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Two art studios adjoin a central volume at this work/live residence built from terracreto (sustainable concrete), glass, and painted steel just outside of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Residents Austin and Lida Lowrey, retired design and museum professionals, collaborated with their two daughters—Sheridan, an artist, and Elizabeth, an architect—to design the structure as a place for creative contemplation.

A small kitchenette was added to increase the unit's functionality.

“We call it the Traveler because it will travel to you, you can travel to it, or you travel within it, into your own healthy world," says the Coexist team.

Great Room looking toward Dining Room

Covered Entry Walk

Karen White, David MacNaughtan, and their sons, Griffin and Finlay, hang out on the front deckof their narrow home in Toronto’s leafy Roncesvalles neighborhood. A narrow modernist composition of glass panes and purple brick, the house slips like a bookmark between two older buildings, a bright three-story abode on a lot narrower than most suburban driveways.

After months of arduous design and construction, Marmol and Becket are thrilled to escape Los Angeles for their idyllic desert retreat.

At dusk, the light-colored home glows like a lantern in the desert sky.

A "light cannon" illuminates the studio, while massive east-facing skylights point light toward the lime-covered vertical veils.

The V-shaped floor plan allows both wings to be connected. One wings features the garage and the owner’s ceramics studio, while the other contains the common areas.

Photo by Patrick Barta

Garden terrace

Boasting sweeping downtown views, the roof deck reconciles complex geometry to accommodate a staircase, elevator, and usable social space. A fireplace is surrounded by outdoor seating from Paola Lenti.

The house’s street-level entrance shows an openness to its surroundings, and a glass door allows curious passersby a glimpse of the interior.

With doors open, Shino and Ken pull an Eames LCW chair for Herman Miller outside to enjoy the space.

After entering through the front door, visitors pass over the large koi pond on a cast-concrete footbridge chiseled to look like stone.

Colourful furnishings animate the space. Thonet armchair, Jardan Nook lounge and Hay side tables provide a comfortable, deliberately low key setting.

The Kelleys furnished the cottage with help from Suzanne’s daughter Betsy Burbank of Betsy Burbank Interiors. Classic modernist icons, such as a Saarinen Womb chair for Knoll, a Herman Miller Eames lounge chair, and an Eileen Grey E1027 side table look at home alongside present-day pieces such as an Encore sofa (which handily folds down into a sleeping surface) from Room & Board and a Doka rug designed and produced by Stephanie Odegard. The Wohlert pendant lights from Louis Poulsen were designed by Vilhelm Wohlert in 1959, but grouped as such, they appear distinctly contemporary.