Purple thistles, California poppies, clover, and dandelions have all taken root in the roughly 10-inch-deep, lightweight humus and grape-husk soil in this 580-square-foot green roof. Designer Peter Liang says that he "wanted to plant a green roof for its thermal mass, but I wanted it to be as natural as possible."

Aram at 50 The interior of the store, showcasing Aram’s accomplishments and press. He once said that he’d rather sell three good chairs to people that want them than 10,000 chairs that won’t be remembered or noticed. Photo by Amandine Alessandra

Aram at 50 Part of the exhibition focuses on furniture and design that he championed early in his career. Photo by Amandine Alessandra

Suzanne and Brooks Kelley at the back of their 1,100-square-foot guest cottage.

DZINE Concept did the interior design throughout. The dining room features a Liquid table by Baxter and Charme chairs from Busnelli.

The 82-foot-long pool gets quite a lot of use by Jeff and Millie, and especially by the kids, who are both on the local swim team.

The owners toured this home, which surrounds a mature tipu tipu tree, while visiting relatives for the day. The brick is original to the 1947 construction.

Open enclosures and connections to adjacent living spaces keep the home inviting and airy rather than densely packed—a key feature for an owner of two dogs: Ben, a whippet, and Flynn, an Irish gypsy dog.

Ray sits at the central hearth on the north end of the comfortable sunken living area. From this perspective, you can see how the interior spaces flow into one another, passing one half-level up into the breakfast nook and kitchen and out from there onto the overgrown hillside. The various built-in furnishings have all been there since the house's construction.

In the living room, guests gather on a matching ebony sofa and daybed from Hudson and a pair of Jorge Zalszupin lounge chairs. An Yves Klein coffee table—filled with the artist’s signature International Klein Blue pigment— provides a vivid burst amid otherwise organic tones. The walnut-and-bronze cabinetry is a custom design.

Sliding doors by Quantum were made to look like the original panes that couldn't be saved, and they lead to a fire pit outside.

The dining room table is also from Habitat. The oak veneered plywood is from Peter Benson Plywood.

A third-floor courtyard stands in for a backyard and gives Elodie, the couple’s two-year-old daughter, a place to play outdoors. A Hunting chair by Børge Mogensen shares the space with a child’s chair by Tomii Takashi and a vintage Danish coffee table.

Mori’s addition is constructed of steel, concrete, glass, and bluestone veneer. She decided to preserve the ceiling height of the main house (11’6”) and lined the roof with Voltaic solar panels.

Resident Richard Kim, who works as the head of design at electric car company Faraday Future, tested his know-how with the creation of his own Los Angeles home, a curvilinear structure clad in Cor-Ten steel and black-stained cedar.

At the top of the stairwell, a sitting area is outfitted with a vintage Eames lounge, a large Jack Goldstein painting, and a 1970s light fixture found by Marcovitz in Paris.

The view!

The kitchen features a concrete island topped with marble. Deja-Vu stools by Naoto Fukasawa surround the island. A print by Guy Gormley, as well as a painting bought during holiday in St. Tropez, hang on the walls.

Take a look at some of the most exciting, sustainable buildings around the world, and you may notice something they have in common: green roofs, or rooftops covered with a thin layer of soil to allow for grasses and other low-lying plants to grow.

New Depths Inspired by a local winery, George Kyprianou wanted a glass top on his subterranean wine cellar. The interior is lit, casting soft light into the living space at night and revealing the 132-year-old stone foundation. The three-quarter-inch glass lid sits flush with the floorboards; it opens with an ingenious device that Kyprianou devised using a 12-volt air compressor and a remote-controlled switch. When you push the button, the glass lifts just enough to be removed by hand.

Light Box Peter created a simple uplight at the top of the wood box by wiring together energy-efficient fluorescent fixtures typically used under cabinets and countertops. “The cheaper magnetic models hum unacceptably loudly, so make sure you get the electronic ballast types,” he warns. He then painted the cavity white to reflect light and covered them with quarter-inch-thick acrylic from TAP Plastics. homedepot.com tapplastics.com

The view of Kapiti Island is fully revealed from the tower.

The top container contains Wardell's office—and a "napping nook" above that.

In the dining area, a one-of-a-kind table with a reclaimed Carrara marble top by NET—themultidisciplinary design firm of architect Alejandro Sticotti, with whom Nicolas works—is surrounded by prototypes of the company’s Board chair. The family dog, China, sits on a floor made of travertine tiles.

The architects added a small circular skylight to serve as a vertical focal point in the center of the fifth floor. The quarter-sawn white oak risers produce a beautiful rippled grain highlighted by the abundant natural light.

In undertaking a gut renovation of a town house in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, husband and wife Jesper Meyer and Rimjhim Dey drew upon design elements from their respective roots in Denmark and India to create a home that’s wholly serene and accented with subtle pops of bright color. American white-oak planks, finished with lye and pigmented with whitening oil from Danish company Junckers, line the staircase and floors throughout; the dining area is furnished with Ant chairs by Arne Jacobsen and a PH50 pendant by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen.

This master bedroom features a vintage Danish teak platform bed from Nordisk Andels-Eksport, a Globe pendant from West Elm, and drapes from IKEA. A simple globe pendant offers the perfect, understated touch of elegant lighting.

The piston-operated pine sunshades lift upwards to protect the exterior deck and give residents the ability to manually modulate the home’s access to daylight and shade as the sun moves across the sky.

A piece by John Belingheri hangs in the living room of the Bancroft family’s home, which is centered by an Antonio Citterio sofa and Robert Marinelli tables.

A renovation of one of Sea Ranch's homes was completed over the course of four years by Butler Armsden Architects and Leverone Design; their design employed similar materials and aesthetics as the original.

The dark color contributes to the stunning Hudson views by creating a void in the foreground and highlighting the vistas.

London-based architecture and design studio Alma-nac designed House in the Woods, a contemporary home surrounded by pristine forest in England’s South Downs National Park to replace a decrepit, 1950s bungalow. The new 240-square-meter dwelling retains the former building’s simple gabled form and footprint, but offers greater flexibility with its ability to change from a single bedroom home to five bedrooms for large family gatherings.

Sonoma Wine Country I

Indoor and outdoor entertaining is made simple by the dining room’s sliding glass doors, but the two spaces also share a literal common ground. Lapicida’s tumbled black limestone with white Carrara marble inserts sprawl from the kitchen, past the dining room, and onto the patio.