Favorites

An aluminum-and-ipe gangplank rises from the dock (right), leading to the recycled redwood-clad moon gate and the front door landing. Below are spare bedrooms and a garden.

In Hanna Bui’s Sausalito houseboat, designed by architect Craig Steely, sea creatures seen through an enormous back window animate bay views. Walls of plank siding dry out easily if they get damp, and different levels of bleached oak floors demarcate living areas and a sunken kitchen. Red Line Roset Togo sofas are paired with a suspended bamboo seat.

The weekend retreat is a welcome respite from the hustle of Mexico City.

Street view

North facade and main entrance.

From the garden, an illuminated view into the bi-level extension.

Designed by architect Richard Dorman in 1959, the post-and-beam dwelling sits on a half-acre lot and boasts floor-to-ceiling windows in every room.

To find symbiosis between the front part of their London Victorian terrace house and the basement, husband and wife Ran Ankory and Maya Carni, directors at Scenario Architecture, connected the kitchen and garden floor with an open, split-level double reception. Likewise, the living lounge and dining area below are seamlessly threaded through the presence of glass stair rails. Bonus: During the renovation process, storage spaces were cleverly formed in hallways and underneath stairs.

A stainless steel chimney painted red pierces through this two-story chestnut-clad holiday pad facing the sea, the handiwork of ECE Architecture's Nick Evans. Built into a sandstone hill in East Sussex, England, the highlights include the kitchen—Evans's wife is a chef—a room enlivened by a shiny 16-foot steel countertop and cabinetry in custom hues of green. For a breezy beach feel, reclaimed roof beams, sawed and painted white, were converted into floorboards.

On the front facade, ground-faced concrete blocks contrast with cumaru wood tongue-and-groove siding.

The custom sliding window screens, which shield from solar gain, were designed by the couple and are a modernized reference to the operable shutters that Denise remembers from her childhood in Austria. They first used the idea on one of their apartment buildings.

Large concrete pavers surround the front of the home and main entrance.

Sliding glass doors open the living room to the covered, stone-paved patio in the backyard. A skylight brightens up the open-air space, which caters to easy entertaining.

The interior is defined by a material palette of wood, metal, and stone.

Inside, the double-height living space features a beamed ceiling flanked by clerestory windows and a built-in bookcase along one wall.