The kitchen was custom made by a local carpenter due to its unconventional scale. The appliances consist of a De Dietrich oven, Amana refrigerator, and Imperial microwave.

Christine (at left), and Amanda (at right) chat with David’s sister Aroha Yates-Smith (center) in the kitchen.

The concrete wall mimics the slope of the hill outside as a reference to early Maori structures that were dug into the land. The simple kitchen has strandboard cabinetry and an MDF island that conceals a fireplace at one end. The ceramic works on the built-in seat at right are by Raewyn Atkinson and Robyn Lewis.

Because the house is narrow and long (16 by 68 feet), the design team decided to create a huge open-air space to light the interior naturally. Two retractable motor-driven canvas canopies shelter the space during Singapore’s frequent rains.

A pair of matching Idea lights by Vesoi over a dining room table and chairs, both locally-made.

The master bath contains all functions in the white fiberglass panel that runs the length of the wall. Lazor designed the vanity; the tub is by Duravit.

“It was a major decision to put the kitchen in the center where everything would revolve around it,” says Lazor. “We did this simply by following what patterns we observed—it was just where people gravitated.” The bar stools are by Blu Dot, and the chairs by Charles and Ray Eames.

The master bedroom features a low-level picture window that opens out to the green space behind the house.

The idea develops further...

The notion that form and image can enhance conservation, comfort, and community at every scale of design informs The Looper, an idea for a river barge repurposed as a water-filtering greenhouse, by Dwell on Design presenter Lance Hosey's firm RTKL. The design was an entry in the 2013 snoLEAF greenhouse ideas competition.

Once inside, visitors are greeted by three ten-foot-tall hand-carved antique panel doors.

In another section of the yard, Cooper added varying-sized circular cement stepping stones, which lead toward an elevated planter filled with California-native plants.

The north-facing doors slide completely away to open the house to the outdoors, offering an uninterrupted view of the water. The pendant lights over the table are from Iko Iko.

Jay Austin’s Matchbox house is only eight feet wide but feels bigger thanks to a well-organized interior.

Some initial sketches, to develop the idea.

Chimney humidifier by Takeshi Ishiguro for IDEA International, $200 Without compromising aesthetics, Takeshi Ishiguro’s humidifier quietly delivers a moisture-rich mist to combat dry air. It features four different settings and shuts off automatically if it tips over.

Between the kitchen and a sitting area lies a simple bar area.

A skylight over the lofted bed and some clever storage moves, including magnetized spice containers overhead help maximize space in Austin's Matchbox house.

Giolight, for Gallery Roberto Giustini & Partners, 2007 Grawunder’s bestseller—and one of her most iconic pieces—is included in the permanent collections the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Produced for a Rome gallery in two different sizes, the lights are highly coveted by collectors. Six of the larger, hanging versions were created for $25,000 each and were sold out in a week. A week later, one sold at an auction for $75,000.

nArchitects, Monadnock Development, and the Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation partnered on a winning proposal for a micro-unit apartment block.

Brian Levy, Tony Gilchriest, and Jay Austin (left to right), are creating the Boneyard Studios complex in Washington, DC, along with Lee Pera and a team of architects and builders. The four structures onsite are both experiments in small-space living and, during public “work days,” a base for educating the community about construction, design, and tiny houses.

Singapore Free Port, Lobby, 2010 These hanging lights were designed to resemble mirror walls hanging in the lobby space. “I wanted the mirror effect to reflect the lobby windows and repeat the pattern,” Grawunder explains. A mirror coating was also applied to the lobby windows, so in the day “there is a lot of reflection up there.” At night, the "walls" glow up and down, with color changing LEDs giving a three-dimensional ceiling effect.

In the living area, the wooden bench is part of a set Amanda designed for a 1995 play. The Miss M sofa is by New Zealand designer Simon James.

Hale's sketchbook shows working furniture ideas.

Circle Light, Private Collection, 2011 For a commission for the Parisian jewelry designer Lorenz Baumer, Grawunder was inspired by one of the rings she had seen on his website. Concentric stainless steel rings combine with colored plexiglass and LED lights that change color to create one of Grawunder’s more decorative pieces.

Singapore Free Port, Exterior, 2010 Grawunder worked closely with Swiss architects Benedicte Montant and Carmelo Stendardo to light this storage facility, designed as the “ultimate safe” for high-value art and collectibles. On the exterior, Grawunder used very low light green LEDs to give a bioluminescent feeling to the wall of plants behind it. In the daytime, the holes where the light comes from reflect the sky. Containing many kilometers of lights, this is Grawunder’s largest installation ever “and probably will be for a long time,” she quips.

Color on Color Mirror, for Glas Italia, 2010 In this three-part collection, Grawunder layers color “like a painter would do,” including Rothko-esque “black-out parts, which is what the mirror does.” The mirror, at center, is the only part of the fixture that’s not colored. “They wouldn’t let me put light in this,” Grawunder says, which, ultimately was a good idea. “The color of the glass itself is so luminous, it almost looks backlit.”

Slash, Private Collection, 2011 This piece for Baumer was created for an entry foyer. A more architectural fixture made mostly of polished stainless steel, it needed to incorporate movable lights to spotlight works of art. Grawunder suspended track lights, a typical form of spotlighting, from the main color field, making them more of a decorative than a purely functional element.

Boxy, for Glas Italia, 2011 Glas Italia “has this amazing possibility to make a mirror out of any color of glass,” says Grawunder. Using that material as a starting point, Grawunder turned the mirrors into boxes and then sanded off their silver backing at the corners, allowing light to emanate from the colored glass. She envisions these “hybrid objects”—a combination of light-table-storage—to be used as mini bars or bedside tables that hold books.

Limelight, for Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, 2012 This modular wall light consists of two modules, each able to pivot right or left, controlling how much light is emitted. The light itself is color-changing LEDs that are operated by a remote. The inspiration for the bead-blast finish: the back of Grawunder’s iPad.

The units are arranged on every floor to form a staggered facade and will measure between 250 and 370 square feet each.

Renderings of their project reveal a building made of 55 modules that will be prefabricated in a factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and craned into place on a city-owned lot on East 27th Street in Manhattan.

The Kingston House abuts a rock shelf upon which architects Aaron Roberts and Thomas Bailey once sat, dreaming up ideas for the design.

Wan for FLOS, 2006 Wan is the Japanese word for “bowl,” Grawunder’s inspiration for these hanging “bowls of light” that continue to be produced, as both suspension and hanging lights in various finishes.