DreamHome

The separation between indoors and outdoors is almost unnoticeable.

The courtyard helped bring together both sections of the house with a pocket garden. Even after being cut 15 years ago, ivy plants continue to spread and shield the house from sun exposure.

When the firm first arrived on the site, the second floor of the property was so badly damaged that it was at risk of collapsing. The first floor was remade with shotcrete for reinforcement, and two walls of the first floor were “rebuilt in rendered polystyrene blockwork to reduce the weight of the building while providing a thick insulating layer,” Simpson says.

The library is lined in reclaimed spotted gum that Maynard says “brings with it wisdom from its previous life.” A stained glass window by Leigh Schellekens makes the contemplative room feel like a domestic chapel.

After purchasing a thin, L-shaped lot in Tokyo, Tamotsu Nakada asked architect and friend Koji Tsutsui to create an open-plan concrete home to fit the site. Photo by Iwan Baan.

To achieve a level of comfort on a plot wedged between virtually identical prefab houses, the architects brought in a sense of the outdoors with this courtyard that's finished with a grey brick floor and a live Evergreen Ash tree.

Three-year-old Ran Sugiura peers out the front door of her Tokyo home, a concept-driven yet surprisingly livable piece of architecture that her parents describe as uniquely well suited to the family’s flexible “futon lifestyle."

The cypresses beyond the ipe fence afford the family privacy.

Architect Ken Meffan's ten-years-in-the-making home is located in the tiny Northern California town of Rough and Ready—a term that might as aptly refer to the house itself. Though all the on-site plants are mundane home-center varieties, they grow to uncanny heights in the moist, sunny environment.

The Zizmors didn't want to use curtains to screen their wide-open home from noisy neighbors. Instead, Kari Elwell Katzander of Mingo Design, an urban landscaper, created a living wall of wooden planters and English ivy that provides privacy without blocking light.

Inside, a suspended staircase rises up past the couple’s bookcase over a well-lit seating nook. Aalto stools by Artek join Eames molded plywood dining chairs by Herman Miller to give an especially modern touch to the kitchen.

The 1920s building was converted into lofts in 2000. The client started out looking for new cabinet hardware and an improved connection between the laundry room and the guest bath, but ultimately decided to work with the firms on a full overhaul.

Uninterrupted cement flooring was chosen for the mezzanine. The cement extends to the bed and bathtub block, while the exposed ductwork and black beams above dramatically accentuate the ceilings.

Designer Paola Navone transformed a 200-year-old factory in Umbria into an inviting home for Andrea Falkner-Campi and her husband. Once a tobacco-drying plant, and before that a silkworm farm, the home sits 90 miles north of Rome.

Designer in Brooklyn, New York "The pieces in the space are a combination of industrial reclaimed finds and bespoke, often both in the same item. The cabinets were a vintage medical find, powder-coated and set up on welded stilts. The mirror was commissioned from Made In Chinatown. Ceiling color and texture came through lots of trial and error in order to avoid the heavily toxic and arduous process normally involved in staining concrete. The mezzanine sign which marks the space was acquired through a long chain of inside jokes from a friend—I'm still unsure exactly of its origins, possibly the bygone New York Subway signage system."

Futuristic floating stairs lead to the loft’s mezzanine. Throughout the lower level, natural stone was chosen for the flooring, laid at an irregular angle to add visual interest.

Casteñada explains, “Everything starts with an interview that I personally conduct with the owner in order to understand his lifestyle and expectations. The final result needs to satisfy the owner’s lifestyle, dreams and expectations, as well as my firm’s vision and design concepts.”

Kartheiser’s private courtyard includes a covered seating area and fire pit, designed by Roberts.