dream large

Bates Masi designed the two-inch-thick Carrara marble countertops and white fiberboard cabinetry in the kitchen.

Kitchen cabinets in Japanese elm are topped with Calacatta marble and wraparound concrete for the island.

The team from the interdisciplinary firm Commune Design joins us to talk about their role in revitalizing the city of L.A., from their work on the city’s major residential multiuse projects to the recently opened Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. Photo by Spencer Lowell.

Alfredo chops away in the kitchen, which features floor-to-ceiling sliding glass walls.

Architect Tom Kundig’s assignment was simple enough: Build a tiny, Thoreau-like getaway for an Atlanta-based writer who owned ten acres on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. "The idea was not to clutter anybody’s thinking, especially a writer’s," he said. So he designed a 500-square-foot retreat that’s both womblike and open to its surroundings.

Two linked 1,000-square-foot pavilions are greater than a sum of their parts. The simply detailed, taut, flat-roofed home’s two wings form a T-shape. One wing runs north to south, parallel to a pool, and contains the open-plan living spaces. Photo by Matthew Millman.