This stairway gets a very on-trend arch treatment.

Fir-veneer plywood wraps the entire interior of a compact guest cabin with a 12-by-15-foot footprint, smaller than a single-car garage.

In the bathroom, the teal mosaic tile hug the curves of the walls, ceiling, and built-in shelving.

Architect Barbara Hill sits on a Casalino chair from Design Within Reach in the living room; on the wall is Quivers, a sculpture by her daughter, Claire Cusak. Collaborator George Sacaris made the stump table.

Thin, slatted wood paneling adds warmth to this bathroom.

This backsplash may only cover a small surface area, but its asymmetric tiles are the kitchen’s pièce de résistance.

A single bowl sink is self-explanatory: it consists of a sink that is not divided up into separate areas.

Fiber art brings an element of softness to this dining area.

A macramé wall hanging serves as large-scale, textural artwork in this sitting room.

Olive is a calming shade of green that works well in bedrooms.

The curvy shape of this pink sofa gives it a fun, playful quality.

If you have an underutilized space in your home (like underneath a staircase), consider turning it into an indoor garden.

Arched entryways bring to mind the cave homes in Oia, Greece.

An angled application gives this wood paneling a modern feel.

Floor-to-ceiling tiles give this courtyard a major “wow” factor.

With Maze and Dream, the architect had to find a balance between the practical needs of a hotel suite and awe-inspiring, spatial effects.

The master bedroom is furnished with a queen bed and a cool-touch 10-inch memory foam mattress beneath a large skylight. Compared to last year’s model, the 2020 Living Vehicle offers two feet of extra space.

After: Pink-toned terrazzo tile counters and a backsplash and olive green-painted cabinetry enlivens the kitchen, where the designers created open shelving using leftover plywood from the mezzanine ceiling panels.

A sunlit, open-plan living room, dining room, and kitchen are located on the first level.

The architect's selected starkly different dark and light hues to echo their contrast of new and old.

One of the Living Vehicle’s most popular features is its self-supporting deck, which serves as an extension of the indoor living space and can be easily lowered or raised with a garage door–style support spring. The updated deck is now rated for 1,500 pounds.

Inspirational spaces

ICON developed its Vulcan I 3D printer over a period of about two years. The gantry-style printer on rails is mobile and weighs about 2,000 pounds.

The bed is flanked by two staircases, one of which is hidden behind a white curtain. Hidden storage is integrated into the stair design.

British artist Hannah Sawtell and technologist Avi Flombaum created sawbaum.com, where users can create visual collages using multiple vine streams. "We wanted it to look like a visual comic book, with overlapping panels," said Flombaum. "And we wanted it to be fun!" Photo courtesy Rhizome.

The lush spaces of the Garden Room interweave plants into its organic form.

In addition to Caterpillar, Prince Concepts has completed multiple large projects in Core City over the past few years, including True North in 2017, 5k in 2020, and Core City Park in 2019.

Architect Javier Senosiain created this remarkable home on a hilly site near Mexico City. “The green dune wraps itself around the inside spaces almost completely, rendering it almost invisible. From the outside, all one sees are grass, bushes, trees, and flowers,” he says.

Dunbar describes the bathroom as an outside-in room because it has light, air, and sometimes, when it drizzles and the skylight left open, even rain. Designed for exactly these circumstances, a blue-glass mosaic tile floor is laid at an angle to drain with ease.

The view from the courtyard at the Casita, added in 2020.

Ingrid Blans and Tjibbe Knol relax outside their home, which is made of various recycled materials such as dismantled cable reels, old billboards, and broken umbrellas. Inside, a vintage shop display case exhibits a small fraction of the couple's collection of art and objects.

Top 9 Kitchens of 2020: The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards are the epitome of style and function.

The DFAB House officially opened its doors at the end of February 2019. Construction began in 2017.

Top 9 Gardens of 2020: The verdant spaces nominated for the Dwell Design Awards help enliven their biophilic homes.

The light-filled living area is dressed with a Vipp Shelter lounge stol (available in Fall 2019), the Vipp Loft Sofa ($6,795), and a Vipp Floor Reading Lamp ($600).

Illustration via drawastickman.com.