The microwave gets a very simple makeover, with typography that matches what appears in iOS 7. Photo by: Justin Wagoner

A PK 22 Easy Chair by Poul Kjaerholm for Fritz Hansen adds a dash of yellow to the breakfast room.

It might not make you popular with your contractor, but for a more streamlined look, Chris recommends forgoing trim. "It lends a clean look with less visual clutter," the architect says. In their house, the doors, lights, cabinetry, and even wall sockets (all 22 by Bocci) are installed without trim. This allows the planar surfaces to recede and do their jobs without unnecessarily distracting the eye.

Abutting a costal reserve, the property has uninterrupted views of the Snowy River and surrounding wetlands

Coffee makers like this Cuisinart feature smart tech in sharp packaging—but they still clutter my counter.

Activity Floor

Bocci's 22 Series offers stealthy electrical, cable, USB, and phone outlets.

Deyan Sudjic: Badoiiing game, 2012 winner of the museum’s Design Ventura competition for 13-16 year-old D&T students.

The three arms of the Apfel House stretch out to catch the best views of Ranco Lake and the Andes Mountains.

"Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." While Fuller’s ultimate goal was audacious, the idea of a real-time simulation in the ‘60s, accessible to before widespread access to computing, was just somewhat less ambitious. Fuller’s game—so-called to be accessible to everyone—was a further expansion of his Spaceship Earth philosophy, and is currently being utilized as a model by the O.S. Earth Institute. (Pictured: Bucky's Time cover from 1964.)

Mary and Kundan Bhullar built a shipshape country escape that sits lightly on the land in the Aravalli hills near Gurgaon, India.

The Armadillo is parked on a 1,000-square-foot lot that gives the couple ample outdoor space.

'Obsession' by Kwangho Lee, Korea

Incheon Bridge, South Korea-Providing new road access to Seoul's Incheon International Airport, the bridge is both long (13 miles) and tall (756 feet). It's shown here before its October 2009 completion. Photo by: Ryan Wick

Part of Pyongyang's skyline.

“Every time you challenge a basic assumption, there needs to be some method of expressing the fact that there’s new logic at work.”—Omer Arbel, creative director at Bocci

PeaceBOMB Bracelets by Article 22 "A22PeaceBomb3" $38.00 for three A special product with a special story. PeaceBOMB bracelets are crafted from the reclaimed metal of Vietnam-era bombs dropped on Laos during the United States' conflict in Indochina. Developed through a social enterprise that supports sustainable development through design thinking, its collaborators include Naphia spoon makers, Helvetas’s Rural Income Through Sustainable Energy Project and ARTICLE 22. These bracelets not only represent an opportunity for artisan families to generate income, but also tell a story about their makers and the legacies of a shared history. Buy the bombs back!"

Big Man on Campus Built on Kolon Engineering and Construction's grounds, the E+ Home is the neighborhood's green building star. From this angle you can see the permeable pavers and sustainable landscaping, like water catchment pools and living walls, that make this place a paragon of green housing.

Roofreader Though they may look like architecture school run amok, the steep pitches and cants of the roof have everything to do with the home’s ecological agenda. By creating a series of green roofs, maximizing daylighting and water catchment, and optimizing the positions of light tubes and building-integrated photovoltaic panels, the roof is a canny mix of passive solar design and state-of-the-art technology.

While certain devices like the thermostat can remain off the network, every device you do add—from tablets to videogame consoles—is assgined to a family member's profile. From there, you can assign specific rules and limits to what each person sees and does across all their internet-connected devices.

Beyond simple parental controls for each user—the filter levels are pre-k, kid, teen, adult—you can also monitor or assign limits for particular apps or websites such as Youtube or Instagram. Circle's database even places most websites into certain categories (such as business, health, hobbies, chat + forum) that can serve as the basis for filtering or tracking individual interests.

On a basic level, the app allows you to monitor how long any user can be on the internet. It can even "pause" the entire home internet for chores, family dinner, or bedtime. Circle with Disney also adds up each user profile's internet usage across platforms to guarantee one hour of internet usage truly means one hour. Each user can track their stats and receive notifications when time limits are reached.

Inspirational spaces

These hand painted wooden balls make Bocce, a game with roots going all the way back to the Roman Empire, an excellent contemporary pastime for children and adults alike.

Anna: Fontspotting Flashcards Ok, we're all magazine typeface lovers here, and this game accentuates our mad font skills. Fontspotting is a flashcard game you can download for free that tests your knowledge of typeface recognition. Created by designers Dustin de Souza and Jessica Witt for their own typographic memory testing, they decided to share it with the rest of us word geeks.

The E+ Green Home, a concept house located an hour outside Seoul, not only points the way to a greener South Korea, it may well be the most sustainable house in the country. Read more: dwell.com/slideshows/...

The People's Palace of Culture is one of the city's many neohistoricist buildings.

'Positivenegative=Negativepositive' by Baek-Ki Kim, Korea

ArchitekturWerkstatt Vallentin designed this seminar and apartment building in Goesan, South Korea, which is a finalist in the educational buildings category.

Amongst the most impressive, and strange, of Pyongyang's monuments is this, the Party Foundation Monument from 1995.

This kitchen features a sleek Henrybuilt kitchen system in white.

On a rocky bank, Hebra Arquitectos builds a breezy home that opens wide to nature.