Here's a foretaste of what we can expect from Mendelsund's treatment of the complete Kafka.

Below Kovel’s apartment is Fritts’ furniture shop, Intelligent Design, and around the corner West Enders can expect a new branch of Seattle’s Ace Hotel and the new Portland headquarters for the architecture firm Zimmer Gunsul Frasca.

While brick is what was expected for the neighborhood, Mandel used a brick shingle for the extruded extension that occupies what was originally the side yard.

"It is expected that the tree will strengthen the relationship between the family and the house, as if the tree is another member of the family," says Chikamori.

As does the the urinal, a design and shape one would never expect to see made from yarn.

Inside the former biplane hanger, the House of Air is filled with trampolines. It's expected to achieve LEED certification.

“By using a hybrid model that includes both prefab and site-built construction, we were able to push the architectural vocabulary of prefab construction beyond the expected, with a bold, new visual vocabulary,” Denton says.

In the principal bedroom, a freestanding marble bathtub is positioned in front of a glass wall at the entrance to the en suite bathroom. “I never take baths,” the owner admits. “But whoever lives here after us will expect a large tub in a house like this.”

Diego's typewriter. Easier to imagine him thundering his orders, but I expect he must of put a few to paper.

The hall is a mix of old and new. The original building was created in 1911 and the renovations are expected to bring it up to LEED Silver certification.

Use this as a guide to finding the right architect for your new home or renovation—and what to expect during the process.

Debbi Gibbs’s son Blake had one primary design requirement: bunk beds. Specifically, he wanted "two sets of single bunks, one on each side, with a bridge over the top." Gibbs says the Venetian-style arched bridge connecting the two beds exceeded her expectations: "I was expecting a flat platform, but our builder decided to take Blake’s request (to connect them) and made him his very own Bridge of Sighs."

For the couple, who are expecting, adding a nursery was a key component of the renovation. The home’s historic trusses were lightly sanded and whitewashed.

A walnut-wrapped stereo system fits perfectly in the allotted space. "It really looks exactly like what you would expect in a midcentury modern house from that era," says Glenn.

Wood-framed windows sit within the home's 3D-printed walls. ICON expects its proprietary mortar to have the same durability as traditional concrete masonry (if not better).

"Freebooter is not just ‘a house to live in,’ but a home conceived to envelop and stimulate the senses of its owners," says Garziano. "We are designing for an age in which clients expect more from their homes."

The 3,700-square-foot home has four bedrooms. The owners, who are expecting their first child, just finished transforming one of them into a nursery. The dresser is from Room & Board and the hanging planters are by Sandbox Ceramics.

Alexandre Delaunay of Sabo Project helped Romain and Aurélie Fliedel renovate a 1,650-square-foot duplex when the couple were expecting their first child. Custom plywood cabinets and shelves line the dining area, which includes a table and chairs by Hay.

Luckdrops’ Studio+ is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom shipping container home with 287 square feet of living space. The $38,000 home features light, bright, and modern interiors that are miles away from what you might expect the inside of a shipping container to look like.

Rather than go with the expected hardwood treatment, Scenario installed springier vinyl flooring on the home's top level. Its open circulation incorporates areas for study, eating, and lounging—a key fulfillment of the client’s directive for an engaging environment that maximizes contact and interaction.

Richard Shelton and Kali Nikitas (pictured), the first of the new residents to arrive on the scene, sit with their rescued poodles, Ravi and Lucky. “The houses were meant to be lived in by the average person. No one expects grandeur. People appreciate the details,” notes Nikitas.

Michal Bartosik's seven-foot-tall floor light sculpture—which is nearing production—is expected to retail for $1500.

In the living room, a sofa by Vico Magistretti is next to a plywood armchair by Gerald Summers. The coffee table is by Enzo Mari; the Cesta lantern is by Miguel Milá for Santa & Cole. “It’s too expected for us to put Hans Wegner here,” Duncanson explains.

If you are expecting but do not have dedicated nursery space, Swedish designer Bo Ekström’s wall-mounted fold-down Nathi changing table can save you lots of space as well as saving your back.

Alqadi topped the second cabin, which houses a water tank and the site’s mechanicals, with a north-facing deck for sunbathing and sleeping under the stars. In addition to a heated bed, it includes a bio-ethanol fireplace and a projector for watching movies on the back wall. A custom cover fits over the opening when rain is expected.

“Often the boys use the shipping containers in ways we hadn’t even imagined—like bravely climbing on top of the containers and jumping onto the big bean bags below,” says architect Paul Michael Davis. “It’s probably not advisable—a shipping container isn’t a jungle gym—but it’s thrilling to see a space used in ways you never expected!”

The Missoni Home booth at Maison & Object was, as expected, a riot of color and print. I noticed a lot of thickly-spun knit this year, including photorealistic patterns in addition to the real thing.

When Molly Alexander and Graeme Anthony were looking for a house to renovate for their growing family—including five-year-old Chloe, seen here—they didn’t expect to find it right next door to Alexander’s own childhood home. The light-filled sanctuary they created features vintage Singer sewing stools at the American walnut–topped kitchen island and hanging lamps from Ikea.

An entirely red room by Objects of Common Interest occupied a corner of the second floor, adding a nice surprise within Nilufar Depot’s bright atrium. Last year, they went all in on purple. Perhaps we’re moving through the spectrum and can expect an orange-drenched exhibition in 2026.

The black-and-white pixellated box hovers above a tower and lower building and is supported by 12 multicolored stiltlike legs. As could be expected, the building was received with mixed reviews, some applauding the design, others finding it appalling.

The project’s signature material was discovered on a trip to a recycled brick yard, where Welsch and the homeowners found light, cream-colored bricks and fell in love. "It was a decision made on the spot," explains Welsch. The original plan was to find darker materials that would make the home feel more cozy and cave-like, but the way these bricks reflected the sunlight was just irresistible. "You don’t necessarily expect that soft light feeling from a material like brick."

Pros: Also known as composite quartz, engineered quartz comes in a wide range of colors and textures with the general durability of real stone slabs, but with the ease of manufacturing and installation of a man-made product. As a result, engineered quartz isn’t as expensive as other natural stone countertops. Cons: On the other hand, customers can expect to see these qualities reflected in the price of engineered quartz, which can be on the higher end. Quartz also doesn’t handle extreme heat as well as granite does.

Other structures are in an expected state of disrepair.

A vintage wood lamp and turned bowl stands next to the bed. "We wanted to incorporate elements used in residential homes," Hollis says of the eclectic medley of accessories and furnishings in the space. "These would be items that you would collect over time. They don't exactly match, but they all work together—they create a relaxed casual environment while still elevating the interior and amenities to what you expect from a world-class luxury property."

The Green Circle Shopping Center in Springfield, Missouri, has a green roof for customers and employees to use, saved a myriad of trees in how it was sited and makes use of geothermal energy. Hufft expects it will get a LEED Platinum certification.