By knocking down walls, Dominguez was able to open the previously cramped kitchen and add extra cabinetry and counter space. He was also able to make room for a peninsula with a waterfall edge.

The kitchen’s original galley layout was retained, and the walls and utilities were kept in place.

'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.

This Beverly Hills kitHAUS is comprised of modernist prefab modules that can accommodate a variety of uses: from yoga studios to home offices, and from weekend retreats to pop-up kiosks and guest rooms.

Wedge by Wheelhaus

100 Contemporary Green Buildings, Volume 1 is available through Taschen

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.

Inspirational spaces

100% Bollocks by The Wooden Truth, approximately 17 x 12 inches, $38

100 Quotes By Charles Eames, $25

Hangar Meeting Table for MG LAB – This table premiered in 2012. It was designed with a space underneath the tabletop to stow away electronic devices that need to be close at hand without contributing to tabletop clutter.

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/...

Interior designer Cathie Hong transformed the kitchen of this San Jose Eichler into a bright open space, but kept the wood paneling in the adjacent room, to preserve the warm, midcentury feel.

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.

Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, France

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.

While the rooms in the main volume at the front of the home had reasonable areas and floor-to-ceiling heights, the back of the existing house featured a stacking of smaller volumes typical to the period—and made the house unsuitable for contemporary family life.

Snuggle up on the couch with a graphic quilt from Louise Gray. Made of 100 percent cotton and featuring a neutral palette of light grey, charcoal, and black, this throw quilt has generous size. Each quilt is hand-assembled and hand-stitched by artisans in the United States.

Design for a cinema by Herbert Bayer. Image courtesy the Museum of Modern Art.

Wall hanging by Anni Albers. Image courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.

Maya Sheinberger redesigned the MG House so that each floor would be more cohesive. The first floor was developed alongside the landscape design, the second floor shifts according to the family's needs, and the eldest daughter lives on the third floor.

Lamps by Korean designer Kwangho Lee illuminate Cormier's home.

Green machines The E+ Home uses 95 different green technologies. Here’s our guide.

This Korean War Memorial, the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Memorial, sits alongside the Pothong River. It's a vast complex with a highly martial theme.

Earth House is dedicated to Dong-joo Yoon, a Korean poet who died as a political prisoner in Japan during WWII.

100% California’s curated collection of furniture, jewelry, ceramics, and more, is definitely one of the most noticeable booths.

Exploring boundary between representation, and abstraction, Libeskind’s 100 drawings have been printed on glass and hung, scale-like, on a complex mounting that follows the challenging curve of Venice Pavilion. Photo by Massimo Listri.

Underneath it All By capturing and storing storm water and heat underground, the house saves even more energy.

Avid cooks, Jinhee and John spend part of every day around their custom-built kitchen island, surrounded by Compasso d’Oro barstools. The island is on castors, so it easily moves around the kitchen as needed. An edamame plant on their patio occasionally provides leaves for Korean dishes.

'Leaf-shaped Spoon' by Shuhei Senda from Japan; 'Leaf-it' by Appree (Sangwoo Nam and Jonghwan Kim), Korea; 'Light Cube' by Joo Wan-jin, Korea