Orgone chaise longue by Marc Newson for Cappellini

A spacious deck was created as part of the addition. A cantilevered concrete bench stretches out to the rear garden and complements the adjacent concrete wall.

The patio outside Wenes's house and gallery.

Elsewhere, the blocks accommodate other uses, like support for a built-in table and benches in the kitchen and a rooftop observatory (next slide) for watching the sun set over the Ilaló volcano.

An important aspect of the home’s design is the seamless flow between inside and outside, which is enhanced not only by large windows and doors, but also by the home’s materials. The majority of the surfaces and structural elements in both the interior and exterior are composed of concrete, stainless steel, and wood, ensuring a unification between the two while guaranteeing durability. Concrete floors require little maintenance, while local wood helps the home blend into its surrounding landscape.

Birdsall and Atticus are seated on an ipe bench designed by Anna Boeschenstein; the stucco exterior cladding was matched to Cast Iron 6202 paint by Sherwin-Williams.

The concrete bench in the living area just past the kitchen is built into the sloping wall. The Pedro wire stool is by Craig Bond for Candywhistle.

The couple has a large collection of cookbooks. To provide storage for them in the kitchen—and also seating—Sawatzky topped narrow bookcases (Bestå units by Ikea) with custom-made cushions, upholstered in gray Circa fabric by Knoll Textiles purchased from Modern Fabrics. The bookshelf-cum-bench was custom upholstered by Tina Morgan Designs.

These wood-wrapped spaces take oriented strand board to new heights.

Conoid Bench is an intricate example of George Nakashima placing minimal adornments on the wood, merely capturing it, preserving it and giving it a second life.

Here, Smith sits on a vintage rosewood bench designed by the Swiss-born British architect Richard Seifert.

Sultan of Sit Even if your carpentry skills peaked in eighth-grade woodshop, reclaimed lumber and a bit of sweat can stand you in good stead when it comes to outdoor furniture. Whitlock created a ruggedly beautiful bench (below) from scratch. He bought a chunk of trestle lumber at a local salvage yard and lag-bolted four Ikea Sultan stainless steel bed legs to its base. “It took me two hours, including lumberyard drive time,” he says. “I spent $70 total.” ikea.com

Slagbaenk by Danish designer Rasmus B. Fex is a bench inspired by traditional Scandinavian furniture, based on a simple concept: five boards join two chairs to form a bench with integrated storage space. The size of the bench depends on the dimensions of the boards used.

Conny Plank bench by Al Que Quiere. Principal Matthew Sullivan named his solid walnut bench with a waxed finish after a German music producer. We see a bit of Memphis in the stair-stepped design.

Atop the spiral staircase, a custom iron bench is festooned with Turkish throw pillows from SophiesBazaar.

The reused doors serve as more than floor, walls, and ceiling; several are still functional. In the dining room, the benches lift up for storage, and doors on either side of the banquette open to reveal closets.

A finished Trabecula bench. At six feet long and two feet high, it is one of the largest rapid-manufactured pieces of furniture in the world, and yet, owing to it's materials and biometric cues, it weighs a mere fourteen pounds.

Lightroom 1.0, a photography studio, is a freestanding structure on the property. “Together, they represent an autobiography of my career,” Carpenter says.

A built-in bench by the window is a cozy perch for Tyler. The herringbone flooring looks like wood but is actually man-made.

A patio spins off the northern end of the house’s main level. It fronts “Main Street,” which unwinds from the heart of downtown Seattle into a pedestrian foot path bordered by a woodland. “We went with a low and robust barrier instead of a tall wood fence to preserve views to the park,” Schaer says. The table and benches are by Crate & Barrel.

This outdoor fireplace in Austin, Texas is generously sized and created out of board-formed concrete, with a spot directly adjacent for firewood storage and a wood shelf running in front for added storage.

“I got rid of the bathtub because I like the idea of a big shower,” Pozner explains. But to achieve a comparable effect, he installed a teak bench from Waterworks on the rear shower wall. “One of the things I like about a bath is that you can soak. Here I can sit and have the water pound on me—it’s a hybrid shower and bath.”

A picnic table from Janus et Cie sits off the kitchen; the landscape architecture is by Richard D. Wood. In addition to passive solar, says Hawkins, “there is the added benefit of a thick concrete slab as a thermal mass that absorbs and stores the heat from the sun.”

Furniture with emphasized linear elements helps prevent the appearance of clutter in small spaces. It's particularly effective when highlighted in playful colors like the blue bench storage rack in this London guesthouse. Photo by Ben Anders.

The deck in the "memory orchard" of the Field House.

“Once I finished designing the LBR-1, I realized it could be used as a nightstand, stool or an end table. With those dimensions sorted out, we then stretched the design into a bench,” said Heywood, of the LBR-2, shown here in walnut.

Fashion designer Josie and her husband Ken Natori are big fans of traditional Japanese architecture, so when Brooklyn-based practice Tsao & McKown Architects designed their home in Pound Ridge, New York, they used a heavy, exposed-timber structure, and included Japanese-style gardens and landscaping.

The owners of this 2,300-square-foot converted loft in SoHo have a penchant for color and collections. To make way for these elements, BC-OA kept new materials simple and desaturated with super white walls; oil-finished, white oak flooring; and white lacquered cabinetry. In the dining area, a custom designed, built-in, tufted banquette adds soft juxtaposition against the live edge dining table. The velvet upholstery is meant to provide contrast against the exposed, white-washed original brick in both texture and era. Overhead a brass chandelier with exposed Edison bulbs references the former Swan Incandescent Electric Light Co. which occupied the loft after construction was completed in 1897.

A look at the home's front facade. In a Melbourne suburb, Splinter Society Architecture designed the versatile home for Mark and Cara Harbottle and their three young children.

The owner, a school teacher, reads with her child on the banquette, which is bathed in rare London sun.

Inspired by modern Japanese minimalism, Hong Kong practice JAAK demolished the walls of this two-bedroom apartment and remodelled it into a studio with an

The living area boasts nearly 10-foot-high ceilings that impart a feeling of airiness and spaciousness. Discreet, built-in storage in the floor at the top of the steps prevents clutter from accumulating.

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"In this project, we got so much benefit out of this 'secret garden' for the master suite along with all of these environmental benefits that the residents were excited to embrace. It's one of the pieces we are happiest about," says architect Jonathan Feldman.

In the living room, a Nelson bench doubles as a coffee table, and a wood-burning stove from Cleanburn Stoves set in a white brick hearth keeps the space warm.