Favorites

John Issa of Perimeter Architects oversaw the creation of the rope room in this Wicker Park abode, which belongs to client Brian Littleton—a bachelor with a young niece and nephew. "It posed tons of challenges," he recalls. "Designing with a material that has slack is more math than I care to tackle."

The Tower House is made up of tiny houses, clustered at the southern end of the property and clad in white steel panels and western red cedar shingles. Spinning off the living room on the north side of the main house, the children’s study sits separate from the other pavilions. On its upper level, Oxley netting forms a web on which the kids and their friends can sit and read with views of the leafy street and garden.

Overhead, a 102-square-foot skylight fills the interior with daylight that streams through the catamaran net, where Ulla lounges.

A Woodchuck-made loft bed anchors Sam's room. The dark green playmat is by Alex Playmats.

In a spare bedroom/playroom located in another section of the house, Berg played with juxtapositions of shapes, installing an oak-wrapped, triangular reading nook inset with a circular window.

Delicate ferns grow beneath a Myrtle canopy in the courtyard, forming a cool microclimate at the home’s center.

The curved form of the stair and the railing reference the arched windows and some of the interior walls.

Large glazed walls connect the different functional volumes of the home. “You are constantly aware of the landscape as you walk from one area of the house to the next,” says Costello. This impression of the landscape being a part of the home itself is emphasized by the continuation of the board-formed concrete from exterior to interior.

A tall timber cabinet divides the living and dining areas, and holds a collection of mementoes and objects.

Dinning Room

Portrait in gray and yellow shades by Olga Fradina, vintage still life, 1920s sketch.