The concrete-and-steel home by Faulkner Architects gives one family a refined escape in the mountains of Northern California.

Danny envisioned the space between the ADU and the house as an informal place to gather. "It creates a sort of courtyard sensibility, which works for our intergenerational family dynamics."

Danny fitted the kitchen into an alcove outfitted with Ikea cabinets and Semihandmade fronts. The refrigerator is by LG. On the jute rug from Armadillo, chairs from Threshold join a table from Inside Weather.

In the new living room, the floors are covered in pine wood with a Bona Craft Oil finish in Frost, and the walls and ceiling are coated in lime plaster, Mortex by Beal. The handmade hanging chair, made of plaster, is a favorite spot for the couple’s cat, Paka.

In the primary bedroom, built-in storage is ship-like and not particularly plentiful. “I’d rather live in 850-square-feet by the ocean and see the sunrise every morning than in 3,000-square-feet in the suburbs,” Caleb says.

The island of Møn in Denmark has a remarkable landscape with dramatic white-chalk cliffs, so it’s fitting that Birkedal—a vacation rental property not far from the beach—features a shape and form that matches its impressive locale.

After: At the master bathroom's bathtub, the architect turned an existing water feature into a planter.

Activity Floor

Deyan Sudjic: Badoiiing game, 2012 winner of the museum’s Design Ventura competition for 13-16 year-old D&T students.

"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.)

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

Designed by Arba, the retreat’s enclosed garden provides outdoor space out of the wind while the cuts give it a strong connection with the setting.

When husband and wife Chris Hougie and Teresa Raffo came across a defunct campground outside of Mendocino, California, the 36-acre property’s raw beauty inspired them to embark on a new adventure. Their new

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.

Sally challenges Gibson to a game of backgammon in their second-floor living area.

The heart of the camp is the main residence, the Lake House, which has a stacked "cordwood wall" made from Douglas firs found on-site.

Built-in bunks are decked out with a private window for viewing the outdoors, and an adjustable reading light from Prima Lighting. A simple pendant hangs above the main space.

The doors are set on a track by Häfele and pivot 90 degrees.

An outbuilding on the opposite side of the property is used as a game room.

AKIKO PENTAQUE BOCCE GAME SET A beautifully designed version of the classic lawn game, bocce, the Akiko Petanque set includes a set of six chrome bocce balls and a teak box for storing and carrying the game. The box has a hinged cover with a rectangular cut out, so the teak handle can be used when the box is closed. A collaboration between Danish designer Hans Thyge and Japanese designer Akiko Kuwahata, this set can be used to play, or can be set on a bookcase or table as a distinctive display piece.

A show-stopper at this year’s Dwell on Design, the Iconic Architecture Card Game is a set of cards that features the greatest modern architectural icons separated into seven groups including events, house, tower, culture, religion, housing, and museum. Including 44 black and white cards, the game spans architecture all over the world that have been carefully selected because of their diversity, architectural aspects, technical details, and cultural value.

Bocce by Fredericks & Mae, $320 Bocce, a lawn game whose lineage can be traced to the Roman Empire, is modernized with this hand-painted set by a Brooklyn studio.

Poster for the Original Pong Arcade Game Part of the Digital Archeology portion of the exhibition which looks to the past of digital technologies, this vintage advertisement just hints at the possibilities and potential of gaming technology. Image courtesy of the Barbican

There are ping-pong tables, and then there is the You and Me Ping-Pong Table from RS Barcelona. This finely crafted table is a departure from typical ping-pong tables—it is made of steel and high density HPL, and is supported by elegant iroko wood legs. For indoor and outdoor use, this ping-pong table is as much an elegant furnishing as it is a game.

Big-Game designed these plastic mesh laundry baskets for the company.

The Iconic Architecture Card Game is a set of cards that feature the greatest modern architectural icons that are separated into seven groups including events, house, tower, culture, religion, housing, museum. Including 44 black and white cards, the game spans architecture all over the world that have been carefully selected because of their diversity, architectural aspects, technical details, and cultural value. Each card is also selected because it can be easily identified by fans of modern architecture. The deck is unified by its simple drawings, typography, and bold black and white backings.

Jeffrey Kipnis and Stephen Turk's Figure Ground Game exhibition was featured at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles in early 2014.

“Sometimes you go with emotions rather than logic,” says Woodhull founder Caleb Johnson. “I just wanted to renovate the little Pizza Hut look-alike my son told me looked like a blowfish.”

One of Amber’s favorite features in in the house is the splash of color in the kitchen backsplash, via a tile called 'Unfading' green slate from Vermont Structural Slate Company.

The walnut-framed bay window is a favorite spot for the children. “My eldest son, the moment he arrives at home after school, makes a beeline for that pop out,” says Bonnie. “He wants to eat his lunch right there build his Legos in that space.”