A look at the small reading nook located on the level between the bedroom and ground floor.

House O, designed by Jun Igarashi, forgoes hallways and interior doors in favor of casually interconnected rooms.

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

In all of its beige glory...

5.0.2

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

A passage between the walls for hide and seek.

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"

In the bathroom and throughout the apartment, Ryan kept lines as pure as possible by designing built-in storage alcoves. The cutout space in the white cabinet does double duty as a door pull and a cubby for frequently used items.

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.

Bathroom of the Freunde von Freunden X Vitra Apartment Hanging plants and an open shower accentuate the bathroom’s light, airy layout. Sink by Alape, shower and fixtures by Dallmer and Dornbracht. Photo by Steve Herud

Like many apartments in early 20th-century row houses, architect Philip Ryan’s Brooklyn abode was the epitome of spatial inefficiency before reconfiguring the space. “If you put a lot of small things into a small space, it can feel twice as small,” Ryan says. “If you have an object with heft and mass, it makes everything feel larger. It seems contradictory, but it works.” This philosophy inspired space-saving techniques throughout the apartment, including the quirky window sill flowerpot recess.

Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP used 87 translucent bricks to reframe a family’s connection to nature and the city.