Concrete

"I think there’s plenty of missed potential in small compact spaces like these," Lee says. I see it in my neighborhood and other places in publication. People tend to think a small space is a small space and don’t try to do very much with it.

When Belgian fashion retailer Nathalie Vandemoortele was seeking a new nest for her brood, she stumbled upon a fortresslike house in the countryside designed in 1972 by a pair of Ghent architects, Johan Raman and Fritz Schaffrath. While the Brutalist concrete architecture and petite but lush gardens suited her tastes to a tee, the interiors needed a few updates.

The living room is further lit by three protruding skylights angled to catch morning and afternoon light.

The unadorned street-facing facade of the house belies the light, open, tranquil space inside.

The home's different levels create a playful experience for the inhabitants. The concrete floor references the building’s past use as a garage for ambulances.

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.

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.