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

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

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

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.

Ai Weiwei’s Grapes makes use of ten Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) stools. 2008. Courtesy fo the artist; Friedman Benda, New York; photo by Bill Orcutt.

“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!"

Refraction, a wing-like structure in the New Industries Building at Alcatraz, is composed of reflective panels from Tibetan solar cookers. “When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill,” Ai says.

Refraction can only be viewed via the gun gallery, where armed guards once patrolled. The sculpture, made up of Tibetan solar panels, seems poised to fly, yet too heavy and constrained to do so.

With Blossom, Ai fills the vessels in the hospital and psychiatric wing with white porcelain flowers, infusing a healing element to a bleak canvas.

Stay Tuned is an audio exhibition, which pipes protest songs and speeches through the grates in individual cells, made infamous for becoming the passageway allowing the famous escape from Alcatraz.

Ai incorporated himself into the show in a subtle way, with these words on the With Wind dragon.

Another clear juxtaposition takes place in With Wind, which pairs a delicate, joyful Chinese dragon with quotes about freedom and justice from those depicted in Trace. With Wind is housed in a building reserved for prison labor—considered a privilege at Alcatraz. Its light materials and joyful colors are brought down to earth by its oppressive, crumbling surroundings.

The exhibition concludes with the interactive Yours Truly, in which visitors select postcards to send to the subjects of the Trace portraits.

Inspirational spaces

Erika: Ai Weiwei Forever Bicycles Sculpture As part of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto, a weeks-long art celebration, world-renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has just opened an exhibition of his Forever Bicycles sculpture in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square. The exhibition consists of 3,144 interconnected bicycles forming a three-dimensional structure that creates an incredible visual effect.

This brightly colored streamlined dispenser is designed to hold a roll of toilet paper just like a box of tissues.

Trace comprises 175 abstracted portraits of prisoners both past and present, rendered with 1.2 million Legos. The colorful medium is a direct, stark contrast to the subject.

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.

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.

Yours Truly takes over the Alcatraz dining hall and includes an opportunity for visitors to personalize and send postcards of Ai's design to the subjects of the Trace portraits.

Blossom integrates porcelain flowers into areas of the Alcatraz hospital.

One of 175 portraits from Trace, which took more than one million Lego pieces to build.

Track and spotlights are fixtures that are attached to a track that is mounted to the ceiling or hung off the ceiling, depending on the fixture.

Kele Dobrinski and Christina Valencia, of Sacramento, California-based Colossus Mfg., revamped a 2008 Starstream Starcraft camper that allows their family of five to comfortably explore nature in different landscapes for weeks at a time.

Bend Basket in Copper, designed by Gaurav Nanda for Bend, $320 at the Dwell Store Handcrafted in galvanized iron, then hot-dipped and powder-coated, this geometric bowl is rust-resistant, making it equally useful in the kitchen, bathroom, or office. It also comes in neon red, yellow, or white.

Case Study House No. 22., The Stahl House