Alexia, Achilleas, and friend Fotini prepare lunch in the kitchen, outfitted with cabinets by Zeyko.

A UFO bathtub by Benedini Associati for Agape lends an alien touch to one of the master bathrooms.

"Our contextual approach to individual projects seeks to produce unique architectural experiences," says architect Konstantinos Karampatakis of K-Studio. In this project, the proportions of the c. 1800 building was the bridge between its old form and new iteration. The architects kept the high ceilings, thick walls, and tall windows of the original, and combined those features with contemporary details and finishes.

The far wall with the bank of windows is curved—part of the building's original design. The sofa is by Muuto, the chair is by Skandiform, and the rug and coffee table were sourced from the local flea market.

A sliding partition separates the living room from the dining room.

K-Studio sought to disguise much of the apartment's lighting and ventilation. Local architectural lighting firm Halo helped devise the plan.

Here's a view from the hallway of the closed partition. The hanging lights are from Vesoi.

Two of Llot Llov's Matt pendants snake around Muuto wall hooks to provide bedside lighting.

The bathroom features a cast-concrete floor and shower by Gessi.

Though compact, the kitchen and dining room still manage to fit a full-size table, which is from Habitat. K-Studio designed the pendant lamps made from reclaimed conductors from Hellenic Telecommunications.

A jewel of an island between Crete and Greece's mainland is incentivizing young, vibrant folk to relocate with a pretty attractive deal: prospective residents with young children will get a plot of land, a home, and three-months of subsidized living—not to mention the benefits of the idyllic seaside climate.

The floor plan.

In an effort to root the home to its location, the team elected to use dry-stacked slate quarried from a nearby island for much of the main structure. “These walls are common in the Pelion area of Greece,” says Achilleas.

Both master bedrooms are accessible from the large deck and a covered walkway and garden tucked behind them.

Life at the Plane House is all about relaxing and hanging out with friends for co-owner and Athenian Achilleas Mourtzouchos. Here he does a bit of lounge-side grilling on a modular Pure seating system by Viteo. Even the fire table and grill are part of the Austrian outdoor furniture company’s line.

Stone walls, a pine tree exploding out of a deep overhang, iroko decking, outdoor rooms, a glassy swimming pool, and endless views of the sea make this home a paragon of indoor-outdoor living.

The Mourtzouchoses entertain constantly, which means that food is rarely far from anyone’s mind. Alexia sets a Tio table (with matching chairs) by Massproductions, over which hangs a thatch of dried palm fronds.

Made from white aluminum and oiled teak, the wooden sun loungers are from Viteo’s Pure collection. The long low table is made of Corian by DuPont and comes from the same line of outdoor furniture.

Achilleas and his friend Jovi tend the grill, which was Achilleas’s own design and is supported by a concrete beam—cast with slate stones embedded in it—just above the opening.

Achilleas and his girlfriend Alexia lounge on an Extrasoft sofa by Piero Lissoni for Living Divani.

A sliding wall in the living room pivots 90 degrees to reveal a small space near the door and to close off part of the room.

Completed in 2011, the two-story Plane House—a wordplay riffing on its simplicity and strong, horizontal lines—now caters to what Konstantinos calls two “speeds” of life.

The living room, sports a trio of Shell chairs by Hans J. Wegner for Carl Hansen & Son.

Waechter Architecture reimagined a traditional gabled home in southeast Portland without significantly altering the original building. A simple coat of red paint abstracts the century-old structure, creating a residential work of art.

The clients and design team chose to forego an open floor plan in favor of defined, separated spaces. In this scheme, the vertically oriented spaces act as a cinematic "hard-cut" to their horizontal counterparts. The custom hot rolled steel kitchen, one of these vertical transition spaces, receives light from above through a Velux skylight. A GE Profile Induction cooktop and oven and Miele refrigerator complete the space.

House O, designed by Jun Igarashi, forgoes hallways and interior doors in favor of casually interconnected rooms.

Marcus Lee and Rachel Hart’s wonderful wooden home sits at the end of a quiet London lane and politely turns its back on the workshops next door.

Corporate high-flyers and admitted neat freaks Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton couldn’t handle the chaos anymore. Read more about this Victorian terrace in London here.

“In this house, the roof is the only facade—the rest is dissolved beneath it.” —Architect Aljoša Dekleva

At the entry looking upward towards a Velux skylight, a vertical "sleeve" is made of stacked end grain plywood. The theme of vertical and horizontal architectural elements providing different environmental perspectives carries through to the rest of the home. Horizontal forms look out to the lake, while the vertical columns look up the sky.

Seen in the architectural context of its London neighborhood, the house is all the more extraordinary: compact, materially innovative, and easy on the eyes.

Guide to Greece: Athens Athens architecture has been famous for thousands of years, but what about modern design? Dwell uncovers the 21st century design scene. Photo by: Alex Subrizi

Athens, Greece-One of the world’s oldest cities, Athens is home to some of the most revered structures in the history of architecture. In creating the Classical Style, the Greeks established some of the founding principles for today’s buildings, guaranteeing their spot in every architectural textbook. The Acropolis of Athens contains such incredible buildings as the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena, and the Erechtheum. Photo by: Charles P.

An example of one of Nakashima’s most iconic designs, this large piece was crafted from walnut.

Vertical slabs under consideration for a project by Nakashima, among the horizontal wood-piles of the Pole Barn. Photo courtesy of Mira Nakashima, George Nakashima Woodworker, S.A. Read the interview.

With its expansive, geometric design and wide concrete-slab walkways, the enclosed central courtyard around which the house is organized creates outdoor space protected from the sometimes-inhospitable wind out of the northeast.