“The old living room and balcony on the sixth floor were transformed into the master bedroom with an en-suite open bathroom,” Hammer said. Flos lighting illuminates the space above the vanity.

The top container contains Wardell's office—and a "napping nook" above that.

The spherical design of the Birdball encourages small garden birds to nest and find protection from the elements.

The fourth-floor kitchen features appliances by Miele, and Heracleum II pendants by Bertjan Pot for Moooi hang over both the kitchen island and the dining table.

The pendant lamp is a vintage find.

Original 1925 details include stucco molding throughout the house. A Small-Design Circle table and stools echo outdoor greenery in the room shared by Elliott and Mateo, ages 12 and nine.

FULL CIRCLE VISION GLOBE Tecnodidattica Ligure has been producing some of the world’s finest globes for more than half a century. Among them is its collection of Atmosphere globes, conceived by revered Danish designers Claus Jensen and Henrik Holbaek. Each meticulously detailed globe is blown much like glass and assembled by gifted craftsmen in Italy.

Tall and surprisingly open, the Tel Aviv Town House by Pitsou Kedem Architects continues in the tradition of its Bauhaus-inspired neighbors with a white facade and black window frames.

The urinals are life-size.

Will relaxes on the sofa Gerald designed, below a painting by Gary Freemantle.

Here's a peek at 'Above the Pavement—The Farm!,' the second title in the Inventory Books series, which explores the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and food.

"Copenhagen | Cyclist Culture"

Four-year-old Ian plays in the courtyard, which is the center of family life in warmer months.

And why the "with Disney"? Thanks to a partnership with Disney, Circle with Disney users have access to Disney videos, music, games, blogs, GIFs, and more, via each user's MyCircle dashboard. Disney aside, the dashboard is where each family memeber can track their filters, time online, and more. You can learn more about Circle with Disney and purchase it on their website here.

The Circle with Disney ($99) device is this small 3.25 inch cube whose rechargeable internal battery means it can't be deactivated by children. How does it work? Circle with Disney isn't a router but uses your existing internet setup. It employs "ARP spoofing," a technique that can be used to hack networks, to actually safeguard your WiFi. As your data moves between home devices and your router, it's redirected to this device for encryption and monitoring.

All your surfing history stays in the Circle device and is never shared. While it instantly detects all your home devices, it only works with iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) with iOS 8 or later. Physically, Circle with Disney is small and inconspicuous. An ethernet cable port means you can connect it directly to the router if your internet is 60 MBps or faster. However, its simple exterior belies the wide range of features that let you manage and monitor, in detail, your home's online activity.

Circle by Mike Perry.

The office space above the kitchen looks out onto the great room.

Houldin, 10, curls up in the playroom nook which is directly under a side skylight that Pulltab added in order to make the interior rooms inhabitable, as per New York City building code. The custom millwork around the window seat is painted in Rainy Day by Fine Paints of Europe.

Life Along the Elevated, by Megan Canning, Krisanne Johnson, and Whitney Johnson, $25 from designtrust.org Published by the non-profit organization the Design Trust for Public Space, the book is the product of a photojournalism fellowship documenting life in New York City near its nearly 700 miles of elevated infrastructure, which includes bridges, highways, subway tracks, and rail lines. This title offers a glimpse the cityscape that is misunderstood, something the urbanism enthusiast or landscape designer on your list would appreciate. (Plus proceeds benefit a good cause.) “The reality is the elevated looks beautiful from afar, especially at sunset, but after spending a great deal of time photographing along it, you quickly notice the intense noise pollution, the poor lighting, and the chaotic nature of a transit hub. And these conditions are exactly what the Under the Elevated project is trying to improve,” noted photographer Krisanne Johnson.

Torontonians Dan and Diane Molenaar head north to Drag Lake when they need a weekend away from urban life—though they brought some of the city with them. The mirrored windows that circle the cottage were recycled from two office towers in Toronto.

Kakslauttanen (Saarriselka, Finland) True, these glass-covered igloos are built for two, but as far as small dwellings go, there are few that can boast such commanding views of the Northern Lights. So remote that it has a section on its website to reassure potential guests that it does, in fact, get phone service, the glass rooms looks like a grid of dots (or perhaps umlauts) against the snow-covered wilderness. Photo by Kakslauttanen

In the study, an oil painting by David Kroll, one of the artists represented by Sette's gallery hangs above a Le Corbusier daybed.

The cantilevered master bedroom appears to hover above the lake. Photo by Brian Mihealsick.

Beyond simple parental controls for each user—the filter levels are pre-k, kid, teen, adult—you can also monitor or assign limits for particular apps or websites such as Youtube or Instagram. Circle's database even places most websites into certain categories (such as business, health, hobbies, chat + forum) that can serve as the basis for filtering or tracking individual interests.

On a basic level, the app allows you to monitor how long any user can be on the internet. It can even "pause" the entire home internet for chores, family dinner, or bedtime. Circle with Disney also adds up each user profile's internet usage across platforms to guarantee one hour of internet usage truly means one hour. Each user can track their stats and receive notifications when time limits are reached.

While certain devices like the thermostat can remain off the network, every device you do add—from tablets to videogame consoles—is assgined to a family member's profile. From there, you can assign specific rules and limits to what each person sees and does across all their internet-connected devices.

From above and below, the blue foam models of these unused Dutch buildings form a beautiful landscape suspended in mid-air.

The Blue Sky prototype house leads a second life as desert getaway for David McAdam and his partner Scott Smith.

With nary a traffic light in sight, Christmas Circle (a large traffic circle) welcomes visitors into the center of town.

“We tried to envision just two floors, but once summer arrived we decided that we were going to tear the roof off and put on that triangle with windows.”

Amanda: Design in Film I spent a very pleasant 11 minutes this morning previewing this mish-mash of modern homes appearing in films across many decades and eras. I appreciate the time it took to edit this one together—there are tons of homes represented.

With 400 bicycle parking spaces, the Collaborative Life Sciences Building—a partnership between Oregon Health & Science University, Portland State University, and Oregon State University—earned a Bike Score of 91.

Visibility and Mold collaborated on the Life Measured pitcher, a hand-blown glass carafe with removeable rings that make it easy to measure ingredients.