outside. A pine door leading to a lower level bedroom adds warmth.