"I think an architect’s job is to celebrate what people really care about and simplify and streamline the rest.” —Page Goolrick

Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge spent four years shopping for furnishings, fixtures, and lighting to outfit the guest rooms, sourcing steel hardware in Hong Kong, vintage lighting in Italy and France, and many mid-century pieces in their backyard, aka Palm Springs’s renowned vintage shops.

Finds included Bertoia barstools, a J. Wade Beam coffee table, and a chrome Thonet-inspired chair in Unit One and a Warren Platner coffee table and chair in Unit Four.

Each of the four units has a private patio.

The open observatory.

Resident Misha Bukowski plays with young Zachary in the walkway between the renovated buildings. The new units are clad in stained local cedar.

To maximize guests’ experience of Lautner’s legendary approach to daylight, Beckmann and Trowbridge forewent blinds or curtains on the windows and glazed walls, offering guests sleeping masks instead.

The eat-in kitchen features poured-in-place concrete countertops and redwood wall paneling.

“Your first impression is that the house is very closed,” says David Barragán of the building he designed with Jose María Sáez in Quito, Ecuador. Stacked concrete forms, developed by Barragán and Sáez and used as planters along the front facade, offer privacy and integrate the building with the site.

In the Dolomite mountains, an angular copper-clad apartment building echoes the topography of its site. Photos by Hertha Hurnaus

My favorite detail in the kitchen.

The sleeping cubbies lie beneath the walkway connecting front and back units. Cedar decking and soffit add warmth and texture to the transitional space.

"City | Inventory"

Corner of a building in Berlin, Germany.

Building Codes: Whether you are planning a renovation or building from the ground up, arm yourself with the knowledge that will help you navigate endless meetings and negotiations. Illustration by Andy Rementer

Building and stairwell in Essen, Germany.

Architect Michael Cobb used Douglas fir harvested from the site throughout the house, such as on a sliding door outfitted with Swiss Rod SS hardware from the Real Carriage Door Company.

The yellow North Face tent looms over the top of the main building.

As this site is updated sporadically, visiting can be a surprise gift. It's worth a bookmark for occasional checking in.

Although initially established in the German town of Weimar, the Bauhaus relocated to the industrial city of Dessau. This building, constructed by Staatliches Bauhaus founder and director Walter Gropius, was the second home of the renowned school.

San Francisco’s Barbary Coast Library: When the Gold Rush was at its high, Barbary Coast (now enveloped in historic Jackson Square) was the illicit place-to-be. Now, designer Ken Fulk has crafted the design for a members-only social club called The Battery in the historic Musto building. From: California Home + Design. Photo by Joe Fletcher

Alvin Huang, who leads SDA/Synthesis Design and runs the Architectural Association Visiting School Los Angeles (AAVSLA), will share how he uses novel architectural materials and the concept behind such proposed projects as the Shanghai Wuzhou International Plaza (pictured). He'll be joined by USC professor Doris Sung to discuss how technology can improve building science, making for smarter structures.

"Residential | repetition"

The home page, currently showing imaged from "The Best Photos of 2012" series, this one is of a man walking into the abandoned House of the Bulgarian Communist Party in central Bulgaria. Image from The Atlantic; photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images.

Named for the giant flocks of pigeons that once roosted onsite, the Rookery is really two buildings in one. Viewed from the street, the red marble and Romanesque adornments of the Rookery’s facade are echoes of the grandeur of the 19th century. Inside, the vaulted ceiling and bold geometric metalwork of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed lobby are pure Prairie School. While the Rookery is privately owned, the lobby is open to the public during business hours. Photo by: Rachel

Reclaimed materials: Recycled building materials can cut construction costs while simultaneously forging a link with the past. “Be alert about what is being taken down in the area and talk to homebuilders,” Campbell says. “There may be more opportunities than you think.”

At night the PECO Building’s giant LED screen displays scrolling text messages around the building’s crown.

An extension was added to the existing property

Rainwater is collected from the rooftop of the Permanent Camping! Mudgee abode by Casey Brown, NSW, Australia. Photo by Penny Clay

The unadorned street-facing facade of the house belies the light, open, tranquil space inside.

Our favorite designs are these blue ones.

The Green School in Badung, Bali, Indonesia, by Effan Adhiwira, employs micro-hydro power, solar power, bio-diesel, and natural air conditioning; it was also constructed with 99% natural materials. Photo by Iwan Baan

100 Contemporary Green Buildings, Volume 1 is available through Taschen

Apartment balconies in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The back garden includes fragments of stone from the earlier building.

University of California, Merced Long Range Development Plan in Merced, California Ambitiously setting a goal for daylight access in 75 percent of the interior rooms (quite a feat for a large university building) is just the beginning for UC Merced’s long-range plan. By 2020, UC Merced plans to be the first zero-net-energy, zero-net-waste and zero-net-emissions campus in the USA. It will also help to preserve the surrounding 30,000 acres of vernal pool grasslands, the largest concentration of vernal pool grasslands in the world.