The Andersen Architectural Collection’s Eagle windows and doors provide the panes and passageways of the home.

The cavernous living room takes advantage of its height with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

If you're looking for the ultimate minimalist bed frame, a platform bed with edges that extend beyond the mattress allow it to double as a bedside table, eliminating the need for other furniture.

The Parisian flat that American-born architect Michael Herrman shares with his wife, Cécile, and their 2-year-old daughter, Rose, had been nearly untouched since the 1790s, when it was built. “But I wanted to try and reveal some of its age in a fresh new context,” Herrman said.

In the house’s front room Monkman relaxes on a stool from local retailer Andrew Richard Designs. A new window system draws in sunlight and views of the front courtyard designed by local landscape architect Terry McGlade, the building’s former owner.

Sliding doors cast shadows across the concrete floor.

A collection of flea-market finds and personal keepsakes sit perched upon a shelf in Austin’s studio.

A carpet of custom tile created by Navone punctuates a corridor on the first floor.

Exposed boards that were salvaged from the original apartment were installed into the master bedroom. They provide a rustic atmosphere, enhanced by the addition of DIY industrial lighting. The bedding, curtains, and bedside tables are all from IKEA.

The kitchen occupies one corner of the L-shaped structure. As throughout, the floors are made up of reclaimed eucalyptus that Chris planed himself.

The Perth residence of Renee Coleman via the Design Files.

The cantilevered main floor creates space for bracken fern and other indigenous vegetation to flourish.

If they could have just fit the word “quantum” into that title, we would have had the perfect sci-fi trifecta. What is this contraption, you ask? Though not exactly on the market yet, the idea is that food will be suspended in a safe, biopolymer gel to keep it refrigerated at its optimal temperature all while using only a fraction of the energy required by today’s refrigerators. If this Bio Robot Refrigerator ever hits the market, the Star Trek food replicator can’t be too far behind.

Enric Ruiz-Geli’s firm Cloud9 designed the suburban house of the future—it also happens to be sustainable. The concrete volumes of the upper and lower floors are independent to allow expansion and compression. Photo by Gunnar Knechtel.

A 606 Universal Shelving System by Dieter Rams for Vitsoe hangs tough on the only opaque wall of the living room. Russell-Clarke and Moolsintong designed the coffee table, and Marcel Wanders gets credit for the Bottoni sofa for Moooi.

A block of flats next to the Bio Oko Cinema, Prague.

Minimal interventions by architect Andrew Simpson allowed this former jam warehouse outside of Melbourne, Australia, to be turned into a family residence. "To draw light and ventilation into what was a poorly oriented and deep footprint, an extensive number of operable skylights were introduced on the north- and south-facing roof pitches, and a large void connecting the floors was strategically positioned to also take advantage of this amenity," Simpson says. American oak floorboards and Dulux paint were used throughout the property for continuity.

One of the most classic ways to understand a space is through an architectural drawing, which can take the form of a plan (a flat aerial view of a space) or an elevation (a flat view of an interior wall or exterior side of a building).

“Designing a house is like writing a song: You try as best you can and you have to finish at some point. You’re probably best to write another song than driving yourself mad.”—Jamie Norton, resident

It’s a good idea to read reviews about specific pieces before buying them, which can help prepare you for the unexpected.

Lara and Ethan Pagnier have hosted over 40 travelers since joining Airbnb, and it's easy to see what attracts them. Apart from owning a spotless home in San Francisco's coveted Mission district, the pair are natural hosts.

Keeping the home cozy in winter is as easy as snuggling up near the Rais stove or the fluffy pooch.

Much of the 1950s and '60s furniture collection comes from Denmark, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Netherlands.

Urbem lighting collection by Jenner Studio at Area Sciesa.

Distinguished crystal manufacturer Saint-Louis charged three female designers (Paola Navone, Kiki Van Eijk, and Ioanna Vautrin) to design a lighting collection. The designers visited the Saint Louis archives to draw inspiration. Here, Kiki Van Eijk used a former mold to develop an interactive light that opens and closes to your desired brightness.

To create a bit more texture in the kitchen and baths, the couple added classic checkered tiles from the local hardware store—an inexpensive option that broke up the polished concrete floors spanning the rest of the house. Pavonetti designed and built the pedestal sinks using reclaimed cedar siding.

Designed by Renzo Piano, the Menil Collection contains some 17,000 works by a wide-array of 20th-century modernists, from Man Ray to Mark Rothko.

Eales tells us the Sealand products are headed to France and New Zealand in 2016, and that he has been working on designs for some hemp and cotton apparel.

For more information on Sealand products, see their website.

Eales, a 2013 Design Indaba Emerging Creative whose surfboard rack won Most Beautiful Object in South Africa two years ago, is a product designer with a focus on the integrity of the raw materials he uses. Together, with a shared passion for the water and creating environmentally friendly products, he and Schlebach hope that Sealand will help keep litter from South Africa’s shores.

The Studio vanity unit from Swoon was designed so that it works well in both small and large bathrooms, with lots of flexibility in terms of color, basin, wall or floor mount, and with or without a tap or faucet hole for wall-mount or regular faucet locations.

Architect Bruce Bolander made the most of a limited footprint in a house he designed in a Malibu canyon. With the small bedroom unable to accommodate any "normal" size desk, the architect designed a very thin custom steel desk where resident Heidi Wright works. The floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors from Metal Window Corporation open the entire corner of the room up to the outdoors. “The mountains across the way are almost like another wall—they contain the space to the point that you feel like you’re in a much bigger space, that you’re part of the overall landscape,” says Bolander. Photo by J Bennett Fitts.

The master bath incorporates custom cabinets by Bob Clausen, fixtures by Grohe, Hansgrohe, and Kohler, and a sink by Duravit. Plush Lisbon cork carpets the floor.

A Gio Ponti chair from 1963 is paired with a vibrant Daniel Lergon painting and Ball Lights by Michael Anastassiades, all set off against All White paint from Farrow & Ball. Photos courtesy the Apartment.

“We’re here for almost three months every summer—and it works so well that you never feel it’s a small space. The separation and steps between each perfect little box create a great flow.”—Nadja van Praag