Ray Kappe, now 80, sits in the master bedroom. He says he's as busy now as he was 40 years ago.

Eddy Uritani (or Uncle Eddy, as he’s known to Zane) did all the tile work in the kitchen and bathroom. The tiles come from a Canadian company called Interstyle.

Ab Rogers dons a bold suit that suits the spirit of the accompanying decor he designed.

Architect Craig Steely designed this house for himself, his wife Cathy Liu, a painter, and their son, Zane, that looks out to the Pacific Ocean from a lava flow on the big island of Hawaii.

The architect at home in his kitchen with cabinetry that he also designed.

In the kids’ room, Seamus climbs the bunk beds he shares with his siblings.

Watson, who works from home when he’s not traveling, likes to use the back patio as his office during warmer months. In choosing patio furniture, he decided on a reversal of the interior color palette: A rectangular white metal table and chairs by Richard Schultz are durable but refined while contrasting with the cedar deck.

Stevens pared down his collection of vintage furniture and art considerably when he bought the Opdahl house, but he saved critical pieces such as this Gene Cooper painting.

As soon as Levy spotted the lolling teenagers, he was delighted—they were obviously experiencing the space as he intended. Though he DOES look dubious in this shot, it was clear that he was happy they were enjoying his lounge.

Poteet describes the space as “unbearably hot” before he used spray-foam insulation between the exterior walls and the interior bamboo. “Now it’s the equivalent of a steel ice chest,” he says.

Dollahite tackled landscaping last, installing climate-sensitive plants in metal planters he designed himself.

Black accent pieces create the illusion of a black and white kitchen in the home of San Francisco architect Cass Calder Smith. A black reading nook coordinates perfectly with the stainless steel countertops and white cabinetry.

Stevens’s office is inside a refrigerated shipping container, which he bought used for about $1,300.

Moreland House

Moreland House

Crime and Punishment is the biggie from the Dostoyevsky canon that Mendelsund designed. He lamented that he's not gotten a crack at the Brothers Karamazov.

Georg Riedel and a Riedel glass. I asked him if he travels with one of his wine glasses and he said that he does bring along a small one, "an SOS version" of the Riedel stuff.

Philippe Starck’s outdoor chairs for Kartell provide cozy fireside seating. These and the sofa version were selected by Salmela. “They’re very much an art form,” he says.

Bruce and Kirsty loved the idea of a kitchen island rather than traditional work surfaces around the walls. Bruce fancies himself a chef and hates to have his back to everyone when he’s cooking. This island, from the Boffi LT line designed by Piero Lissoni, allows guests to gather around for impromptu sushi rolling or casual breakfasts.

Finney is an architect as well as a former habitation module designer at NASA, where he mocked up rest-eat-sleep spaces for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. After four years at the agency, when he realized his capsule would never see the light of day let alone the dark of space, he left and launched Cricket Trailer. He did, however, continue to employ several practices he picked up at NASA, like building full-scale cardboard models to see how well spaces would work together. While designing the Cricket Trailers, it was an invaluable tool for learning how one inch this way or that affected the experience of being in the small camper.

In the kids’ room, Jack climbs the bunk bed he shares with his little brother, James. The paintings on the wall were done by their mom.

In lieu of a checkerboard effect, Kovel kept his carpet squares all vibrantly verdant. With the bamboo cabinets and countertops the whole space has a pastoral feel. “I wanted it to be like the Bradys’ backyard,” he says.

Alfie Bush was one of the many young apprentices who helped build “the Camp,” as Taliesin West was then called. Here he’s shown working on the dining hall.

Luc Tuymans. When I photographed him he was up-and-coming. Today he is a most sought-after painter—museums galore want to collect him.

John built a shelf system for the basement when it was Anne’s office; he adapted it to store the kids’ toys when the area became a playroom.

Alberto's studio is totally open to the elements. He makes use of 25 tons of clay each year designing pottery and teaching. That's him in the blue apron. He was charmingly polemical, emphasizing his opposition to industrial techniques in pottery. He loves to see the hand of the creator.

Lucky Diaz spent three and a half months on this project, working all hours to get it done. “It was worth it,” he says. “To have Ella grow up in an original space is a gift that is beyond measure.”

Music is central to Andrew McKenzie’s living arrangements. With guitars hanging on his Gaboon plywood walls, he always has an instrument at hand.

South Dakota. The Muenster University Center at the University of South Dakota by Charles Rose Architects features large stretches of glass that open the structure up to the rest of the campus.

Since Leonard was asleep, I talked for a while with this guy, Mike. He said that he'd been out at Salvation Mountain for a couple weeks helping out. He was high in the branches using the head of a push broom to dust the monument. Dusting seemed a thankless task in the desert, but Mike was really informative. He also noted that he's one of only a couple people who work around Salvation Mountian beyond Leonard, who is in poor health at 79.

He asserts that Oubrerie “did everything he ever wanted to do here. The more you experience the house, the more intensely you will see the assemblage. “He went to great pains so that you would ultimately see differences in what at first seem repeatable instances.” Visible in the stairs, the underside of balconies, the infill of railings, they are all handled oppositely, with different mountings—“conditions, conditions, conditions, it’s almost baroque. Ornament on top of ornament.”

Right away Hood thrilled at seeing this guy across the street using one of the aluminum tables for his laptop. He enthused about uses for the parklets that he'd not even imagined yet. As to whether there were any that made him nervous he said with a laugh, "skateboarders."

The loft features a lounging area and a cozy, built-in sleeping nook beside a window. Originally, the dome had a full second floor, but the result was a choppy layout of small spaces. “There was no good living area,” says Sam. “My instinct was to open it all up.” When he’s not at the property, he rents it out. The bedding is from Parachute Home.

On view was a Peruvian showhome that combined traditional with contemporary. The designer, Alejandro Rincon Diaz, says he aimed to combine a mixture of rough and finished textures in the pieces he selected for the space.

Bornstein’s living room features an intriguing collection of furniture. The sofa is made by Swedish manufacturer Ire. The 1970s wood burner was a secondhand store find, and the wood table, by Bruno Mattson, was found in a bin at a recycling station. He inherited the lounge chair from his parents.

I caught a movie at Sundance with one of the Kimball's board members and he told me that he quite liked Brook and Scarpa's choice of making the corner a focal point of the design.