The Tower House is made up of tiny houses, clustered at the southern end of the property and clad in white steel panels and western red cedar shingles. Spinning off the living room on the north side of the main house, the children’s study sits separate from the other pavilions. On its upper level, Oxley netting forms a web on which the kids and their friends can sit and read with views of the leafy street and garden.

Inspired by skateboards, the swing seats are made of European oak. “At first we tried bigger boards, but you can’t sit on them,” Parzyszek says.

Designed by Jagoda, the door swings open to fit in front of a bookshelf.

The living room is light and airy thanks to the glass wall and doors (formerly a solid wall) framing the parkland greenery outside.

At one end of the space, which is topped by a barrel ceiling, a hammock offers a tantalizingly cozy place to nap.

There are no closets and no minibars in the guest rooms, reflecting the designers' minimalist approach. Features include a curved wooden headboard and a hammock hanging from the ceiling. Unfinished ceilings reveal partitions of the old structure, even down to the screws.

The kids' room features a playful hammock.

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

In 1962, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architect Arthur Witthoefft won the AIA's highest honor for a home he built in the lush woods of Westchester County. Having fended off a developer's wrecking ball, Todd Goddard and Andrew Mandolene went above and beyond to make this manse mint again.

Architects Simone Carneiro and Alexandre Skaff transformed a cramped São Paulo apartment into a mid-city refuge for Simone Santos. On the terrace, plants, vines, and pergolas form a barrier against the city’s notorious noise and pollution.

Architect Javier Senosiain created this remarkable home on a hilly site near Mexico City. “The green dune wraps itself around the inside spaces almost completely, rendering it almost invisible. From the outside, all one sees are grass, bushes, trees, and flowers,” he says.

Mirrored glass allows this holiday home in Mexico to blend in with it's woodland site.

Homeowner Simon Doonan stands next to the front door. "We have flamboyance, and we’re not inhibited about anything. [Architect] Gray Organschi gave [the house] that intellectual rigor needed to make it beautiful. We were well matched."

Double doors open to the deck.

A bright yellow front door adds a bold pop of color to the minimal exterior palette.

Entry hall with Ingo Mauer chandelier

Pictured here is the door to the bathroom. White curtains inside the bathroom provide privacy.

In the DoghousePaul and Shoko's dog, Mei, has lucked into a small prefab home of her own. Making use of a water jet cutter at his office, and using Adobe Illustrator as his design tool, Paul fashioned a series of panels that slot together without any nails or screws.

In their bedroom, Anya and Yash hang out in the boat-shaped swing by Haba that their aunt brought them from Germany (it’s not currently available in the United States). A Rapson Rapid Rocker by Rapson-Inc. sits next to the window.

An installation brought 20 circular, glowing swings to a grassy area near the Boston Convention Center. LED lights embedded in the polypropylene swings change color depending on its motion.

On a trip to Naoshima, Japan, the Houston newlyweds behind Robertson Design fell in love with Tadao Ando’s concrete-composed museums. This led the couple to create a residence of their own comprised of a low concrete wall, concrete cube, and box clad in Siberian larch. The indoors are rounded out with white oak, marble, and leather-finished granite.

A honed basalt walkway leads to the re-imagined front door.

This door with space-age knobs is painted with Behr's Flaming Torch. The brass wall hanging above the landing is by C. Jeré.

The entrance is an artistic mix of midcentury lines and features globe pendant lighting.

The gate, opening onto the entry courtyard, serves as the pavilion's front door.

"It was rundown, dark, and divided," recalls Masaaki of his first impression of the warehouse, the ground floor of a multistory apartment building. But after some thought, Masaaki, a Japanese-born architect, and Esther, an artist from Minorca, realized that owning the combined 2,700 square feet would allow them to headquarter Mas-aqui, the architecture and design firm they were planning to start, on-site. They bought the property and within months transformed it into a bright, modern live/work space.

Fifty miles north of New York City, a controversial home and guesthouse were built from Frank Lloyd Wright’s drawings on a private island. Intriguingly, the main home was completed in 1996 following Wright's original sketches for the 1950s owner of the island, who ultimately instead commissioned a 1,200-square-foot home on the island because of the high cost. Today, that 1,200-square-foot home serves as a three-bedroom guesthouse—the perfect space for extended family to stay.

An oversized entrance door leads to an angled hallway that obscures views to create an element of surprise. The Vollen bench in Custom Red Lacquer is from Chadhaus.

Olson Kundig's natural and warm architectural palette combines metal, wood, and concrete, set against the blues and greens of the lush surroundings and bay.

Conceived as a glass wall or window that could swing open rather than a typical door, the resulting glass-and-metal piece is so heavy that it required its own foundation! Thanks to clever engineering by Sand Studios, even seven-year-old Macy can operate the 2,000-pound door.

An oversized mahogany door provides a grand entrance to the complex.