Organizations such as Friends of the Los Angeles River have been working on revitalizing the waterfront for decades, reserving years of planning and development that led a once vital source of water for agriculture to become a concrete-covered waterway known known by many as the site of gritty Hollywood chase scenes. Play the LA River wants to add to that conversation around revitalization.

The future of the Los Angeles River has much to do with restoring the natural lifeline of Dwell on Design's host city. Experts such as landscape architect Mia Lehrer (who spearheaded the river's revitalization plan) and Cynthia Hirschhorn, environmental designer and board member of the L.A. River Corp, will provide firsthand insights into how the river will be restored to a more natural state. Play the LA River is a year-long initiative by the Project 51 collective to encourage exploration and engagement that's launching on September 13, 2014. The Army Corp of Engineers recently recommended approval of a $1 billion dollar project to revitalize 11 miles of riverfront property; politicians such as L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and President Obama have already pledged support.

Getaway offers rentable micro cabins to help urban dwellers escape the daily grind.

A couple enlist Butler Armsden Architects and Leverone Design to reimagine their home as a multigenerational meeting point. In 1963, landscape designer Lawrence Halprin devised a master plan for a community that would live in harmony with the natural environment. The resulting Sea Ranch, which stretches 10 miles along the Pacific coastline in Sonoma County, California, is characterized by timber-frame, wood-clad structures that are in dialogue with the local climate and terrain. Sited on a bluff within this pioneering community is the vacation home of a lawyer couple. After purchasing the residence in 2007, they lived in the home as it was for four years, even keeping the previous owners’ furniture. Envisioning a retreat that would accommodate their extended family and guests, they then recruited Butler Armsden Architects and Leverone Design to help guide the project.

Sleeping nooks that look like the grooves in a block of cheese.

This outdoor chair from designer Damian Velasquez is both striking and strikingly comfortable—you might not believe you're sitting on metal. The mesh design is sturdy, but has just enough give to conform to your body. The heat-dispersing, wind-resistant powder-coated stainless steel construction makes it a smart addition to your yard.

Architect: YAMAMAR Design, Location: San Francisco, California

Lightroom 1.0, a photography studio, is a freestanding structure on the property. “Together, they represent an autobiography of my career,” Carpenter says.

Tasked with creating a multi-use guest pavilion on a relatively small Northern California vineyard lot that could also host sit down dinners for up to 60 people, designers at Anderson Architects started by asking the key questions: “Where should it be within the property?” “How much floor area do we need for a 60 person dinner?” “How much volume do we need for a basketball court?” “We also always tell ourselves to look at the landscape first, let it dominate and lead it through. The building took the form of a large Napa Valley barn.

Both the sitting and standing versions of DESK 01, a collaboration between Artifox and IdeaPaint, are outfitted with dry erase surfaces for recording sudden bursts of creativity.

Style: "#1"

"Shane enjoys both cooking and entertaining so we maximized the counter space to make meal prep and hosting easy," Priftaj says. "It was also very important that the kitchen include a gas grill so he could quickly and conveniently grill without having to climb up five flights of stairs to use the bbq on the patio." Priftaj selected high-gloss acrylic white cabinets from bulthaup's b3 line with an aluminum backsplash and b3 prism drawer system to keep things tidy. A Wolf hood and gas cooktop with chargrill give Carslake the flexibility he desired for indoor grilling. The counters are polished white quartz.

A passage between the walls for hide and seek.

Chair No. 35 by Half13.

Sugarhouse reworked the living room storage and reoriented the room to better occupy the available space. An Ellison Studio sofa, recovered in Dedar Patchwork Fabric, fits the whole family for movie nights. The coffee table is from Etsy and the rug is Nordic Knots. The overhead light is a vintage Poul Henningsen via 1st Dibs.

Noriko Ambe's Flat File Globe 3A Red Version featured in The Map as Art and on view at the Museum of Art and Design's Slash: Paper Under the Knife exhibit.

The addition’s two stories of cedar-framed sliding doors and window provide generous views of the house’s prized jacaranda tree. The addition’s polished concrete floor and white cladding extend into the garden, drawing occupants to the serene rear porch. There, they can relax on stools designed by Alvar Aalto and Charles Wilson while admiring the luscious greenery.

A small dining space and kitchen area blend into the expansive wood paneling used throughout The Barn.

The St. Louis Arch (1965), Saarinen's most recognizable architectural feat, is located in the heart of St. Louis.

Despite the cast-on-site concrete dividers, there's still an airy sense of space; the dividers support, instead of overwhelm. This approach came from the architects' constant sense of experimentation and playfulness, a deliberate approach that helped them find new ways to use recycled and salvaged materials.

"It was supposed to be as naked as possible," says Alexandru Popescu, one of the members of R3Architetti who helped design and build the 3 Vaults apartment. "The furniture is absolutely included in the architecture; it’s more like an indoor landscape instead of a typical open plan." The kitchen exemplifies their approach, with textured concrete walls contrasting with wood panels and salvaged industrial lighting. The table, custom built by R3Architetti, is made in part from pipes procured from one of their fathers, a plumber.

The exterior of Connect 4L 1,600 sf 3 bed 3 bath 2 story modern prefab.

Wave, by Robert Longo

Emigre No. 70, cover