Texas. The Cricket Trailer, made in Houston, can sleep up to two adults and two children. With integrated fresh water and greywater tanks along with a water heater, campers can live off-the-grid in the easily towable unit.

Unable to alter the footprint of the building, the Deams created a backyard living area that nearly doubled the home's living space.

Conceived as a glass wall or window that could swing open rather than a typical door, the resulting glass-and-metal piece is so heavy that it required its own foundation! Thanks to clever engineering by Sand Studios, even seven-year-old Macy can operate the 2,000-pound door.

Inkstone bathtub, Sand Brown stone.

An Introduction to Art Collecting: A history of art collecting and a guide to your first acquisitions.

Here, Castle's Chest of Drawers from 1966, so titled because of its resemblance to the human chest cavity. "I got to meet Castle a few years ago," explains Gordon, "and we talked about work from that period--the pieces that his original dealer Lee Nordness referred to as 'wandering forms.' Evan Snyderman of R20th Gallery in New York was representing his vintage work and through him I was able to look through hundreds of archival photos and publications about Wendell, but it was all quite scattered and ephemeral. So we started talking about a book."

Detail shot of the Inkstone wash-basin in Sand Brown stone.

“Gatherings here can be a very rich experience, a dis-cussion around art history, music, food, and fashion.”—Kenneth Montague

By carving away some of the hillside, the Deams effectively added an outdoor room to their renovated home.

Sanding and finishing in the studio

It took Susanna several layers of sanding—and then finally tossing her water-based paint and selecting the proper oil-based formula—to get the floor as white as she'd envisioned. But she couldn't be happier with the result. “The apartment looks bigger when there are white surfaces for the light to bounce on,” she says.

So why is the timing right for a Castle renaissance? Gordon says, "There's a great deal of renewed interest in his work because the timing is right for rediscovering and embracing a homegrown American designer of his stature. Also consider the scale of his oeuvre." It progresses quite wildly from the wooden, organic forms of the 1960s into the similarly-amorphous but colorful plastic furniture of the 1970s. Here, Castle's influential Molar Settee from 1969. The Molar group was designed as a sculptural alternative to contract furniture and was soon snapped up for The Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection.

Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms—Works from 1959 to 1979 by Alastair Gordon, published by Gregory R. Miller & Co., is available now.

Designer Wendell Castle’s work teeters on the line of functional and sculptural. Ghost Rider. Bubinga wood with oil finish. 2010. Courtesy of the artist; Friedman Benda, New York; Photo: Jon Lam Photography.

Astley Castle by Witherford Watson-Competing against architectural giants such as Renzo Piano’s Shard and Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho in Beijing, this sensitive renewal of a dilapidated castle in rural Warwickshire caught our eye for it’s clever layering of crumbling, 16th century stonework and warm modern interiors.

A combination of sliding doors, strategically placed voids, and large indoor plantings create fluid boundaries between indoors and out. The interior courtyard garden—landscaped with tropical plants and volcanic sand—is visually accessible from nearly every room, including the dining and kitchenarea.

Referencing the motif in the kitchen, wood slats also appear on the rear facade of the home; the variegated cedar planks both modulate light and provide a bit of privacy (above).The garden floor, which accommodates an additional living area and office, also offers access to the backyard.

The home’s custom woodwork—including the movable furniture—was made by Orana Joinery and finished with plywood. Chemisys Group supplied the timber door and window finishes, as well as the timber deck outside.

When it came to paint the 40-foot-long curving steel-and-glass window wall designed by Chris and fabricated by Sand Studios, the Deams turned to Steve Bauer of Baumar, who specializes in custom paint finishes, to get the job done. Metallic automotive paint stands up well to the elements—from blaring sunlight to heavy rain—and comes in an almost infinite array of colors.

Architect Stefano Girodo explains the building has a “completely prefabricated and modular structure.” It was built using recyclable and environmentally friendly materials and designed to ensure easy mechanical assembly once on site.

Gaps and openings between the handle-less, white oak shelves are functional and decorative, holding plants, books, and office supplies. Small touches, such as the matching color of the chair and the lower shelves, help accent the clean white surfaces.

There are no paints, lacquers, or polyurethane finishes used anywhere in the house. Indoors and out, the materials were kept simple: The exterior walls and roof are oiled ipe, selected for its hardness and weather resistance.

The screen around the lanai is made from extrene, a material used by the military for radio towers. The welded-steel sculpture, set atop a pile of a’a rocks, was made by Craig.

Inkstone wash-basin in Sand Brown stone with Neos furniture in an Ice silk finish, with Sand Brown stone fronts (Neos furniture designed by Luca Martorano).

After an unprecedented year of earthquakes, hurricanes, and fires, a bright light has been shed on the benefits of building with concrete.

Custom-perforated Swisspearl anthracite panels—made of minerals, sand, and cement—allow light to flow into the pavilion.

Envisioned as a “modern-day, inhabitable sand castle,” MOXI sports a playful and curvaceous appearance with a Spanish-style exterior.

The Outward Bound cabins, designed by the University of Colorado Denver's design-build program, have steel frames that lift the structures above a three-foot snowpack while supporting corrugated-steel "snow roofs."

Workers then sand the chair forms by hand.

Drawing of the Fontainebleau's castle in France for Frédéric Cassel to be the visual on the prestigious patisserie's next chocolate box.

Considering the quality of sofas, the designers sought to bring that same comfort to the floor with a quilted technique.

A steam-bent, solid wood frame seems to defy gravity in the Wendell Lounge chair.

Here, a shot of the "Fantasy Furniture" exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in early 1966. Though two of the four anniversary exhibitions lauding Castle's work have closed, you can view the craftsmanship of his so-called "wandering forms" at Connecticut's Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art through February 24.

Castle in his Scottsville studio in the 1970s. Alastair Gordon reports, "Last year, I spent a rewarding few days at Wendell's studio outside of Rochester, New York, and that became the core narrative for the book--rediscovering all of this one-of-a-kind undulating, restless work that he'd carved meticulously by hand as well as the illuminating sketches that he'd kept in storage."

Seen here, a sinuous rosewood music rack from 1980 along with Castle's original sketches."Castle should be better known, but in fact he is pretty well known among certain design circles, museums, and collectors," says Gordon. "I think he might be much more famous if he'd died a tragically young death in some violent American fashion and limited his output."