The glass-enclosed master bedroom floats above the corrugated, oxidized steel exterior.

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

Activity Floor

Architect Tamira Sawatzky and artist Elle Flanders get an awfully good view of their busy Toronto street from their office and dining room.

The table is by Made, the sneaker-inspired Shoe Toss pendants are by Jeremy Hatch of Ricochet Studio, and the laser-cut photo on the wall is by the couple’s collective art and design practice, Public Studio.

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

In the living quarters of Lightroom 2.0, Carpenter’s daughter Esme chats with her boyfriend, who is seated on a Milo Baughman Case Sofa.

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.)

Lightroom 2.0 was inspired by artists’ lofts and Decatur’s industrial past. The gallery floors are polished concrete and the exposed joists are Georgia-Pacific engineered lumber.

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.

Located beneath a netting, Wolberg's multifunctional LIVE IN project packs a range of personal configurations into a 131-square-foot unit, including work, play, and sleep.

The holistic LIVE IN also incorporates space for practical necessities, like sleep.

Intimate nooks, set amid curvaceous shapes, diffused lighting, and colorful accents, provide a place for rest and recreation. The various levels, including the netting above, playfully engage the space.

After a 40-year-old pine tree fell over on a Brentwood estate in Los Angeles, the owner let it lie, and the continued to grow from its newfound horizontal position. He decided to incorporate it into a 172-square-foot office and guest house with the structure floating above the tree. Around the perimeter of the butterfly roof is a clerestory that gives the illusion that the roof is floating.

On the lower roof, cedar decking and flower beds define one of several outdoor gardening spaces. Part of her ongoing research into the livability of cities, Fitzgerald aimed to create landscaped areas that were “aesthetic, aromatic, educational, and productive.” The deck is bordered by an expanded aluminum mesh railing and black metal corrugated panels.

Challenged by the dimensions of the narrow lot, the team worked through significant programmatic and logistical constraints during the design and construction process. The final concept for the layout was a modern take on the side hall plan. The living spaces are stretched back deep into the lot, and strategically raised above grade to allow sunlight to penetrate into multiple living spaces. The multifunctional courtyard serves as outdoor workspace, gardening area, children's play area, and covered parking during winter months.

Carpenter kicks back on an IKEA outdoor sectional on the sealed-pine roof deck of Lightroom 2.0. A collection of vintage Tulip armchairs by Eero Saarinen surround a “Jetsons-inspired” fireplace from the 1970s found online.

“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!"

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.

Inspirational spaces

Put on the Bing Crosby and enjoy the holiday festivities! LIVE WIRELESS SPEAKERMinimal and stylish, the Live speaker is designed by Kristian Krøyer for Scandinavian-based Libratone. This chic speaker uses a high-resolution wireless sound system with AirPlay and DLNA support to stream your favorite music from your iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, Mac/PC or Android device.

With consumers moving away from traditional hi-fi systems toward a more mobile approach to music, Libratone worked with Designit on a line of eye-catching portable speakers. The Libratone Live speaker, pictured here, featuers a chrome handle and a removable wool cover (available in several colors). It has a built-in battery an audio jack, and can also sync up with playlists via AirPlay and DNLA, or directly from an iPhone, iPad, Android device, or a laptop computer. Image courtesy of Designit.

Positioned on the ground floor, the office enjoys spacial privacy, while still having intimate interaction with the living area above and common courtyard.

The 52-foot-high roof deck overlooks Decatur Square. “The building may appear as an object, but someday, it’ll become the backdrop as all of it develops,” Carpenter says. The structure shares the lot with a 1920s bungalow containing a therapist’s office that abuts the first-floor gallery, as well as Lightroom 1.0.

This New York City home is studded with pieces by such famous names as Knoll, Saarinen, and Risom. Deployed throughout the loft, these modern icons at once unify and separate work and life. Like the architecture, they can be read two ways: as recognizably typical office furniture or as prized home-design collectibles.