Here's a detail shot of the stool. The leather comes in four options—black, chocolate, tobacco, and saddle—and the brightly hued backing fabric comes in ten—sky, radish, egg yolk, cream, camel, charchol, sand, mocha, chocolate, and black.

Architect Ulrich Hamann's rendering of the new addition to the Lenbachhaus Museum and Gallery; the Stadtische Galerie Im Lenbachhaus. Image courtesy of Lenbachhaus Gallery and Museum.

Inspirational spaces

Because their loft is a rental, David and Im Schafer built everything to be removable.

The exterior of Connect 4L 1,600 sf 3 bed 3 bath 2 story modern prefab.

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.

I.M. Pei, Luce Memorial Chapel (1963) When architect I.M. Pei designed this chapel for Tunghai University in Taiwan, he had to take local conditions, like typhoons and earthquakes, into account. His plan, which, included a curved roof of glazed, diamond-shaped tiles and interior ribs of reinforced concrete that run like ribbons towards the cross mounted on the roof, was an elegant solution to the challenges of the local environment. Photo courtesy Valter Wei, Creative Commons

The living room and dining area occupy the heart of the "living" volume and are enclosed on both sides by full-height glazing.

Fireplace as it was at time of home purchase

Fireplace after we ripped out many things from the room.

Broken, 2014. I.M. Pei's Fountain Place in Dallas, Texas, built in 1986. “He used angles, triangles, planes and prisms to create a seemingly impossible visual space with this building,” says Olic. “The view from the east makes the structure seem broken and folded down the middle.”

A look at the small reading nook located on the level between the bedroom and ground floor.

In the bathroom, they did "basically surface things," says Im.

The second-floor plan: 1. Rooftop garden, 2. Media room, 3. Guest bedroom, 4. Bathroom, 5. Deck.

Luce Memorial Chapel in Tunghai, Taiwan, 1963, by I.M. Pei.

The unit is 3.5 meters long and 2.4 meters tall, and is a chic focal point in the room.

This super slender SG68 W stainless steel two-slice toaster by Stefano Giovannoni for Alessi with bun-warmer attachment will look great on your counter top (and won't take up too much of it).

Located 31 miles north of Lima, the C3 House is set in a windswept Ancón landscape that the architects describe as "martian-like."

The living room Ortal fireplace is clad in cold-rolled steel with a waxed finish. The side chairs, vintage reproductions from Room and Board, feature shapely walnut arms.

A mosaic tile wall softens the laboratory-like effect of the glossy kitchen cabinets.

Here's IM Pei's Meyerson Symphony Center done up for the holidays.

In this glass-enclosed master bedroom, a LC4 armchair faces the master bed. The moveable frame adjusts along the base, allowing the sitter to switch from upright to full recline, or lounge at a number of other sitting angles.

As its moniker suggests, 49 Praire Plants is a project for the Nature Conservancy that culminated in a book whose pages are made from prairie plants found in the Nachusa Grasslands.

Named Los Terrenos, meaning The Terrains, this retreat in Monterrey, Mexico, was designed by Mexico City–based architect Tatiana Bilbao to reflect the lush woodland hillside it sits on. The dwelling consists of two volumes made of rammed earth, terracotta clay bricks, and a facade clad in mirrored glass.

"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.

Inga Sempé, W103c light, 2010.

The dining area features a PH5 pendant by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen, a T12 table by Hay, and Møller Model 77 side chairs. A 1960s rocking chair by Vladimir Kagan sets off the living area.