Mint green-painted ironwork and tiles connect the indoors to the outside more fluidly.

A family of cost-conscious Hamburgers converted a kitschy turn-of-the-century villa into a high-design home with a strict budget in place. To unite the quaint masonry of the original villa with the squat, ugly add-on built flush against it, the architects decided to paint the old-fashioned facade graphite gray and then covered the box next door in plain, light-colored larch. Photo by Mark Seelen.

The Max-A studio is also built with a pine frame, though it has pine panelling on the ceiling, while the main house ceiling is painted a warm white.

Sebastian Heise’s wooden structure, seemingly atilt, overlooks a green valley in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. The two horizontal windows on the side and the front porch give the home its own unique sense of balance.

A family in Hamburg, Germany, turned a kitschy turn-of-the-century villa into a high-design home with a few exterior tricks, including sheathing the exterior in one-dimensional, murdered-out black.

In 1994, artists like Sandro Porcu and Kaeseberg drew attention to the Spinnerei, and in 2001 it was completely converted into an artist's haven. Now, nearly 100 artists, dancers, photographers, and designers have studios and residences, and the 11 galleries put on a combined 70 exhibitions a year. A cafe and art store cater to visitors and residents alike.

Designer Christiane Hogner, Bruxelles

Built as a cotton mill in 1884 with the utopian ideal to be a "city within a city" for its employees, the Bauwallspinnere (Cotton spinnery) was one of the biggest spinning works in Europe. With employee housing, gardens, stores, and a hospital, the area became a modern example of industrial society. In 1993 after the wall fell and Liepzig lost 90 percent of its industry, the Spinnerei was sold and became a tire cord factory. The empty rooms and large spaces began to draw artists, who started setting up studios, workshops, and exhibitions. Photo courtesy Spinnerei.

99 by Von Tundra and Lydia Cambron $13,000 Oregon-based Von Tundra’s unit combines three different storage options—a rack, drawers, and boxes—into a multipurpose dresser.

Photo courtesy Reinhold Andris Office, Walddorfhäslach.

The large terrace on the upper level, which contains the house's bedrooms, is nearly 968 square feet.

Corner of a building in Berlin, Germany.

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

The large industrial space allows ample room for large-scale exhibitions, such as The Politics and Pleasures of Food (shown), which has a garden, art, sculptures, and videos.

Building and stairwell in Essen, Germany.

Artist also have the opportunity to sell their products to visitors, we especially loved the sculptural porcelain pieces by Claudia Biehne.

Artist Franz von Lenbach built his studio in 1886, four years after he added his home. He commissioned German architect Gabriel von Seidl to design it in Neo-Classical Tuscan style. von Lenbach's intention was to build a monument to his art. He filled it with paintings and statuary from his many trips to Europe and furniture from Tuscany. When the villa was built, it was on the only road now called Luisenstrasse, that let up to the Nymphenburg Palace, (c. 1664) the summer home of the royal family of Bavaria. Because the royals would be passing it and going to and from their palace, the city of Munich set out rigorous rules for its design. In other words, the villa had to be stunning, giving the royals something nice to look at. And, it is. Today, 450,000 visitors each year enjoy von Lenbach's studio and home. Image courtesy of Lenbachhaus Gallery and Museum.

Both the sitting and standing versions of DESK 01, a collaboration between Artifox and IdeaPaint, are outfitted with dry erase surfaces for recording sudden bursts of creativity.

Style: "#1"

This structure in Düesseldorf, Germany, is part home, part workshop, and part showroom for designer and resident Joachim Jasper. Located in a former factory, it features modern furnishings from the likes of Tom Dixon and Agape.

Another area of The Politics and Pleasures of Food offers a new way to appreciate art…

An apartment building in Darmstadt, Germany calls to mind layers upon layers of sediment compressed beneath newer forms of plant life; its rooftop garden is just one aspect of its unique appearance. Photo via Huffington Post.

Another painting by Neo Rauch, Der Landgang, demonstrates strategic use of color over a red-brown background (a common theme throughout the exhibition), which is meant to represent the lighting before or after a storm.

Blaine Bronwell, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture and author of Material Strategies: Innovative Applications in Architecture, calls out biomimicry and biodesign. "The engineering firm Arup created a promising system for a German building expo: it has a living algae curtain wall, which harvests the building's algae as an energy source through a bioreactor," Bronwell writes.

Allianz Arena (Munich, Germany: 2006 World Cup) Luminous and lofty, Allianz Arena lit up the 2006 competition with its revolutionary façade, a membrane of inflated plastic panels that can change color. Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron designed the stadium to put spectators as close to the action as possible. Photo by Mohamed Yahya, Creative Commons

When the villa was completed in 1890, its architect, Gabriel von Seidl designed the peaceful Italian Renaissance garden that surrounds it. The café in the Foster & Partners addition will overlook the restored gardens. Image courtesy of Lenbachhaus Gallery and Museum.

Visitors to the Lenbachhaus Museum used to enter through the villa's front door. To the left is architect Ulrich Hamann's new entrance into the skylit atrium. Image courtesy of Lenbachhaus Gallery and Museum.

Pia Wustenberg

Top 9 Kitchens of 2020: The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards are the epitome of style and function.

Lauren and Brittan Ellingson, the owners of Notice Snowboards, a custom snowboard and wakesurf company in Whitefish, Montana, approached Workaday Design and builder Mindful Designs to concoct a new lake home for their family. The brief was, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused on getting the family outdoors as much as possible.

The Lofthouse is built one of the many hills separating it from the couple’s main residence. "Excavation was a challenge, as we wanted to maintain as much of the existing landscape as possible, but needed to clear out trees for the foundation," says Tarah.

Parota wood continues in the spacious kitchen. Marisa and Christopher found the blue tile that runs throughout the home on a trip to León, Mexico. "It called out to us," says Christopher. Festooned with small stars, its tone matches the color of the ocean perfectly.

The architects designed the home’s expansion with the knowledge that the owners plan to continue the renovation when their budget allows it. "We wanted to put everything in the right place so it doesn’t have to be undone later," says Corti.