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Floor plan of Studiolo by Hanghar

Floor plan of Woods Road by Charles P. Winter, renovated by Cookfox

This classic owned by writer Susan Orlean and her husband John Gillespie was updated by architect Jeff Fink, who specializes in restoring homes by Austrian-born architect Rudolph W. Schindler. The couple has previously owned his Los Angeles Roth house, buying it even though they lived in New York. Then, they sold it for the Kallis-Sharlin House, known for its butterfly roof—which allowed Schindler to add clerestory windows, and more light to the home. For the exterior, they ordered a custom hue from Behr, channeling the grey-green of a Martini olive.

The dining room features a tongue-and- groove Douglas fir ceiling. Original built-ins include a mahogany bench anchored between cabinets whose fronts tilt at the house’s signature 15-degree angle.

Rombo IV first floor floor plan

The view from the entry hall illuminated in neon lights at night.

The view from the entry hall during the day.

Strategically placed walls of glass bathe the interior with natural light during the day and open the house up to the outdoors without compromising privacy.

The large triangular reflecting pool on the second floor is open to the sky.

Leading to a lush wall of green, the long reflecting pool on the ground floor divides the space, with the living area on the left and the dining area on the right.

The ground-floor living areas are bathed in warm colors while the room beyond has a cool blue tone.

Almost all of the furniture was created by Poliform, a long-time partner of the architects.

Edged in by tall walls, vegetation, and a long reflecting pool, the rear triangular courtyard is a peaceful oasis.

When dusk descends on Mexico City, an all-white house takes on a surreal new atmosphere as an alchemy of LEDs bathes the interior in vibrant colors. The dreamlike abode is the work of Miguel Angel Aragonés, a self-taught architect of the Mexican design studio Taller Aragonés, and one of four structures on his property—three houses and a studio—collectively called Los Rombos after their rhomboid shape.

To most eyes, Ezequiel Farca’s 1970s-style concrete home in Mexico City looked like a teardown. Even the lot itself—shallow and crammed against a steep hillside—wasn’t particularly alluring. But Farca saw through all the restraints to create a spa-like refuge in one of the world’s most energetic cities. "It’s is such a hectic place. You’re bombarded by so much information the moment you step into the streets," says Farca, who first gained prominence as a furniture and interior designer. "So we envisioned this house as a retreat, a kind of a temple." The rooftop courtyard is lined with a verdant mix of indigenous plants, including banana trees, palm trees, lion’s claw, Mexican breadfruit, and native vines. The chaise longues were designed for Farca’s EF Collection.

Set in the prominent Mexico City neighborhood of San Angel Inn, Casa Campestre 107 by DCPP Arquitectos is a sleek, modern home designed using traditional materials and processes. The massing on the site contrasts between solid and void space, while the materiality of the home juxtaposes the exterior and interior. The exterior is dark with stone-like flooring and hardwood, differentiated from the interior, which is light and bright with minimal textural play. Regardless of all contrasts, the visual continuity between exterior and interior never fails. Landscape and architecture blend harmoniously for indoor/outdoor living.

A couple—he an entrepreneur working in logistics, she a stay-at-home mother—bought an 8,500-square-foot house here and approached JSa, a Mexico City-based architectural firm, with the idea of remodeling it. The house was poorly sited on its lot in a manner that drew very little natural light. The architects sized it up and quickly realized that the best solution would be to tear it down and start from scratch.

"The longer I work as an architect, the more I want to deepen my skills as a gardener," says Yuri Zagorin Alazraki, founder of the Mexico City firm ZD+A. In building his own house in Mexico City’s Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, his commitment has produced results that appear miraculous. In fact, they grow out of a carefully choreographed series of bravura design moves.