The master suite’s bathroom unfolds from a glass-walled bathing room, outfitted with a Signature Hardware tub and Lefroy Brooks fixtures, to an open-air shower.

The renovation, which focused on the living-dining-kitchen area, strikes a balance between intimate and inviting, hence the project's name, the Open/Private apartment.

The large open-air pavilion, also overlooking the lake, echoes the retreat’s timber construction and natural hues. It hosted the architect’s wedding ceremony in the year of its completion, 2014.

The Floating Farmhouse’s semitransparent addition has a roofline that matches the pitch of the original 1820s farmhouse. A porch, tucked under the side eaves, is cantilevered over a stream that runs through the property. Ikea loungers are illuminated from the interior by commercial gymnasium lights repurposed as pendant lamps.

The apartment's entryway features a hidden storage wall and media console.

The new volume houses the dining area, which includes stairs to the bedrooms. The table is from Blake Avenue and the walnut chairs are from Room & Board. “You don’t want bright colors to take away from that relationship between the interior and the exterior,” Walker says.

Jones, Partners: Architecture envisioned an open-air structure that resembles an "inside-out RV." A variety of prefab modules host essential activities, like showering and cooking, immediately outside the structure. The unit folds into one rectangular block, so it can be easily transported by trailer.

Open Air School, Johannes Duiker, 1930. Photo by Pat McElnea. Images provided courtesy The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive of The Cooper Union.

The master bathroom has its own open-air patio that faces the street.

The living room and dining room were originally separated by a central fireplace, which interior designer Nicole Hollis removed to create this great room. She installed a modern, custom eight-foot-long open gas fireplace in the living room, equipped with sensors that automatically turn it off when someone gets too near to the flames.

The tearoom, reached by breezeways on either side, provides a transition from the main house to the pavilion, which measures 1,800 square feet. “The pavilion has a distinctive Japanese flair to it, like the original house,” says Parco.

A double-height space encompasses the kitchen, dining and living area, and features 36-feet-wide glass doors that pocket into southern and northern walls.

The kitchen opens to the elements thanks to sliding doors from C.R. Laurence. The anigre in the kitchen is the same employed in the master bedroom.

Heart of Gold Flatware Set ($70)

In the sleek kitchen, the white Ikea cabinet uppers seem to disappear into the wall, while the bases get a distinctive custom walnut wrapping. Flanking the cabinets are open bookshelves, which provide secondary function as a spacial divider for the children’s play area. A Dornbracht faucet sits on a slab of Vermont Olympian White Danby marble, which is also used for the island and backsplash.

White Enamel Four-Piece Place Setting from Gretel HomeBeautifully unexpected at the dining table, this enamel-coated steel flatware by Italian company Variopinte is durable and dishwasher-safe. $74

The top level contains a wood lounge with a retractable roof.

Nuovo Milano Flatware Only after years of experimentation and research on the thickness of the body of each piece in the set did the Nuovo Milano Flatware Place Setting go into production. Today, Ettore Sottsass’s design is considered a classic.

Flatware can also be tied together with a ribbon, or tucked inside a small bag.

Two smaller, adjacent structures house autonomous bedrooms, each equipped with a full bathroom.

The neutral color palette extends to the kitchen, which is overhung by several pendant globes.

The main bathroom is only partially separated from the sleeping area by a glass partition. The absence of opaque walls creates a feeling of openness and cohesion in the bright mezzanine space.

Soheil steps into the music and screening room, which is concealed behind a masonry-veneered door. “We were able to hide a lot of the square footage below the main level, but not in a way that would hurt the design,” he says.

A view of the stretching Carrara marble countertop.

An installation by Willem Cole hangs in the gallery, which leads to an open stairway to the office and private bedrooms upstairs.

Designed by Jagoda, the door swings open to fit in front of a bookshelf.

The resident, a Tokyo transplant, commissioned architect Tadashi Murai to create a fully-equipped structure that comes with its own power, heating and cooling, water, and waste-disposal systems.

Joaquin Altamirano and Silvia Martín worked with Daniel Bergman Vázquez of Estudio Untercio to create an open-plan oasis in an apartment building in central Madrid. Estudio Untercio designed the medium-density fiberboard cupboards, which are coated with lacquer paint matching the ceramic-porcelain countertops. The tubular hood above the island is by Teka.

Fuwa-Fuwa sculptures mimic fun-loving shadows at the Hakone Open-Air Museum.

The concrete plaza is an open-air space equipped for living.

Scott undertook this project while at Olson Kundig under the leadership of Tom Kundig and Alan Maskin. "There's of course a backstory to it, but essentially it boils down to the extraordinary opportunity that still exists when buildings reach the end of their initial lives," says Scott. "In this case, we turned the Guggenheim Museum's spiral into an open-air market and pavilion—two things of which I'm fairly sure Frank Lloyd Wright and the Guggenheim Family never dreamed their museum might become. But it's a testament to how buildings can have incredible lives of their own outside of what their creators originally imagined if we just allow ourselves to step away from the sanctity of design for a moment."

Greta Magnusson Grossman: A Car and Some Shorts: "Just a gorgeous book! A true pioneer, Grossman came from Sweden to California and almost single-handedly brought modern design to the west coast."

“There is a lot of glass so you can enjoy the view and the outdoor lifestyle even inside,” Henrik explains. “You live in the middle of the weather somehow. It’s a really harsh environment, as you have these southwesterly winds blowing through the house. But it is really beautiful as well.”

Holding Pattern, a Tumblr devoted to aerial shots of airports, showcases their industrial beauty.

Created by one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, Renzo Piano, the Piano collection of cutlery is ergonomically designed to fit comfortably every hand. Each piece is crafted from stainless steel and is characterized by smooth lines and gentle curves that make the place setting an elegant addition to a tabletop. With a mirror finish, the Piano set gives a sophisticated look to a meal, but the simply designed utensils make the flatware and serving set a fine choice for everyday dining.

Among the store's wares is the Fantasia black flatware set.